Interning in the New York Botanical Garden has been a great experience. I met so many new people that are similar to me. In the beginning of my journey, I was not open to meeting new people and talking to the visitors of the garden. As weeks went by, I started feeling comfortable with my co-workers. I've learned so much from working there. For example, I learned that a tree has rings that tell you how old the tree was before it was cut down. Even though I have been only working in the Garden since March, it feels like I have been there forever because I learned so much and love the people I work with, and the visitors who come to see the beautiful place it is.
-Eileen

This is Estefani, rising 10th grader at Mott Haven. I wanted to thank you so much for donating money to help me attend a pre-college class at Marist College. I am extremely excited to attend Marist because I love criminal justice, and having the opportunity to experience this, as well as college life, is amazing. Thank you very much

I will like to thank you for donating money to help me go to a wonderful summer program at Marist College. I hope to experience great things and have a wonderful time. If it werent for you, I may have not been able to enjoy this wonderful program. This program will help me to further my education and expose me to a great atmosphere along the beautiful Hudson River. It will also help me show colleges that, as a rising senior, I can take on college level courses. Its not going to be easy for me but I am ready to embrace the challenge, and I will succeed. Therefore, I really appreciate every single penny that you donated.

Hello,
This is Denisse and I just wanted to say thank you for donating to give students, including myself, a chance to attend the pre-college summer class at Marist. This is a great opportunity because it gives me a chance to see what college is like as a high school student. I will also earn three college credits while attending this class. I want to attend this pre-college summer class because I may want to be a forensic scientist and for that I will have to take classes on criminal justice. I have just received mail from the staff from Marist welcoming me to their campus. They gave me a schedule, a syllabus, and a reading packet about criminal justice which is from a textbook that I will be reading while I am at Marist. I will have to write a 7 page research paper on any subject about criminal justice. Even though this may seem like a lot, I am excited because this is a great opportunity that not many people get.
Thank you so much once again.