I had an amazing time in Israel with Excel and felt that I learned a significant amount of skills at my internship that have since helped me advance my career, as well as forged meaningful relationships with people around the world who share many of my passions. In fact, one of the Fellows my year and I became such good friends that we decided to be roommates together in NYC.
Even a few years later, I think of my Excel experience as unforgettable and irreplaceable. As I prepare to enter a full-time role in management consulting, I am confident I will use the skills and insights that I learned at my summer internship to drive my engagement with clients, co-workers, and managers.
Most recently, I have sought ways to pay my Excel experience forward and decided to create a Fellowship for high schoolers and middle schoolers in my hometown: Oceanside, New York (www.empoweringeducationfund.org). The model that the Empowering Education Fellowship uses of peer-to-peer mentorship was in part inspired by my experience as a mentee and later a mentor within the Excel community.
Being part of the Excel lifelong fellowship, means that I am never alone wherever I am or whatever I am doing. Since my time in Israel with Excel, I have connected with Excel Fellows across industries and geographies and have found that Excelers are extremely willing to help one another. I remain incredibly grateful for what Excel has provided to me and my peers with that initial summer internship and so much more, and am excited to see what is to come!