I have learned many new skills as a Vivero fellow, and I have also had the opportunity to improve upon older skills that I may have used in the past, but hadn’t gotten the chance to frequently hone prior to becoming a Vivero fellow. Many of the new skills I have learned through Vivero have been technical, like the tools that we learned during our weekly trainings/deliverables from the first semester. Some existing skills that I have strengthened have been my communication skills (from peer mentoring and also working on my digital project with Minna), and troubleshooting. There were a lot of skills that I were aware of, but had not really thought too much about, as they seemed like the basic ‘building blocks’ for skills that I did give thought to. However, from this activity, and from putting my experience as a Vivero fellow on my resume/CV, I have become more aware of just how many skills I use as part of this job. One area that I am always trying to improve upon is anything to do with communication, as I am rather shy/introverted, and communicating my ideas, along with presenting them, has traditionally been intimidating to me. Even though I know that I have improved in that front, I know I still have a long way to go.
We all do, Zach.