Final Week - My Overall Experience

My time working with AIPER has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience. Not only did I learn a lot along the way, but I have also met some incredibly intelligent and friendly people with a diverse range of knowledge and skills. I have worked with non-profit groups in the past, but never in this context or at the higher levels, so I have learned much about how such organizations operate. Before this semester, I was ignorant of the amount of time and commitment that individuals put into organizations that are entirely dependent on volunteers. I just took it for granted that the administrative duties got done so that others could take care of their own responsibilities at the lower levels. Working directly with board members has taught me that people who hold the higher positions in an organization often do the work of several people, but this is not to belittle the work that others do. It is simply an eye-opening observation. I will never again be able to overlook the amount of work that people in administrative positions are responsible for or how critical that effort is to the goals of an organization.

During the last few months, I have had the opportunity to apply much of my “classroom” knowledge to the real world and develop skills that I had not been able to use much previously. I have learned how to be more organized, to pay attention to details and how to manage my time to get through a complicated project on my own. I had high expectations for myself this semester and while I succeeded in accomplishing what AIPER asked of me, there were additional personal projects that I had hoped to work on but I simply ran out of time. There is only so much time in a semester and I had not realized how much time is necessary for some projects. Sometimes, seemingly simple projects can be much more complex than ever expected. Fortunately, others can continue working on these other projects in the future. Most importantly, I have been given the opportunity to collaborate with other people and see goals accomplished through such collaborative effort.

This experience has been very positive for me. I feel that I have contributed to AIPER’s work in the community and in turn, their efforts have contributed to my personal development as well. I hope to continue to be involved with AIPER in the future and look forward to utilizing the lessons learned during my time with AIPER in the future. The journey has been well worth it and I will always appreciate my time with AIPER.