for college students by college students

When I Say
I’m From
Here

EMILY STILLMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

L

ike many college students’
thoughts, summer break crossed
my mind as I trudged through
the snowy sidewalks of Ann Arbor last
winter. In the depths of December, I
started to come up with goals for my
summer plans come April. I wanted
professional experience; I wanted to be
entertained, and I wanted to learn.
I spent the summer after freshman
year living and working in Downtown
Detroit through the Semester in Detroit
program at University of Michigan. My
summer in the city gave me a taste of
urban life. Detroit, in all its uniqueness,
was a really great place to learn. It was
close to home, but unfamiliar enough
to challenge me. I was humbled by
what I learned about social justice,
meeting community needs and grocery
shopping for myself.
By the end of my sophomore year, I
had reflected on my previous summer
and concluded that my personal and
intellectual growth had been a result of
my immersion in Detroit, an effect of
its distinction from home and the chal-
lenges I faced there. I had ventured
away from home, and I felt I was better
off for it.
Meanwhile, I took a public health
class, declared an organizational stud-
ies major and spent my second year of
college living with friends from across
the country. As my interest in the non-
profit sector developed, so did my

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desire to venture even farther from my
hometown of Bloomfield Hills. I figured
large-scale organizations in places like
New York and Washington were best-
suited to meet my goals. A big job in
the big city seemed like the antidote
to boredom and a natural step toward
success.
In Detroit, I had learned how to
enter a community with humility and a
willingness to learn. Next, I wanted to
take those lessons somewhere I could
make a difference.

The Benefits Of Discovery:
Close To Home
So, to no surprise, I felt conflicted
when I ultimately decided to stay home
for the summer as the Jeanette and
Oscar Cooke Jewish Occupational
Program (JOIN) intern at the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Federation was a mile away from
my house and a far cry from the high-
speed, sprawling city corporation I’d
envisioned myself in this summer. I
was worried that I’d have less to learn
inside my own, familiar Jewish com-
munity. I was fairly certain that my job
would be easy or at least straightfor-
ward. After all, I was born and raised
in Metro Detroit. I’d gone to preschool
at my synagogue, nine years at Hillel
Day School, spent a few summers at
Tamarack Camps, been in a BBYO
chapter, Jewish Fund Teen Board,

attended services at Michigan Hillel
and so on. Most recently, I was in
Israel on Birthright.
An internship at Jewish Federation
seemed predictable. It seemed way
too close to home.
Nonetheless, there was something
that pulled me toward applying to
JOIN. For all my doubts about staying
in Metro Detroit, an ache in my chest
(and my parents) encouraged me to
stay home.
Twenty Jewish college students from
the area applied and were selected for
JOIN. Each of us was interviewed and
placed at a different agency where we
would work Monday through Thursday.
On Fridays, we gathered to reflect, tour
agencies and meet community lead-
ers. And so, despite my skepticism, I
accepted an internship at Federation. I
didn’t realize it at the time, but I missed
home. This summer has been, in many
ways, a homecoming.
My first week of work was surpris-
ing. I realized by my second day
in the office that, despite my prior
confidence, I really had no idea what
Federation even did.
I was overwhelmed and humbled
by the wealth of knowledge I accumu-
lated that first week. I grew up learning
about tzedakah, but I’d never thought
about how raising money translated
into community change. I sat in a
Women’s Philanthropy meeting and

heard a new language: Words like
endowment, campaign and allocation
gained new meaning. There were net-
works of relationships and ecosystems
of generosity that had never crossed
my mind. I’d been living in this com-
munity my entire life, and I had finally
stepped into its command center.
I started to recognize the way my
thoughts churned as I sat in meetings,
the way my notebook filled with messy,
half-baked ideas. I had felt like this in
Detroit, too: a sense of bewilderment,
like I’d stepped into something much
larger than myself. My job, it turns out,
was not overly comfortable. Instead,
even within my own community, I was
stretched in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
My communication skills were put to
the test on the phone at our summer
phonathon. I had to practice, as the
youngest person in a meeting, finding
courage to join in on the conversation.
At community events, I put a smile
on my face and introduced myself to
esteemed professionals, despite my
nerves. I grew frustrated over my mis-
takes: It wasn’t as easy as I expected
to manage a busy calendar, communi-
cate effectively and problem solve cre-
atively. Simply being from here wasn’t
going to cut it: I had to cultivate a new
confidence in myself in order to ask
questions, speak up and step up when
and where I was needed.
All the while, I was experiencing

PHOTOS BY: JOHN HARDWICK

Federation’s JOIN Intern
Emily Stillman reflects on her
eye-opening internship with
a renewed
e w e d a
appreciation
p p r e c i a t io
o n o
of f h
home.
o m e .