By: Samantha Halbower//
Abby Smith is a rising senior at Pomona college in sunny Claremont, California. Abby is studying Gender Studies in English. Abby is originally from Chicago, and is looking forward to spending her summer at FORA. Abby is relatively new to FORA, just starting recently. Abby heard about FORA through a career development office email circling her school. “ When I first heard about FORA I was very excited about it. I was looking for a job in education in Chicago so it was a perfect fit.” In addition to volunteering at FORA, Abby works for a jail support organization. There, Abby works with a group of volunteers who support prisoners entering back into civilian life. Abby has also worked for community fridges around Chicago.
In her free time, Abby loves to Spend time with her friends and family. Abby has an older brother, older sister, and two dogs that she loves! Abby enjoys arts and crafts. During quarantine Abby picked up painting. Abby also loves the outdoors. She loves to hike when she's in California for school.
When asked what her favorite moments were, Abby said, “My favorite moments at FORA are the mornings, when everyone comes in and checks in with each other. The community of FORA is a very welcoming group of people who care about each other as people and not just as coworkers.” Abby is a big part of the FORA community. Abby is always helping out anyway she can.
“What excites me about FORA is their commitment to a holistic approach to educating refugee students. There's a sense of community building as a tool to educate students. Which is really exciting.” Abby is very excited to start tutoring at FORA. Abby joined this organization looking forward to being a part of the message FORA sends to the world. Working at FORA, Abby has learned how to function and move forward as a team. Abby said, “A team can really function well when everyone knows each other's individual skills, there's a lot of passing tasks back and forth. There's a power in having a small team who knows each other really well.”
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