Hello everyone my name is Emily and I am currently the intern for Nonprofit Connection SCC. A little background if you haven’t seen my bio (on the member’s page): I am a student at CSUMB, I am in the CHHS major and currently completing my field training through my internship with NPC. I started my internship in January. I was brought into the mix of the launch of NPC; if I’m being honest I have never seen a launch of the nonprofit organization, given that I’m a college student this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Seeing the team plan and give so much thought to the event was interesting to watch. The biweekly meetings that were solemnly based on this nonprofit and launch gave me an inside look at planning and organizing events. I watched those involved share thoughts, provide suggestions and collaborate. We planned the activities, script, transitions, and even talked about the overall presentation through flyers and invitations. While attending my second meeting weeks before the launch, the team asked me to take on the task of creating questions for a scavenger hunt activity. I agreed and created 20 questions. The ETeam and I collaboratively were able to narrow down to the 10 best questions to feature in the scavenger hunt.
A few weeks before the launch the ETeam asked if I would be comfortable speaking at the launch event; I appreciated them respecting and caring for my comfort level. I was comfortable with this role and in collaboration with Kelli Ryder, she helped me practice and write my lines to introduce the scavenger hunt rules and prizes following the activity.
Fast forward to the day of the launch: We all signed onto the launch 30 minutes before the event; this was to ensure everything was ready for the event, but this time was also full of excitement from all those involved. I was excited and nervous ( I will admit). we began the event on schedule at 5 pm, we began to see those who registered login via zoom as Peggy Flynn began the event with an introduction, and the transitions were smoothed and coordinated! Once Kelli had a chance to show the viewers some features of our website, she passed the attention to my direction to introduce the scavenger hunt, I was able to say my part without hesitation (Thank you Kelli for helping me practice). I then directed the attention back to Kelli. I was able to take a nice deep breath after my part was over, all the nervousness I was feeling prior was now gone. I was thrilled that the members gave me a chance to practice public speaking and gave me a platform to introduce myself to the community. I am so fortunate to be so young and to be a part of an amazing launch event; this event is something I will remember and look back on throughout my future career and events. Check out this picture we were able to capture before we started the event. Also, there are more pictures in our celebrations!