These past five weeks working with Boys & Girls Club of Provo (BGCProvo) have been incredible. As a Business Management student at Brigham Young University, a job as a nonprofit fellow has been a much-needed change of course. This fellowship was the perfect balance of planning, implementation, evaluation, and assessment; however, my favorite parts were the interactions I had with the kids.

The students planted and took care of multiple garden plots at BGCProvo this summer. We ended up planting ingredients for the students to create an Italian pizza and spinach salad at the end of the program.

Additionally, I was able to teach lessons on plant growth, water cycles, nutrition, health, organic produce, and financial budgeting. Throughout the project, the students involved kept Garden Journals where they would write entries on the garden progress.

Spending time with kids on a day-to-day basis certainly comes with its own unique challenges. My brain flashes to the time a student ran away, the time that I got hit in the head with a baseball bat, and then again, to one kindergartner wiping urine on my back.

This fellowship has inspired me to push forward to a career that combines my business skills with direct interaction in social causes.

However, any frustrating moment is met with three times the amount of of love, appreciation, and just all-out adorableness. I’ve done nonprofit work in various capacities, but the hands-on experiences with these kids has been life-changing for me. It has inspired me to push forward to a career that combines my business skills with direct interaction in social causes.