We’re excited to welcome our interns this summer – Braydon Brewster and Naomi Nesmith! Both Braydon and Naomi bring unique perspectives and experiences to CARA. Their shared passion and interest in education, equity, and community engagement promises an exciting and productive summer. This is CARA’s 12th summer participating in Brown University’s Careers in the Common Good (CCG) internship program and the first time an intern will support a policy project.

Welcome, Naomi and Braydon! We can’t wait to see the incredible contributions you will make.

Braydon Brewster

Braydon Brewster is a rising sophomore at Brown University considering a major in Finance. This summer, he will be working with CARA’s Right to College and College Bridge programs, helping to prepare training materials and coordinate summer training sessions for peer leaders.

What attracted Braydon to CARA was its focus on education equity. As a former tutor at his high school, he remembers the significant difference the support he provided his peers made in their academic life. Braydon feels that growing in a small town in upstate New York made him unaware of the extent of educational inequalities. It wasn’t until he took a class on the sociology of education at Brown that he started learning about how race, class, gender, and other forms of social inequality impact educational opportunities and outcomes, and the ways he can play a role in creating change in the system.

Braydon is passionate about learning and growing his skills, especially in new technology and how it can help influence change in systems and help teams work better. This summer, he is excited to enhance his skills including in public speaking, continue exploring his career interests, and meeting new people.

Naomi Nesmith

Naomi Nesmith is a sophomore at Brown University, majoring in Literary Arts with an independent study focusing on structural inequities and Black identity. This summer she will be working with our policy and research team, taking the lead with CARA’s first Youth Research Council that will conduct research on how young New Yorkers are thinking about the value of higher education.

Naomi’s journey to CARA is rooted in her love for writing and her commitment to addressing educational disparities. As a teenager, she was an avid reader and writer, with a particular interest in poetry. Her passion for creative expression led her to become an enrichment teacher for 5th and 6th graders during a gap year in college, specializing in creative writing for English Language Learners (ENL) and students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP). Through this teaching experience, Naomi says she witnessed firsthand the inequities in education.

This summer, Naomi aims to grow as a researcher and is excited about conducting research that informs policy and empowers young people. Naomi believes that many students are eager to learn more about the world and their place in it but lack the support in finding their place from people with shared experiences. She is ready to contribute to CARA’s mission addressing this support gap.