On Friday, February 3rd, the PAF program had its annual Spring Training. The day kicked off with a breakfast discussion on leadership with President Knapp. The conversation allowed President Knapp to reflect on his time at GW and share some decision-making and leadership strategies he used during his tenure at GW.
Following breakfast, the PAFs were joined by Sarah Lefferts from GW’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations for a discussion on philanthropy and fundraising. The discussion was sparked by a collective PAF interest to learn more about the how-to’s of fundraising. Sarah shared her insights into the fundraising process, as well as some tips and tricks of the trade. Then, first-year fellow Alex Wang led a professional development presentation that helped the cohorts learn more about motivating others.
At lunch, the PAFs were joined by their Preceptors for informal conversation and a quick activity on elevator pitches. Toby Davidow led the refresher activity on elevator pitches where PAFs and Preceptors engaged in a discussion to identify the aspects of a strong elevator pitch. We want to extend our sincere thanks to the Preceptors in attendance, not just for their participation but also for the continued support and opportunity they provide the fellows throughout the academic year.
In the afternoon, second-year fellows Katie Wynne and Marcus Andrews led the cohorts in two professional development presentations covering both managing-up and self-knowledge. Both presentations engaged the cohorts in activities to relate the competencies to their experiences in their placements and in the PAF program. Then the PAFs were joined by PAF alumni to do a speed interviewing session, where they had seven ten minute interviews that had questions related to the professional development competencies the PAFs had learned about earlier in the day - motivating others, managing-up, and self-knowledge.
The PAF program extends a big thank you to Darrin Kayser, CCAS BA ‘98, GSPM MA ‘00, Kelly Leon, CCAS BA ‘08 MA ‘10, Mosheh Oinounou, CCAS BA ‘04, ESIA MA ‘06, Anna Phillips, ESIA BA ‘09 MA ‘11, Ashlynn Profit, CCAS BA ‘14 MPA ‘16, and Cameron Smither, CCAS BA ‘12 MPP ‘14 for joining us as interviewers, whether in-person, by Skype, or by phone. Your feedback was truly invaluable in helping us hone our interview skills. We also extend our gratitude to President Knapp and Sarah Lefferts for their insightful discussions during the earlier part of the day.
Training ended in traditional “PAFashion” with an alumni happy hour. Thank you to the PAF alumni who joined the PAFs at Vapiano; we very much enjoyed our conversations with you and your continued commitment to the PAF program.
