Serving and Socializing!

A month into my fellowship, my work at Character Education Partnership continues to excite me and never fails to keep me busy. Maybe this is something I should have expected--after all, this is a year-long fellowship and a month is actually not a very long time. However, after spending multiple summers in internship positions where I was given license to essentially do whatever I wanted and where I oftentimes created my own work and sense of responsibility, finding myself being held accountable for more than enough work to do everyday is a new experience for me, and one that I have found to be enjoyable and rewarding. I cannot stress enough what a valuable experience I think it will be to have worked for a year in a small non-profit such as CEP. The fellows here are integral parts of the staff--without them, work that is crucial to the success of the organization would simply not get done. I derive a lot of satisfaction from learning about ALL the aspects of running a non-profit (fundraising, development, communications, accounting, administration, managing the various programs, working with the Board, etc.), and from having the opportunity to see firsthand how my day-to-day tasks contribute to the overall well-being of CEP. The day that my first grant is accepted will definitely be a personal as well as a group triumph!

Beyond my actual fellowship position, I've also enjoyed taking advantage of the other aspects of the fellowship program--meeting my mentor and the other fellows! My mentor (class of '01) has been really helpful as I try to figure out exactly what it is I want to do with my life. Like me, she graduated from Princeton knowing that she wanted to help kids but unsure as to how she wanted to do so. Like me, she ruled out a lot of careers that she did NOT want to pursue but didn't have a clear idea for a career that she did want to pursue. Talking to her about her job as a policy analyst focusing on child health and early education granted me a lot of insight into the vast number of careers available for someone who wants to make a difference in the lives of children but isn't sure that doing clinical work is the right path for her. After our conversations, I'm doing more research on maternal/child health and other public health programs.

And of course, I have loved meeting the other fellows! The social chairs of the fellowship program in DC organized a dinner for us in late July, and today we had more bonding time during DC Public Schools Beautification Day, which is a citywide effort to clean up all the public schools before the first day of school. I joined some of this year's and last year's fellows at Stuart Hobson Middle School (the #2 middle school in the District, as one of the parents proudly informed us), where we moved books to their designated classrooms, sweeped the sidewalks, and cleared the gates of weeds and vines. It was an early morning that turned into a hot day, but I had a lot of fun helping out at the school, meeting some of the students and parents there, and getting to know the other fellows a little better. Adjusting to an environment in which, unlike college, you have to actually try in order to be social has been difficult at times, and it's nice to have a network of people my age who share many of my interests through Project 55/AlumniCorps. I'm very grateful that we're provided with these opportunities to serve and connect with one another, and I'm looking forward to participating in more fellows' events to come!