What a Year

What a year its been in Summit Park. It's been a year of firsts for me, its been the first time I've experienced apartment life, the first time I've worked in a clinic, and the first time I've really spent time working in a field outside my usual interests. If I were to describe my time in Summit park in just one sentence, I would say that it's been an exciting and compelling process from start to finish, where every visit to the Kitchen Clinic provided a new experience, and every Summit Park event provided a new memory - from the yoga classes to the backyard Summit barbecues.

There's many parts of my time at Summit that will stick with me well into the future. For instance, taking time to volunteer to help out the community has become an important part of my schooling, helping me to be more community minded, especially important for my field of study: architecture. The useful tips on everything from budgeting to resumes will stick with me well into professional life, where I hope to be in both a successful career and home life. The greatest impact Summit had on me wasn't so much the volunteering, as the relationships I've gained at the clinic, as well as in our own apartment.

Together, I believe our group has made a lasting impression on our community. Not only did we get to be a friendly face to the many faces of Springfield as they came in for treatment, but we also showed the clinic staff that a new generation was interested in taking action to help out the local community. If it wasn't for living in Summit Park I wouldn't have learned these valuable lessons, leaving me with a purely internal educational focus.

If I could change one thing from this past year, I would seek to spend more time developing a strong resume. I felt almost as if we didn't nearly as much time in development as we could have. Mostly though, I've had a great time in Summit Park, and really wouldn't change much at all. My advice to new incoming Summit Parker's is this, plan ahead to fit volunteer hours into your semester, don't stick to minimums.