At times, a great strength can also be a great weakness. I
would say that in my time with Unidad my greatest strength has been my
attention to detail, which has allowed me to fully benefit and grow from the
work I have been doing.
However, recently, my desire for
every small detail to be perfect caused me to notice an enormous mistake in all
of the files from last year’s New Generation Leadership & Workforce
Institute.
My insistence on fixing the huge
problem and delving into documents that are more than a year old and precede
this DukeEngage program drastically increased my workload, but made my last
days at Unidad the most rewarding.
I was able to take away more
lessons from my last few weeks because in to my normal work with the youth
program and fixing the filing disaster, I was forced to wear a number of
different hats because of vacations and staffing changes.
First, I got to practice my
Spanish/Spanglish a lot as the receptionist in the morning that greets all of
the visitors and takes all of the phone calls for the senior program, as well
as the youth program. With participants in both programs swarming the Coral
Rock House Tuesday to pick up checks and get help, I learned a lot about
universal communication and the impact that something as simple as a smile can
have.
Having to balance my receptionist
responsibilities with my other duties put a lot of pressure on me to still
remain poised and eager to assist people as the first face they saw when
entering the facility and the first voice they heard when seeking assistance on
the phone.
Despite the pressure, I definitely
feel as though my ability to adapt to new situations and problem solve under
pressure got much better, and learning how to be a good receptionist and
functioning member of an office that can scan, copy, fax and communicate
clearly is something I will always trace back to this summer.
One of the other responsibilities I
have had to juggle is working with two new volunteers—an older gentleman and a
high school student—who have started assisting me with my work.
Getting the opportunity to train
two other eager volunteers about the work I have been doing has been great,
especially since my time at Unidad is coming to a close; my hope is that the
pair can continue the projects I have started if I’m unable to finish all of
them by the time I leave.
Additionally, with the youth
program career advisors out of the office at different times, I got to act as a
student advisor when their students came into the office to follow up on the
end of the New Generation Leadership & Workforce Institute, or check in
about their new jobs.
It was an odd experience to be the
one advising students to remain patient and diligent at their new job sites and
assure them that their work would get better and more rewarding when just a few
weeks ago, many of our advisors gave us the same advice after our initial
surprise at how Unidad ran the New Generation Leadership Institute.
I was pleased to be able to step in
and advise many of the students because I think they appreciated someone nearer
to their age advising them on the matter rather than the career advisors, who
the students likely could not imagine being able to see the situation from
their perspective. Being more willing to voice a different perspective was
definitely another positive benefit I gained from my work.
Another project I was happy to
complete before I left was a marketing project for Unidad’s senior program—the
Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). In the program, seniors older
than 55 are placed at local nonprofit organizations and paid to give back to
their community, in addition to going through various training sessions and
classes to gain employment skills.
Since I have not worked with the
senior program much, it was nice to work with different staff members to learn
about how the program currently attracts new participants and give my feedback
about how I thought the program’s marketing could improve in the future.
I hadn’t really done any
presentations that were meant to represent a professional organization, so it
was a rewarding exercise to have to put together a presentation for an
undefined audience on a subject that I was not that familiar with. Unidad will
now be able to use the presentation for years to come to both gain new
participants in the program and train other organizations on effective
marketing techniques.
The presentation reminded me a lot
about how my sense of professionalism has changed, and how something as simple
as remaining even-keeled even when things went wrong with the Institute could
have an impact on the students and fellow staff members.
Being part of a professional team that was
going through a lot of changes made me much better at assessing a situation
fully before reacting or taking action.
When one of our program
co-directors came back for our last week after only seeing us in the first week
of the program, she said that we all seemed like we had grown up a lot, and I
definitely agree; because we all had to adapt so much, a heightened sense of
maturity—professionally and personally—was required.
In addition to helping my personal
growth, having to manage all of the projects I have been a part of and really
integrating into all of the levels of Unidad’s programs these past few weeks
has given me a holistic view of the organization that would not have been
possible if I had left the organization; for this reason, I feel fortunate that
I have had the privilege to stay at the Coral Rock House.
This experience has been vital for
my development as a professional and well-rounded person, and I am excited to
see what the higher-ups in Unidad have to say when Eric Mlyn—the head of
DukeEngage—visits us Monday.
It is almost surreal that we will
be leaving in a week, but I am hopeful after starting to mentor potential
replacements that the future looks bright not only for Unidad’s youth and
senior programs, but also for this DukeEngage program.
Go Duke,
Amrith Ramkumar
