The past 10 weeks have been full of learning and growth. My first, and longest, job was in the food industry. Coming from 4-6 hour days that started at 5:30 AM and being on my feet all day, to a 9-5 in an office, was an abrupt change. I came to the Columbus Foundation Summer Fellowship ready and eager to gain nonprofit work experience. Before my time here, I had no experience working with nonprofits, and I was excited to get started.

When I got to Jewish Family Services, it was clear they were anticipating my arrival. People came to my desk to introduce themselves and thank me for being there, I was called into offices so I could hear stories from staff about the industry and what brought them to the agency, and overall was encouraged to continue on my path (with many more people now cheering me on).

Many people commented on this phenomenon, and I was no different: from day one, I was put right to work and diving into the agency. I liked this, though. I have said this many times in interviews and in conversations – I want to gain hands-on experience and be a productive and purposeful member of the team. I got to do that at Jewish Family Services.

What I also loved was doing mission driven, community-supportive work. Last fall, I took a class titled “Introduction to Nonprofits” and we talked extensively on what our theories of change were. I wrote about how mine was centered on community empowerment. To me, JFS does something very similar – clients come to the agency and are welcomed as they are. They are given guidance and support to achieve the goals they have for themselves.

Throughout my time this summer, I have grown greatly as a professional. I sharpened my time management, communications, teamwork, and research skills as I built the marketing plan and stakeholder engagement maps. The social media thank-a-thon helped me build skills in content creation and managing social media sites. I know I will take all of these skills with me as I move on to my next endeavor.

I want to thank the Columbus Foundation and Jewish Family Services for this tremendous opportunity. It was an honor to spend the last 10 weeks as a Summer Fellow, and I will cherish the lessons I learned and people I met as I move forward.