Hundreds of students from all over Montgomery County attended the MCPS’ Summer RISE Closing Ceremony at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center on Friday.
Summer RISE, an initiative led by the Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) Department of Partnerships in collaboration with businesses, government agencies, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations, allows rising MCPS juniors and seniors to get hands-on experience in dozens of different industries during the summer.
This summer, over 200 organizations supported and hosted Summer RISE students.
Closing Ceremony Highlights
Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor during his remarks at the 2025 Summer RISE Closing Ceremony (Andrea Durán/MCM)
“We even had virtual experiences as far away as California and in Ireland,” Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor remarked to attendees during the closing ceremony. “The fact that Summer RISE is not just local but is global just goes to show how big the footprint of Montgomery County really is reaching.”
The closing ceremony also featured pre-recorded video messages from Governor Wes Moore, Montgomery County President of Board of Education, Julie Yang, County Executive Marc Elrich and Montgomery County Vice President Will Jawando.
The event featured a networking breakfast where students could meet with potential future hosts or employers and where they could pick up their $500 checks after the ceremony.
Students listen to speakers during the 2025 Summer RISE Closing Ceremony remarks. (Andrea Durán/MCM)
Internships Shape Careers
Rising junior at Blair High School, Reina Palmira, said that there is an important difference between having an idea of what a job in a certain industry entails and actually doing it.
“Which is why internships and jobs at a young age is, like, really important,” she said. “Because you might think you like something, but then you actually do it, and you’re like, ‘oh, I really hate this.’”
Palmira interned with Straighten Up Orthodontics this summer and said, however, that she continues to want to have a career in orthodontics.
Students at the networking breakfast at the 2025 Summer RISE Closing Ceremony at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel in Rockville. (Andrea Durán/MCM)
A “Win-Win” for the County
“It’s just so inspiring and it really helps to make our kids future-ready, and it says so clearly for our community that we’re invested in our future and that the future is bright in Montgomery County,” Taylor said in an interview with Montgomery Community Media.
Taylor described the program as a “win-win” for everyone in the county. He said community members value the investment in young people and see a return on their investment through students’ inspiration to become “great adults.”
“I just love that the kids get these opportunities. It’s setting them apart from all the other students,” Summer RISE teacher liaison Amy Brewer said.
Summer RISE teacher liaison Amy Brewer. (Andrea Durán/MCM)
As an educator, Brewer said Summer RISE gives teachers the chance to see a different side of their students during the summer.
“Their guards are down and they’re open to things, to new experiences,” she said. “It helps us get them to bridge their experience over the summer with the summer program into the classroom and then beyond.”
MCM Experience
MCM also participates as a host for Summer RISE. This summer, students learned production, filming, interviewing and scriptwriting skills to work on a PSA for SEEC, a local nonprofit that provides services for people with disabilities, at our media lab in Silver Spring.
“Being able to have young people, our next generation in storytelling, is extremely important – these are our storytellers of the future,” MCM Director of Education, Community and Engagement Department Danielle Ricks said in a video about the MCM Summer RISE interns shown at the closing ceremony.
MCM Media Production Coordinator Kaila Williams spent time with the Summer RISE interns, helping them coordinate filming and interview dates and manned a MCM table during Friday’s networking event.
Left to right MCM Media Production Coordinator Kaila Williams and Summer RISE MCM interns Jackie Mendez, Ione Bender, Victoria Townsend. (Andrea Durán/MCM)
Williams said in an interview that she deeply admired how the students showcased their professionalism and talent during their time interning with MCM, especially considering their young age. She said their infectious creative energy revitalized and inspired her.
“It makes me happy to come to work and see them work,” she said.
She said that though she will miss her students, she is happy for them and proud of the work they have done and “the people that they are.”
“I just can’t wait to see all of the great things that they can do in the future,” Williams said.
International Aspirations
After collecting her check, rising senior at James Hoover Black High School, Victoria Townsend, a former MCM Summer RISE intern, stayed for a few minutes for an interview with MCM.
Townsend wants to study political science and work at the United Nations one day but said her experience interning for MCM gave her a new skill she plans to leverage.
“I still do want to work at the U.N., but I definitely look at, like, the social media aspect of it or like the jobs that people have, like, interviewing people at the U.N.,” she said.
She said the experience also shaped her confidence in networking and being open to new experiences.
“I feel like a lot of high schoolers, like, we’re always on our phones, some of us are always looking down, looking away, so when we walk past someone, we don’t look at them at all” she said and added that the experience has changed her to introduce herself to almost everyone she encounters.
“You could be meeting the CEO of some great company,” she said. “So, it’s definitely increased my confidence and makes me just stand up and walk taller.”
Rising senior at James Hoover Black High School, Victoria Townsend, laughs as a video of her plays at the 2025 Summer RISE Closing Ceremony alongside her fellow former MCM interns. (Andrea Durán/MCM)
