As I prepare for my trip to Austin, Texas, where I will be spending one week of my internship in-person with Water to Thrive, I can’t help but reflect on all of the connections in my life that have helped get me here. My introduction to both the CAPS Fellowship and Water to Thrive organization started my freshman year of college while taking a required class for my Philanthropic Leadership & Service. Assuming that students attaining this minor were a target audience to introduce to the CAPS program, we had someone from the Institute for Leadership and Service present to our class about this fellowship opportunity. Being both a first-year and exploratory studies student, I was hesitant to apply for this opportunity, as I had little to no idea what I wanted to do when I was older. However, Madison Magiera, a classmate of mine, applied and was matched with Water to Thrive, so I learned a lot about the program and her experience as she was going through it herself.
It took me until the spring of my junior year of college to decide to officially go for it and apply for this fellowship. After a fairly lengthy interview process (and probably some personal bias towards the organization I had heard such great things about), I was matched with Water to Thrive. Not only that, but so was Morgan Olson – a mutual friend of mine. Morgan and I both grew up in the city of Valparaiso with many mutual friends in high school, but were never officially introduced to one another until becoming collegiate cohorts in this program. However, the connections we both had to one another allowed for us to plan and execute a week-long in-person internship experience together in Austin.
Not only had I realized that much of the position I am in today was due to connections I had made during very different walks of life, but soon another few random connections would soon lay even more opportunities in my lap. First, Morgan’s alumni mentor offered to lend a helping hand and pick us up from the airport when we arrived and even suggested dinner one evening this upcoming week. Along with this, a family friend of mine discovered I would be in Austin, his hometown, and insisted that he take us to a “honky tonk” while we are here.
As a college student interested in the field of communication, I have always been told that networking and making connections with people is crucial in this particular career field. Not only have I been fortunate to have my connections aid me in navigating this new experience travelling to a new city, but I am sure I will make even more connections when I am down there, which may come back to help me in the future.