Brown University

Every May, Brown students leave the classrooms of College Hill behind to pursue a wealth of transformative summer opportunities — from internships and fellowships to research projects and entrepreneurial startups.

At the Providence Public Library, rising sophomore Justin Dunn developed and taught a summer learning program, empowering local teens to strengthen their reading, writing and conversational skills.

At the Providence Public Library, Dunn taught an ESL class using lessons, activities and field trips to help local students gain confidence reading, writing and speaking English.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As he led a vocabulary game during an English class for teens on a morning in late July, Brown University student Justin Dunn stood at a whiteboard and wrote a set of five words.

Beside him, a local high schooler sat facing a dozen classmates. He could not see the words, but the other teens — seated shoulder-to-shoulder on couches and chairs across from him — could. Their task was to help him guess each word without saying it aloud.

The group erupted in cheers in the Teen Loft of the Providence Public Library, then quickly turned their attention to the next word on the whiteboard.

For four weeks this summer, Dunn taught the library’s intermediate English for teens class, developing lessons, activities and field trips to help local students ages 14 to 18 build confidence reading, writing and speaking English.

The rising Brown sophomore secured the internship through the SPRINT-iProv summer fellowship program, a joint initiative of the University’s Swearer Center and the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Career Exploration. This summer, iProv connected approximately 40 Brown undergraduates with full-time work experiences at Providence-based nonprofits, including the Rhode Island Free Clinic, Farm Fresh Rhode Island and the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council.