Each summer, the company I work for, EVERFI, brings all employees together from all over the country. A lot of our staff works remotely, like I do, so it's a rare opportunity to be in the same spaces as colleagues and learn from each other and re-commit ourselves to our mission. Our headquarters are in Washington, DC, so that's where we met this year at the new Conrad Hotel, which was so beautiful!
Our DC staff just recently moved into a brand new office, so our first day's evening social was held there. It's a beautiful space with a great rooftop space with a great view. I don't think I could ever give up working from home, but if I had to, that would be a great place to go to work!
My favorite part of the two days is when we have time with just our K-12 team. We get to hear from our leaders about the past year's impact and they give out awards to high performers. This year, they introduced a new award called the RV Award, which references this picture of our 3 founders who started the company traveling the country in an RV visiting schools and sponsors. They do Founders Awards each year, where each founder presents an award to a staff member who has just really set themselves apart. This RV Award is K-12's version, I guess - each territory lead chose 1 person from their territory to spotlight. And mine chose me! EVERFI as a company is not short on enthusiasm and they applaud for - and stand for - every single thing. It's actually really annoying to me. But when they all stood to applaud me as I walked up to the front of the room, I definitely felt like I'd just won an Oscar, which was kind of fun.
That afternoon was really fun for me - of course it feels good to be acknowledged for your hard work and to enjoy success. But even more than that - I was sitting around the table with a group of schools managers who I would classify as the A-team and I was one of them! I've been at the company for 2 years now, which is pretty long for someone in my position and it just felt nice to feel like I had arrived - like I belonged there. I love my job and it was really fun to celebrate all the good things from this last year. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for leading me to this job and for the success I've been blessed with - much of which I don't think I've really earned. It was a great couple of days!
That night, our reception was at the brand new Spy Museum in DC, which has some pretty incredible views of the Capitol and Washington Monument.
In commemoration of the anniversary of Apollo 11's flight, there was a hologram on the Washington Monument which was fun to see!
After the conference, I stayed an extra day to spend time with my friend Rebecca (Buxton) Petho who came down for the night from Philadelphia. We had a great time walking and talking and enjoying the pool. It was a fun few days, but I was happy to go home to Brandon.
