A Summer Submersed in the Diverse Columbus Community


This summer, I was given the opportunity to be a Summer Fellow for the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus, as well as an intern for the Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS) Community Connectors mentoring program. For the Boys and Girls Club, I was able to lead a classroom of third grade students through activities that revolved around math, science, and healthy lifestyle skills. In relation to my internship with CRIS, I was given the opportunity to focus on social media outreach and fundraising, in order to promote an event that worked to unite a variety of diverse individuals in Columbus through soccer.

Throughout the summer, my involvement with two major organizations in the Columbus area has helped me learn more about my present self, as well as my career aspirations for the future. First, my Summer Fellowship with the Boys and Girls Club allowed me to obtain a leadership position that focused on youth that came primarily from underprivileged communities in Columbus. As Columbus is not my original hometown, I found this experience to be very impactful because I was able to learn about identities that are different than my own. Being a social work major, my primary focus is to help and assist clients through their unique obstacles in life. A major key that my experience with the Boys and Girls Club has helped me realize is that I must be open and receptive to those that come from different backgrounds in order for a connection to occur. Although I worked with mainly third grade students, I quickly learned that connections early on in life are very meaningful. Many of my students were clearly lacking a mentor in life and were seeking even a good friend. Although my patience was tested at times, I feel that I truly put myself into a new experience that helped me learn to interact and work with youth in a way that I never have before.

Through my internship with the CRIS Community Connectors mentoring program, I was able to gain a new perspective on the diversity within the Columbus area. Although my intern role slightly shifted, my job was to primarily focus on promoting the Columbus Nations Cup. This was a soccer tournament that focused on uniting refugee youth within our program and a variety of other communities within this area. This experience not only allowed me to further develop my social media outreach and fundraising skills, but it also provided an opportunity to learn more about populations that I seek to assist in the future. As my father immigrated from South Korea at an early stage in life, I have been able to learn more about the various obstacles that have made success much harder to obtain for him. With my own racial identity, along with this experience that focused on local refugee populations, I feel that I have been able to put my passion for social justice into action. I have been able to ignite my passion for change in a way that focused on populations that are important to me.

Not only did my experience this summer with the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus further my development in working with youth, but I also was able to interact with various staff members in a more professional manner. I quickly learned that the staff are unique in that they work towards the constant improvement for the youth in the program. My program coordinator, Lacey Salas, was a particular leadership figure that served as a major role model during my experience. Through observation, I was able to learn that the key to working with youth is to be approachable. One major piece of advice that I received from Lacey was that it is important to focus on the opportunity at hand and keep your own personal difficulties outside of the room when working. This further helped me focus on my students and create an environment where I was able to be welcoming and create a beneficial experience.
Before the Summer Fellowship, I had always felt a sense of nervousness or anxiety before speaking in front of a crowd. As I am more introverted by nature, this experience was worrisome to me because I would be expected to lead a full classroom of students. But, as I became acclimated to the program and staff members, I truly began to feel the support and assistance. Although there was much freedom when planning activities for your specific classroom, I felt that I was able to learn how to be a better public speaker and leadership figure with the guidance of many of the staff members.
In relation to my experience this summer as an intern for CRIS Community Connectors mentoring program, I was able to form deeper connections with individuals within the organization that I never had before. As I was previously only a mentor within this program, I was able to learn more about the head coordinator of the program, Jeremy Hollon. As he also studied social work, I was able to learn more about his journey throughout his career path. I was also able to expose myself more to the refugee community through my work. As my primary focus was social media outreach in order to promote the Columbus Nations Cup soccer game, I was able to converse with many of the refugee youth in the area. These connections were very meaningful as I hope to work with the refugee or immigrant population through my career. Overall, I was able to learn more from individuals that are not from this country, as well as connect with staff members who share the same passions as me.

After reflecting on my experiences this summer, I feel that I have been able to learn more about my future career path interests and personally develop in a more mature manner. As I have mentioned before, I was never the type to want to speak in front of a crowd or naturally lead. But, this experience has allowed me to be comfortable in my voice and share my opinions. I believe that these personal changes are extremely vital as I am beginning my junior year of college. This summer I have been able to learn more about myself, as I completely submersed myself into two organizations that required much human interaction. By trusting my decisions and logic, I found that I am able to better lead my own path in life. Although I still believe that listening is extremely important when seeking to learn, I have learned that confidence and trust in oneself is equally significant.
In relation to my career aspirations, I have been able to further narrow down my interests in the social work field. Initially, I was extremely interested in working with either underprivileged youth or the refugee and immigrant community. After my experience this summer, I have concluded that I would like to work on a more macro level of social work in order to assist the immigrant community. Although I did enjoy my time leading a classroom full of many diverse youth, I believe that my true passions lie in diversity and social justice. These two passions have helped push me into the direction of pursuing a law degree, and potentially becoming an immigration lawyer. If it were not for my experience this summer, I would not have been able to gain the knowledge that I did. Fully committing to a new experience this summer has really helped motivate me to pursue a higher level degree after graduation, and make greater changes in the world that focus on the immigrant and refugee communities in the United States.