Photo taken at FLIA’s Summer 2022 Retreat in Harlem, NY.
This summer, the partner organization that I am fortunate enough to work with is called Latino U College Access (LUCA). LUCA is a ten-year-old, non-profit organization that transforms the lives of low-income, first-generation latino students who attend schools in the Westchester County region of New York State. These students are recommended to become a part of the LUCA program by their guidance counselors and are those who have shown academic ability throughout their high school experiences. Moreover, LUCA scholars are encouraged to partake in weekly individualized coaching programs with the hopes of successfully guiding them in applying to universities that meet their academic and financial needs, while ensuring that they will have little to no debt when finished. All in all, LUCA is an amazing and important organization in this community, and I am honored to be working alongside them for the time being.
“This summer, I hope I continue to further both my critical thinking and communications skills, as well as develop more skills that will take my leadership abilities to the next level.”
As I approach the 5-week mark of working with this organization, I have definitely had to sharpen some of the professional skills that I’ve possessed in my previous experiences. Throughout my working experience, I’ve had the pleasure of holding multiple leadership positions. In these positions, I have needed to make on the spot decisions for little things, like ordering three boxes of donuts instead of six. However, while working with LUCA, there are many decisions that need to be made that can’t be as on the spot as deciding on boxes of donuts. These decisions are more like, “what type of transportation should we order for 80 people over the course of three days for our event coming up in July that is as viable and as cost efficient as possible?”. It’s decisions like this that have made me realize that my critical thinking skills needed to be enhanced more quickly than they were before.
Photo taken at FLIA’s partner organization, Latino U College Access (LUCA)
During my time at LUCA, I have noticed the biggest improvement in my communication skills. As mentioned before, I’ve had the pleasure of being in leadership roles for some time now, but I’ve never had to make personal calls or email local businesses for quotes or other pricing inquiries because I’ve always had someone on my team (an advisor or supervisor) do that for me. Now that it’s my responsibility, I’ve had to sharpen my communication skills. I’m proud to say that this has made me a more effective leader, as I am more confident in my ability to communicate with people not only in the workplace, but on a larger scale should the need ever arise. After researching about people in leadership positions, a whopping 69% of managers mentioned that they were uncomfortable communicating with employees in their workplace (Solomon, 2016). I certainly don’t want to be a part of that statistic and am pleased to be improving this skill now.
As a fellow that’s working with both LUCA and FLIA, these refined skills that I have obtained will not only help me this summer, but will also assist me in my future endeavors. As a leader, it is extremely important to be able to clearly communicate with your team to not only ensure that everyone is on the same page, but to also maintain the workplace flow. My emails have been clearer than they previously were and my rationale for our potential orders have improved as well! This summer, I hope I continue to further both my critical thinking and communications skills, as well as develop more skills that will take my leadership abilities to the next level.