A New Chapter

Joining Millennium Campus Network to facilitate work toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Many of you have kindly and curiously asked about what this move means for my professional growth. After all, it was clear that we moved to Germany prompted by an amazing opportunity for Domenik to apply both his academic and practical skills in comparative theology to work in the German context.

When we were considering this move, I knew that it meant I would have to leave my beloved CAPD office at MIT, and detach myself from daily work with the wonderful MIT students and colleagues I have gotten to know over the last 5+ years. I appreciate that the long lead time (I shared with my colleagues that I’d be leaving in January back in September - so long in advance that I was got to help find and train my successor - the amazing Kendel Jester!) and it gave me the chance to process, grieve, and transition professional connections into friendships.

The fall of 2023 was so full of logistics, packing, and spending precious time with our US friends and family, that I made a conscious effort not to apply for jobs. People who had made similarly ambitious moves offered again and again the unsolicited advice to hold off from working for the first few weeks as we transitioned our household to Germany; their conviction reassured me as I sought to convince myself that the pieces would fall into place. Instead of spending my limited time on anxiously scrolling for jobs, I funneled that energy toward re-assessing my values, goals, wants, and needs for the next chapter. I realized that I wanted a non-profit opportunity that made use of my interpersonal, administrative, linguistic, and communication skills, but that the right fit would offer the chance to center social-impact and continue supporting young people.

That’s why, when I got the offer of a contract with Millennium Campus Network within hours of Domenik successfully defending his dissertation, I was thrilled. As the Europe Regional Manager of the Millennium Fellowship, I coordinate with European campuses (with a focus on Germany) to encourage undergraduate students involved in social impact projects to apply to the leadership- and career-accelerating Millennium Fellowship. The fellowship spans their fall semester, and through it, they engage with a cohort of students on their campus to learn about organizational leadership, careers in social impact, and develop their own work around one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. [Related: How We Can Make the World a Better Place by 2030] This small organization pulls off the impressive feat each year of facilitating this leadership accelerator for about 4500 students worldwide.

My hope through this role is to not only invite German and European university students to become Millennium Fellows, but to continue empowering young people to understand their own values and discern their path forward. It’s been an exhilarating role so far!