Next Steps

Wow! I can’t believe my year in ISM is officially over. I am already missing it.

My final presentation went fantastically! It was so fun to share it with so many people, and I was really proud of how confident I was speaking about ReTextile. I had none of the usual nervousness.

There were also two other milestones this week:

1. I had my first board meeting, and it went smoothly. I learned how to write a board meeting agenda which and that helped the meeting along a lot. During the meeting, I also fully understood what my mentor meant when she said that my board was a great source of encouragement. Just that one meeting has gotten me even more excited to work on ReTextile this summer.

2. ReTextile celebrated it’s first birthday on May 1! It was so nice to reflect on all the challenges I’ve faced and all the growth I’ve seen this year.

As for this summer, I’m mostly focusing on preparing for college and making sure ReTextile is ready for me to go off to college. This prep work involves tasks like more board meetings, completing the fabric inventory, and doing lots of donations and speaking engagements for ReTextile.

I’m so glad I had the opportunity to take ISM, because ReTextile would not be in the position to do a ton of speaking engagements and donations without it. I can’t wait to see how ReTextile (and myself) continues to grow with this wonderful foundation in place.

Warmest,

Ashley