Things really stepped into high gear this week at CityYear as I met more folks from HeadQuarters (HQ), went to the office for the first time, and attended a Board meeting. Though Monday was a slow day, Tuesday through today (Thursday), I was asked to go in-person to the office. I was a bit nervous to do this, since I have not been to an indoors space that was not home since the pandemic started. Nevertheless, the folks at CityYear Columbus made me feel welcomed and all wore masks while in the office.

As I stepped into the office on Tuesday to attend the End-of-Year Staff meeting, Ruth was gracious enough to give me a tour of their (amazing) office. She even walked me to my spacious desk area for the summer, which was filled with welcome goodies!

Attending the staff meeting proved useful for me in getting to know the other members of the organization and to really get a vibe for CityYear Columbus. Although some of their conversations were a bit too technical for me to fully grasp, my hope is that I will learn all things CityYear soon enough to understand the jargon they use on a regular basis.

Perhaps the most intense part of this week consisted of attending the last Board meeting for the fiscal year. I was charged with taking notes–something that is going to be on their official records–and so I was a bit nervous about how this would work out. Thankfully, I had familiarized myself with some of the names of the attendees, understood enough of the basic acronyms to know what the Board members and Staff used, and was able to take down useful and detailed notes. Attending the Board meeting was also useful exposure as to the administrative and Directive processes of an organization, which was something I am interested in observing.

This week I was also assigned official projects for the summer. I posted my first social media posts for the week and began to do research on prospective stakeholders–essentially potential donors for the organization. Perhaps the most random project assigned to me is to decorate and hype up this boat/yacht for the Kiwanis Regatta that CityYear was invited to participated in for the summer:

It may be random, but I will do my best for this! I have never done a regatta nor have I done something more arts centered or creative in a while. So I am excited to do this project. If any of you have any tips on how to decorate this, let me know!