This past year at Brandeis, I learned the value of team effort whether it be in academics or extracurriculars. The non-cut-throat environment that Brandeis facilitates truly works in everyone’s favor. When my friends make study guides for tests, they would share them with me. As I am called the Quizlet Queen, I would complete my royal duties of sharing my quizlets with them. We are all reaching for the common goal of attaining a certain grade, so why not spread the joy of study materials? When it comes to extracurriculars, my a cappella troupe displays to me the value of working together. Although a test grade won’t validate teamwork, ears will surely do the job. If we haven’t individually practiced our parts, the cumulation of music will not sound correct. Additionally, the troupe has different roles such as music director, president, business manager, and even birthday celebration coordinator. The responsibility of each of these roles are crucial to a smooth semester of music and performances.
This idea of working together has been prevalent at Avodah, but in a more professional way. Teamwork is especially shown every two weeks during staff meetings. It is here where I see the meaning of team effort at its finest. The meetings entail a more holistic experience, and they are not solely business and numbers. Last meeting, Executive Director Cheryl Cook decided to start out by asking each staff member, “What is a talent that you have that is not utilized at Avodah?” After answers such as boardgames and baking, topics got a little more serious. Subjects included budgets, goals, updates, and what Avodah stands for. Cheryl will steer conversations and do a lot of updating herself, but a great chunk of staff meetings involve hearing about the work that everyone’s been up to. This usually follows with some variation of validation ranging from a smile to “amazing job.” Additionally, everyone gets the chance to talk. After every update, questions and comments are greatly encouraged. Often, follow-up questions bring up a new topic or something that hasn’t been thought about that can potentially push forward progress and the organization.
My work of updating long lists of donor information or doing research may not seem crucial to the organization’s stability, but there have been ways in which my work is acknowledged. For the data component of my internship, one of my projects was to look up individuals associated with Jewish Experiential Education. I came up with a list of names and information. Once that list was finished I received emails from the D.C. branch of the non-profit appreciatively reacting to my work. For the communications aspect of my internship, I do varying tasks. My supervisor is the director of communications and part of her job is to order merchandise for Service Corps Members and Fellows. She asked me to research websites that make sustainable and customizable items that people will likely use day to day. One of the items I found were reusable, bamboo utensils. A week later the utensils came in and they were a hit. My supervisor got countless compliments of the utensils and I know I attributed to that in a small way. I have found having a supportive network can truly make a difference of what one puts into the job.
-Jolie Suchin ’22