December 15, 2024
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Yorkville Christian student chosen for Procter & Gamble internship

By Shaw Local News Network
Maddie McBride

Maddie McBride (photo provided by Christine McBride)

In December, Maddie McBride, a freshman at Yorkville Christian High School and a Minooka resident, was encouraged to apply for a program from INTERalliance and Deaf Kids Code in search of deaf and hard of hearing high school students to collaborate with Procter & Gamble leaders and mentors.

INTERalliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students explore the rich information technology industry and connect them with Fortune 500 companies. Deaf Kids Code promotes technology, computer science and design thinking skills as an innovative tool to empower deaf/ hard of hearing students socially and economically. Together, INTERalliance and Deaf Kids Code, have partnered with Procter and Gamble to offer opportunities to junior and senior high school students that show an interest in STEM/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).

In January, Procter & Gamble scheduled interviews with students from all over the country; McBride met with Scott Van Nice, senior manager at Procter & Gamble. McBride was able to share her experiences with cybersecurity at last year’s “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” at Argonne National Laboratory.

On Feb. 9, McBride received an email from INTERalliance that said while she had not been chosen for the tech training program, Procter & Gamble “felt you were ready for a full-time Summer INTERnship! Congratulations!”

McBride’s Hearing Itinerant, Sarah Spoerl, originally brought the program to her attention. Spoerl has been McBride’s deaf teacher for the past three years.

“I am not in the least bit surprised she was accepted. I knew she would be an asset and a role model while continuing to build her natural leadership skills. I’m excited to see what God has in store for her,” Spoerl said in a news release.

The full-time Summer INTERnship will be June through August and is designed to give students experience in areas of IT, including software engineering, cybersecurity, project management, user experience, personal computing and data analytics.