Slowly but surely as we approach senior year, the dreaded “senior project” bulldozes its way into our daily lives, with emphasis especially on the burden of community service or job shadowing. However, it is possible to actually find some fun and fulfilling ways to complete this requirement.

I’m living proof.

I was honored this year to become a member of GirlGov, a female leadership group for high school girls in Southwestern Pennsylvania which is based in Pittsburgh and sponsored by the Women and Girls Foundation. Twice a month we meet and work on “campaigns” within coalitions we were placed in at the beginning of the school year. Each meeting is both entertaining and informative, and we often have guest speakers.

After hearing her guest speak at a GirlGov meeting, I contacted Lindsay Powell, the Assistant to the Chief of Staff to Pittsburgh’s Mayor William Peduto, to hopefully have the chance to shadow her at the mayor’s office. She replied soon after and we scheduled a day!

I arrived at the City-County Building in Pittsburgh as it opened at 8:30 a.m. Even on first arrival, the mayor’s office was bustling with people. The first thing I was able to do was sit in on a confidential meeting among department heads from throughout the office surrounded by many of the people who previously gave me weird looks for sitting in the lobby.

Lindsay then gave me a tour of the whole office while introducing me to various people along the way before we actually got to go back to sit and talk with them. From the various Christmas decorations, former mayors’ portraits and their biographies pasted on the wall, and even the vending machines, I saw almost every unique facet of the office.

First, I met with Josiah Gilliam, who is the city’s My Brother’s Keeper Coordinator. We talked first about his job responsibilities in which he makes connections between organizations to help support black men and boys. We even talked about the state of the government, local politics and controversies, my involvement in GirlGov, and my plans after high school.

From my chat with Josiah, I jumped right into a meeting between Lindsay and Ray Miles, a new hire to be working in coordination with the mayor’s office. Though I had little to contribute to the meeting myself, I absorbed their discussion of the issues following the reentry of prisoners into regular life, and how Ray has been involved in helping former prisoners get their lives together following that difficult time.

After this, I talked with Lindsay for a while about her many roles and how she moved up the ranks from her involvement in local politics, to working for President Barack Obama, to her job in the mayor’s office under Daniel Gilman, the Chief of Staff. In this time, I also got to speak with Itha Cao, a Policy Analyst for Bureau of Neighborhood Empowerment, about her responsibilities within her department.

At this point, after a bit of downtime and a Cheez-its break (those vending machines I saw earlier!), I attended a proclamation ceremony by the mayor to honor Mary Jo Dowling who created a gingerbread replica of the City-County Building. He proclaimed December 23 as Mary Jo Dowling Day in the city. The mayor’s executive assistant, James Hill, coordinated the pictures and generally helped the special event go smoothly.

As the ceremony ended, I was able to speak with Feyisola Akintola (“Feyi” for short), who works as the Special Initiatives Manager. We talked mainly about her role overseeing the Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative which helps to “build bridges across cultures” in Pittsburgh, as well as her overseeing the 2020 Census in partnership with Allegheny County. My heart for immigration work piqued my interest and I spent the most time just taking in all the information she had to share.

Sadly, my time at the mayor’s office was through, but Lindsay welcomed me back at any time to speak with Feyi more, or even to do some actual work with her, and I know I will take her up on the offer. My experience at the office left me feeling informed and empowered to utilize what I have learned in my own community. I know with just one visit that I’m ready to go back for more!

This experience also truly showed me how a senior project requirement actually can be fun and enlightening if you let it.