Derion Tabb

sfstl-adminStudent Stories

Class of 2015
Bachelor of Arts, Communications
University of Missouri–St. Louis

As a first-generation college student, I didn’t have the luxury to go out and look for unpaid internships, but this program was almost perfect — helping clarify what I want to do and bridging the gap between being a student and searching for employment. It truly has made a world of difference.

During spring and summer 2014, Derion participated in the Scholarship Foundation’s paid Community Internship Program, a collaborative partnership between the Foundation, Equifax and community agencies.

Derion is a senior majoring in communications at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. and interned for the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation during spring 2014. This work sparked his interest in nonprofit management and working in the nonprofit sector. He not only gained exposure to the administrative side of nonprofit work, but also learned and refined key skills like grant writing and fundraising. In addition, Derion reflected that great professional growth came from learning how to build and maintain relationships. During summer 2014, Derion interned with St. Louis Graduates High School to College Center, helping students with issues around transitioning to college.

“Going into the internships I had little idea of what it is that I want to do other than broadly-speaking something in community development, but after these internships it’s pretty clear that I want to go to graduate school and pursue a Masters in Public Policy as well as a Masters in Administration.”

During fall 2014, Derion joined the Foundation as a 2014-2015 Education Policy Intern.