Labor Profile: Union Summer Intern Boaz Young-El

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Boaz Young-El’s interest in activism began as a minority student at Hampden-Sydney College in Farmville Virginia. “There was not much diversity at Hampden-Sydney,” says Young-El (l), so he joined the Minority Student Union (MSU), a social equality advocacy group on campus. “MSU was one of the most influential student organizations on campus,” Young-El says, “We fought for diversity among the student body and invited prominent black community leaders -- including novelist Nikki Giovanni -- to come speak on campus.” Giovanni addressed her own role in civil rights activism and how it mirrored MSU and Young-El’s work at Hampden-Sidney. Young-El was raised in Prince George, Virginia and graduated from Hampden-Sidney – where he majored in philosophy and later Spanish after studying abroad in Costa Rica where he fell in love with the language -- in 2010. He looks forward to establishing networking opportunities during his Union Summer internship, as well as learning more about the “many faces” of the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO. He plans to stay in the Washington area after Union Summer and pursue further employment opportunities with the local labor movement. - report/photo by Jack Arlook, AFL-CIO Union Summer Intern