Re-reading my first week’s letter which was full of exclamation points and excitement was a little bit cringe-y, but it was all true. I was eager to live and work in the city. My goals were to get a good start with my career in education policy, get a taste of adult work life, and to learn from the community of Detroit as much as possible. I’m happy to say that most of those goals were realistic and accomplished in these short 10 weeks.
I’m leaving with an improved work-ethic and time-management style. This summer has made me much more professional than ever before, so I plan on taking my time in classes, with professors, and off-classes more seriously.
I’ve enjoyed my time at E3 Talent Design Lab, and I know that Raenell and I have done a lot to launch the Early Literacy Library project’s beginning steps. However, I do have to admit that there were some days where I got lazy or didn’t make the best use of my down-time. While I don’t regret taking some days to relax and step back from work, I wish that I had read more about Detroit’s education policy playfield while having an entire office filled with people involved in it. But I hope to keep in contact with most people in the office, so I don’t think this is goodbye!
I’m really glad that we had the chance to live in Detroit this summer. Being able to go to local events and bike through the streets every day gave me a much more rich and well-rounded perspective of the city. I learned as much as I could from my co-workers and from others who live/work in Detroit. Driving around to schools and organizations also made me realize how diverse and big Detroit is compared to other major cities. I’m glad that I was able to learn about the city and its history through lectures, tours, museums, and from other people. I thought that this would be the only two months in my life living in Detroit, but this summer has made me want to live and work here in the future! I hope that I have chance to make that dream a reality in the near future. I really enjoyed DCBRP and its people, and I hope that we can all stay in touch back in Ann Arbor!
