Check Out Ishaan’s Experience at Perfect Sense
I had the unique opportunity to attend the Perfect Sense Unified Challenge in Washington D.C. from June 25-29. During the event, the 18 participants selected from The First Tee chapters nationwide stayed in hotel rooms at the Hilton on Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia. We played two rounds of golf in which we were paired up with a wounded U.S. Veteran from Feherty’s First Troop Foundation, a USA Special Olympics Golfer, another junior golfer from The First Tee, and a professional golfer on the PGA Tour! On our very first day, all of the golfers arrived at the Country Club of Fairfax where we enjoyed an opening banquet, were acquainted with our playing partners for the rest of the week, and got to meet the other The First Tee participants from across the country! It was an excellent opening evening, and I had a wonderful time meeting all of the people who made this event possible!
On Monday we played TPC Potomac, the same course where the Quicken Loans National Tournament took place that week! I was paired up with D.A. Points as my professional golfer, and he was able to give me tips about my short game and my putting, which I thought was super neat. After playing a fantastic round of golf in Potomac, we had a nice lunch in the clubhouse where awards for the afternoon were announced, and then retreated to Tyson’s Corner where all of us participants watched a movie to end the night. The following day, we attended a career exploration day at the Perfect Sense Digital headquarters and took a tour of Washington D.C.’s monuments in the evening. Career day was a great experience of exposure for me because all of us were able to test Brightspot, a software that Perfect Sense Digital developed when publishing articles. We also got to have individual meetings with company representatives who explained their backgrounds in the field, similar to the SAP Career trip we do here in Silicon Valley!
The D.C. Tour was such a fun evening, and having the opportunity to explore the heart of our nation with some newfound golf friends felt like a dream, and we all celebrated when we went back to the hotel that night. Wednesday was the penultimate day of the event, and it was another round of golf, this time at the Country Club of Fairfax (where the opening banquet was held). We were split up into teams in a Ryder Cup Format and had individual matches to determine who the winner was (my team ended up winning!). Anyways, after the final round of golf we had a great time at TopGolf, which was one of the most memorable parts of the week for me. I had never been before, and it is such a cool place to have fun playing golf and I highly recommend it! Everyone was there, including some of the Veterans and Special Olympic golfers and I had a great time playing and interacting with everyone! On Thursday, we said our goodbyes to what was one unforgettable week in D.C. We watched a little bit of the first round of the Quicken Loans National before our final departure.
As a whole, I learned so much about The First Tee network and building connections in general. I loved interacting with the Veterans and the Special Olympic golfers, because they were so inspiring and never failed to brighten up my day! I hope to apply everything I learned from this experience to my own chapter and beyond, and am so thankful to The First Tee for this amazing opportunity.
– Ishaan N., Ace Certified