Here at Strategies for Children, interns are an important part of the work we do. Interns help us with advocacy, research, and social media. And they ask important questions and contribute new ideas, enabling us to expand our reach.

Currently, we have three interns whom we’re happy to introduce: Teresia Kiragu, Nicole Simonson, and Abigail Usherwood. Here’s a little more about each of them.

Teresia Kiragu

I am currently a student at Bunker Hill Community College, enrolled in the Business Management program. I chose this course because I have a vision that one day, I will open a non-governmental organization to help children who are vulnerable and give them an opportunity to get a strong education. I’m originally from Kenya, where I worked for an organization that helps under-resourced communities. While working in this organization, I saw a lot of children who are desperately in need; nonetheless, they have the right to be raised well and become contributing members of the society.

During my time at Strategies, I have learned how the Massachusetts state budget distributes funds to schools.

I have also been reaching out to communities that charge tuition for kindergarten to collect their tuition rates for this school year, which has helped me develop my skills in communication, time management, and teamwork. The pandemic has had a significant impact on some kindergarten programs. Some school districts have eliminated tuition, doing away with fees that had been a challenge for some parents to pay. Other schools, however, because they have implemented remote learning programs, have unfortunately reduced their programs to half-day kindergarten.

Overall, I have learned that while Massachusetts has a strong early childhood education system, the state needs more funding to keep up with communities’ needs.

Nicole Simonson

I am a clinical social worker by training, and I am currently enrolled in the Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy graduate certificate program at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

As a school social worker and working mom, I believe high-quality, affordable early education for all children is essential to child development, to the advancement of women in the workforce, and to the development of our economy. I was interested in working at Strategies, because it has built great relationships with key individuals to drive the agenda of “early education for all” forward.

In my work in schools, I’ve seen too many kindergarteners who are unprepared and struggling with a variety of issues that could have been mitigated if these children had had the opportunity to attend a quality early education program. To explore this challenge, I am spending my internship conducting a landscape analysis of the social-emotional supports available in Massachusetts for children ages 0-5 and their families. I hope to use this information to make policy recommendations to better support and prepare our youngest children.

Working at Strategies, I have learned about the state budget process and how budget requests drive policy agendas forward. I hope to take my 10-plus years of experience working with children and use it to advocate for policy changes that provide more support for children’s social-emotional development and that combat the growing mental health crisis that children face.

Abigail Usherwood

I’m a first year graduate student in Boston College’s School of Social Work, focusing on advocacy in Children Youth and Families. I became involved with Strategies because of my interest in advocacy and policy analysis. Strategies’ work in making broad changes in early childhood education relates to my interests in education reform and child welfare.

In my work at Strategies, I have assisted on various projects including management of the weekly press roundup, increasing social media engagement, and working with the team on “budget asks” for the Massachusetts state budget. Through all of these projects, I’ve learned about the importance of relationships and of networks of communication in advocacy. This rewarding experience has helped me to develop useful skills and knowledge, and it has empowered me to make change.