When I began my field placement at a middle school in a low-income area of ​​the Bronx, there was a period when I couldn't figure out how to apply my organizational skills at my job. . Initially, my small group of two girls were withdrawn and chose to entertain themselves individually rather than interact with the group as a whole. Once both students developed a greater level of comfort with me, the group transitioned smoothly into normalization. It was during an informal conversation that one of my clients, who we will call MM, had the idea of ​​organizing a clothing drive within the school. A clothing drive orchestrated by a student group that I traditionally lead seemed like a great opportunity to not only work on state-mandated student advising goals, but also to use perspectives and guidelines related to organizational management and leadership. The engagement phase of the project began as soon as MM began to explain his vision of how the project would work. With my answers, I began to build the organization's capacity by acknowledging each idea and responding with further questions. It was essential to keep MM's role as the "creator of the idea" intact so that she could continue to advocate and be the face of the students. It's possible that if I had held my role as leader too tightly, MM would have been discouraged enough to back away slightly from being a member of the team. His enthusiasm for this idea gave him greater reason to ask other students to meet membership standards in order to support the campaign's continued growth. Burghardt and Tolliver's explanation of participation expands on the important benefits of membership as...... middle of paper ...... publications. Duncan, R. (1979). What is the right organizational structure? Decision tree analysis provides the answer. Organizational Dynamics, 7(3).Epstein RM. Mindful practice. JAMA. 1999;282(9):833-839. doi:10.1001/jama.282.9.833. Kirst-Ashman, K. (2008). Human behavior, communities, organizations and groups in the macrosocial environment: an empowerment approach. (pp. 117-119). Cengage. Mizrahi, T. (2002). Community organizing principles and practice guidelines. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Pinderhughes, E. (1989). Understanding race, ethnicity, and power. New York, NY: The Free Press. Shulman, L. (2009). Skills to help individuals, families, groups and communities. (6th ed.). Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Silberman School of Social Work Field Education Department. (2013). Appendix K of the Field Internship Manual. New York, New York