Meeting with Karen from YMCA
Last week, I met with the Vice President of Youth Development for the YMCA, Karen Fagerberg, to pick her brain and to talk about the possibility of me visiting a YMCA summer camp site. I learned that there are 10 different camp sites running this summer for the San Antonio YMCA of all sizes and locations; there are camps run out of churches, parks, and schools and even one at Morgan’s Wonderland. Camps focus either on physical activity or education, or both. This summer, I am working for a YMCA camp hosted out of a local school, Hawthorne Academy, called “Power Scholars” which is one of the programs that combines physical activity and academics. The YMCA camps currently serve elementary school students and some middle school students, but Karen is looking to expand to have even more opportunities for middle schoolers. She said that at specific gyms around town they have camps that are more site run and that are not full day camps. Those are more like workshops/clubs. During the school year, YMCA camps and programs are more centralized and are available in 44 different elementary and middle schools.
We also discussed a normal day in the life of a VP. Karen said that during the school year, her schedule is more rigid in that she stays in the office until about 2pm and then is able to leave to talk with superintendents of schools and other staff that YMCA camps may need to foster relationships with. However, during the summer, Karen is able to do more site visits at the camps around the city. She can interact with and meet more staff at all levels as well and she can see, first hand, the impact that the camps are having on the children. In fact, the day I met with her, Karen had just come from a barbeque at one of the camp sites. She said she was grateful to have had the chance to visit this barbeque because it allowed her to have intentional conversations with parents while they were getting food with their children.
Karen helped me pick out a camp and got me in contact with the directors of those camps so that I could plan a visit. Because she knew that my undergraduate career is coming to a close, she also left me with some words of wisdom. She told me about how, when she was my age, she held a position similar to the one that I have now--an entry level internship-type job. She said that, like me, she majored in a field not closely related to business or management and she also did not have a degree higher than her bachelor’s degree. However, she was able to rise to the position she has now by making connections and by finding a job with a company that she loves and sticking with that organization. She let me know that this is the case with many CEOs and that there is hope for finding a great career in the future!
Karen also offered me a job with a YMCA camp for the month after I finish my work with the Power Scholars program. She was extremely helpful and personable and inspiring. I’m thankful for having the chance to meet with her!
