From Drama Class to the United Nations: Constance’s Journey

Constance has a lot on her plate this semester. 

Now a junior at Information Technology High School in Queens, she’s taking on Advanced Placement classes, including one she’s especially excited about: French. College is getting closer, career questions are starting to feel more real, and there’s still plenty of ordinary high school stuff to catch up on with her best friend Lucy during their nightly phone calls. 

It’s the kind of full plate a typical teenager both dreads and can’t live without. 

But before the school year began, it was what Constance was helping put on other people’s plates that made this, in her words, “one of the best summers of my life.” 

This summer, Constance landed her first job: an internship in the CulinArt kitchen at the United Nations. Like most people walking into their first job, she wasn’t sure “working” was going to be much fun. 

“I didn’t know what to expect,” she says. “I thought it might be boring.” 

She was very wrong. 

Constance loved it. She connected with coworkers, enjoyed working with customers, and discovered an unexpected passion for culinary arts. It was a major step toward building her future — and one she’d been working toward for years. 

Constance grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens, an only child in a close-knit family who’s creativity was blossoming from an early age. 

“I love making things on my own, imagining things and making them come to life,” she says. 

At eight years old, she began spending Saturdays at Lighthouse Guild through the Young Explorers Program, which helps blind and low-vision kids build skills, friendships, and confidence. As she got older, she graduated into Lighthouse Guild’s Saturday Teen Program, where she explored her creativity, tried new things, and built lasting friendships. 

One of those friendships started on a bus. Constance and another friend were talking about languages when a girl sitting behind them leaned in. 

“Are you speaking Chinese?” she asked. “I also speak Chinese!” 

That was Lucy. A casual conversation blossomed into a close friendship — the same one that now fuels their nightly calls about homework and how annoying adults can be. 

As the Saturdays added up, so did Constance’s experiences. She worked on her art, tried drama and fitness classes, and — less glamorously but just as importantly — built her resume. When she learned about a summer internship at CulinArt through Lighthouse Guild’s Summer Pathways Program, she was ready to put those skills to the test. 

After an unforgettable summer at the UN, culinary arts has joined technology and media studies on her list of possible futures. And she’s in no hurry to choose just one. 

“Take your time to find what truly makes you happy,” Constance says, recalling advice from those “boring” resume-building sessions that turned out to matter more than she expected. 

This year, AP classes and college prep mean Constance won’t be back for the Saturday Teen Program. But the community she built isn’t going anywhere. Lucy is still a phone call away, and Constance hopes to return one day as a Lighthouse Guild Tech Pals mentor — helping older adults with vision loss learn assistive technology. 

For now, she has homework, midterms, college prep, and plenty more to keep her busy. 

So yes — Constance has a lot on her plate. But she’s using her creativity to make that plate her own, and to serve up something delicious for the rest of us.