The Mayor of Reading’s summer interns were honored at the certificate ceremony

After spending the summer working with children, Aaliyah Zambrano feels confident about her career choice.

One of several interns from Mayor Eddie Moran’s Summer Youth Employment Initiative, Zambrano, 18, was assigned to work with children attending the seven-week camp at the Reading Salvation Army Citadel, 301 S. Fifth St.

The experience confirmed her decision, she said. The Reading High graduate will begin studying early childhood education at Alvernia University this month.

“I told you when you started, you’re either going to want to be that old or you’re not going to want to be that old,” Moran reminded him Thursday morning during a ceremony celebrating the 50 young interns to complete the program .

Family members and friends cheered as the mayor read the names of the 50 young participants and presented a certificate to each of those attending the event at the Berks County Fire Training Center, 895 Morgantown Road.

“I want to personally thank the students for their dedication and hard work for our city’s departments and public service,” the mayor said. “I can’t thank you enough for your availability.”

This is the third year for the initiative that provides job opportunities for high school-aged city residents. The intent, Moran said, is to expose young people to higher education, career paths and the many different professions needed to run a city.

Six of the graduating interns are starting full-time jobs with the city, the mayor said. Three are heading into their freshman year of college, he noted, and the other 41 will return to high school classes or homeschooling.

This year’s team, chosen through an application process, worked for eight weeks with local nonprofits and several city departments, including Public Works, Human Relations and the Reading Public Library. They also toured the city’s police and fire departments, wastewater treatment facility and area higher education institutions.

The youth, who worked 20 hours a week and were paid $15 an hour, also received lessons in personal finance, budgeting and other areas of personal and professional development.

Zambrano said she was assigned to Public Works last year. It was such a positive experience that it returned for a second season. This year, she was excited to work in a field closer to her aspirational field.

“It made me realize that I wanted to pursue a career in early childhood education,” she said.

Massiel Mejia, 16, spent the summer learning from Kimberly Talbot, director of the Reading Human Relations Commission.

The commission enforces the city’s ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and public spaces. It also offers programs to help with social needs, such as emergency rental assistance.

The work, while unrelated to her goal of becoming an orthodontist, was still valuable, Mejia said.

“The skills we had to learn, like talking to people face to face, taking phone calls and skills like that, can help me in the future,” said the Reading High student. “Good communication is very important in any career.”

Brothers Gael Echeverria and Jonathan Guiracocha, both 16, plan to become real estate agents and architects, respectively. Their work this summer as part of a team cleaning up trash and landscaping public spaces taught them vital lessons in cooperation, workplace relationships and networking, they agreed.

“The people I met were great people.” Guiracocha said. “Our supervisors were nice. Overall, it was a good experience.”

The brothers said they hope to participate again next summer. And if the mayor has his way, they’ll have that chance.

“I look forward to continuing this summer youth employment program for the summer of 2025,” Moran said, thanking the city staff and community members who made it possible. “Without your help, this program would not be successful.”