Asma: Journal 6

Day 6 (November 7):

Today, we took a trip to Impact Product. Our time there was slightly confusing, albeit they did give us some pretty good life lessons while we were there. Three different people spoke to us before we actually met the founder of the company (James R. Findlay). Those three people included the president of Impact, the head of marketing, and the vice president, respectively. They didn't talk so much about the actual company, but more about what kinds of qualities they tried to promote through their work.

Although I was confused about the general purpose of their talks, what they had to say was still nice. They talked about how they tried to act and behave in a way that they wanted to be treated back, and how integrity was an extremely important quality for a successful business. I agreed with that. Integrity is something that requires patience, determination, trust, honesty, and strong connections. I'm guessing these qualities can be applied to the concept of service learning. To have the best outcome from a service learning project, the people involved must have all these qualities in order to get the most out of the experience.

I kind of wished James Findlay talked more about what he actually did, not just the qualities he lived by and the moments in his life that shaped him. I guess he wasn't comfortable bragging about his accomplishments though. He kept changing the subject whenever we brought it up.

I must admit it though, the atmosphere at Impact Product is really welcoming. From the second we walked in, it was easy to tell it was more than just an office building. The secretary was more than happy to talk with us for a few moments; rather than acting like a typical desk secretary- dry and boring. Everyone at the office seemed passionate about their job, and seemed to love the people they worked with. It was mentioned several times by the employees and speakers that Mr. Findlay was truly an amazing, compassionate, and selfless guy. I think it says a lot about a person when they have such a wonderful reputation with everyone, and they don't even deem it necessary to talk about what made them that way. It's nice to see that there are still people in this world that value qualities and not just materials.

By: Asma Elgamal