December 2022
My name is Simon Risell, I am a senior and an anthropology and sociology double major at Washington College. Over the course of this fall semester, I had the privilege of working as an intern at Rebuilding Together Kent County (RTKC) here in Chestertown, MD. My education is all about understanding and finding empathy and connection with people and valuing unique perspectives and experiences. And speaking as someone who has always and continues to have a deep interest and passion for nonprofit work, it meant a lot for me to get involved with RTKC in this way. Through the time I spent with the members of RTKC and completing my various tasks and learning goals of the last few months, I discovered just how much hard work and thoughtfulness goes in to being a part of a community-oriented effort. I also discovered just how enriching and meaningful it is to get involved and build relationships with your community.
One of my biggest tasks was helping run part of the Giving Tuesday campaign on Facebook and we were successful in hitting our goal this year. Working with Rebuilding Together Kent County for my internship experience through the college only strengthened my interest and dedication to nonprofit work following my education. It is my hope that I can take what I learned from this experience and allow it to nourish my aptitude for doing the work to uplift the communities I surround myself with in the future. If I could take one key lesson from my time at RTKC, it would be this: when all the members of a community recognize all the capacity they hold to support each other, the possibilities are endless.