Fellowship: friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests; a group of people meeting to pursue a shared interest or aim. (definition according to Google)
I am not sure which element of Kenan Fellows was most enticing.
- Fellowship with other leaders in education
- Fellowship within a great established organization
- Fellowship in a large corporation
- Fellowship amongst myself and staff members as I share the experience
- Fellowship within my classroom as students learn from others
It was certainly the combination of all of these that drew me to the program, and ignites my learning every day. When considering my anticipated (and hopeful) outcomes from this experience, not only with colleagues, professional development, and the internship, I had many that surfaced to the top of the list.
This experience will drastically improve my ability to teach with relevance to the real world. When being convinced to apply by a previous fellow, her words really resonated with me “Kenan Fellows is about 20% the internship, and 80% everything else.” At first, I was shocked because I had no idea what the other 80% could be – I was hoping for an amazing experience to build a fellowship within a business for my students. Now being immersed in this amazing organization, I am realizing how much that 80% really is. I only hope that this experience will deepen my understanding of curriculum and its application to the real world, but also allow me to network and share all that I learn from others. Relationships and community will be the lasting effect.
I feel that I often seek out challenges and ways to improve on a regular basis, that Kenan Fellows naturally seemed like a next step. On the surface, I would like connections to business professionals and a deeper understanding of the science behind what they do. I have very limited knowledge of crop sciences, it can only go up from here! Then on a deeper level, I would like to walk away with lasting connections to educators that are similarly driven and dedicated to improving their teaching craft. I can learn so much from them and their experiences.