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October 18, 2017

Greetings to the Student Development Administration Program:

As the College Access Manager of Summer Search Seattle, I had the privilege of working with
De’Andre Jones while he served as our 2017 Summer Search Fellow, where he successfully
completed a 200-hour college access and success internship this summer. Since De’Andre’s first
interview for this internship experience, it was clear that he deeply cares about the student
experience and the transformative power of mentorship, especially concerning students of color
and first-generation college students. Furthermore, the amount of investment, compassion, and
diverse student affairs skillset that De’Andre contributed to our Summer Search program has
continued to be an asset to our team. Specifically, De’Andre was instrumental in successfully
executing the following initiatives with our Summer Search site:

1) College matriculation programming for graduating high school students (i.e. Rites of
Passage event programing)
2) Completed an online community resource compilation focusing on undocumented
student and family populations in Washington state
3) Conducted outreach to our Alumni Summer Search students to track bachelor
degree attainment
4) Completed data evaluation and recommendations of our high school program
recruitment and retention efforts with a focus on males of color.
5) Updating college partnership data for our College Access program
6) In addition to the 5 internship initiatives above, De’Andre also co-facilitated our
Seattle Exploring Equity Dialogues (SEED) which focused on supporting
undocumented students

As De’Andre’s internship site supervisor, I had the pleasure of watching him thrive in leadership
strengths both professionally and personally. De ’Andre has great promise in college access or
success and higher education. He exerts confidence with taking on new tasks or projects, is not
afraid to ask for partnership, and is extremely responsive. I believe that De’Andre has a great
work ethic when it comes to non-profit because the nature of working in non-profit requires
one to focus on multiple projects at once with only so much capacity and funding. Within our
Summer Search non-profit work culture, De’Andre adapted as well as can be expected by wisely
managing his time and capacity in a way that always resulted in a completed project. De’Andre
also advocated for what he needed support on, and demonstrated initiative if a task needed to
get done. Moreover, De’Andre adjusted his schedule to attend training opportunities off site; a
2-day Summer Search training that focused on staff mental health and well-being and a ½ day
training sponsored by Mentor Works (WA) “Can You Hear Me Cross Cultural Communication”.
His desire to be proactive and further his learning as a professional is a strength that will build
upon his expertise in this important work.

De’Andre was also generous with his time in connecting and relating to students, all while
simultaneously providing them with resources to support their post-secondary needs. For
example, if a College Success student unexpectedly arrived, De’Andre would naturally engage in
conversation and support them in processing whatever thoughts and feelings they were
experiencing at that moment.

One of De ‘Andre’s significant moments of impact was around his programming and curriculum
development in our Rites of Passage event. De’Andre integrated identity development
curriculum in partnership with our unconscious bias workshop, shared his personal reflections
as a first-generation college student, and passion for holistic student success. In conclusion of
this event, De’Andre also created affirmation jars for every Summer Search high school
graduate to symbolize and acknowledge each students’ growth and affirmation.

With respect to the Seattle University Student Development Administration Learning Outcomes,
I have witnessed De’Andre show professional promise specifically in the following:

1) Understanding students and student issues


2) Developing and demonstrating skills in leadership and collaboration
3) Utilizing assessment, evaluation, technology, and research to improve practice
4) Adapting student services to specific environments and cultures [and populations]
5) Understanding issues surrounding law, policy, finance, and government
6) Establishing and enhancing professional identity

Whether De’Andre was researching college access and mental health barriers that
undocumented students face, outreaching to colleagues at his Alma Mater to repurpose
curriculum for mentors to have safe conversations with undocumented students, co-leading a
SEED dialogue for our staff, evaluating data and suggesting recommendations for our program
to retain and support males of color, navigating the federal and state laws for undocumented
students, and winning the office “self-care challenge”, he has undoubtedly left his mark at our
organization. With that said, we would be honored to have De’Andre consider working with our
organization in the future if an opportunity arises.

It is evident that De’Andre has the capacity to lead courageous conversations, innovate, and
exercise transformational mentorship in any student development role. It is for these reasons
that I believe De’Andre Jones has tremendous promise as a professional in Student
Development Administration whether in higher education or the non-profit sector. If you have
any questions regarding this recommendation, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With Great Excitement,

Therese Williams
College Access Manager
Summer Search Seattle
1109 1st Avenue, Suite 205
Seattle, WA 98101
TEL 206.729.0911 x 106

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