Two weeks ago, I took my first week-long vacation from work that didn't coincide with a major holiday. In other words, while I was on vacation, everyone else at CEP was still working, and, while I enjoyed every minute of my time off, I was slightly dreading the heavy load of work that was sure to await me when I returned. Much to my surprise, my workload was more than manageable, and Mother Nature also stepped in to ease my transition by granting Washington DC with some truly remarkable spring weather. The cherry blossoms came out in full bloom weeks earlier than average (and weeks before the meticulously planned centennial Cherry Blossom Festival, which is definitely unfortunate for everyone involved in that), and I am not exaggerating when I say that I don't think I have ever seen anything more beautiful in my life. I went back to see them on three separate occasions last week, and they made me SO happy!! It was really wonderful both to enjoy their beauty myself and to see people of all ages enjoying them around me. I would definitely recommend making it a point to go and see them at least once in your life.
In other news, this week has been pretty eventful for the DC fellows. On Monday a group of us went to see a Washington Wizards game, which was really fun (and paid for by AlumniCorps!)--the Wizards actually almost won, and we all won free sandwiches to Chick-Fil-A! And yesterday, we attended a seminar on nonprofit leadership and the concepts in Jim Collins' book "Good to Great," which outlines principles behind greatness in the social sector. The panelists and host John Nolan did an excellent job of facilitating a group discussion, in which we all had the opportunity to reflect upon where our nonprofits are on the path from "good to great." With over eight months of experience at CEP now, I am infinitely more knowledgeable about the nonprofit world than when I first began. However, taking part in discussions like the one we had during Wednesday's seminar and hearing from such experienced nonprofit leaders served to remind me just how much there is to learn, both about the nonprofit sector and about leadership in general. I'm very excited to be continuing this learning process during my fellowship next year, and perhaps paving my own path towards becoming a nonprofit leader.
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