Philly Fellow Update

continuation of Abi's experiences while being a Philly Fellow for us...

Sept 11, Beth and I went to UPenn’s Wharton School of Business to present the National Adoption Center to a Management 100 class as one of six potential non-profits that students could team with for a project. Out of eight of the non-profits, six are selected to participate in this project. We felt confident about NAC’s selection odds because NAC stood out—after all, without supportive families themselves the students might not have accomplished as much as they have, which is something I’m constantly reminded of when I hear stories about waiting children—and the organization participated in the Wharton assignment in previous years. The representative(s) of each non-profit spoke about their organization’s mission, what they envisioned the projects would look like, and what they expected the end result would be. Each 4.5 minute presentation was followed by 4.5 minutes of Q & A. Our presentation went very well, and a few students came over afterward to ask additional questions. Two of them spoke of how they had been personally affected by adoption.

Shortly after this, we found out that we were selected for the project! (It will be NAC’s third year working with Wharton students.) Our next meeting will be with the group of students with which we’ve been partnered. This is an important meeting where we will hash out ideas for the public relations event. We need to think about scale, audience, cost, location, feasibility, etc. Helping to plan and execute the event will be an educational experience for me, and I look forward to getting started. Whatever the event ends up looking like, our starting point as always is the goal of increasing public awareness of children awaiting permanent homes.