We’re excited to welcome a new member to the United Way of Northeast Florida team for the summer 2015 semester. Here’s a bit about her:

Greetings! My name is CeTia Hunter, and I am a fourth year Broadcast Journalism student at Florida A&M University. Until mid-August, I will be interning here at United Way working with the Backpack Challenge and the new Upstream pilot. Before receiving this job, I felt as if my summer was slowly crawling under a rock. Everything began to turn around though, after a brief conversation with a relative about a month ago.

The phrase, “it’s not always about what you know, but who you know,” rings in my head on a regular basis now. WHAT I knew was that working to impact my community is something I have always dreamed of doing. WHO I knew though, helped land me that opportunity. After weeks of interviews with no returned phone calls, temporary agency work, and a feeling of slight depression, things began to change very rapidly in my favor! It was the weekend of Memorial Day and my parents had decided to have a cookout. After a brief conversation with my cousin about how my summer job search was going, I received information an opportunity at United Way. Although I was initially inquiring about a different job opening, I received a position even more rewarding that allows me to not only help give back to my community, but also see the other side of an event I used to benefit from–the Backpack Challenge.

Although this is only my third week, I have gained so much insight about both Upstream and the Backpack Challenge, not to mention the hands-on experience I am receiving, and the endless networking opportunities. So far I have been helping get things off the ground and everything is running smoothly.

To be filled with an insurmountable amount of happiness when coming to work is such a surreal feeling. I have been working since the age of 14 and this is the first time I have ever wished for the days to go slower, just so that I could dedicate more time to what I am doing. Being able to work with people who exercise patience and flexibility, extend kindness, and are always on point with plans of action, leaves me forever grateful for this opportunity and the conversation that sparked it. Thank you so much Angela Seabrooks, who also happens to be the Coordinator of the Sandalwood Full Service Schools Resource Center. I really appreciate you!