My name is Summer Woods and I am a Businesses Educating Students for Tomorrow (BEST) Summer Intern here at COLOURS, Inc.  I am a Sophomore at Penn State University's main Campus where I attend as a full time student.  I intend to declare my major in Theatre Arts and a minor in Spanish. Before I became a Penn State student I was a over achiever at Murrell Dobbins AVTS /CTE High School, were I graduate as Valedictorian from the class of “2008”.  I played Basketball, Volleyball, and Soccer there all four years and was awarded MVP for all three in 2007 and 2008. I was the Vice President of the Student Government Association and the President SGA (Straight Gay Alliance).

I grew in Richard Allen Projects in North Philadelphia on 11th and Poplar Street. As a little girl I always knew that there was something different about me. I knew that I did not want to end up like the people I saw everyday around me (alcoholics, drug dealers, crack heads etc.). My mother did a good job at keeping my brother and I involved in church every Sunday, and after school programs at the same church, which I still attend on Broad and Fairmount.

Flash forward: At the age of 16, I came out to my mother, father, and other family members. As I mentioned before I knew that there was something different about me, and that difference was being attracted to girls. When I told my mother I was gay I truly believe our relationship grew stronger.She now understands me more. Being a person who is LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and/or Transgender) taught me to understand and accept all types of people. I believe that I am a more liberal person and learned not to judge people because I do not know what they are going through. I am so happy that was able to enter college loving who I am being, comfortable with myself. I have met some great friends that come from different ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations and identities. In the Fall 2009 I will be interning at the LGBT Student Resource Center at my school and I am so excited about this opportunity.

Present:  I am interning here at the COLOURS, Inc. Working here this summer has been great. I was able to do some interesting things and met some great LGBT leaders/business professionals and to top it all off I was responsible for scheduling the meetings with them to participate in the COLOURS Intern Lecture Series. It was so cool to send out E-mails and make phone calls in order for our Friday’s lecture series to be successful. I was also able to sit in with Michael Hinson, Founder/Executive Director of COLOURS at some meetings he had to attend. Working here has taught me some of the behind the scenes work that has to be done to keep an organization running smoothly and successful. I am so happy I applied for the BEST Summer Internship, because if I didn’t I would had missed out on meeting some wonderful people!