I’ve known since last summer that I would be back at the Boston Partners in Education office at least one more time. I loved my experience as an MLK Scholar last summer, and I remember expressing an interest in returning to Boston Partners during the program’s final week. This summer, I’m proud to have fulfilled that promise.
It’s fun to come back to familiar faces and to see how much has changed and yet how much hasn’t. While the staff had changed tremendously, the office friendliness that kept me here had not. My duties as a Scholar were also different, but the excitement of hearing back from donors and recruiting volunteers remained.
Photo credit: Rep. Liz Miranda (@lizforma)
Last year, I started the Scholars program anxious and curious, wondering what Boston Partners in Education really did, what my coworkers would be like and what my job would entail. This summer, I’m happy to say I came in excited and full of knowledge about Boston Partners, ready to share their message and services, and happy to introduce two other Scholars to the office life not many teenagers get to experience.
Whether it was soliciting donations for the Back to School Bash, hanging up flyers in different neighborhoods, or preparing the staff for their volunteer recruitment duties, I always had fun and was proud to work here. It’s rewarding to see all your hard work come to life as donations begin to roll in, potential volunteers give you their contact information, and other staff members start using the materials that you made.
There’s just something about the variability of this internship that made me not hate having to wake up early or get home late. No day was spent doing the same things, which is not something all interns can say. We spent time building career skills such as scheduling meetings, writing full-staff emails, and representing the organization outside of the office. We even had a professional development meeting with members of our Board of Directors. We did a lot of training, yet all our work got done and we were happy to be able to help the short-staffed office.
Although next summer I will likely not be available to return here, I wish the next Scholars good luck and will continue to support Boston Partners in Education in any small ways that I can. To me, our mission is honest, generous, and truly meaningful — and I say that from the perspective of a student. My experience with Boston Partners in Education is one that I will reference plenty in the future and keep in mind as I continue through my career and education.