Discover Our Newest Cohort

Each August, enFocus has the opportunity to welcome a new cohort of Fellows. This is an exciting time where new perspectives are added to our meeting rooms, and new community members are connected to the Region.

We have taken the time to carefully select a dozen new Innovation Fellows from our competitive pool of more than 250 applicants. Every member brings unique skills and passions that  will be used to support the diverse needs of our Sponsors. This group of Fellows studied at 6 different universities across the states and represents 3 different home countries. From MBA’s to neuroscience, mechanical engineering to environmental management majors, their broad backgrounds equip them to drive impact and innovation across our key service areas. On just their second day of orientation the Fellows received their assignments and quickly started on some background research, eager to find how their contributions will fit into the larger work.

For a few of our incoming Fellows, working with enFocus is nothing new. After working with enFocus in some temporary capacities, these individuals have decided to return for a full-time engagement.  Joseph McKeirnan, M.S. Management, is excited to extend and expand his work after a recent internship with the Industry Portfolio. Lisa Slomka, a 2021 graduate of Notre Dame’s ESTEEM program, will be continuing her work to support the City of South Bend’s community investment initiatives through program administration. Lastly, returner Nick Dybas, and engineer by degree, will be joining our full-time cohort after completing a stint of service with enFocus as an AmeriCorps member. The nine other new Fellows are eager to get to know the area, its stakeholders, and the problems they’ll be working to address. Sarah Ochoki describes this by saying, “I’m passionate about educational equity, disability rights, and healthcare accessibility. With these varied interests, I hope to explore the work being done in South Bend to improve community equity.”

In addition to benefiting from the new skills and capacity that this cohort brings, our team enjoys the opportunity to view the area and our work for the first time again. Onboarding week means talking about our favorite events, places, and people across the Region - it’s the time of year we schedule get-to-know-you meetings at one of our local coffee shops. When we see the new cohort’s excitement to explore the area, and when we hear the new ideas they have to make this place even more special, it's a reminder to continue forward with optimism.