NPCC Participant, Jacqueline Galvinhill ’18 guest blogs to share about her experience at the 2016 conference.
My expectation for the Non-Profit Careers Conference was a week of workshops and lectures designed to present as much information to me as possible in the limited time available. I expected to leave the conference with a list of possible careers and resources to help me pursue my interests. What I actually experienced was so much more! The conference taught me important skills that I am sure I will use in my professional life, but more importantly, the conference created a space for me to question who I am and what motivates me. The sessions devoted to reflection and discernment forced me to examine how I was responding to new information by providing a structured avenue for asking myself questions that never would have otherwise occurred to me. In being asked to select adjectives for myself, I discovered how I view myself in a few words. In being asked about my childhood talents and my current talents, I realized that my love for public speaking was an interest that I could not ignore. In reflecting on failure, I was motivated to explore more opportunities even in the face of possible rejection. In reflecting on the whole week I felt somewhat liberated in knowing that there are a multitude of options available to me and that part of the fun is trying many of them. I went to the Non-Profit Careers Conference hoping to learn about job opportunities. I left the conference having discovered more about who I am and who I want to become for others.
