“I would encourage someone to apply to be a Fellow, because it’s an amazing opportunity to advance your career, while doing meaningful work for the community of Detroit with like-minded individuals.” – Gary Hopkins

Live, Work, Play, Give, Lead

As a Challenge Detroit Fellow, the five pillars of Live, Work, Play, Give, and Lead really drive the fellowship experience.

Shooting free throws after a Pistons game with my family!

LIVE, PLAY: Living and exploring in the city of Detroit, over the past few months, has been a life-changing experience. Through the Challenge Detroit orientation and hanging out with my family, I was able to explore the whole city, finding many gems and great food spots throughout. From going to Detroit City FC soccer game with other Fellows to the Detroit Pistons home opener with my family, everything has been a memorable experience. 

WORK: Working at the Center for Success Network (CSN) has truly been a blessing to me. On November 28 in 2023, I was able to attend my first board meeting, thanks to CSN’s Executive Director, Andrea Meyer. The overall experience was amazing—it was great to see how all the board members interacted with each other, and great to observe how Andrea runs a board meeting. I was also extremely grateful for the opportunity to prepare the board for the meeting, which gave me a lot of insight into the structure of a board meeting for when I’m coming up with mine in the future.

GIVE, LEAD: Being able to present all the work we did over the course of two months for the Detroit Parks Coalition (DPC) was an amazing and very rewarding experience. Hearing positive feedback about the work my cohort did around outreach and stewardship in Detroit parks from multiple DPC Board members made me feel like we really did good work and maximized our time on our first project.

ABOUT: My Name is Gary Hopkins and my hometown is Detroit, Michigan. I went to Michigan State University for a BS in Political Science – Pre Law with a minor in Leadership of Organizations. After graduating from Michigan State, I interned on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. with  Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence. My experience on Capitol Hill gave me a whole new insight on my career path and was a major factor in my decision to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector. My host company is Center for Success Network where I am a Business Associate.