Hi everyone, my name is Kelis Brown, and I am a Junior here at Pitt and I major in Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics. I am also Vice President to a wonderful club here in Pitt Business named Roberto Clemente Multi-Cultural Business Association. I am in the Global Service-Learning program as of Spring 2025 and I will be going to Bolivia!
On a personal note I am from Fairburn, Georgia and to answer your question now , yes I am very cold. Overall, I do enjoy my time in Pittsburgh and my time here specifically at the University of Pittsburgh. The university has placed me on a very well path professionally as Pitt business has tons of opportunities for connections within many companies. As of this summer I was able to lock down an internship here in Pittsburgh relating to the Supply Chain part of my major which I am eager for!
To first start off, one of my dear friends Tumi Fadre who participated I believe last year in the GSL program – Trinidad, she introduced the opportunity to me as I didn’t hear much about it during my search of study abroad programs. After hearing about this I immediately went to do some research on my own, and the opportunity drew me in even closer. Prior to hearing about this I was interested in learning more about the non-profit world and volunteering as I have no experience in either and honestly did not know where to start. I felt like this opportunity is a great start for my experience in nonprofit work . I believe that I have learned about what a non-profit by definition and even the capabilities to do the math behind the scenes as Pitt has taught me .A chance like this to gain hands-on experience is something I am very happy about participating in and I believe to be very rare.
On a personal note I have actually worked with kids before back at home in a dance studio for multiple summer camps and taught classes here and there during fall and winter semesters .What I noticed is ,all kids have this certain kind of light within them that nobody can diminish, and it is such a beautiful thing to me. This where I am happy, I landed in being able to go to Bolivia and help out CEOLI in this aspect.
As a professional participating in the GSL program as a supply chain major who may in future work with outside-of-country clients, this definitely is currently/will help with learning how to effectively communicate from across the world. This opportunity currently has already kicked to a great start with learning so much such as the differences in service learning and community service. As of our recent lecture with Meade Johnson, who gave me so much personal advice and advice that I can apply in the duration of the project about communication and sustaining those across the world business relationships.
Overall I am very excited to see what more this project has to offer and more importantly making a lasting impact on CEOLI for now and even in the future.
– Sincerely Kelis <3