Time flies. This summer was over with the breeze. Despite its short feeling, my summer was packed full of personal and professional growth thanks to the Columbus Foundation fellowship. 

I eyed this fellowship for a few years before applying (or rather, remembering to apply before the deadline). I remember my excitement seeing all of the host sites from this year and struggling to rank my preferences. So many of the organizations had missions that interested me. I recall seeing the job description for the Local Matters fellow and being intrigued. The role called for strong analytical and writing skills, two skills I had refined well throughout my undergraduate studies. I had the opportunity to briefly meet members of Local Matters during my internship last summer and enjoyed hearing about the work of their organization. The issue of food access was completely new to me and I did not know how to write an operations manual, but I preferred them highly because I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. 

Ten weeks ago, I was nervous to start the program. I was unsure if starting a full-time program before starting law school was the best idea for my well being. However, my fears were quickly quashed within my first week at Local Matters. My team members were all incredibly passionate about food access and displayed an intense enthusiasm for serving the community. I was immediately respected by my peers. Changing the internal operations of an organization requires receiving constructive feedback. In my experience, this is where many organizations fail during operational changes. Hearing criticism or ideas that challenge what one is currently doing is difficult. At Local Matter, the team was extremely receptive to every suggestion and worked collaboratively to identify best practice. This attitude was essential to success in my role. 

Drafting the operations manual pushed me to use new skills and refine existing ones. This task requires me to collaborate with others more than any role before. I also had to analyze internal operations more than ever before. At times, writing an operations manual was challenging because of how disconnected it felt from the work of the organization. I had to constantly remind myself that improving internal capacities allows the organization to better execute their mission, which was a key source of motivation for me. While I will not be around to see what impact my work has, I am happy to know that I was able to use my skill set to help an organization that does amazing and important work. 

Despite the challenges of this summer, which included a brief battle with Covid and a great deal of stress about entering law school, I am incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to participate in this program. As I sit in a cafe in Durham, North Carolina looking back on the past 10 weeks, my heart is full thinking about the people I met and the assistance I was able to provide. I wish everyone I worked with in the fellowship the best of luck in all future endeavors!