The 2016 Shari Prestemon Social Justice Interns have graciously agreed to share their experiences with all of us. From time to time, we’ll be posting ‘journal entries’ from Sharell Shippen and Sheryl Garcia. Below is one of these entries.
My expectations coming into this internship were simple: Work with everyone at Back Bay Mission to find out what goes into running a nonprofit and how social work comes in to play. My hopes are that I would gain real experience both living away from family and working in social justice. To my surprise, I have already learned much more than anticipated.
This week has been, to me, an introductory week. I have met a majority of the employees and volunteers at the Mission and have had the opportunity not only to learn about what they do, but WHY they are here and what brought them to Back Bay Mission. It has always been interesting to me to hear a person’s story and I have found that many people came here with a calling to serve and give back to the community.
I struggled writing this journal only because I was waiting for inspiration, for something big and significant to occur this week that would spark a real interest to write. It was not until talking with Sharell that I discovered there does not need to be something big happening every week for there to be something to write and reflect on. She pointed out that it is the small things working together that grow to be ‘big things’. While I spent the week learning the phone system, sitting in on meetings, and creating colorful poster boards – what I felt like was ‘busy work’ – the staff got uninterrupted time to work and make progress towards their specific projects that benefit Back Bay Mission. This week I learned that it takes a team to get work done and just because I may feel like the work I am doing is not moving mountains does not mean it is not beneficial to other ‘team mates’.
I look forward to the next nine weeks and experiencing other jobs and work that helps Back Bay Mission function and thrive.
