NAME: EMILY PECK
HOMETOWN: CHESHIRE, CT
It’s time to meet our 5th Avenue, Manhattan, fellow! Meet Emily, a recent graduate of Colgate University with a major in Sociology.
Emily has been working with the Education team to create lesson plans and lead employment skills webinars, as well as beginning her research project.
A BOOK THAT MADE AN IMPACT ON EMILY:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Emily was drawn to the Work First Fellowship because of her past experiences working with individuals who had committed low-level crimes. Last summer, Emily interned with a social worker at a district attorney's office and helped provide these individuals with alternatives to incarceration. She helped her clients get back on their feet by providing them with rehabilitative services, therapy, and food stamps. Emily learned that she really enjoyed getting to work directly with the clients to find solutions that could improve their situation and provide them with growth opportunities to help them stay out of the criminal justice system- as opposed to having to face punitive punishment. She enjoys the Work First Fellowship because she can continue with direct service work in a way that “really seek(s) out the potential of the clients and treat(s) them as humans.”
WHAT’S ON EMILY’S NYC BUCKET LIST:
Walk from the top of Manhattan all the way to the bottom
In her fellowship experience so far, Emily has really enjoyed leading her first webinar this past week, which was on networking. She loved how clients were super responsive and appreciative of the lesson, noting “It was great to see that what I'm doing is actually making an impact and I enjoyed getting to engage with the clients.”
HOBBIES EMILY ENJOYS:
Emily loves going for runs, reading, and puzzling! This summer, she has gotten very into making friendship bracelets and is currently watching the Hulu show Atlanta.
EMILY’S FAVORITE PODCAST:
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
