Southern Regional Council Winter Interns Exemplify American Youth at its Best

The beginning of the spring semester marks a significant turning point for the Southern Regional Council's Winter Internship Program for 2010. Participants in this year's program – students at two of the South's leading universities – have made a critical difference in the Council's ability to execute on a number of its current projects.

Kevin Bronski, an Atlanta native and graduate of Atlanta's Woodward Academy, is a member of the Class of 2010 at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, pursuing a double major in managerial finance and risk/insurance. Kevin is an entrepreneur by nature, having started a pressure washing service at the age of 17 , and he now owns and operates a lawn management company in Oxford. He was a semifinalist in the Gillespie Business Plan Competition in 2008 and 2009 and is currently pursuing a private pilot's license. He plans to seek a law degree and pursue a career in private equity.

Samuel Sykes is also a graduate of Woodward Academy, where he participated in football, wrestling, lacrosse, the key club, intra-murals and the student government association. Sam is a member of the Class of 2010 at Southern Methodist University, pursuing a major in in Political Science. His work experience spans a range of industries, including construction, law and hospitality. His entrepreneurial experience includes the establishment of a Christmas-time tree removal service. He currently serves as Youth Chairman for Santa for Seniors, and he is a longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. His outdoor pursuits include canoeing and hiking.

During the Southern Regional Council's 2010 Winter Internship Program, Kevin and Sam

• assisted in the establishment of a supplemental SRC archive at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the the Atlanta University Center,
  

• assisted in the development of enhancements for an SRC-sponsored library for the Project Success Learning Resource Center in downtown Atlanta,
  

• initiated a winter issue SRC's Southern Changes magazine, and
  

• initiated a review of the intellectual property rights associated with Will the Circle be Unbroken, the SRC's audio history of the civil rights movement.

"We are deeply grateful to Kevin Bronski and Sam Sykes for their contribution to the work of the Southern Regional Council," said Charles Johnson, President of the Council. "They have approached their projects with enormous energy, dedication, and initiative, and their contributions have been invaluable. If they are representative of their generation, then our nation's future is truly in good hands."

The Southern Regional Council was founded in 1919 to combat racial injustice in the American South. The Council recently completed a survey of coalitions among African American and Latino communities in the South.