In this week’s Fellow Spotlight, we are checking in with Courtney Hardebeck. She fills us in on what she enjoys most about Detroit, her host company, Edward C. Levy and what she’s looking forward to as a Challenge Detroit Fellow
Tell us about your neighborhood in the city, what are some of your favorite things about it?
Tell us about your host company and your role within the organization?
My host company is Edward C. Levy. A common answer when asked what our company does is, “we sell rocks”. In other words, we sell a variety of construction materials all over the world. I work in the IT Training Department in Dearborn, where we develop training materials for Levy employees. Our team consists of three people:Kellie – my boss whose passion and expertise is in Learning and Development, with an emphasis on Instructional Design.
Alyssa – my co-fellow, who is an artist in many ways and is using her expertise to serve as our eLearning Designer.
and Me – I am using my background in videography to produce eLearning tutorial videos.
Our team has a lot of fun taking really complicated material and breaking it down into simple, “easy-to-understand” steps.
What have you learned from Challenge Detroit so far?
Challenge Detroit has exposed me to so many new things! I have learned about an abundance of non-profits, social enterprises and other powerful organizations in the city. I have also learned a lot about Detroit and its history, which has been really interesting. I’ve been pushed to have difficult conversations that are helping me grow as a person. I am really excited to keep learning from Challenge Detroit!
What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?
I am looking forward to getting to know my co-fellows better. I am also excited to become a better leader and collaborator. I look forward to learning from our non-profit partners and to developing new skills through the challenges. I am excited to keep developing skills through my work with my Host Company. I am also excited to experience more in Detroit – to keep going to events and meeting people.
What kind of impact do you have to make within your host company as well as in the city?
I hope to produce high-quality, meaningful work for my host company that will hopefully make my colleagues’ work lives a little bit easier.
Through our challenges and my individual involvement with organizations in the city, I hope to make a positive impact in Detroit. I hope that the work that my Co-Fellows and I produce for our non-profit partners is valuable to them, and helps them serve more people in the area. I hope that my volunteer hours have a positive effect on the city, but more importantly that my experiences here continue to spark something in me that will help me be a more intentional, educated community member.
Also, be sure to check out Courtney’s video to hear more about her time in Detroit, so far.