The culture in my workplace at the 48203/HP Collaborative is very much different in comparison to any other job I’ve worked. Having worked in food service, the work is fast-paced, loud, and somewhat strenuous physically and mentally after hours on your feet. Having worked in office settings, the work is tedious, boring, and you watch the minutes tick by sometimes. At the HP Collaborative, the space I work in is relaxed. Everything that we are assigned comes with a reasonable deadline, giving us plenty of time to do a good job. The office isn’t occupied by other people, it is simply a space that our director, Charlene, holds meetings in. Much of the work we do is independent and requires much traveling to visit other organizations within the Collaborative. So not an office job, but one that mixes computer work with interactions with people.
There are no young people like Ja-lia and myself working for the HP Collaborative. It is comprised of many different heads of non-profits in HP, all of them much older than us. All of the people we meet are very interested in our lives as students at Michigan and excited to have us there. Another common thing that I’ve experienced here at the HP Collaborative, but certainly not for the first time, is being immersed in settings where I am the only white person. I think this is an extremely important thing to be able to experience frequently. It makes me feel like I am able to thrive in diverse settings and learn from others.
