Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Unfortunately, this week is the last week of the month-long CIT program. During this last week, the nine counselors in training were able to select which camp they would want to assist in. Some went to the kindergarten – third grade camp, while others spent their mornings in the pre-school camp and their afternoons in the special-needs camp. This week, I began to reminisce to the first day that I met the CITs and did the icebreaker game with them. I remember vividly how nervous the CITs were on the first day of camp. I have seen tremendous growth in their communication and leadership skills. They have grown attached to the campers that they worked with and have developed great relationships with the counselors whom they assisted. Overall, the CITs have become comfortable with the role of a camp counselor.

During this week, the CITs wrapped up the skit they have been working on, and will perform it for the entire camp tomorrow. With the CIT program also being a professional development program, I did practice interviews with each CIT to determine their understanding of professionalism in interviews. Overall they did well, and I was able to provide thorough feedback to each CIT. I interviewed them as if they had just applied to become a camp counselor. Therefore, the interview questions that I prepared were real-life scenarios that can happen during camp.

My favorite part of the CIT program was the professional development aspect of it. I enjoyed giving thorough advice that would help each CIT perform as a great counselor for next year’s summer camp. I was able to give more advice to one specific CIT, as we shared the same race and gender. I knew that she could relate to me and I am glad I was presented with the opportunity to give her certain advice on professionalism, that was only applicable to her.

It’s week six at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus and this has been my craziest week yet. There has been some movement on the administrative side of things, meaning I will no longer be reporting to one of my two bosses and I will be taking on a larger role within CXC. I will be continuing my outreach project by designing a student cartoon competition and hiring a local cartoonist to create an eye-catching advertisement to be promoted digitally. Starting next week, I will be taking on the huge task of completely setting up a functional database for CXC. I think that will be a fantastic learning experience and a skill that I can certainly promote in the future.

This is my first time experiencing administrative turnover in a company first-hand and I’ve been reflecting on it quite a lot. It’s easy for me to feel guilty or imposter-syndrome when attempting to take on bigger roles, particularly as a student. I have been trying to remind myself of one of the recent fellows learning sessions where Kelsie Fields spoke to us with such poise and knowledge of nonprofits, despite only having just graduated. Students need to be reminded of their agency and their knowledge, particularly when in a fellowship role. Throughout this summer I have learned to speak up more about my ideas because they can be valuable and my boss has always been receptive and appreciative to a new point of view.

This week we had another fellows learning session about design and implementation. Most interestingly, we spoke about bias and accessibility in research—a topic that I find really important. I had the opportunity to speak with our guests about making my published writing for a lay audience and they offered great advice and suggestions. These sessions have become so important to me and I really look forward to continuing the conversation.

At every weekly Local Matters staff meeting, time is set aside to focus on two foundational components of the organization’s culture: gratitude, and mission moments.

Gratitude is a time to acknowledge the kindness or contributions of another staff member, and it is shared aloud so that the individual can be recognized by the entire team. Not only is it heartwarming to be on the receiving end of this gratitude, but sharing it with the group and seeing a colleague smile is every bit as gratifying. It’s uplifting to be in an organization where kindness is so intentional, and where everyone pauses to stop and smell the roses together. These mere minutes spent per week on gratitude seem to really pay off, as everyone in the organization is unquestionably sincere and warm.

Mission moments are the grounding times that we are reminded why we put so much of ourselves into our challenging work. These are those precious moments where our impact can be felt, our voices feel heard, and we can see lives changing for the better. Hearing these moments being shared is so inspiring, especially since my time outside of the office is fairly limited in comparison to the majority of our staff. However, this past week I spent the Thursday and Friday as a “guest chef” at day camp cookoff challenges! We had three classes of approximately 25 kids, ranging from late elementary school to early high school. The kids were split into 4 groups and tasked with creating a taco-themed dish in only 15 minutes, with roasted sweet potatoes as the “secret” required ingredient of the dish.

As the challenge begins, any order is thrown out the window, and the best we can hope for is organized chaos. Food flies around the room, combinations of spices and sauces that are…unsavory (in my opinion) are thrown together, and creativity catches on like wildfire. One of my teams decided that red pepper flakes are the perfect garnish for pieces of fruit, and another nearly tried to douse a crunchy taco in red wine vinegar. With some strong suggestion from myself and other staff, one team made a sauce from Greek yogurt, which is a healthier alternative to sour cream. After the challenge is done, groups taste their creations, often trying new foods or new styles of cooking in the process. One of the girls on my team exclaimed to me that she loved the Greek yogurt sauce, and that she wanted the recipe to go home and make it with her family!! She had never tried this alternative, but by being a part of our programming, she gained knowledge that might benefit herself and her family in the future, even by just a little bit. Talk about a mission moment – I was beyond giddy when I handed her the hand-written recipe card.

Here’s the recipe to try at home – feel free to add or subtract ingredients, and play around with the proportions:

• Greek yogurt, plain
• Honey/agave/maple syrup, whichever you prefer
• Lime juice
• Cilantro
• Minced garlic
• Pinch of salt
• if you’re feeling fancy: sauce from a can of a Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce

Use this for tacos, burritos, or to dip your favorite veggies in. Enjoy!

In celebration of what would have been Ingmar Bergman’s 100th birthday, my old film professor and I went to watch Wild Strawberries (1957) at the Wexner Center for the Arts. The film itself is about an old man named Isak Borg who is preparing to receive an honorary degree for his years of service as a doctor. But, the night before his trip to receive his degree, he is plagued by nightmares of his life and death. When he wakes up, Isak begins his car journey to his ceremony with his daughter-in-law, and he finds out that others think of him as cold, bitter, and unpleasant. Thus begins his own inner journey in which he reminisces on his life and relationships, and after his eye opening experience he begins to make an effort to be kinder, warming, and more loving to those around him.

Of course, I cannot explain the subtleties and intricacies of Bergman’s Wild Strawberries very easily in less than one hundred-fifty words. But, this film made an impression on me. How do we deal with our regrets? How do we want to be remembered? In the context of my work with ETSS, I think about how I want to remember my experience working with ETSS this summer, and I think about how I want to be remembered by my supervisors, coworkers, and maybe even the kids I find myself spending time with. This past week, I have been working on making my contributions to ETSS’s nutrition program as good as it can possibly be, practicing acts of kindness in the office, and keeping on track with my Youth Summit goals. All in all, I am trying to be more intentional in how I go to work and interact with others.

In the final scene of Wild Strawberries, Isak Borg says something to the effect of, “When I am laying in bed, alone and sleepless, I think back to the memories of my childhood, and they calm me to sleep.” I took that to heart when I acted as a weekly chaperone at one of ETSS’s field trip sites. I took my group of kids through Ohio History Connection and the Ohio Village, and we played make believe all day. While I don’t think this one day will change any child’s life, I do hope that maybe it will be stored in a collection of good memories that they will have from their childhoods. If not, that’s okay, too.

Wow, this is the halfway point. When you’re a little kid and the 4^thof July hits, you know that summer is dwindling fast. It’s hitting me at the age of 22. I have so many projects, goals, and to-dos to finish. This week, I have been working on some of my larger goals for Safe Place including a partnership with COTA and a volunteer day to help check our Safe Place sites. These tasks may be a little ambitious, but I still have half a summer! The glass is half full.

For this midpoint, I wanted to back track a bit. In March, I attended Safe Place implementation training in Louisville, KY. These couple days consisted of learning the ins and outs of Safe Place with nine agencies across the country. The agencies spanned from Florida to Oregon to Phoenix. Our experience levels with Safe Place varied, too. Some of the people present had been running Safe Place for over twenty years, others just a few, others just recently stepped into the role, and then there was me—I only knew as much as I could read about since our fellowship technically didn’t start until June. I sat and absorbed so much information, best practices, how other cities operate, new ideas to refresh the project, and most important other people’s experiences.

I was able to learn exactly how Safe Place was intended to run and what questions to ask Huck House when June hit. Other agencies that have ran Safe Place for years and years seemed to have a more narrow focus, maybe because of things that didn’t work or lack of support for the project. However, being a fresh set of eyes to Safe Place allows to me to stay positive, work hard, and try any new idea. And with first half our fellowship speeding by, rather than half empty, my glass is half full.

Hey everyone, I’m back from my two-week hiatus! I just got back from a trip to Ireland and it was absolutely beautiful, but I’m so happy to be back at LifeCare! Weeks 2 and 3  have been extremely rewarding. I had the opportunity to help out with fan distributions, where we distribute donated, unused fans to the community during these hot summer months. This is extremely helpful to community members who do not have air conditioning in their homes, or cannot afford to turn them on. I also shadowed a social worker on her in-home assessments for individuals who would like to receive Meals-on-Wheels. The in-home visits allow the social worker to assess the client in their own environment and better understand their nutritional needs. Finally, I shadowed a nurse at one of the many wellness clinics. The nurse saw patients and spent a lot of time with them to make sure all their needs were being met. In addition to blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes screenings, the community nurses provide foot care for these older adults who cannot tend to clipping their toenails anymore.

In addition to shadowing the many health care professionals at LifeCare, I have begun working on my ongoing tasks of cleaning up the new donor database and pulling the invite list for the 120th anniversary event. These tasks are perfect for me, as I am extremely organized and detail-oriented. I am very eager to see what next week has in store!

I started this week overwhelmed by how fast time has flown by working at the King Arts Complex. The days seem to blur together, each being a continuation of one another as I’ve fallen into a daily routine. Although the comfort of predicting what the next day will bring has been great, I decided to follow the lead of the other fellows and have another meeting with my supervisor about how the second half of my fellowship could be spent the most efficient.

The conversation we had was nothing short of heartfelt. Hearing more about the genesis of the King Arts Complex and how it has evolved over the years was enlightening and added context to the needs that I have been assessing over the past few weeks. After talking about the past, I asked about the future. I wanted to know what I could do to help add to the legacy of a Complex that is so rich in culture and history. Apparently, this was all my supervisor needed to hear in order to let her imagination run wild. She talked about her hopes for the Complex and her desire to start more programs for youth in the community. I matched her enthusiasm on the topic and our conversation morphed into a think tank, creating innovative ideas that stretched the current framework of the programs that already exist.

Moving forward, I am excited to my start my work on developing programming for middle school and high school-aged youth. After a conversation with a few of my coworkers who are also interested in youth programming, my passion was reignited. I started reaching out to people I know to help start these new projects. I now realize that I needed to get into a routine for the first few weeks of this fellowship in order to understand how the Complex operates as an organization. I really enjoyed the first half of my time at The King Arts Complex and look forward to the sustainable changes I can help make in the future.

…girl.

Podcast link: https://soundcloud.com/user-110817248/tcfblog-week-5/s-baJ04

Podcast transcript:

I’d like to take this week to reflect on motivation.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week the office was closed due to the holiday. Because I needed to keep up on editing, I decided to head to a coffee shop to work. Monday I visited Stauf’s in German Village, and I met up with Megan, another Columbus Fellow and a newfound friend. After catching up on our weekends, I was able to start a new video and I made really good progress. Probably better progress than I would have been able to do in the office. While we did somewhat distract each other, I felt so much more productive in this environment.

Tuesday, I went to a really small local place, you’ve probably never heard of it, it’s pretty underground. Starbucks? Yeah, I didn’t think so. At school I do most of my writing and other work at Starbucks’ around campus, so I’m very used to this atmosphere. And I think I have their soundtracks memorized.

Especially that damn Christmas playlist.

Anyway, I pretty much finished up that video I started Monday. I didn’t have any friends present, but there were plenty of people around me working, chatting, and merely existing. I think it’s beneficial for me to coffee shop work for a few reasons, but one of them is that I cannot be distracted by other tasks. I can really focus in on one thing, and in this case, that’s the video I’m editing. By nature I love to help others, so when I’m in the office I can get distracted by other projects and caught up in helping my coworkers. I love being able to help others, but sometimes it’s really nice to just keep my face shoved in my laptop and focus on one task at a time. I also think that I feel like I have more to do when I’m in the office, even though my workload doesn’t change based on my location.

Why is it that I’m more productive around other humans being productive, even if they’re strangers? Especially if they’re strangers? Is it their energy? It could be a competitive thing, but I really am not a competitive person. Are they just being a good influence? Is it peer pressure? Am I easily influenced? I don’t think so.

I am a very self-motivated individual, but external motivators are also really good for me. For example, if I’m meeting someone at the gym, I am much more likely to go. I think that has more to do with accountability, but it’s still relevant. I’m self-motivated in the way that if I don’t want to do something, I’m not going to do it–and if I do really want something, I’ll make it happen.

I’m not sure if I’m more motivated by the need to finish a task, or the fear of it not getting done. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself, which is good…to an extent. Sometimes it can be suffocating though, and I confuse the expectations others have for me with the expectations I have of myself. I know that holding myself to a high standard is important because I know what I’m capable of, and I always want to be in a growth mindset, but sometimes it’s just too much and I stress myself out for no reason.

If there’s one thing I know about what I need from my workspace, it’s that there has to be some type of external stimuli. I need noise! I need there to be music and other people talking and shuffling and espresso machine whirs. When there’s noise happening, my brain has to really focus in on what I’m doing, and I’m even more focused than when there’s nothing happening around me. It seems counterintuitive, but if there’s no external stimuli, my brain will create INTERNAL stimuli and then I’ll just start trailing off. But….not too much. Don’t expect to put me in a Skyzone and expect me to get work done.

I STAY seeing rainbows.

Any RPDR fans up in heurrrr?

That’s all for this week, but next week holds some exciting projects. See you then!