This has certainly been an amazing experience! I knew that the CAPS program was special, but I could never have foreseen just how much of an impact my time at The Bridge Teen Center would have on me. Now that I’m just one short week away from the end of my internship, I feel that this is an excellent time to reflect on what I’ve learned about myself as a person during the past three months.

Before I joined the CAPS program, I had never taken much time to think about what the words “calling” and “purpose” mean as they apply to my life and career. Having reflected on the work I’ve done at The Bridge, I have come to define “calling” as the external force that draws you toward a particular line of work and “purpose” as your internal driving force, i.e., the reason why you are drawn to a particular calling. I enjoy telling stories through my photographs and my writing, which led me to conclude that I might be called to be a storyteller in some capacity. However, I only had half of the full picture – I still didn’t know what my purpose, my “why,” might be. It was at our final group Reflect-In last week that I realized my purpose is rooted in a desire to help people understand the perspectives of others. I hope to use my storytelling to bring people into spheres outside of their own and, in doing so, help make them more understanding of those who are different from them. Looking back, I can see how my calling and purpose have been present in the work I do at The Bridge as a media intern. Having been a teenager myself, I know for a fact that communication between teens and their parents can have more than a few gaps. It is my hope that the photos I helped post on social media demonstrate to the parents just how much their kids’ creativity, education, and social lives benefit from the programs and activities at The Bridge. One of The Bridge’s strongest assets is its community and I believe it is of the utmost importance that the community – which includes donors along with parents  – sees that they are supporting an organization that is effecting significant change in the lives of these teens. I count it an honor and a privilege to have helped tell the story of such an amazing place as The Bridge

I have enjoyed my time in the CAPS Fellowship program very much. Not only has it afforded me the opportunity to meet some amazing people, but it has also given me new insights into myself as an individual. I am not sure how my sense of calling and purpose will change as I continue to learn and grow: it might undergo slight alterations, or it might turn into something completely different. I am not at all certain of what the future holds, but, thanks to my time as a CAPS fellow, I can now move into the unknown armed with confidence, hope, and a better sense of self.

– Philip Bolton, The Bridge Teen Center