Our internship program, FutureForce, is unlike any other. On any given day, one of our 600+ interns can be found collaborating with another FutureForce intern across the world, volunteering at a local food bank, or listening to a lunch and learn from a Salesforce executive.

In July, four FutureForce Interns (two college students and two new grads) hosted a technology panel at the Indiana Black Expo Youth Summit, during which professionals teach Black middle and high school students about academics, decision-making, and advocacy.

With the assistance of our FutureForce Program Manager Kai Johnson, our panel put together a workshop to teach a group of students how to build an app and then pitch it to a panel. The mobile app the team created was made to enable students to communicate with their school counselors, get advice for preparing for college testing and college courses, and offer a way for app downloaders to build their network for the university that they would attend.

And, the group that our panelists helped mentor won the big prize at the sales pitch competition! As a result, they each won laptops on which they could continue their studies and work.

The summit was a great opportunity for our FutureForce interns to hone their presentation skills, learn about technology, and to feel the power of giving back.

Hear from our FutureForce interns about what resonated with them at the event:

Milia Enane – Software Engineer Intern

 “Being on this panel has definitely opened my eyes to different perspectives of how technology has impacted our lives, given that we've grown up in a world that is so heavily engrossed with it. There are so many resources out there for teaching people how to write code and build things compared to when I was growing up - there are apps, websites, and tons of other things available to everyone through a click of a button, it's crazy (yet amazing)! I'm so grateful that I had an opportunity to inspire the next generation who has the most advantage of these resources, and I'm excited to see what's yet to come from them!”

Spencer Edwards – FutureForce New Grad, UX Designer

“It was both heart-warming and amazing to see such bright students.  I'm happy to see such skills strongly developing! I've learned that it's extremely important to cultivate budding skills at a young age to develop into something legendary.”

Angelica Rodriguez – FutureForce New Grad, Software Engineer

"This is my second year participating in the tech panel and I especially enjoyed it this year because we got to actually work with the students and coach them through the process of coming up with their own app, although many didn't need much help! I was very impressed with the ideas they came up with and all of the use cases they took into account. It was very encouraging to see so many students from different backgrounds interested in tech. I am glad we got the opportunity to further encourage their interest and hope we showed them that anything is possible for them if they work hard."

Sean Warsaw – Sean Warsaw, UX Design Intern
“I really enjoyed sharing my story and representing a company that is truly interested in creating a diverse workforce. I learned about the changes in school curriculums across the state and how they are becoming pipelines for diversity in STEM fields.”

If you’re interested in joining FutureForce – spending your summer learning invaluable skills, impacting the lives of others, and launching your career at one of Fortune’s Best Workplaces for Millennials – please see our openings here.