b'In order to help students develop the critical 21st-century skills needed for a successful transition into the workplace, Philadelphia Futures oers a variety of career exposure, exploration, and development programming beginning in ninth grade and continuing through college graduation. Students engage in early and ongoing career readiness programming to gain a comprehensivefor Undergraduates (REU) that took placeunderstanding of the world of work, set realistic academic and career goals, and make a plan to achieve them. Career readiness is incorporated into college access and college success This summer I participated in a Research Experienceprogramming and tracked with key career readiness metrics.at Lehigh University and is funded by Focus on Career Readinessthe National Science Foundation. In addition to attending lectures about machine learning, presenting my work at symposiums, and speakingCareer Futures SummerJob Shadowing Program to professors about possibly going to grad school,Internship Program I was able to work on a research project withThe Philadelphia Futures Job Shadowing programone of Lehighs professors. I served as a web developerThe Career Futures Summer Internship program is a structured matching process that connects for a project that tests interactions onconnects Philadelphia Futures collegians tocollegians with employers for short-term, social media networks. My internship was a safe spacemeaningful opportunities for learning andexperiential career learning opportunities. and I had no fears addressing the inherentdevelopment in a professional work environment. Job shadowing allows collegians to observe The goal of this program is to help collegiansprofessionals on-the-job, experience a typical out Black and Brown individuals.fine-tune non-cognitive skills and learn industry- workday or work week, and gain knowledge gaps in my research project and how it was leaving specific knowledge that potential employers expect and skills related to their career interests. Raphael Keele, Philadelphia Futures Class of 2018, Lehigh University Student when hiring new college graduates. Collegianssecured internships in a variety of fields, such as finance, accounting, marketing, technology, law,nonprofit/education, and medicine. I had an amazing eight weeks atLincoln Financial Group, full of exposure to HR and Talent Management, attending executive speakersessions, and connecting with fellow interns. Despite the virtual setting, I had the opportunity to experience the wonderfully collaborative and 6 supportive culture at Lincoln,and I am grateful to connect and learn from such a diverse group of people.Shirly Liu, Philadelphia Futures Class of 2017, University of Pennsylvania Student'