Fellowship Experience

The following blog was written by Marcus Pope, a junior at Cesar Chavez Public Policy High School, who joined us for a 3 week fellowship program.

My Fellowship experience with Mobilizing America’s Youth was very good. I gained a lot of exposure. The little things like inputting timesheets into spreadsheets, researching, and attending staff meetings, all made me feel like I was part of the MAY staff. Working with MAY was cool because you get a feel of what an organization is really about.

While working with MAY, I helped them get organized. I helped them keep a record of all the foundations they have been in contact with. I put the contact information of those organizations in a spreadsheet. I researched Kansas City, Missouri to get some information about MAY holding a conference there. I also researched The Hip Hop Political Convention to get some information about it. I have also kept a record of assignments that some of MAY’s staff members completed. I also researched biographies of people who were involved with organization.

Besides helping MAY get organized, I also did things outside of the office. Along with some other staff members, I donated books to a local recreation center. I also attended a meeting at the Capitol. The topic of discussion was student debt. There were democratic representatives like, Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Miller Meek, and Rep. Ryan talking about how raising student loan interest rates were wrong. Besides those representatives, there were some students who were currently in college talking about the effects of the student loan interest rate increase. It was good exposure for me to see and hear a political meeting about an issue. Before going there, I never really witnessed right before my eyes, a meeting that included lots of supporters and representatives.

While working with MAY, I learned that if one wants to make change then one would have to do it his or her self, because the way the government is run right now, there’s no automatic change in the world unless you attempt to make change. I also learned that it takes a lot of constructed time, dedication, hard work and commitment in order to get your voice and opinion heard by the people that you want to hear it. It also takes all of those things in order to do something or take action against an issue or problem. I’ve really enjoyed working with Mobilizing America’s Youth for my fellowship.