Hello to all! My name is Daphne and I am a French & Biology major with a Global Studies Concentration and Chemistry minor from Pasco, WA (although I did grow up in northern California!). This school year, I have the complete and total privilege to be working with one of my personal favorites organization in the Walla Walla valley—The YWCA of Walla Walla! To say that I am grateful to be working with them in this capacity would certainly be an understatement.
I started volunteering at the YWCA before I even started my first day at Whitman. As a part of a program which I hold very near and dear to my heart, SCORE (summer community outreach excursions), I was able to learn about the YWCA’s mission and their role in the community. I had never lived in a community where resources like the ones the YWCA provides were provided. I was so excited by their mission and presence around the valley, I became a permanent volunteer. Since then, I had only worked the YWCA team as a volunteer, and this summer as a staff member for a summer outreach children’s program. I applied to be their community fellow for two reasons: Firstly, I wanted to gain an insight on the administrative/technical/professional side to the non-profit. Secondly, the work the YWCA does is exactly the kind of I work I hope to be doing later in life as a public health worker.
Working in a formal setting with all of the empowering and inspiring women I looked up to as a volunteer has only solidified my passion and love for the organization and the work that is put into its goal. I am mainly tasked with building a network of students among the three institutions of higher ed in the valley to sit and/or report to the board at the YWCA. Because the YWCA is a resource that all members of the community are encouraged to use, and do use, there ought to be a direct line of communication between the different groups of people that the YWCA is serving and the board—who is tasked with many decisions that affect the way the organization operates and provides resources. Most recently, I have been talking to schools across the country that have implemented a similar type of board of students and it has been really insightful to learn what is working elsewhere. We have a long way to go, but I am excited to be a part of this historical moment of change. When I am not busy chatting with students across the nation, I also help with client needs at the dv/sa shelter or just visit and chat with all the incredible people I have the pleasure of working with.
I would like to thank Whitman College for providing opportunities like these to students. I am not going to lie and say that without this opportunity, I wouldn’t be working with the YWCA, because I already was. It is true, however, that I would not be able to do the work I am or understand the other side of non-profits. More importantly, as a working-class student, Whitman makes it financially feasible for me to take part in an opportunity that would otherwise be unpaid, and therefore not suitable for students that need paid positions to stay at Whitman. Thank you to the SEC as well, for working ceaselessly to make this program such a fruitful one 🙂