Most people find their community at school, or in a sports team, but I found my home in a yoga studio. Circle Yoga is the local yoga studio that my parents enrolled me in at the age of 5. I had a class every Sunday, giving me the opportunity to connect with others my age and relax during the week. It quickly became part of my routine and an integral part of my life. I knew all of the instructors and yoga started to become something that was steady and reliable in a world where I was constantly moving between my divorced parents’ houses.
Fast forward many years and I am highschool, moments before the pandemic arrived. I wanted to get a job where I could get some experience, along with some spare spending money. I already knew where I wanted to work… Circle Yoga.
I hadn’t been into the studio in a few years, but I explained to the person working at the front desk how I used to attend classes at Circle Yoga. It took months, but I was finally called in for a job at the summer camp.
Being a camp counselor, I now played a new role in this community that I loved. I was able to communicate with a very wide range of people and talk to others which helped enhance my people skills. I was also able to create meaningful relationships at Circle Yoga that I will be able to have for a lifetime.
Going into my senior year of highschool Circle Yoga reached out again asking if I was interested in a part time position, where I would work once a week at the front desk and check people in. This felt like a full circle moment where I could give back to the community that had helped raise me and had such a positive impact over my childhood years.
At Endicott I had a month off of school, during the month of January I went back to Circle Yoga where I worked at the front desk and connected with employers that had been there for different stages of my life. Circle Yoga holds a sense of community and comfort for me. Not only is it somewhere where I worked, its somewhere that I remember growing up. I found a home year, and will forever have one at Circle Yoga.