Hello everyone! This week was filled with fun and learning. I tried rabbit, jammed out to Hozier’s song “Too Sweet,” and joined a book club. Let’s jump right in. My last blog post was relatively short, but as my list of awesome experiences I’m having here keeps increasing in length, I believe my blog posts will increase in length as well. You’ve been warned. 🙂

Grab your popcorn and start reading. This week was great.

Essential things to know about Cumorah

Okay. Before we get too far I need to clear up some things about Cumorah Academy so the rest of this article makes sense.

Cumorah’s main course they offer is the Leadership Course. It happens every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. During the course, students learn leadership skills, get public speaking practice, and get to learn from the mentors (I’ll speak about this more in a moment.) All students are enrolled in this course.

As part of my internship, I am also enrolled in the Leadership class (and in institute.) I need to get back into the homework mindset, haha. I am excited for this class though. So far it has been great.

Cumorah also offers other courses, second to the leadership course. They have business, coding, English as a second language, and sales. They also have a few elective courses like personal finance, conflict resolution, and a leadership book club.

(I joined the book club thinking it would be like any other book club- it’s not, we all are reading separate books on a leadership topic, and just one book for the whole semester. Every week on how much we read that week and what we learned. It will be different, but still fun, I think. I’m reading “Goals” by Brian Tracy.)

Every student does the Leadership course. Then they pick another course to do, like English as a second language or coding, etc. Some students are doing BYU Pathway Worldwide online, (Ensign online!), or working remotely, and in those cases they count as the additional course the student needs to do.

It’s a cool program. I’m happy to be involved.

Content Creation

You may be wondering what I am actually doing on campus.

I am the content creator intern. I work closely with the photographer/videographer intern to help create content for Cumorah’s website and social media. Some of my responsibilities include posting stories on Instagram., writing posts and blog content, creating video ideas and scripts, interviewing students, and various other projects the marketing team needs.

One of the main reasons they have two marketing interns at Cumorah is that the marketing team is remote, which makes it hard to know what Cumorah is up to all the time. So, one of my jobs is to go enjoy the fun activities at Cumorah so the team can make content about it! 😀

I think the “remote marketing team” aspect of the internship will be good for me. Earlier this week I had a bit of an identity crisis and was struggling with not having someone physically here to tell me what to do. The English as a second language interns have their director here at Cumorah. Any questions I have have to go through text and Whatsapp and there’s sometimes confusion. The girl who is in charge of the social media, Reika, who I report to is SO SWEET and has been lovely to work with, as well as Cumorah’s COO who Reika reports to, but for the first couple of days, I was struggling a bit with the remote aspect.

But, we met on Zoom a couple of times, and Reika and I exchanged so many voice recordings and I figured out my responsibilities and my place in all of this. It’s going so much better! I think it will be good. The marketing team is full of amazing people with great communication skills. Besides, I think my end goal is a remote marketer and a mom- so it’s giving me practice for that.

Follow Cumorah… Hint Hint!

If you all want to follow Cumorah on Instagram, Facebook, or Linkedin that would be awesome! Then you can see my work and it’d help out the page. 🙂 Click here for Instagram, here for Facebook, and here for LinkedIn.

This week Camila (the photographer intern) and I made a couple of reels and a couple of video interviews. They are on Instagram, and Facebook, (and with some of them, YouTube) if you want to check them out. We made a reel celebrating the start of Cumorah’s spring semester (I’m in that one!) and another reel asking students what the hardest English word for them to pronounce is. (I’m in that one too!)

I wrote a blog post giving a general overview of Cumorah and its values for the Cumorah website. It hasn’t been published yet, but when it is I will link it for you all to read.

(Writing the blog article is where I started getting OBSESSED with the song “Too Sweet.” I’ve heard part of it in lots of YouTube shorts but hadn’t heard the full song until this week. I love it. It’s a good background song to write blogs to.)

Mentor Interviews

I have discovered my favorite part of this job. It is mentor interviews. Every week at Cumorah there will be a visiting mentor, (or a mentor couple if they are married.) The mentor(s) will teach the leadership class that week, host a devotional on Sunday, meet with all the students once to offer advice and help with their life visions, and get to hang out at Cumorah for a week.

(I am slowly falling head-over-heels in love with Cumorah and the Czech Republic and canola flowers and this whole experience, and I hope I can come back one day as a mentor. That would be so fun!)

Anyway, I learned that part of my job is interviewing each mentor who comes to Cumorah. I feel so lucky to have this job. Before I tell you why, let’s go back in time and talk about super connectors.

Super connectors

Back at Ensign College, I had a teacher who changed my outlook on networking. I used to hate the idea of networking. It seemed selfish and awkward. “Hey! Let’s talk and become friends so I can get a job from you later.” I don’t know. I wasn’t a fan. But, I had this teacher who inspired me to become a “super connector.”

Super connectors are people who “network” and connect with people not out of selfish reasons, but to help another connection. They connect people together. A super connector might not need a plumber, but they are going to connect with a plumber because later in life one of their other friends might need a plumber. A super connector networks to help other people network.

Ever since I learned about super connectors I have decided it’s my goal to become one.

12 mentors

Alright, back to the present. 🙂 I get to interview 12 mentors during this semester and I think this is going to be AMAZING for my path to becoming a super-connector. Not only that, but I will also improve my interviewing skills. (And hopefully, get faster at typing up the interviews. I listen for a second, pause, type, listen for another second. daydream, go back, listen, type, etc. It’s a bit of a slow process.)

This week I first interviewed Patrick Sedivy- who is the CEO and founder of Cumorah Academy.

Patrick is so cool. I feel very blessed to have him as a connection now. His parents fled communist Czechoslovakia. They moved to Canada and raised their family there. Patrick grew up speaking Czech with his family and then got his mission call to the Czech Republic. He fell in love with it and later he and his wife were inspired to start a school in the Czech Republic. Thus Cumorah Academy was born.

I had a list of questions I was told to ask, things about the mentor’s background, how they heard about Cumorah, what they have learned from the students while they stayed at Cumorah, etc. I also got some creative license in asking other questions.

My three favorite get-to-know-you questions for couples

I discovered my favorite three favorite questions to ask people (if they are married that is,) on my mission. Every dinner we would go to with a member I would ask the following questions:

1. How did you meet?

That question usually is met with a quick answer such as “online,” or “a blind date,” or something. So, after they answer you follow up with:

2. Was it love at first sight?

This one gets them talking and the stories are quite wonderful. Sometimes they’ll go through the whole love story from beginning to end and if so there’s no need to ask question 3. If they don’t though, move on to question #3.

3. How’d you propose?

Trust me. People have super good stories! Good questions to follow up with: When was your first kiss? What abo If they are single then ask other questions. 🙂

Interviewing Patrick

Anyway, back to this week. I interviewed Patrick and loved his story. I used the list of given questions but then decided to ask my usual. “How’d you meet your wife?” I was not disappointed.

To quote Patrick, “We both served in the Czech Republic. We actually never really talked. I know we talked once at the mission home and she was heading home. I asked her what she was going home for, and she said ‘I’m going home to get married.’ She made the first move.”

That question is GOLDEN! I’m sure in these interviews I’ll find some other golden questions. I’ll share them with you all. 🙂

I also was able to interview the Steeles who are the advisory couple here for a whole semester. They are just the best. They travel the world together and are people I admire. Brother Steele reminds me SO much of my grandpa Richard. Their love story is adorable too. In both interviews, I asked a final question, “Not for Cumorah, just for me.” I asked both Patrick and the Steele’s what I should do to get the most out of Cumorah. I want to ask this to every mentor I think- then I’ll have a list of 12 tips to get the most out of Cumorah. (And after Cumorah- life.) Those two were:

1. Be a giver, not a taker. Also, your job is to tell people’s stories. When you signed up for marketing and marketing at Cumorah that is what you are doing. Be a storyteller. Make sure their stories get told.
2. Act like a student here. You get a unique opportunity to enjoy Cumorah as an intern, and also as a student. Embrace it and enjoy your time here. Also, don’t stop writing. God has given you a voice. USE it.

I’ll keep adding to this list every week, if you guys are interested in reading it.

Church at Cumorah

Wow! I have so much to say about church here! It was AMAZING!

Before we dive into that though, I did want to have a tiny disclaimer. I belong to the Church od Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church is a very important part of my life. It’s also a big part of Cumorah Academy. Cumorah Academy welcomes people of all faiths, but a lot of what they do is catered to an LDS audience.

Because the church is so important to me and a part of what I am doing here, I am gonna say a lot of “churchy” terms on here.

I wanted to thank my friends who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thanks for reading my blog and offering me love and support. It means a lot. If there’s any church terms I say that you don’t understand- please reach out. I’m happy to explain them.

Church was so good! I felt the spirit so strongly. I am so grateful to be part of a church that is the same anywhere you go. It feels and looks the same in the middle of the Czech countryside as it does in Springville Utah. Cumorah can meet as a group under the authority from the bishop and stake president in Prague.

Brother Steele, who I interviewed this week, has the responsibility of being “acting” bishop. It is still under the authority of the Prague bishop who he reports too, but we can meet as a group on campus. (I’m so grateful I studied the priesthood in depth on my mission. It has made a lot of things make sense and has given me so much insight in how the church works.)

We met in a classroom used for Leadership class, had the sacrament, sang hymns, had speakers. Everything. I’m grateful we were able to host church here. The nearest chapel is in Prague, an hour away. We are going to the Freiburg Germany temple this semester. It is the closest temple. There are SIX LDS church buildings in the Czech Republic. SIX in the whole country. (I feel so blessed to live in Utah with an abundance of church buildings and temples. I am humbled by the sacrifices that the people in the Czech Republic are making to just go to church.)

It was so cool to be here, singing hymns with people from 16 different countries (I’m pretty sure, but I will double-check that,) and do the same things as any other Sunday, out here in the Czech Republic. I loved it. I also joined the choir!

Knedlíky (Ka-ned-lee-kay)

Okay. This food needs its own section. I am in love with it.

Knedlíky are Czech dumplings that are like a cross between bread and potatoes. From Google- “They’re typically boiled and have a soft, doughy exterior and a fluffy, potato-like inside. Knedlíky can be enjoyed savory or sweet, and they’re a delicious way to soak up flavorful sauces. They are a staple in Czech homes.”

The first time trying them I thought they were super weird- like playdough and kind of mushy. We have had them served at least every other day, as a random side or served with sauce. They are white and sometimes are served flat and round, other times they are served skinny and tube liked.

Every time I eat them I like them more and more.

Last night they served them again but this time as a sweet dish. They had melted butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar to go on top, and OH MY GOSH! It was so good! I love them and need to learn the recipe.

If you ever get the chance to visit the Czech Republic, definitely try Knedlíky. (And take me with you!)

Improving my art and poetry

I probably will talk about this more- so I am going to list it here as a short section. I decided to make a goal to draw something in my journal every day and to write a poem every day. I want to become a better poet and an (at least passable) artist. What better way can there be to do that, than to write and draw every day?

I will share a couple of my favorite drawings from this week, and at the end of the post share my favorite poem from this week. I hope to improve in both areas during this semester.

Prague Trip Excitement

On Saturday the academy is going to Prague! I am so excited! I can not wait! I have heard so many good things about Prague. One article I read said that Prague is “The handsomest city in Europe,” and that it has “intoxicated writers and poets for centuries.” Well, I am a writer and a poet, and I can’t wait! I am so ready!

The advisory couple here, and the interns (including me!) signed up for a six-hour guided tour of Prague. I am so so so excited. (The first rule of blogging I was taught is that one should NEVER use more than one exclamation mark per blog post and even then, use your “one” rarely.)

It’s taking everything in my power to NOT litter this section with fifty-nine exclamation marks. I NEED to convey how excited I am! Have you gotten that message yet? I am so excited! Dang it. That is too many exclamation points. I think I’ll just accept the fact I write far too many exclamations marks and smiley faces in my blog posts…. 🙂 Tune in to my blog for next week and it will be all about Prague! (There, I did it again!)

To end this blog post, I wanted to share a poem I wrote about Cumorah Academy.

Cumorah Calls

By: Mack Fontano 4/25/2024

Cumorah beckons, a call so bright

For hearts yearning for truth and light

With Czechia’s embrace, you’ll meet

A semester of growth, if you seek

In the beautiful Czech countryside

Cumorah Acadamy there abides

Through fields of canola and orchards of green

A haven of peace, one’s potential seen

Where students gather from around the world

United by faith, a purpose unfurled

To learn, to teach, to serve, to play

Together we grow day by day

Here at Cumorah, the purpose is clear

Cumorah’s mission is one we hold dear

To walk with Christ, a guiding light

Embrace His teachings with all our might

Lives, careers, homes, and communities too

Positively impacted by the things you do

This noble pursuit, a flame to ignite

At Cumorah Academy, your future takes flight

Thank you everyone for reading! You’re amazing!