Julia Navarro, Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions | May 7, 2013
It’s hard to believe it was only 6 months ago that I began working here at my favorite non-profit, Community Solutions. I had been in hot pursuit of a more environmentally and socially “kind” way of living, which led me to transfer to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Being hired at Community Solutions last fall allowed me to work and contribute to an organization I can completely believe in and learn from while I attend Antioch. Now I am working here full-time for my co-op quarter and one month has already passed. At the beginning of the term, I sat down with the other intern, Trinica, and we talked with Faith about the organization’s goals this quarter. We planned the Urban Garden Demonstration Project (a new project) and we talked about what we would do when Jeanna (the office manager) took her maternity leave (which we thought was six weeks away). Learning Jeanna’s job as Office Manager, which includes processing orders and donations, answering phones and emails, and other miscellaneous office tasks, would consume the first few weeks before Jeanna had to leave. Faith also updated us about the progress being made on the Passive House film and Pat’s upcoming short film about Electric Vehicles. We discussed how we could offer our different skillsets to the organization this quarter, and we decided that I would be working part-time in the urban demonstration garden and part-time in the office, while Trinica would utilize her writing expertise in writing blogs and updates about various events related to the organization. In addition, we were given the task of updating the organization’s procedures manual. It’s been a good job thus far and I greatly enjoy the diverse aspects of it.
The urban demonstration garden project started the first day of work when we went out and drew the dimensions for the new garden. The following week, several thunderstorms impeded our efforts to put the new fence up; however, we were able to start two raised beds and do some in-garden maintenance. We have already planted spinach, lettuce, peas, beets, turnips, radishes, and carrots. Working with gardening experts (Faith, Jenny, and John) has proven to be an invaluable experience and chock-full of seeds of gardening wisdom. I try to remember everything they tell me as we create the garden together--their gardening wisdom has clearly been developed over years of experience and I will try to record the many tips and tricks they tell me in the gardening blog.
When I wasn’t working in the garden, I was working with Jeanna and Trinica to create an Office Manager’s Procedure Manual which would outline all the steps involved in Jeanna’s job. Because Jeanna is pregnant, we have to learn her job quickly before she takes her maternity leave. It has been a fun process working so closely with Jeanna, hearing updates about her baby, and trying to eloquently express all the details of her managerial position. Scattered between jobs, I have also had the pleasure of receiving articles from Faith and posting them onto the organization’s Facebook page. This is one of my favorite tasks— getting to read some of the latest news about passive homes, peak oil, and climate change and sharing the information with other interested folk.
Another project we have been working on has been reviewing Pat’s script for his upcoming film, ‘The Second Death of the Electric Vehicle’. By reviewing his script, I have learned an enormous amount about the truth of low energy consuming vehicles and marketing manipulation. My whole understanding of the car and marketing world has been altered.
Lately, several medical emergencies (Jeanna’s baby was born 13 days early!) have left the office pretty empty, giving me and Trinica ample opportunity to test our Office Managerial skills which Jeanna had been training us on in the prior few weeks. We ran across only a few stumbling blocks, but it was a good learning experience putting Jeanna’s teaching to use. Overall, it has been an incredibly enjoyable and educational experience working here as we learn how a non-profit is run and organized and how we can support awareness and action in light of climate change and peak oil.
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The best part of working here so far has been the amount of freedom I have been given. Pat and Faith have been wonderful about learning what my interests and skills are and applying me to corresponding tasks. Writing and editing fiction have long been passions of mine, so working on environmental pieces for Community Solutions has been a welcome challenge. I have had the chance to view and write about conferences on Arthur Morgan, renewable energy, and sustainability—and I have only been here a month! The editing process has been fascinating, too. After I finish my first draft, I send it to Pat and Faith, who give me comments. I then make more edits and send it back to Pat and Faith, who may have even more edits. This cycle continues several times, and usually everyone in the office has had more than a few looks at something before it is finally released to the world. This has been so helpful, especially considering how nervous I was about attempting a new style of writing on topics I did not know much about before coming to work here. Having such constant feedback has really helped me tighten up my writing and understand the audience I am writing for.
Working here is typically a straight-forward affair, but this last week was a bit unusual. Faith was stuck in Boston after one of her traveling companions had a heart attack, and Jeanna (our pregnant Administrative Assistant) was held up in the hospital with a kidney infection that was followed by the early birth of a baby boy, leaving Pat, Julia, and me to hold down the fort. I had been nervous about Jeanna’s imminent departure from the office, but as her delivery due date was not until May 16th, I hadn’t expect her to leave so suddenly! With Faith out of commission, too, Julia and I were put to the test when it came to running the front office. Although the circumstances surrounding the change were unfortunate, I am glad that Julia and I were able to have the opportunity to practice keeping things running relatively smoothly without much supervision. I feel much more prepared to take over for Jeanna while she is on maternity leave after being forced to test what I’ve learned so far.
I am so thankful that I have been able to work at Community Solutions for the past month, and I cannot wait to see what the following two months bring about. I am excited to do more writing, both here on this blog and on a future New Solutions report, as well as work on our upcoming Passive House film. It is so wonderful to see Pat and Faith’s passion for what they do, as well as the passion from the people all around the world who have also dedicated themselves to improving our world. Our organization may not be the largest, but the work we do is not small by any means.
Trinica Sampson, Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions | May 7, 2013
Tomorrow, May 8, marks the completion of the first month of my co-op internship with Community Solutions! I can hardly believe that it has already been a month... it seems like just yesterday that I was walking through the doors on my first day. So many things have changed in the past month. Some changes—like the blooming flowers that now blanket the lawn outside of Community Solutions—are easier to see than others. I was so nervous for my first day of work! I had no idea what to expect. I had never met Faith, Pat, or Jeanna before, and although Julia is a fellow student at Antioch, I had never really had the chance to speak to her on campus. I remember being taken aback by the exterior of Community Solutions before before I entered for the first time— It looks like a house... should I knock or just walk right in? Since then, I have become so much more comfortable as an employee here.
The best part of working here so far has been the amount of freedom I have been given. Pat and Faith have been wonderful about learning what my interests and skills are and applying me to corresponding tasks. Writing and editing fiction have long been passions of mine, so working on environmental pieces for Community Solutions has been a welcome challenge. I have had the chance to view and write about conferences on Arthur Morgan, renewable energy, and sustainability—and I have only been here a month! The editing process has been fascinating, too. After I finish my first draft, I send it to Pat and Faith, who give me comments. I then make more edits and send it back to Pat and Faith, who may have even more edits. This cycle continues several times, and usually everyone in the office has had more than a few looks at something before it is finally released to the world. This has been so helpful, especially considering how nervous I was about attempting a new style of writing on topics I did not know much about before coming to work here. Having such constant feedback has really helped me tighten up my writing and understand the audience I am writing for.
Working here is typically a straight-forward affair, but this last week was a bit unusual. Faith was stuck in Boston after one of her traveling companions had a heart attack, and Jeanna (our pregnant Administrative Assistant) was held up in the hospital with a kidney infection that was followed by the early birth of a baby boy, leaving Pat, Julia, and me to hold down the fort. I had been nervous about Jeanna’s imminent departure from the office, but as her delivery due date was not until May 16th, I hadn’t expect her to leave so suddenly! With Faith out of commission, too, Julia and I were put to the test when it came to running the front office. Although the circumstances surrounding the change were unfortunate, I am glad that Julia and I were able to have the opportunity to practice keeping things running relatively smoothly without much supervision. I feel much more prepared to take over for Jeanna while she is on maternity leave after being forced to test what I’ve learned so far.
I am so thankful that I have been able to work at Community Solutions for the past month, and I cannot wait to see what the following two months bring about. I am excited to do more writing, both here on this blog and on a future New Solutions report, as well as work on our upcoming Passive House film. It is so wonderful to see Pat and Faith’s passion for what they do, as well as the passion from the people all around the world who have also dedicated themselves to improving our world. Our organization may not be the largest, but the work we do is not small by any means.
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