Marie Farrell Jennings was a smart and talented college student with a lot of exciting career options. Like a typical college student, however, she had no idea what to do with her life. One day, she stumbled upon a newspaper advertisement for Coro Kansas City, which was the only internship program that could give her work experience in the government, media, labor, business and non-profit sectors, allowing her to explore a multitude of careers. Before she knew it, she was a Coro summer intern and was experiencing the public affairs arena of Kansas City first-hand.

"One of the things that for me was so impressive was the access that you had to community leaders – people who I would have no way of crossing paths with became a regular part of my summer."

A daylong media seminar at Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. rapidly led to her first career working in pharmaceutical public relations for the agency. Later, this led to a career with the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Now she has firmly planted her life in the Kansas City area and is already contributing in big ways. As a member of the Board of Directors, Jennings maintains a strong commitment to Coro alumni relations and advancing the mission of Coro.

At first glance, no one would guess that Betsy Blake used to lack confidence. But confidence, maturity and the ability to manage difficult and unreasonable people are all skills that Betsy gained from her experience in Coro. As an attorney at Legal Aid of Western Missouri, Betsy incorporates all of these skills and more in order to make an impact within the Kansas City community.

"I really wanted to stay in Kansas City after I finished law school. I saw so much potential to effect change in my community… that I wouldn’t have considered if it hadn’t been for Coro…It really helped to center me here."

Just as Betsy saw the interplay of the five sectors of public affairs as a Coro intern, she continues to mix in all five areas when putting together community projects for Legal Aid. For example, while hosting a Coro intern in 2007, Betsy interacted with media, business, government, and non-profits while trying to combat the problem of blighted properties in Kansas City.

Since her Coro experience, Betsy has maintained relationships with many members of her Coro class and has been able to continue her collaboration with them throughout the Kansas City area.

• Name: Siddik Lartey
• Current Position: Graduate School
• Coro Kansas City Year: 2006
• Education: B.A. University of Kansas

"Coro really gave me the opportunity to open up …doors in the community" said Siddik Lartey about his summer internship in 2006. Without the internship program, Siddik said he would have been lost in the vast ocean of the business world.

Exposure to different sectors of public affairs and an understanding of the opportunities available to business professionals are only two of the many things that he gained through the Coro Kansas City Internship in Public Affairs.

When asked about the impact that Coro has on an intern’s life, Siddik replied "I think the Coro Program is very leadership oriented and can help you to broaden your horizons…The other thing that I really liked is that it gets you more familiar with Kansas City." Through the internship, he was made aware of the amazing opportunities Kansas City offers, which prompted him to return to the area after graduating from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

Currently, Siddik plans to pursue his master’s degree in public administration in order to continue to impact the world of public affairs that he was introduced to through his Coro experience.

Thinking back on her Coro summer, Mary Bosco Heinrich recalls how her class came together to give back to the community. At the end of the internship, while working with local neighborhood associations, the interns managed to build a library and paint a house. It gave them a first-hand experience of how people with diverse interests can come together for a common purpose.

Mary believes "It is so important for our young leaders to realize that it’s not just about business or it is not just about yourself – it takes every sector of the economy to really work together."

Since that unforgettable summer with Coro, she went on to work for a year and a half in the community relations department of the University of Kansas Medical Center, followed by Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. in Kansas City, where she has been employed for the past three years. Coro taught Mary "that it is really important for young people to understand how a city works before they even enter into a professional job, " and that knowledge has been incredibly useful in her career. Mary continues to give back to the community through her active membership on four boards in the Kansas City area, Coro included.

• Name: Christopher Atteberry
• Current Position: Vice-President and Associate General Counsel, American Century Investments
• Coro Kansas City Year: 1980
• Education: Kansas University

Christopher Atteberry describes Coro Kansas City as a summer internship program for college students with leadership potential designed to cultivate the skills they need to be leaders in the public sector – a definition he definitely fit. Atteberry graduated from the Coro program in 1980 and went to work for DST Systems, following the footsteps of one of his Coro classmates. Working for DST introduced him to the investments industry and he has stayed in that field ever since. Using the skills he learned in Coro, Atteberry went on to law school where he continued to cultivate his talents.

Atteberry says, "Coro really gave me more confidence in thinking and speaking on my feet, which really comes in handy the rest of your life" and is exactly what "you need to do when you’re a lawyer. Thus, it [Coro] was really good preparation for my career."

Now directing American Century’s legal department, Atteberry remains active in Coro. By serving on the Board of Directors as well as being a selection day judge, he continues to give back to the program that helped define his career.

The path of Laura Nguyen’s life changed dramatically thanks to her Coro summer. A motivated undergraduate student highly involved in campus life, Nguyen was on her way to law school. Or so she thought.

In her brief stint at the attorney general’s office during government week, Nguyen enjoyed analyzing briefs and seeing legal issues in motion. Laura says that it "was nice to be able to use my education and apply it to a more practical means in a career professional setting."

Although she thought law school was for her, Coro exposed Laura to a field she had never considered. After visiting Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. for a media seminar, she seized the opportunity to network and chart a future within the field of public relations. She quickly discovered that her values and mission aligned with the agency, so Nguyen graduated a semester early, began a public relations internship at Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., and was hired full-time two months later.

Although she already knew she was interested in working for the Department of Labor upon completing her undergraduate education, Anne Skinner embraced her Coro experience whole-heartedly as an opportunity to gain more information about her desired profession, as well as to learn about other new and exciting opportunities.

"The Coro internship really shaped my whole career path. My placement with the Department of Labor introduced me to the people who eventually hired me."

Unfortunately for Kansas City, Anne's opportunity to work with the Labor Department took her to Washington D.C. after she completed her undergraduate degree. After several years there, though, Anne found her interests pushing her in a different direction, so she returned to the Midwest to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Missouri. Again, Anne's Coro experience helped her to realize this ambition, as it got her to "think about the personal development of college-aged kids." Now she is enjoying her position at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to help students in this very process. Kansas City is certainly lucky to have her back!

As someone who has spent time working at Legal Aid in Kansas City as well as volunteering in South Africa, Quinton Lucas knows what it takes to be a good leader.

During his Coro summer, he worked at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, 94FM KFKF Radio, and the Kansas City’s Mayor’s Office, being challenged to expand his horizons at every placement.

Lucas accredits the ripening of his leadership skills to the Coro summer internship. He believes that Coro is "one of those things that we have to make sure stays important and relevant because it’s an opportunity unlike any other."

While interning at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Lucas practices the leadership skills he learned in Coro everyday. In the future, Lucas hopes to graduate from Cornell Law School and begin working for a prestigious Kansas City law firm. He also aspires to serve on Coro Kansas City’s Board of Directors.

When Karen Glickstein returned to Kansas City to take a clerkship position with District Court Judge Stevens after graduating from Northwestern Law School, she had no intention of remaining here permanently. At the end of that two-year position, though, Karen found herself turning down a job in Washington D.C. and getting a one-year extension of her clerkship. Why? Happenstance brought Karen and the love of her life together in Kansas City, and she decided to stay.

Thanks to her Coro experience, Karen found herself well suited to live in Kansas City because it "prepared [her] to come back to Kansas City by showing [her] all it has to offer." She explains that Coro shows you that "Kansas City really is an interesting place to be… and it gives you a lot of options… in terms of seeing how you want to get involved…in the community." "That summer was an eye-opening experience in terms of realizing that there was a lot more to Kansas City," Karen says.

Karen continues to live in Kansas City, where she is currently a partner at Shughart Thomson & Kilroy. She is happy to be here at this time in her life and she enjoys the fact that several of her close friends from the Coro program live here as well. Because she gained so much from it, Karen has given back to Coro by serving on the Board of Directors, recruiting interns, and attending alumni events.

• Name: David Battey
• Current Position: President and Founder, Youth Volunteer Corps
• Coro Kansas City Year: 1985
• Education: B.A. Williams College

As a world traveler and researcher, David Battey knows what it takes to be successful. After his Coro summer internship, Battey traveled throughout western Kansas, France and Israel gathering information for a project examining factory workers throughout the globe. Battey says that Coro prepared him well for this endeavor because it refined his research and interviewing skills. After that project was wrapped up, the curiosity Battey learned during his Coro experience helped him move into a new career.

"Coro really helped me gain a lot of curiosity, which is important for life in general. Just being inquisitive as to how our economy works, how business works, how not-for-profits work, how ad agencies work…Coro helped me in a real world way to ask questions and to have a curious mind. It was a perfect follow up to college by taking my curiosity into the real world."

During his travels, Battey saw a need for greater youth community service and as a result, the Youth Volunteer Corps was born in 1987. Today, the YVC has offices nationwide as well as several in Canada, allowing nearly 15,000 youth to log over 216,000 volunteer hours in 2006. Battey loves helping other people and believes Coro helped him identify his passion.

What does a leader in the Kansas City area think of the impact that Coro has on the local arena? "Coro really does build leaders for the city, that is its primary focus." According to Joiner, the Coro program is one of the best ways to develop involved and informed civic leaders out of the most promising of young adults.

Coro Kansas City helped to not only mold Joiner’s ambitions after college but also to educate her in how to properly apply her knowledge and skills to serving the community. "The Coro experience encourages community involvement, it encourages you to be aware of your community and the needs of your community. So I believe very strongly that my involvement in community activities, boards and non-profit organizations in town is fully consistent with my Coro training."

Joiner found that her Coro experience impacted her future in such a positive manner that she felt compelled to immediately join the Coro Board of Directors once she returned to Kansas City. She has served on the Board for three years.