Aminah's Reflection
Keywords:
During these past 2 months, what were your major duties and how did they relate to your academic studies?
I would say that my two biggest duties over the past 2 months have been high school co-op supervision and flyer drop-off/outreach communications. As a political science and business student, these tasks have provided me with valuable hands-on experience that complements my academic studies. Supervising high school co-op students has honed my leadership and management skills, critical in both politics and business. It involved mentoring students, ensuring their tasks were completed efficiently, and providing feedback, which aligns with the organizational and communication skills essential in my studies. Flyer drop-off and outreach communications have enhanced my understanding of grassroots marketing and public relations, crucial in political campaigns and business strategies.
In May you were asked to envision how U+ would contribute to your growth. How has your time here contributed to your personal and professional development? Were there any unexpected challenges or benefits?
Something that I would consider both an unexpected challenge and benefit is being asked to become the site leader for my summer camp location. I feel that this responsibility has and will significantly contribute to my personal and professional development. Professionally, it has provided an opportunity to refine my leadership skills, manage a team, and coordinate complex activities, all of which are invaluable in enhancing my problem-solving abilities and adaptability in a dynamic environment. Personally, it has already started to build my resilience, boost my confidence, and improve my communication skills as I navigated the challenges of team leadership during my training sessions with my team and as I manage our Slack channel.
This unexpected opportunity will undoubtedly strengthen my capacity for effective teamwork and leadership, laying a solid foundation for my long-term career success, aligning perfectly with my vision for personal and professional growth expressed in May.
Describe 2-3 projects from your co-op that you’re particularly proud of, and how they have helped you grow academically and/or professionally?
One long-term project I am really proud of is my aforementioned flyer drop-off/outreach communications project. As part of this project, I have connected with 549 locations (including schools, healthcare clinics, churches, daycares, amusement parks, indoor entertainment places, etc.) and received 265 yes’s to my inquiry of dropping off our summer camp flyers at their location. Since we always deliver a minimum of 25 copies, that’s at least 6,200 flyers that have been distributed once the deliveries are complete. This project has helped me grow by enhancing my communication and networking skills and developing my ability to organize large-scale outreach efforts.
One short-term project I am proud of is my creation of the “2024 Community Camp Programs” newsletter. This was a task assigned to my high-school co-ops. On the Saturday that I was going to decide the winning submission(s) (i.e. 2 days before it was scheduled to be posted), I was informed by Kevin of logistical issues preventing any of the submissions from being posted as is. Since my high-school co-ops don’t work weekends and I couldn’t wait until Monday to reach out to them for edits, I spent that Sunday mixing and matching elements from as many of their submissions as I could into a new submission. I was able to create this newsletter in one day and get it approved for posting the next day. This experience has helped me grow by developing my problem-solving and time-management skills, enhancing my ability to work under pressure, and demonstrating my commitment to delivering high-quality work in the face of unexpected challenges.
Please nominate someone who deserves the employee of the month award and explain why briefly. You can nominate more than one person.
I would love to give a shoutout to both Winnie and Carey for this award. They have been my main contacts for actually physically delivering flyers for my flyer drop-off/outreach communications project. Not only do they spend hours driving from place to place to help with this task (on occasion printing the flyers at home with their own materials as well), but I know that they are super busy with their own personal tasks as well. From the daily sign out messages I know that Winnie has been busy with HR interviews, being site leader at Stonebridge on Saturdays, and leading info sessions/tabling booths, among others. I literally would not have been able to complete this task without their commendable efforts!
Share photos of fond memories you made while at work.
