Ginger Kloska
The Jolly Good Innovation & Improvement Fellowship: My Journey as a Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Office of Process Improvement Fellow
By Ginger Kloska, Innovation & Improvement Fellow
April 15, 2022
What does an OPI Fellow Do?
Being the first Office of Process Improvement (OPI) Innovation and Improvement Fellow, it was up to me to forge my own path on what I wanted my fellowship to look like. Having already been an OPI intern, my main goal was to put all of my previous learnings to the test. I wanted to expand upon the many skills that I had acquired, such as web development and design, and explore new territories such as project management and database building. This fellowship allowed me to do just that. I was able to finish a website with over 500 individual pages (hint: it's the website you are on now!), engage in the creation of our Concept to Project (C2P) business improvement project management program, learn more about creating interactive dashboards to display data, present our team’s work in many internal and external presentations, and more.
Ginger Kloska with Fellows Dani McLean and Mostafa Badroddin at the Eisenhower Tunnel.
Fun & Friendship
Of course my fellowship wasn’t all business. An element of fun was around every corner, whether it was through fun questions at daily stand ups (my favorite being “How could you spice up carousels to be more exciting?”) or field trips to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels and the Central 70 Construction Project.
The greatest part of my fellowship was my team and those that have supported me along the way. I was lucky enough to have the chance to work with some incredible people that pushed me to constantly grow and improve while having a great time doing so. I wish I could work with them longer, but I know they have to go off and accomplish fantastic things. To Victoria Farberov, Stacy Stoffregen, Mariah Wagner, Kourtnei Osborn, Ronald Archer, Rebekah Roux, Michelle Malloy, Gary Vansuch, Roxane Olvera, Emily Harp, and all the other Fellows in Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT's) very first cohort… Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the people of the CDOT and for helping me have a Fellowship I’ll never forget!
Advice to Future Fellows
The best part about a Fellowship at CDOT is the opportunity to jumpstart your career while also receiving hands-on experiences to make you confident in your next steps in life. To future fellows, I advise you to spread out as much as you can during your fellowship. Engage with people in different career fields than you and take advantage of all the training you can. These connections and invaluable learning experiences will prove to be instrumental in your future career plans. To those thinking about a fellowship with CDOT, I highly recommend it. Not only was I able to apply all the skills I had learned in my studies, but I was able to solidify my career interests and create a strong resume with the experiences and projects that I had during my fellowship.
Ginger Kloska and the Office of Process Improvement staff.
Ginger Kloska with OPI Interns Stacy Stoffregen, Victoria Farberov, and Mariah Wagner at the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel.
Ginger Kloska and the cohort of Fellows at the Central 70 Construction Site.