This week, the theme of our learning session was leadership, and what makes a leader. This is a conversation I’ve had in many spaces before, but I had new takeaways and a perspective on how to apply it to my fellowship at We Amplify Voices. One of the things we talked about was focusing on your “why,” whether that is from an organizational or individual perspective. A lot of the time we start with what we do, maybe get into how we do it, but leave out the why. What we should be doing is starting with our why, or our purpose, and then working out to how and what we do. 

Through this conversation I have started to reflect on why I wanted to apply to the Columbus Foundation Summer Fellowship Project and why I chose We Amplify Voices as my top choice. I am passionate about community building, and have always loved art. I enjoy working for nonprofits because their missions are to better the communities around us, and I applied to this fellowship because I wanted to be in a space where people really care about the work they’re doing and who I would be able to learn from. When I saw the mission of We Amplify Voices, “healing through creative expression,” I knew my love for art would fit perfectly into my learning goals for the summer.

This week at the kid’s camp we got to go on two field trips, one to the library and one to the Columbus Museum of Art. Being able to see the students being inspired by books and art was very cool to see, and by the end of week two I feel like I have a greater connection with each of them and can see how art fits into their lives. I am excited to see their growth throughout the rest of the month, and they continue to remind me why I am interested in this career path.