Week 1:
Off to the Big Apple

July 17, 2016

I started my journey on Monday July 11 with a flight to New York City. Going into this experience, I had no idea what to expect. This was my first time traveling to a big city alone. As soon as I arrived, another intern, Reid, met me at the airport, and we took the subway to where all the interns were going to eat dinner. Already, my nerves were diminishing, knowing that I would not have to navigate the two-hour bus ride alone. As soon as I got to dinner, I was greeted with open arms. Everyone was very nice, welcoming and friendly.

Once dinner was over, I went to the Youth Hostel where I would be staying during my time in NYC. The hostel was a new experience for me, as I had never stayed in one before. Luckily, it was only a short walk to work, which made the commute easier.

My first day, Monday, was nerve-wracking. I missed orientation because I was flying to New York and landed near the end of the day. Once I got there, however, I felt as if I had not missed anything. Beth, the Chief of Staff for Project Rousseau, walked me through orientation so I could start my work as soon as possible.

Once I was all caught up, the work could begin. I was to be in charge of creating the schedule for the fall semester at Hyde Park academy. The schedule I was creating would include a weekly community service opportunity for the students, horizon broadening activities for the kids to participate in, SAT/ACT preparatory courses, as well as recruiting mentors.

I looked through all the horizon broadening activities that Reid found, and retrieved basic information about each one. I then prioritized each activity based on cost and distance. I am currently waiting to hear back from Claudia to determine which activities I should pursue. I did the same thing with the community service activities. I also started researching some schools that Project Rousseau could possibly partner with, and looked at different universities in Illinois for possible mentors. On Wednesday, all the interns went to a different location to work, and that location would have been a very difficult trip for me to get to from where I was staying, so I ended up going to my father’s office on Wall Street to work for the day.

I was progressing at a much faster pace than expected, so instead of staying in New York until July 20, I returned home on July 15, so I could start visiting the sites Claudia, Beth and I will decide on. I am looking forward to these site visits, which will enable me to learn about and explore Chicago more than I have in the past. This experience will really take me out of my comfort zone, and I am very excited to be a part of such a life changing organization.