Digging Deeper In DC - Summer 2015
During the summer of 2015, I had the opportunity to move to Washington, D.C. to pursue an internship with Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). FCCLA is a nonprofit Career and Technical Student Organization that fosters personal growth and leadership development among middle school and high school students, and it is the only student organization with family as its central focus. I was an active member of FCCLA in high school, so I was very excited to continue my journey with this dynamic organization in a new capacity. |
“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” -Rumi |
This opportunity was made even sweeter by the fact that I was joined by five close friends from around the nation who also secured internships in the city. Together, we lived, learned, worked, and played. With these inspiring individuals by my side, I embarked on a marvelous adventure. As the Programs Intern for FCCLA, I helped execute the general sessions and national election process for the National Leadership Conference, a week-long event that hosted nearly 8,000 students. In addition, I worked with the National Executive Council, a team of 10 top-notch student leaders, to help them prepare them for their roles in facilitating the conference. My position was a satisfying mix of administrative, detail-oriented planning work and active service as part of a team. It was fulfilling to be able to work autonomously to prepare specific parts of the conference, and yet also come together to work dynamically with National Staff and many student leaders. We worked to overcome many challenges, and I learned a great deal about managing myself under pressure and working with a team to develop organizational strategies and discover solutions. It was utterly rewarding to mentor the students on the National Executive Council and witness their success at the conference. From this experience, I learned a tremendous amount about nonprofit leadership, and I am encouraged to look to the nonprofit sector for my future career.
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In addition to my work with FCCLA, I kindled deeper relationships with my friends as we explored Washington, D.C. and the surrounding areas. We spent a great deal of time perusing the famous landmarks of the city, but also were purposeful in our search for lesser-known gems in such a remarkable place. I spent a lot of time learning more about DC as the political nexus of the free world and what it means to be a global citizen. Highlights of our adventures included hearing President Obama speak at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, watching fireworks from the National Mall on the 4th of July, and taking a whirlwind daytrip to New York City. It was such a pleasure to live and learn as I have never done before, and to do it with those I love and respect.
The glorious adventures of our summer were stitched together by the seemingly insignificant moments of daily living and our fair share of challenges. While I relish the powerful events we were blessed to behold, I am beyond grateful for the meek moments that saturated our weeks and months. When I look back on our summer, I think first of quiet Saturday mornings before an indulgent breakfast, deep dinnertime conversations, or making meals together to the sound of someone rapping "Ignition." I am reminded of Sunday worship together, cramming on the couch to watch yet another Netflix documentary, and evenings playing Catchphrase on our living room floor. I can't think of my internship without thinking of the 2 hour commute Ellie and I endured each day, and how that time gave us the opportunity to forge a deep friendship. It wasn't easy to come from different lives to form a household together in a city with one of the highest costs-of-living in the country, but it was certainly worth it. Our time together was punctuated by towed cars, parking tickets, killer NOVA traffic, missed Metros, and too many calls to our maintenance man. These irritants were tests in the classroom of life; we didn't always ace them, but in the end, at least we passed.
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In July, our crew got a little larger when five more of our friends flew in for the FCCLA National Leadership Conference. After the wonderful and exhausting conference, we spent a day sleeping, and then did something mad: we jumped on a Megabus to New York City. It had long been a dream of ours to see this city together, and so it was very gratifying to roll through Lincoln Tunnel together listening quietly to Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" and exchanging grins. We spent a single day in the city before jumping on the bus back to DC at 11 pm that night. Looking back, I realize how absolutely insane this was. We were all still exhausted from executing the conference, which was, for many of us, the culmination of our summer's work. And then we spent two consecutive nights sleeping on a moving bus. And an entire day walking the city that never sleeps. My body aches again just thinking about it. Despite this insanity, or perhaps partly because of it, this trip was simply splendid. We had a strategic, but leisurely itinerary, which we executed satisfyingly with surprising smoothness. We smiled knowingly and snapped pictures of each other stealing momentary dozes in unexpected places: the top deck of the Ellis Island ferry, the passenger seat of an Uber car, a bench in the middle of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
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