What went well?

This week, I continued to work at the Spanish Catholic Center and became more acquainted with numerous staff. At this point, I had a much clearer perspective of the range of tasks conducted by the center which includes dental clinics, food pantries, and various job programs. I specifically worked volunteering with the food program department and helped prep for upcoming distribution that occurs every other week close to the center at 3258 Mt Pleasant St. NW. 

What could have been done differently?

I was not able to touch base with Dr. Eissa who worked as my touch point for my research tasks so I spent most of the week working on the task she had given me last week which focused on finding a way to locate where schools have been disappearing geographically and why this might be occurring. 

What did I learn about myself while working with others?

I continue to be surprised by how valuable working in person with others at the center can be. I have worked at food distribution centers in the past but I feel a strong connection with how I spend my time throughout the week. Even when there are really long hours, I still feel satisfied at the end of the day. 

What did I learn about leadership?

I feel that I have learned that while leadership is grounded in a community (as I have seen while volunteering), I also know that being a leader requires self-agency and self-direction. For example, working to identify ways to tackle my research has led to a lot of interesting developments (in terms of searching for research articles, available online data, etc..) that are pretty exciting.

What do I want to develop or focus on next?  

I experienced some minor setbacks in figuring out how to visually display some of the data I had been working with - so I definitely wanted to figure out a way to visually display the data which I had been collating.