The new school year is here, and this summer, 826NYC’s Teen Writers’ Collective interns spent five weeks of skill-building workshops, professional development, and leadership opportunities. This paid internship is a yearly opportunity for members of 826NYC’s Teen Writers’ Collective, a cohort of young writers who come from around the city to explore the art of writing and literary citizenship. Together, they form a community of passionate and creative peers, serve as 826NYC youth leaders, and inspire students across the network. After spending the school year building on these values and collaborating on original pieces, our interns are able to synthesize the leadership skills they’ve learned, and put them into practice.

It’s always a privilege to watch our students try new things and grow their writing skills in Teen Writers’ Collective. When they join us an interns, it’s equally, if not more, exciting to see them become leaders. They get to impart their creative knowledge to their younger peers, and model true passion for storytelling.
– Summer Medina, Senior Volunteer & Programs Coordinator

Professional Development

Throughout the summer, 826NYC staff shared their personal and professional knowledge with the interns in weekly presentations. This year’s topics included financial literacy, public speaking, teaching, college prep, and qualitative research. The lessons learned in these presentations served as a launchpad for them to take into other aspects of the internship, and beyond the secret library. We also had the opportunity to invite members of 826NYC’s Board of Directors for a special Lunch & Learn speed-networking event, where the interns were able to ask questions one-on-one about the lives and careers of the professionals that support our organization.

Program Facilitation

Before heading into three weeks of day camp, we invited community members from our volunteer cohort, Hachette Book Group, and Good Neighbors of Park Slope to our writing center for a trial workshop led by our interns. In this session, participants wrote a collaborative story centered on what we can meaningfully learn from different generations. This workshop was a fantastic opportunity for our interns to develop confidence as facilitators and leadership skills, including public speaking and sharing their expertise as writers with members of our community.

With practice under their belts, we headed into our Write the Summer Day Camp with confidence! Over the course of three weeks, our 4th-6th grade campers explored science fiction, character origins, and original plays – with the interns by their side through it all. Each day, the cohort assisted campers in crafting original pieces in preparation for a showcase at the end of each week, encouraged them to give their all in activities, and ran their own clubs in the afternoons. During week one, the team demonstrated how adaptable they could be. As the air quality from the Canadian wildfires prevented us from having our usual outdoor recess, the interns stepped up and turned our secret library our own rec center – leading campers in some indoor games to stay safe!

Capstone Projects

By the end of the summer, we tasked our interns with creating a capstone presentation: a document that reflects on and shares-out an element of their learning during the internship that taps into their strengths and creativity as a writer, while focusing on their professional growth throughout the summer. We asked them to be thoughtful in their observations and provide a guide that others can follow to replicate their learning and accomplishments, and captures the best practices for teaching writing and working with youth.

“Knowing I connected a lot with you talking to me and wanting to hang out with me 24/7.  Giving you a big brother experience I never got to have was amazing to see.  You told me a lot of things,  I told you a lot of things I know I made a difference.  Writing was hard for you this week but once I helped your brilliant mind went to work.”
– Ricardo Fernandez, Capstone Project

Thank you so much to our 2026 summer interns! Your dedication to Teen Writers’ Collective reflects the mission of 826NYC spectacularly, and are honored to call you all alumni. Want to join the next generation of literary leaders, and have the chance to be a summer 2027 intern? Learn more and apply to join the Teen Writers’ Collective today.