As the years pass, and I grow older, I have had to take on progressively more and more responsibilities. One major responsibility is working in the summer months because all of my other time is taken up with school. Every year I am blessed to work on a different project that teaches me valuable workplace and life skills, and this year was no exception. This year, through the Put Illinois to Work Program, I was employed at Twin Green’s Link and Option Center in Markham Illinois as a member of the marketing team. Some of my duties included writing for the company’s newsletter, helping to plan and promote events for the agency through social networks and street marketing, researching for corporate sponsorship efforts, and working on a PSA for the agency. This was all valued training in work that I plan to do in my future career path. I was recently applying for internships for school and many of the job descriptions included the same work I’ve been doing all summer, so I will be going into a job where I already have beneficial experience.
One of the other ways I benefited from this work experience was the remarkable people skills I gained from working with such a diverse group of people. My coworkers came from different neighborhoods all over the south suburbs thus bringing a vast majority of ideas and personalities with them. Learning about each other to better complete the tasks given for the day was an experience in itself. Dealing with different attitudes and differences in opinions has given us all very valuable problem solving skills in the workplace and taught us how to compromise to reach the desired results. Plus we formed close bonds and made many new great friends that we might have never met otherwise.
The biggest project we had over the summer was to develop and plan a summer talent explosion for the various communities. The theme for the explosion was: “Youth Against Violence”, a topic that everyone should be aware of with the current issues with teen violence in our communities. The event was designed to bring children out and showcase their personal talents as well as enjoy a great day of family fun and activities in a safe environment. The event should also serve as an open house for the Agency and allow the public to see first-hand the positive work being done by the organization.
Overall this has been a wonderful experience for me and I have come out of it with skills and training that are rare for some. Many people who could have very promising futures just lack the opportunities to get into certain fields. I can personally say that The Link and Option Center is a organization that truly “opens doors” for people and offers invaluable skills that can help one reach their true potential. This was a great summer.
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