We are excited to welcome Sara Decker to our team this spring as one of our Spring 2019 interns. Sara is a business and Spanish double major at Wheaton College. She leads Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Discipleship Small Groups in addition to her involvement with Army ROTC. Sara feels strongly about empowering women to succeed in both their careers and personal lives. She loves fashion, interior design, and hospitality. Upon graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in marketing while thriving in her personal life.
How did you hear about NeW?
I found NeW totally by chance—I was looking for college scholarships on a scholarship search engine. Because I included my political position in the search, I found the scholarship to attend the Young Women’s Leadership Retreat (YWLR), one of NeW’s summer programs. I attended right after my senior year of high school and really enjoyed it, so I am very excited to join the NeW team this semester.
Why is NeW important?
NeW is important because it empowers women. When we hear “empower women,” I think our thoughts go to the anti-conservative rallies with the pink hats; I mean the complete opposite. Our contemporary culture tends to convey the idea that being a strong, powerful woman with a great career means sacrificing our American ideals of family. What I love about NeW is that it encourages women to chase all their dreams—their career aspirations and their personal aspirations.
If you could offer advice to college students, what would it be?
My number one piece of advice to college students would be to practice active time management and prioritization. I’ve been fortunate enough to successfully be involved in a lot on campus and in my community while having great friendships and a healthily low level of stress. The secret to this is time management. I write literally everything on my calendar, and I also take a good hour at the start of each week to evaluate what I need to do and how I can use my time most effectively to get it all done. I also would recommend evaluating what you really love to do and what you realistically have time for—whatever you do, you want to do it well and enjoy it, and you can’t do either if you are overcommitted.
Why where you interested in interning for NeW?
I was interested in interning for NeW because of the women I met at the YWLR retreat. They were all so driven and ambitious, and I wanted to be just like the interns I met on the retreat! I also love that the women I am working with have found enormous career success while having families, so a chance to work directly under them and get to know them and how they juggle it all seemed like a really great opportunity. Finally, I’m a business major, and this internship gives me a taste of a lot of different fields I could work in when I graduate.
What do you hope to gain from your internship?
I definitely hope to come out of the internship with a good, solid group of peers and mentors. I also am excited to learn about the inner workings of a non-profit and the day-to-day operations.
