Colleen during her ARC days
Year of Graduation: 2014
Major: Business Administration, Marketing Concentration/ Double minor in Art and Women’s Studies
Current Address: Bloomington, IL
How were you engaged with ARC? Not just the seminar/internship/fellowship but describe the type of project.
I was a Community Partnership Program intern during the summer of 2013. I worked in the Strategic Resources department of State Farm where I designed and completed a market research survey among agents and their supervisors about a new way to handle auto claims. I was also at YWCA McLean County where I rebranded their child care services. I did my work study at ARC during my senior year. I helped to construct and implement the first year of the Give a Day Campaign, working closely with RSOs on campus.
Where are you now?
I am now working full-time at YWCA McLean County as the Grants and Marketing Coordinator.
Where did ARC take you professionally? Are you doing work that connects back to ARC in some way?
ARC took me exactly where I never knew I wanted to be. ARC made me realize my passion lies in non-profit work, especially an organization that focuses on women. I didn’t know anything about grant writing before ARC, and now it comprises half of my job. I fell in love with YWCA McLean County through the CPP internship, and I am so happy I now work here and get to do what I’m passionate about.
Where did ARC take you personally? Are you engaged in community work that is ARC-like?
ARC made me a more community-minded person. I didn’t grow up in a place that felt like a “community,” and coming to IWU I figured Bloomington would never be more than the town my college happened to be in. It was only through ARC that I realized all the awesome things happening in Bloomington-Normal to make it better, and I wanted to be part of that. Because of ARC, I am constantly asking myself if this is what people in this community actually want, or is it something we THINK they want?
Did ARC teach you what we were supposed to teach you? Did we teach you anything that was a surprise or outside of the learning objectives?
I am a HUGE ARC fan. I think ARC University should be incorporated into Freshman Orientation Week and mandatory for all first -year students. And professors. And everyone else. I only wish I would have known about ARC sooner so I could take the Seminar and Grant Writing classes. I think I came to love collaboration and brainstorming more than I did before. Now I get so energized by a good brainstorming session.
Share a great memory about ARC/IWU.
I love Deborah’s 1st and 3rd Girls story. I like to tell family members that story. Walking the Westside was awesome. We went to an Improv Shakespeare show that was part of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival that was so much fun. Our group of interns had fun with the bags activity. We had lunch together every week at State Farm.