Having read my week one letter over again, I think this summer has been exactly what I needed and more. I was concerned about gaining more confidence when working with new people and being able to apply my skills to this new project for Soulardarity. I think I was concerned about my skillset matching up, but this summer has been both a learning and reaffirming experience. While I think it’s impossible to completely change a person over nine weeks, I do feel so much more comfortable with my own preexisting and new abilities.
I don’t like taking credit for anything less than what I believe is due, but I really feel like I was able to contribute to Soulardarity’s efforts. The Blueprint for Energy Democracy has been an absolute dream to work on and I loved getting to work with people on it and learn more about the topic. In my first my post I wrote about wanting to learn how citizens can band together to create change and now I know exactly how we can do that. I just really hope that my project is able to be used in the future and achieve some of the things set out in it. Knowing Soulardarity, I know this will happen.
I also mentioned in my blog that I wanted to learn more about Detroit. I can’t even begin to describe that much that goal was achieved haha. Exploring Detroit has been incredible and I’m so grateful that DCBRP gave us the most honest look. I also mentioned wanting to learn more about legislation and local government, which I most certainly did, especially how complex and inaccessible it can be.
DCBRP has been such an incredible experience and I’m so grateful for the memories, the people, and the knowledge I acquired along the way. So while my plans for graduation aren’t yet fully formed, I feel so much more at ease about my own future. I loved this experience and getting to see what I can do outside of umich and the classroom. I kinda feel like I’m heading back to campus as a new person? Maybe you can change over nine weeks!
