Young participants of a marketing internship programme have spoken about the value of the experience they gained over the past six weeks.

SkillCraft Youth Internship, now in its third year, paired 15 interns with 15 local organisations to provide assistance with social media content planning and creation.

The interns attended workshops three days per week to enhance their social media marketing knowledge, and spent the remaining two days per week at their host organisations gathering content.

Shenice Maylor, who interned with wellness centre Sweat Suites Studio, said: “There’s a lot to learn from the internship about life in general and skills that you need in your adult life.

“You learn so much about business, how to promote it and much more. You meet new people, can potentially gain a job and learn more about yourself.

“You will step out of your comfort zone but it’s a very safe space. I will recommend this programme to youths in Bermuda, especially if they have an interest in business or do not know what they want to do.”

Keira Haak was an intern with the Bermuda National Trust. Jordan Smith, development officer at the BNT, said of Ms Haak: “Her fresh perspective brought new insights to our organisation enabling us to see things from a different point of view. Her contributions were invaluable and her positive attitude made a lasting impact on our team.”

The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute was selected as a SkillCraft host business for a second year running. Jessica Bowers, BUEI marketing and communication manager, said: “The SkillCraft Youth Internship team does a phenomenal job in preparing both the summer interns and host businesses for the six-week summer youth internship in social media.

“Each year, we have been very pleased with the level of support we received and impressed by the amount of growth and confidence we observed in our paired intern.”

The SkillCraft programme is sponsored by the Centennial Bermuda Foundation, which granted $100,000.

iRepair loaned laptops to the interns and Digicel loaned mobile devices.

The Clarity Institute provided the location while The Berkeley Institute, CedarBridge Academy, Somersfield Academy and Warwick Academy helped to recruit students to participate.

Margot Shane, SkillCraft cofounder and programme director, added: “It has been a great pleasure and honour to run the SkillCraft Youth Internship for the third year in a row.

“Each cohort has its unique qualities. This year’s interns stood out for their talent and dedication. They are hard-working, eager to learn and hugely creative.

“Every host organisation has spoken of the immense value of having an intern and to the rewarding experience of seeing the interns grow over such a short period of time.

“Congratulations to the cohort of 2024, you are truly an inspirational set of young people and anyone would be lucky to hire and work with you.”

Recruitment for next year’s internship will begin in January.

For more information, visit www.skillcraft.bm.