Podcast link: https://soundcloud.com/user-110817248/tcf-blog-week-6/s-kHrcI

Podcast Transcript:

“You know when you meet someone and they’re like “ohhh yeah I was traveling on business merhehrh” Well guess what? That’s me now. I’m really important. So important in fact, I had to travel for business. To Elyria, Ohio.

Technically I went to Cleveland first, but then went to Elyria after. Why, you ask? Well, to take pictures, of course! And I’m really glad I did, because I think at these program sites I got the best pictures of Techie Camps so far. I stopped at two programs in Cleveland and two in Elyria. In Cleveland there was Student WEB CORPS and an E4Tech program happening. In Elyria there were two Techie Camps, one was an elementary school programming camp and the other was a middle school 3D printing camp.

I took a few group photos, so obviously at the end I had them do a few silly ones. This girl in the front is my hero.

Between visiting the two sites, I got lunch with my supervisor Lisa and the person in charge of the Northeast Ohio programs, Michelle. We went to this place called Oh Boy, it’s like a traditional diner joint. I had a veggie burger, and it was jammin. I wasn’t sure if they would have many vegetarian options and I was pleasantly surprised. I scarfed down the sandwich and fries. It was really cute inside, they had jukeboxes at every table! They didn’t work, but they were fun to look at.

Visiting these sites in Northeast Ohio was really impactful for a few reasons.

The first reason is that I was able to see even more of what we’re doing for students. I saw four more programs in action and it was cool to put in perspective how far past Columbus we’re reaching–we even have camps in California!

I got to see some of how our corporate sponsorships work and what that looks like. Nordson Corporation is one of our major sponsors, and they sent a woman named Cecilia to check out our camps to see what their dollars are doing. I’m not really interested in the financing or business side of things, but it was eye opening to see what those interactions are like.

Most importantly, it made me even more excited to be an educator myself. When I was little I wanted to be a teacher, but as I got older I decided I didn’t want to because I didn’t see myself in a classroom and I wanted to do something more media related. Turns out that I really am supposed to be a teacher, and I can do that in a myriad of ways! I want to teach art and media to the community. Hanging out with the little kids doing their programming camp was such a blast. They are so funny, cute, quirky and loving. I just can’t wait until I’m the one doing the instruction.

I can’t believe this is week 6. Time flies when you’re working for a non-profit (having fun)!”