I admit, it was tough waking up for seminar sometimes. But at the end of class each Friday, I always left feeling very motivated and curious as to how I would apply what we learned to the rest of my project. The most interesting parts of the seminar were hearing from the different community organizations around Detroit and getting to see their mission and even a little bit about how they operate. Most of us are very limited to the scope of the one non-profit or organization that we are working with, so it was enlightening to see that all organizations are much different from each other.
I wish that there were even more interaction with other organizations throughout these seminars, because it was very valuable to the entire internship experience in general. One seminar that I learned a lot from was the one where we had to assign imaginary funding to different healthcare community sectors. It got really stressful and annoying to work with everyone towards the end when funding got really tight, but that seminar experience really highlighted the challenges involved with managing funds and trying to make good decisions in your business or organization when you have limited resources. It is a very real problem in non-profit and organizations, not only funding allocation but even collaboration and working with others from different backgrounds, knowledge, and experience. It reminded me to be a little more open-minded and look at problems from multiple perspectives in order to asses for the best solutions.
Gina, I agree with you that seminar was a great opportunity to hear about other nonprofits.
Yes, I definitely agree. I sometimes wished that a few of the organizations would gather together for a panel-like discussion section. But I also understand that it may have been difficult because everyone is not free.