Alicia’s Love Letter to the Region

South Bend has been a home to my family for generations, it’s given us a place to not only live, but to be a part of a community. I was raised on the south side of town, just a few blocks north of the Scottsdale Mall (yes, you’re old if you remember this place) and on the east side of Mishawaka by Penn High School. I chose to go to school locally at Indiana University South Bend because of the community around me.

“By the time I started college, the South Bend I was raised had changed drastically. The city felt alive again, for the first time in a long time it felt like it had a heartbeat, and I wanted to be a part of it.  ”

In college, I knew I wanted to help people so I started on a pre-vet and pre-med track. After realizing that medicine was not for me, I knew I needed to pivot. So I started volunteering on and off campus, and doing this work helped me realize that what I actually wanted to do was help my community. I looked for internships at organizations that I knew would teach me more about the nonprofit industry and ended up working for Girls On The Run Michiana and the Studebaker National Museum. Both of these internships changed my perspective on what mattered to the region and changed my ideas of what the nonprofit industry looked like in my community. 

enFocus has also changed my perspective, it’s shown me all the different ways an individual can help their community. It’s not always about who has the next big idea, it’s about supporting each other, whether it be an organization, a coworker, or a local entrepreneur who’s trying to get their business idea off the ground.

“My experience at enFocus has reiterated that my community is built on the love and hard work of individuals who want to call this region home. ”