Week #10

My internship has turned out to be extremely more gratifying than I could have hoped. Gaining experience in nonprofit office work, event planning, child mentoring, and so many more areas have been very eyeopening to me. I was shown the importance of humility in a nonprofit business setting, consideration of the implications of charitable acts on a community, and understanding how to interact with individuals who come from home environments different from my own. The biggest learning experience amongst these was learning how to effectively instruct children who did not come from homes as strict or as structured as my own. This was difficult and often frustrating for me, but when reminded of their different experiences and observing the practices of the teachers in our program I was able to make progress in this area.

Because of the fact that I was able to work with Hope for Gaston and the Dream Center I was able to gather a deeper and more realistic understanding of nonprofit operations and the diversity amongst them. I met my goal of gathering insight and was able to sharpen my outlook for the future because I believe from my experiences that I would like to pursue work amongst children specifically. While I knew I liked working with kids, I still desired to experience behind the scenes organizational roles in nonprofit work. I enjoyed those tasks, but I even more appreciated direct interaction with the children in our programs. Similarly, my advice for next years interns would be to seek opportunities to explore varying tasks in order to widen your horizon. If not directly assigned to you, take the initiative to ask for various roles that will benefit the company and give you a broader outlook. Trying new things and gaining exposure is only beneficial in helping you to decide what you do and do not like and clarifying your goals and aspirations for the future. This is something that has proven true for me this summer and I am so grateful and feel honored to have been given the opportunity to serve my community with these two organizations in a Christ honoring manor!