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I entered the President’s Public Service Fellowship ready to serve the community around me. Honestly, at first, when I was learning about the program, I thought Dean Baker might have been overselling it. I thought there was no way that I would be learning so much while I was involved. I expected to be working in a remote location doing something I didn’t yet know, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After being involved for about two and a half months this summer, I think the program was undersold.

I gained so much from being a part of the President’s Public Service Fellowship. I learned that I could accomplish whatever it is that I set my mind to. While I had always believed that, I had never been tested like I think I was this summer.

I spent the summer volunteering at the Yale Prison Education Initiative (YPEI) at Dwight Hall. When I started, I was terrified about going into the facility because I don’t like walking into an environment in which I don’t know what I’m going to encounter. Then, I got injured and was on crutches for about two weeks, and to top it all off, I got a cold out of the blue. I had just about every obstacle I could think of thrown my way, but I persevered. I kept going because the job was important to me. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

I’m a planner, so having to adjust my entire summer plan was challenging, but I proved to myself that I can push past the roadblocks that are in my way and still do what I set out to do, which was to help the community.

Faith Arcuri is a communication major at the University who volunteered at the Yale Prison Education Initiative (YPEI) at Dwight Hall this summer as part of the University’s President’s Public Service Fellowship program.