The Boys and Girls Club of Greenwood has been enjoying the help of a University of Mississippi student this summer.
Henry-Lang Vanderlaan, a Chicago native, is fulfilling an internship at the local club as part of his commitment to the McLean Institute of Public Service and Community Engagement at the University of Mississippi.
All participants are required to complete a service-based internship after their junior year, said the McLean Institute’s director, Dr. Albert Nylander. When the students start school in the fall, they will be able to draw on their experiences for more meaningful class discussions, Nylander said.
Vanderlaan said he’s enjoyed every minute of his internship. It began June 1 and runs through July 15.
An April visit to the club influenced Vanderlaan to pick it as the place for his internship, he said.
“I felt this was a good place and we already had connections in Leflore County,” he said. Nylander, a native of Greenwood, was a member of the club as a kid.
Vanderlaan said it was important to him that he chose an internship that “wasn’t just for a resumé.” He wanted to be in an environment that wouldn’t be a cakewalk and would actually make a difference in him and others.
By Nylander’s account of what the McLean Institute aims to do, Vanderlaan was spot-on in his decision-making. “Our mission is to create opportunities for Ole Miss students to both transform society and be transformed by society,” Nylander said.
Because Vanderlaan is not from Mississippi, the experience allows him to better feel the needs of a community and go on to make informed economic policies, Nylander said.
Vanderlaan’s focus at the McLean Institute is on entrepreneurship and economic development, with a particular emphasis on financial literacy. His aim is to help children develop basic financial skills so that they learn how to save long before they are adults, he said.
It excites him that his internship could have a positive impact, Vanderlaan said.
The club’s director, Antonio Jones, said Vanderlaan has been “an awesome help.”
“Anytime I call his name, he’s eager to do whatever is asked,” Jones said. “Henry has the talent where he knows how to relate the information he knows to the kids.”
Another Ole Miss student and McLean Institute participant, Brittanee Wallace, is set to come to the club on July 8 and give the children a taste of NASA. J.R. Love, a project manager with the McLean Institute, said Wallace will help bring information from the Stennis Space Center to the Delta.
• Contact Chloe Ricks at 581-7124 or cricks@gwcommonwealth.com.
