As I wrap up all of my responsibilities to the Columbus Foundation in order to fulfill my Fellowship expectations, I am so glad it is not my final week at the RIC. I am lucky to have a few more weeks in order to fulfill my hours and am even luckier to be happy about that! I have had the most incredible time with the staff and volunteers at the RIC and the community we serve – I never want to leave! I also feel very lucky to have been a part of this specific fellowship cohort. All of my peers are amazing, passionate, dedicated people and I am so glad we got to spend 10 weeks together. Last week, we got to spend a fun evening together eating quesadillas and watching Barbie! I also really enjoyed hearing about their experiences during our final presentations at the closing luncheon on Friday. It was very special to hear about everything they all did and have some of our supervisors there to cheer us on! I hope we all stay in touch.

Overall, this has been such an incredible experience and I am thankful for all of the personal and professional growth I have gone through these past 10 weeks. I have learned and honed so many skills that will help me no matter where I go after this. I have made some friendships, and how NOT to make enemies even when that is the easy thing to do. I am proud to have been a Columbus Foundation 2023 Fellow and even more proud to have been a small part of the incredible work that the RIC does. I can’t wait to continue volunteering there and working with this incredible community of dedicated, hard-working, kind, generous, and patient individuals. I am looking forward to coming back for a few weeks following my vacation!

In the works: I am currently talking to Tobi from the Artmobile and Betty Lise from the OSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering outreach program to plan after-school activities for the kids in our community! I am excited to help bring some fun, educational and creative activities to Riverview Drive and am looking forward to hanging out with the kids again.

Thank you to the Columbus Foundation and the Riverview International Center for the best summer ever!