Verbum Dei Intern: Mekhi Mackey

SFF is incredibly proud of Mekhi Mackey, our intern from Cristo Rey Network school, Verbum Dei. Mekhi is headed to HBCU Jackson State University as a freshman in the fall. We will miss him but are so glad for all he has accomplished. Verbum Dei HS (link) is an all boys HS that uses a “work study” model which combines a longer school year, a day of week reporting to work as a professional intern, intensive college prep counseling, and improved school financial sustainability through the support intern employers like SFF provide for the school. Mekhi brought joy, hard work, and a powerful connectivity to lived experience with him each and every time he came to SFF. He takes with him an increased readiness to approach the professional world with experience in addition to his considerable artistic and academic talents. We know he will be successful in this next step on his journey and will be rooting for him every step of the way.

Mekhi, worked for SFF all four years of his HS experience, becoming a part of the SFF family in the process. Such is the power of the “win, win” model. While SFF is proud to have provided a place for Mekhi to gain valuable experience in an office setting as well as to have provided critical annual resources to Verebum Dei’s operations in exchange, the biggest outcomes have been to SFF’s staff culture and what grows out of participating in such an amazing program that touches the lives of young men from low income backgrounds. SFF looks forward to being paired with an incoming freshman from Verbum Dei this summer to begin this wonderful process anew.