Life of a Fellow: Amanda
Meet our Fellow, Amanda, from Penn Treaty. From her experience as a Fellow working with her team to working with her students, the year has been nothing short of eventful. When looking back on how the year has gone, how does one sum it up? Read on to hear more about Amanda’s experience!
It was a pretty fast year that flew by, or whatever it was that Frank Ocean song said. I’ve spent weeks, months even, trying to begin this blog post and talk about my experience as a Fellow. I’ve spoken to so many people about this writer’s block I’ve had and I’ve probably read the previous entries two times over, still feeling like I just can’t put this year into words. That’s when it hit me, maybe I don’t have to. I may not be able to express outwardly the whirlwind of a year I’ve had but I can try to highlight it through what it continues to look like in my head – a scrapbook of memories and hopefully lasting relationships.
When you spend five days a week, upwards of 8 hours a day together in a single room with people, you would hope that you at least tolerate those individuals you’re stuck in there with, right? Navigating the school year with my two teammates Kaitlyn and Gloria was an adventure that I’m so fortunate to have been on. Being in a new space trying to figure out how we, as partners with the school, could begin to be integrated into the larger school was a huge feat after coming off of a year and change of virtual schooling. I think it started with us becoming a unit within ourselves and knowing each other on a professional and personal level. As a team, we quickly learned each other’s quirks and boundaries which were used to properly support each other in the way each of us needed to be supported. One of my favorite things about this year is how so many of our students would ask us if we were best friends outside of work or if we knew each other before the job. This is a huge testament to how well we bonded and became the team we did because so many other people were seeing it. That’s wild.
Can you imagine if your place of work told you that they were providing you with something called a funsie once a month? You would think you’re too cool for them, right? Absolutely not, not me! One thing about me this year was that I was showing up to those optional organizational wide fun events. I loved them! I loved getting to know my coworkers outside of the office and schools. Whether it was large scale organized funsies or a last minute lunch or dinner with my fellow Fellows or my Site Team, I’ve had so much fun getting to know everyone!
Now let’s talk about being on site. I want to start by asking if you have ever been woken up pretty early and made it to work by 7:15 am to get absolutely ridiculed by high school students? Have you ever just tied your shoes and been accused of “choking them” because you tied them like normal? Have you ever worn rain boots because, I don’t know, it’s raining outside and now your nickname is Boots? Every day, I was humbled by these students but I literally could not stand to have it any other way. I think I’m so lucky to have had these students share so much about themselves with me – whether it was their academic successes, their relationship drama, or even more of the intimate details of their lives. It was such an honor to have that built trust with them.
As the fellowship and school year comes to an end, I am beyond grateful to have met and gotten to know so many incredible individuals. Coming off of a year and some change of virtual schooling, it’s been clear that there was a need to create and foster lasting relationships. I may have been speechless at the beginning stages of writing this post, but it’s safe to say that a picture really is worth a thousand words.