Today, my team and I were assigned a “Neighborhood Scramble,” where we traveled to Shadyside and had to provide a summary of the neighborhood’s “main street” (Walnut Street) using four lenses: businesses, civic assets, community organizations, and public resources. Among these four, it was easiest to spot businesses. Many new stores have recently opened in the past few years and it seemed like even more are expected in the coming months. One that took more digging was the civic assets of Shadyside. We eventually found the Shadyside chamber of commerce and had a lovely interview with an employee named Abby. She explained the commerce’s responsibilities within the street, such as events that happen throughout the year. So, from this I am able to understand that the “main street” of Shadyside is a hub for businesses with a seemingly hidden support from local representatives, but the support is not in vain.

Today was a practice for the large consulting project we will face in Ireland, but interviews and the interviewing process is a major aspect of Ireland, seeing as we can’t help the people and the town until we know them!! The harder aspect will be almost in tandem with this: we are meeting people who live on a completely different continent with different languages and cultures!! While this activity pushed us out of our comfort zones, it is not on the same level as performing the same interviews in Ireland!! Mistakes have and probably will continue to be made within this project, all I can do is to continue to learn and push myself to my full potential!!