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Leavey School of Business Santa Clara University

Community Fellows Blog Posts

Diya Budapanahalli: Learning the Impossible At Non-Profit Organizations

Diya shares some of her most important learnt lessons at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School
LSB Community Fellows Program 2019-2020

Over the last five months of being a part of the LSB Community Fellows Fellowship I have gained many skills and learnt many lessons along the way. These lessons have aided my personal as well as my professional growth. By working alongside my supervisors at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School and attending the bi-weekly fellowship seminars, I have gotten the opportunities to learn countless lessons to use throughout the rest of my life. The two most important lessons I believe that I have learnt from my fellowship are: how to work as a team and how to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. 

I have always thought that I was a team player and that being a part of the team and contributing is very important, however I did not feel the importance of working together until I worked at Cristo Rey. The Advancement Team which I work for consists of three amazing team members, which was very small compared to other teams I’ve been a part of before. Due to the small team, everyone had many more responsibilities to follow through on, including myself. Having more responsibilities taught me how to be more organized as well as how to manage my time. I also learnt how to start holding myself accountable to make sure that I get tasks done on time. Having all these extra responsibilities that I normally would not have led me to push myself out of my comfort zone.

I have always been one to not step out of my comfort zone and go out of my way in order to take on more tasks. However, working at Cristo Rey I learnt to become more proactive and approach my supervisors to take on more tasks. This has taught me to become more of a go getter and an active participator. A lot of the projects that I have taken on at Cristo Rey are also some that I have never done before. Having only interned in the corporate world before, I was used to sitting at my desk a majority of the time. At Cristo Rey a lot of my projects were very hands-on which pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me dive right into the world of non-profit organizations. 

Being able to be a part of the Community Fellows is something that I will always be grateful for. Community service has always had a special place in my life and I was more than excited to take on this opportunity when I heard about it. I have learnt more than I ever thought I would about the nonprofit world and definitely see it as something that I could possibly be a part of in the future again. 

NPI, NPI Fellows