Reflection of An Executive Director
With a leadership transition on the horizon, I wanted to talk with DP’s current Executive Director, Shichi Dhar, about her experience with DP over the last four years. When Shichi was a freshman, she joined DP’s internal team; she helped to create presentations and other educational materials for our planning team meetings. Shichi explained, “This was a great first experience since it allowed me to learn so much about the city and its history: from topics in public health to the criminal justice system to urban planning and gentrification.” The following year she joined both the Education and Community Teams and was able to experience both components of service learning. As part of the Community Team, Shichi served as a Volunteer Coordinator for Harms Elementary where she was able to directly engage with the Detroit community. Through the Education Team, she was able to take those experiences as a VC and use them to make educational materials to help other volunteers reflect on their experiences. In her junior year, she earned the Education Director position where she led DP’s educational initiatives. Finally, in her senior year, Shichi transitioned to the role of Executive Director, where she oversees our entire organization. Shichi explained, “It has been an amazing experience so far, allowing me to grow as an individual, volunteer, and leader.”
Shichi’s passion for DP was immediately apparent when asked about her favorite parts of this experience. One of her favorite experiences with DP included creating and leading reflection sessions for DP Day as Education Director. Shichi explained that she “had the opportunity to collaborate with the Internal Director, our featured community partners, and our Ginsberg Center advisor, Brendan, to develop sessions where volunteers had the chance to learn more about the city and engage in critical and self-reflective conversations before entering the city of Detroit.” She went on to explain that “this is what makes us stand out as an organization: our mission of service-learning grounds all the work we do, and we always want to make sure we educate our volunteers before bringing them into a space they are not from.”
When we discussed the transition from Education Director to Executive Director, Shichi explained that as Executive Director she realized how much goes into running a student organization “especially one that is responsible for engaging with not just 100+ students, but also maintaining a strong relationship with our community partners, whether that be for our weekly programs or our major events.” One of her biggest takeaways from this position was that running an organization like this is a team effort. She noted that she is one of nine directors and one of over forty PT members and that DP’s mission can only be carried out if all of our members are striving to “uphold our mission and fulfill our responsibilities to our volunteers and community partners.” Shichi also emphasized that this teamwork extends beyond the current members of DP. Our work is only possible because of past DP members who worked to achieve our mission and the future of DP is dependent on our dedication to DP’s mission now. Collaboration like this seemed to be a common theme throughout our conversation. For example, she explained that during her transitions into new positions, she always felt supported by the other directors, PT members, and our Ginsberg advisors.
While reflecting on her time in DP, Shichi realized how much DP has given her. Not only has it taught her about “how to manage a big group of people, setting deadlines, multitasking, leading weekly meetings, and thinking long-term,” but it has also allowed her to meet some amazing people. “From my freshman year Internal Director, Olivia Jones, who gave me a chance in this organization to my whole director board my final year in this organization, I have grown and learned so much from everyone. Our community partners are doing some incredible things, day in and day out, and it has been an inspiration to learn about their mission and goals. Being able to engage with the Detroit community and hear everyone’s stories has been my favorite part of volunteering, virtually and in-person, and I would not be the same today without the connections I have made.”
Written by Shichi Dhar (Executive Director 2023-2024) and Grace Schaefer (Education Director 2023-2024)