Taking Flight

My name is Marynn Krull (she/her). Born and raised in Colorado Springs, I chose Colorado College partially because I wanted to reinvest my education into my community to improve opportunities for other students in Colorado Springs. I jumped at a PIFP internship with Educating Children of Color because it was an excellent opportunity to do just that.

As an International Political Economy major with a Journalism minor, I study the systemic operations of power, economic structures, and the role of media in shaping our socioeconomic landscape. My coursework, including Political Psychology and Race, Dispossession, and the Global Economy, has sharpened my ability to analyze policy issues through economic and sociopolitical lenses. Through leadership roles at The Catalyst and local internships, I’ve honed my strategic communication, program management, and civic engagement skills. My experience in journalism strengthens my ability to distill complex issues for diverse audiences, while my policy work emphasizes feedback and impact-driven solutions. The fast-paced Colorado College Block Plan has equipped me with the adaptability and research skills needed to navigate evolving policy landscapes effectively.

Educating Children of Color (ECOC) is a Colorado Springs nonprofit dedicated to dismantling the cradle-to-prison pipeline for children of color and children in poverty through education. ECOC educates by working with youth directly, educating parents, and increasing youth-serving professionals' knowledge and awareness. In addition to working in the community, we award scholarships and educational gifts.

The Leadership Academy is a delinquency and suicide prevention program working with low-income students and students of color to build students' self-confidence and instill life and leadership skills in students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to lead. Students meet with college mentors monthly over a full academic year and complete a service-learning project of their choosing to give back to their communities. Students engage in suicide prevention education, training around their constitutional rights and how to survive interactions with police, education about grit and perseverance, and other activities that foster critical life and leadership skills. Leadership Academy empowers youth with the skills and confidence to pursue higher education and post-secondary careers.

I was tasked with creating ECOC's first-ever Summer Leadership Academy program.

ECOC also works with youth-serving professionals in Diversity University, a week-long inclusion and diversity training designed to increase equity and justice by helping individuals address their biases and leverage their power to address problems of disparate treatment. I was privileged to attend Diversity University I and II at the end of my internship experience.

The ECOC Summit is an annual conference which provides opportunities for educators, juvenile justice, and child welfare professionals to enhance their ability to retain and inspire the students they serve. Students learn more about themselves and explore higher education and career opportunities through exciting sessions with industry professionals. Parents learn to communicate with schools and their children to maximize their child's success.

At the 2025 Summit, we awarded $88,500 in scholarships, not including door prizes, educator awards, and educational gifts.

ECOC offers free SAT tutoring for students over Zoom, facilitated by Colorado College tutors. Outstanding student participants are awarded laptops for their commitment to their education.

In the annual iInspire Awards program, ECOC partners with the Equity Taskforce to Address Minority Overrepresentation of the 4th Judicial District Best Practices Court to sponsor this program for youth who have distinguished themselves by overcoming adversity and inspiring others to do the same. iInspire recognizes youth from El Paso and Teller County, Colorado.

ECOC also maintains a youth advisory board of current and former students participating in our programming to ensure our programming is responsive to the needs and wants of those we serve.

ECOC holds a variety of events and information sessions throughout the year as-needed and as opportunities arise.

I began my internship experience in mid-May to begin preparing for the June Leadership Academy. The position was predominantly remote until our two week-long Summer Leadership Academies, communicating daily over email and meeting one-to-three times weekly with supervisors to check in and report progress.

My primary tasks were working on developing a schedule, budget, curriculum, and team of volunteers and paid college mentors for the Summer Leadership Academies, tailored to the grant requirements and requests of partner schools.

I recruited and managed a team of professional volunteers to lead sessions with students, as well as paid college mentors.

This took up the bulk of my time until about mid-January.

Going into my internship experience, I wanted to learn more about grant writing and nonprofit funding. I was privileged to attend two trainings offered by the Office of Adult and Juvenile Justice Assistance about nonprofit management and grant writing. After this training, I worked with ECOC's executive assistant and grant writer to develop a Grant Writing Committee. This was a huge step in improving the sustainability and fundability of our organization. In August, I got to write and apply for a grant with the Edson Foundation.

I wanted to build my confidence in undertaking new and unfamiliar tasks. This was an incredible internship for that. My bosses and coworkers awarded me a lot of freedom to figure things out as I went, from creating our program schedule and developing a budget to writing the program curriculum and recruiting volunteers. Working in a mostly remote format pushed me to be more independent and self-starting in my work style than in previous internships. I left this internship experience feeling so much more confident in myself and my ability to 'fly solo.'

From driving to Denver (eek!) to improvising one-hour with an auditorium of antsy middle schoolers after a presenter couldn't attend, this internship was an incredible opportunity to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I learned a lot about how to think on my feet, be adaptable on the fly, and how to anticipate challenges in advance.

Mentorship played a crucial role in my path to higher education, so I eagerly embraced the opportunity to help Educating Children of Color develop its pilot Summer Leadership Academy. The academy directly supports students in pursuing higher education and career opportunities, and I was tasked with expanding its reach beyond the academic year by designing two summer programs. These programs served 85 middle and high school students, connected them with college mentors, and fostered leadership skills and confidence.

I developed a curriculum centered on grit, goal-setting, mental health, leadership, teamwork, and high school preparedness. To ensure students saw relatable role models, I recruited and managed a team of 10 college mentors from underrepresented backgrounds who helped facilitate the programming. I had the opportunity to network with local experts and recruit them as volunteers to offer programming to the students.

Seeing the tangible effects of my work was incredibly rewarding. Quantitative outcomes underscored the program’s success: 87% of participants felt more likely to pursue college or vocational training, 95% felt better prepared to lead, and 91% felt empowered to overcome setbacks. Beyond the numbers, I witnessed first-hand students' growth in confidence, engagement, and leadership.

As a low-income student, I know how transformative summer programs can be for personal and academic outcomes. Giving back to a community that once supported me has reinforced my commitment to education equity. This experience has also deepened my belief in data-driven interventions as a means of creating meaningful, lasting change.

I worked for ECOC briefly as a volunteer, but was then hired as a work-study intern for the 2024-25 academic year. Officially, I'm working as a media and communications intern and have gained more experience in organizing the annual Summit, Leadership Academy, and annual fundraiser. I hope to continue working with ECOC throughout my college career and feel more confident in pursuing a graduate degree in public administration.

Connect with me on  LinkedIn  or reach out through my Colorado College email.