I know this sounds cliche, but time really does fly when you’re having fun. It seems like just yesterday that my wife (fiancee at the time) packed up our Ann Arbor residence to move 30 miles east to Detroit so that I could start my year with Challenge Detroit. And now, here we are with me writing my last blog post of the fellowship.

A year in review

Thorough the 5 pillars of the Challenge Detroit program, my year has been an immersion into the city of Detroit. Living, working, playing, giving and leading has helped me understand both the bright spots and the hardships of the city. In my short time here, I have witnessed large change–Detroit going through the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the US, a new mayor being elected and the start of the M1-rail project just to name a few. I have written blogs on everything from Detroit politics to my top 5 restaurants in the city. I was given the opportunity to make a difference in the healthcare industry through my employment with Beaumont Health System. I took home a trophy with my fellow fellows in the Come Play Detroit sand volleyball league at the riverfront. And how could I possibly talk about the year without mentioning the heart of the Challenge Detroit program–the challenges? From developing a guide to starting a nonprofit organization with Bleeding Heart Design and DCDC to conducting a neighborhood blight assessment with Detroit Future City, the fellowship year has been filled with meaningful work in the city.  To anyone that is not familiar with the work of the fellows, I would encourage you to browse the main challenge Detroit blog, where every challenge was documented and produced into a video. I was very excited when we learned midway through the year that Challenge Detroit officially received enough support to continue on for its third year of the program. As my class of fellows leaves the program and the new class of fellows arrive, I leave the reflection of my year with one piece of advice to the new class: keep your ears and eyes open and be prepared to learn. Design thinking seems simple enough at first, but to truly learn to empathize with a population, that is a skill that is incredibly difficult to master but is of the utmost importance if you hope to succeed at creating positive change in a community.

Tom Schuelke, Signing Off

Before Challenge Detroit, all I really knew about the city was what I saw on my way to Comerica Park and what I read in the papers. Having lived, worked and played in Detroit over the past year, I can truly say that neither of those activities does the city justice. Detroit is a very exciting city with a rich history and a bright future. I challenge anyone that thinks otherwise to intimately interact with the city for a year and then form their opinion. While I don’t yet know what my future holds as far as a career, my wife and I truly hope it keeps us here so that we can call Detroit our permanent home.

Tom Schuelke can continue to be reached at thomas.schuelke@challengedetroit.org.