Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

I can’t believe we’re entering the third week of the fellowship! The time has flown by but so far my experience at Columbus Collegiate Academy has been great. My first week at CCA was mostly comprised of learning the ropes and figuring out my role in the recruitment/student retention process because that is the first objective I will be working on this summer. As I mentioned in my last post, Columbus Collegiate Academy is a free-tuition, public charter middle school with two campuses in Columbus. The first CCA School (located on the east side) opened in 2008 and the second school (located in Franklinton on the west side) opened last year. Both schools are relatively new and despite recognition for their high academic achievements, recruiting and enrolling students is still a main priority. I think most people associate high performing charter schools with a lottery enrollment system. While this is sometimes the case, most new charter schools have to concrete evidence of their academic excellence and gain respect and recognition in the community and among potential students and families; and this takes time. In Ohio, charter schools who have reached their total enrollment capacity thus having more applicants than spots by a certain date, I believe its April 30^th, must utilize a lottery system. CCA is in the beginning stages of this process and in just a couple years the Main Campus will mostly likely have more applicants than spots. However until that time, recruiting and enrolling students is a huge priority. Along with CCA’s Student Recruitment Manger, Brett MacAdoo, it is my primary responsibility.

CCA West on Dana Ave

CCA West recently acquired Dana Ave Elementary School in Franklinton and will be moving out of The Boys and Girls Club Westside. This is a very exciting acquisition and will give CCA West much more space and flexibility in a building of their own. This news was recently announced so getting the word out to potential students and parents is crucial.

Daily, Brett and I work on a variety of targeted enrollment strategies to recruit students. The easiest way to access large numbers of students is mailings to every outgoing 5^thand 6^th grader enrolled in Columbus City Public Schools. CCA has sent over 7,000 letters to students and their families and recipients are regularly calling to make appointments.  Almost every day we have families coming in to both campuses to take a short tour, learn more about CCA and have the opportunity to turn in an application. With all the work that Brett has done and recently the work I have contributed too, CCA’s Main campus is utilizing a waitlist for 7^th and 8^th grade and is getting very close to a waitlist for 6^th grade. CCA West still has a little ways to go, but we are getting more interest daily. One of the projects I worked on this week was to go door to door of houses we believed had outgoing 5^th graders who previously went to Dana Ave Elementary (which is CCA West as of 7/1). Going door to door in Franklinton was an eye opening experience that I enjoyed very much.  I went to about 30 houses in all, of which I got 7 or so leads to follow up with. All in all I think it was a good utilization of a targeted strategy and we will see where these leads go to in the next few weeks!       

“Doing Business in the Cloud”

This was the title of ICDC’s (Increase Community Development Corporation) June workshop that featured a local authority on the subject.

The event also doubled as a networking opportunity for small business owners.  I was surrounded by creative, highly motivated people and channeling my inner “techie” at the same time.

Was this a dream? No- this was week two.  Awesome.

After the presentation ended, the entrepreneurs were given a chance to socialize.  I could barely contain my enthusiasm concerning the intricacies of cloud based security or the limitless opportunities to synthesize an organization’s marketing and administrative functions all from a single application.

I mean, who could not get excited over this stuff?

After mingling with several individuals and feeling confident in my networking ability, I glanced around the room and noticed an older gentlemen sitting stoically in the corner sipping on an orange Fanta.  Sensing another opportunity to figure out what makes these entrepreneurs tick, I casually approached with a welcoming smile and offering my best business handshake.  He shook my hand, returned the smile, and immediately gave me his business card without uttering a word.  I returned the gesture by giving him my card and verbally introducing myself.  I was cut short as the man finally spoke:

My updated business card.

“You remind me of Conan O’Brien.  We’ll be in touch.”

Needless to say, I was taken aback.  I quickly tried to determine an appropriate response, but before I could say anything in return, the gentlemen strolled out of the event.

—

Small business owners face surprises every day that force them to quickly determine an appropriate response.  The reaction to this slim window of opportunity that entrepreneurs are accustomed to is a critical component which defines the success of most small businesses.

I have learned that in order to keep up with this rare breed known as the “entrepreneur,” you have to think quickly, use your best judgment with the information you have, and execute your decision promptly.  Time is their most valuable asset.  Come prepared or politely move along.

—

Within 5 minutes of returning to my desk after this interesting interaction, there was already an email waiting for me from this gentlemen with the title- “Lunch next week- Great meeting you.”

This guy is good.

Fifty-nine citizens, eleven businesses, and an insane amount of high fives later – week two at Junior Achievement flew by!

This week was Junior Achievement BizTown Summer Camp, so it was my opportunity to see BizTown in action. My role in the entire process was to work as Junior Counselor – basically I had the privilege of acting as a camp counselor and enjoying the entire BizTown experience.

Mayor Spears was sworn in on Thursday morning.

On Monday the campers took a tour of BizTown and filled out their job applications. That night the citizens were assigned a job. It was a giant puzzle of students and roles. We chose our mayor because on Monday morning he took the initiative to shake each counselors hand upon meeting them (professional development lesson from a ten-year-old: first impressions are everything). 

On Tuesday and Wednesday the campers worked to create marketing materials and merchandise to be sold in their respective shops. Sprinkled throughout the day were supplemental activities that taught campers about investment or business tactics in general.

I primarily worked with Donatos and City Hall. It was awesome watching these fifth graders take total ownership of their businesses down to coming up with a slogan (“It’s always Donatos Time”).

On Thursday and Friday, BizTown ran itself. The shop employees worked together to create product displays and determine the appropriate prices for the merchandise.

Our attorney showing off his patriotic planter display. He helped with retail while solving the Case of the Missing Teddy Bear!

From the morning until the afternoon, the citizens ran the town using their job checklists and running errands from shop to shop.

Our lovely Donatos staff serving a delicious lunch!

For lunch, citizens would pay $2 of their BizTown earnings for hot meals (donated by Donatos and Raising Cane’s! Yum!).

My favorite part of working in BizTown was watching the youth collaborate. They were so engaged with the experience and all were working for the common goal of making the town run. They would hold each other accountable, follow-up, and make adjustments as they found necessary.

I am so happy this week fell so early into my fellowship. It was wonderful opportunity to see BizTown in action and really see the impact the experience had on these campers. I feel much better informed as I move forward in my summer projects.

I am looking forward to the rest of the summer, but I am sad that this week of camp is over, it was so much fun to get to know the other staff and the campers.

Hello from ETSS!

This week was the beginning of the ETSS summer camp, and the kids were very excited to be here! This first week was a little hectic, trying to establish camp rules and become familiar with the camp schedule. On Monday and Tuesday, I began my nutrition classes at both sites, dividing the kids up into 3 groups based on their school grade. This week’s nutrition lesson was the My Plate. I created a My Plate poster with velcro foods from different food groups. I had the kids come up to the poster to place each food in the correct section! The kids really enjoyed the poster! I also had the younger kids color a My Plate coloring sheet and the older kids create a healthy meal plan. On Wednesday and Thursday, the lesson was “Where does our food come from?” I created a tomato plant poster to show the kids how plants grow. We also discussed the different types of foods that we eat (roots, stem, leaf, flower, and fruit) and read a book called Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens. I had the kids create their own plant poster and this was such a success! The kids did a fantastic job with their posters! 

Overall, this week was a great week! I’m still trying to remember all of their names, but hopefully by the end of next week I will have it all memorized! Next week, we learn about nutrition labels!

Last Friday I spent the morning in the attic, moving boxes, sorting, organizing, and generally getting covered in dust and cobwebs (but no spiders, thank goodness!). When I opened the door to leave the attic, a three year old girl looked directly at me and exclaimed, “You’re real!” Why yes, yes I am. I must have unknowingly been making quite a racket upstairs. I can only imagine who or what she thought was making it. And as a result I received one of the simplest affirmations ever. Yes, I am real.

My favorite moments each day happen in the hallways of CELC Eastside, where I am peppered with questions and snippets from the toddlers. Who are you? My mom’s at work. Are you from the library? What’s in your box? What’s your name? My name is Isabelle. I have a mosquito bite. Zaia has an ouchie. And so on . . .

These are some of the less tangible treasures of my time at CELC. My major tangible find this week was a Toshiba laptop from 1993. Yes, that date is correct. Imagine what a 20 year old laptop looks like . . . awesome! Anyone in the market for such a machine? And no, it’s not particularly historical in terms of the Learning Centers themselves, but it does capture the beginning stages of the digital revolution. With digitization as one of the main aspects of preservation of CELC’s history, finding this laptop (and lots of floppy discs) serves as an important reminder of how easily digital formats can also become obsolete or inaccessible. Just think, most of these toddlers will never know what a VHS is. I must work not only to digitize for the long term, but also to preserve the documents and photos themselves should the digital copy become unusable. Of course I don’t want that to happen, but I work with the available technology and who knows where today’s technology will lead. Even though it is the past, history requires diligent activity to maintain its value and relevance in the present, to “be real,” in the wise words of a toddler.

I didn’t have a chance to mention in my last blog, but last Friday I attended the 2013 Clinical and Community Linkages Conference Psychosocial Distress Screening and Oncology Supportive Care Services with the CSC-CO Clinical Program Director, the President/CEO, the Director of Development and Communication, and the new Clinical Program Assistant Ming. Ming’s first day was on Tuesday, but she was invited to attend the conference. The conference was held at the Quest Business and Conference Center, which is a very nice building located near the Polaris mall.

In the pre-conference meeting, a group of us took part in drumming, meditation, and Tai Chi. Evidence shows that drumming can improve one’s health. I walked in the room after the drumming had begun and was a little taken aback at first. I wasn’t expecting to walk into a room where people were drumming in a circle and where a woman was dancing at 8:30 in the morning, but I have to say that, once I sat down, I found myself unconsciously moving with the beat of the drum. We switched around the drummers, and I became a drummer in the inner circle, and I really had fun with it despite not having any rhythm whatsoever! I just threw myself into the whole experience. After the drumming session, we partook in mindfulness meditation with a Yoga Therapist, which is actually a group offered by CSC-CO I plan to attend in the near future. In this group, we learned different breathing techniques that can help anyone, and breathing properly and mindfully has been proven to improve health as well. After this session, I was very relaxed, but we were not done yet because we had Tai Chi left. I have never done Tai Chi or really seen anyone doing it. It was fascinating watching the instructor do about fifteen poses out of over a hundred. However, within a few minutes of watching him, I knew I would never be able to do it, since I’m not very coordinated. I gave it my best effort, even though I probably looked pretty silly. At my fellowship, I am trying to get out of my comfort level and shed my worries of looking silly. It was an experience, and now I know Tai Chi probably isn’t going to be my thing, but that’s okay. I’d probably say I’m more of a yoga person than Tia Chi. All these fun activities really energized me, and I kind of wanted to do similar fun activities for the rest of the day.

The rest of the conference consisted of keynote addresses from Dr. Ross from OSU Wexner Medical Center and Dr. Wymyslo from the Ohio Department of Health, lunch n’ learn panelist discussions of available services, Distress Screening Tool Overview & Demonstration, and breakout sessions. I attended The Psychosocial Continuum: Program Integration/Integrative Cancer Care. During this session, we learned about the importance of wellness to help with cancer treatment and to prevent cancer, services provided by Riverside Methodist Hospital, and services offered by The Gathering Place. The Gathering Place is very similar to CSC-CO but is located in Cleveland.

At this fellowship, I am learning even more of the importance for social workers to take care of themselves in order to take care of others. My program is always preaching about it as well, but they don’t really expose us to such things as meditation, so I’m glad I’ve had an opportunity to participate in it, as I’ve been interested in meditation for the last few years. I plan to incorporate meditation into my daily life. I want to be a healthy, balanced social worker so that I can be the best social worker I can be. In fact, since I attended the yoga group, I have been thinking that I should take a spiritual quest in the next few years. This fellowship is making me look at life in a very different light.

 This week, we have had some exciting and great events, but since my blog is already pretty long, I will leave it to next time. On an exciting note, CSC-CO grant proposals are finished and will be turned in this week. There was an extension till next Monday, but Peg would rather turn them in ASAP. It has been a stressful and very time consuming process. I’ve helped with only a teeny, tiny bit, but just that tiny bit has been time consuming for me, so I know they have put a lot of energy, heart, and soul into these grant proposals, so fingers crossed they receive the money! I have questioned whether I even really want to write grant proposals after witnessing the process first-hand, but I know it’s a much needed skill that I should acquire to be more marketable. At some point, I will have to bite the bullet and become trained in it.

~Melissa

I think I mayyy have made a mistake by waiting until I was a week and a half into the fellowship before beginning to write about it. I don’t even know where to begin! I guess I’ll start with the most basic and most important info, a description of my project and the people that I will be working with.

Everybody that I’ve met at Alvis House so far has been incredibly welcoming. From Jennifer, April, and Gloria on the resource development team, who I will be working closely with, to Jeff and Corinne down the hall, who I will have almost no professional contact with but encourage me to stop by whenever I need a break from the computer, everyone has made it clear that the Alvis House staff is a big family, willing to lend a hand whenever it’s needed. Even Miss Carol at the front desk always takes the time to ask me about my day and to offer a friendly greeting, and various others have stopped by the ol’ cubicle to say hello, introduce themselves, and let me know that I can always holler if I need anything.

So onto Alvis House itself! Alvis House is an organization that has two main focuses. One is corrections, in which they provide assistance to people involved in the criminal justice system. They run halfway houses, provide rehabilitation services, offer job skills training, and connect clients with employers. The other main area is developmental disabilities, and they provide similar yet different skills training and employment services to people living with DD.

The best way that I can think to describe my role at Alvis House this summer is as a sort of investigative reporter of any and every trend that may influence the services at Alvis House. I will be performing an environmental scan, conducting a SWOT analysis, and facilitating focus groups and interviews (how’s that for business school lingo?!) with various Alvis House staff members and clients. The goal is to spot external trends that may affect Alvis House in the future and to determine if any changes need to be made to AH services. Having an environmental scan and a step-by-step strategy laid out on paper will also help AH to become CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) certified, which will increase the organization’s clout and make it easier to receive funding. This week, I’ve mostly been doing research on the computer and attending orientation sessions, but next week, I have a bunch of meetings scheduled with various people in the organization in order to gain a better understanding of what each individual part does.

My experience so far has been awesome! I’ve learned so much just in the past week and a half, and I’m excited about the insight that will surely be gained from speaking with other staff members next week.

Until next time,

Bridget

My name is Melissa Lester; I’m a graduate student (MSW II) at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. Additionally, I have a B.A. from OSU in sociology. Originally I am from Marion, Ohio which is about 51 miles north of Columbus. I recently moved to Columbus about five months ago to the east side near Bexley. Ironically, I moved to Columbus to be closer to school, my practicum, and to career opportunities such as this fellowship, but I am finding I have to drive to lots of places because Columbus is bigger than I realized. My fellowship with Cancer Support Community Central Ohio (CSC_CO) is currently located in Powell. However, the office will move from Sawmill Parkway to 1200 Old Henderson Road, Columbus, Ohio43220. If anyone knows anyone suffering from cancer or care-giving for someone with cancer then tell them to check out Cancer Support Community Central Ohio, because they offer a wife-variety of services to help individuals with cancer and their families.

I’m excited for this fellowship and the opportunities it affords me. I’ve never had my own office until this fellowship so I’ve been given a glimpse into what it will be like when I am a licensed social worker (hopefully) with my own office. My glimpse tells me my future desk will be covered with paperwork like my current one is! 

The Cancer Support Community Central Ohio provides free emotional support, education, and hope for people with cancer. They offer professionally led support groups, educational workshops, mind/body programs such as Yoga, Qigong, Tai Chi, so people affected by cancer can learn the skills necessary to regain control, reduce stress, feelings of isolation, and restore hope.

My primary focus at CSC_CO will be to work on their west side expansion program. The west side of Columbus is underserved part of Columbus, so CSC_CO has plans to offer educational workshops and partnering with other nonprofits in the area to offer more opportunities for individuals living with cancer on the west side  to incorporate healthier practices into their everyday life. I also will fill in with other projects, and at times support the Program Director, (my fellowship supervisor) Peg.

 The first part of my week has been spent becoming familiar with everyone and the office environment. Cancer Support Community Central Ohio has countless volunteers and many of them work in the office so every day I have met a new face. It’s great to see that there are so many individuals willing to volunteer their time.

Towards the end of the week I helped a little with CSC _CO grant proposals, they are writing two that are due on Monday. This experience has exposed me to what the process of grant writing is like. Grant writing is a very marketable skill to have in social worker so at some point it’s a skill I plan to have. I’ve learned that grant writing is very time consuming and stressful. I have a new found respect for individuals that spent countless hours writing grants to fund projects they are passionate about. I also have a new found respect for individuals that work in the nonprofit sector, because they work way harder than I ever imagined. I knew they gave a lot of their time, heart and soul but I had no idea until my first week at CSC.

I look forward to my future opportunities and experience with this fellowship.

The keys that should have been in my pocket.

I walked out of our orientation fully motivated and anxious to start my summer at INCREASE CDC.  As I was strolling through the parking lot, my sense of elation came to a sudden halt as I reached into my pocket expecting to find car keys, but came away empty-handed.  Immediately, I pulled out my cell phone, pretending to be in control of the situation, while I erratically retraced my steps.  After several fruitless searches, I went back to my car and there they were — my keys were sitting in the driver’s seat.  I sighed and shook my head in disbelief as I had managed to successfully pull off one of the more impressive day-one debacles in modern times.

Thankfully, after several distress calls, both my roommate and girlfriend executed this rescue mission with Usain Bolt-like speed, dropping off a spare set of keys and slinging some well deserved jokes at my expense.

I jumped in my car and headed for the second half of my orientation at INCREASE.  I did my best to laugh off the past hour while listening to the soothing melodies of the Pandora “Enya” station.  Ten minutes of mid-90’s ambient music helped ease the nerves considerably.

The welcoming at INCREASE was incredible.  Carmen, Deonna, and Mr. Carter treated me as one of the family from the minute I stepped through the door.  I was introduced to dozens of people, participated in productive meetings, and was even asked for input on proposals essential to the future planning of the organization.  I was both surprised and invigorated by the autonomy in which I have been granted to see my project through.

The next 9 weeks are as equally important to INCREASE as they are to me.  This fellowship truly is not just another internship.  This fellowship is a chance to impact an organization in a lasting, meaningful way.

I am driving my fellowship experience.  I am just grateful it doesn’t require keys.