UNION

Once a year, all of EVERFI (the company I work for) gets together for a few days of training and celebrating. Previously, they got together twice a year and went to various places around the country. We've gotten too big for that, though, so they cut it down to once a year and held it in Washington, D.C., where our headquarters are, so fewer people had to travel. 

In July 2018, we took over the Georgetown Marriott and had a great time!

Working on a remote team is funny - we talk all the time and I feel really close to these people but have really only seen most of them once, with the exception of my colleagues in Chicago whom I've visited a few times. It's so much fun to actually get together in person! In this picture are Heather Miller, from Kansas City, Holly Holt, our program coordinator who lives in DC, Marissa Moore and Meaghan Joyce who both work in Chicago, and Stephanie Stokes, who works in St. Louis.

The first night they had a social at a local restaurant. It was so loud and hot, and the food ran out quickly so I was not so much a fan that night. But the restaurant was really cool - I'd like to go back sometime when it's not so packed with EVERFI people! A few members of our team, plus Sabina (middle) - a customer success manager who works in Chicago:

On both days we had meetings, trainings, and large group meetings. The last evening we had another social at a beautiful restaurant/club near the water. It wasn't even open to the public yet - we were the first visitors. On the way, we passed the Washington Monument, as well as a few of the other memorials.

Laura Klein, a colleague from another team who works in Minneapolis, MN, and Lauren Pingul, the newest member of our team who is working outside of Chicago.

On the last day, we had a few meetings just for our K-12 team. Lauren had left already, but here's everyone else, including Noah Doppelt - Chicago, and Ben Gwynne - St. Louis.

Our whole K-12 team. Our company now has a few different divisions, but this is the team I work with most closely - all the schools managers from around the country and other schools support. It's a great team. It was such a surreal experience to finally meet people in person whom I'd already been talking to and working with online for almost a year. 

I flew into DC Wednesday afternoon and we had work events that night, all day Thursday, and Friday morning. The hotel was paid for, so Brandon flew out Thursday morning, did some site-seeing himself on Thursday, and then we stayed over until Saturday to explore the city a bit more.

Friday evening we walked to the Kennedy Center. The neighborhood we walked through was beautiful, and then we had a great tour of the beautiful Kennedy Center and took in the views from the rooftop. We lucked out and were able to catch a free comedy show while we were there, too.

The next day, it rained. All day. That makes site-seeing pretty tough. We had a tour of the White House scheduled, so we went to that. We didn't realize we'd have to wait outside in order to go through security. Fortunately for me, a kind woman - who ended up being from Indiana, too - shared her umbrella with me. After the White House, we took refuge in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We were so wet and so cold, though, that it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as we'd hoped. We were happy to get back to the hotel, change into dry clothes and shoes, and head home.