YIA: You are dumb until I give you this

When youth in action came to Rhode Island College for the 5th time it was different then the other times. The reason why is because before they came for this event they were able to bless us with their presence and educate us about a non-profit that none of us knew about. I will never forget the day they first came to my Fall semester of 2013 my classmates loved them and couldn't wait for them to come back.

But back to today, so the second event that I went to was called "You are dumb until I give you this." At first if you passed by a flyer you would kind of feel offended and shocked because if you didn't know YIA background and how humble and amazing they are you would think by the title of this event that they thought that they knew it all, and you probably thought what is this knowledge that they are thinking of giving me that I do not already have?

As the workshop progressed the whole point of this event was to educate current and potential teachers/professors about the harm they are doing to their students when they do not allow a student to challenge themselves. What I mean is that many teachers as they explained think that just because they went to college and have a masters or doctorate degree that they all of a sudden have all of the wisdom, that there is no way that their high school students could ever teach them something new. Which is something that happens in many schools. I remember various times when I went to high school and I was in a certain class that every time I went to this class I always felt as if I was never smart enough to actually have an educational conversation with my teacher(s). Its a feeling that will never go away but it has also made me stronger.

Overall it was a great event that I hope brought awareness to the students and the teachers that it takes both parts to create an awesome learning experience.

Ps. At this point I was interning for Youth in Action and I felt very proud of my team.

Student Acceptance Day at RIC

This year was my very first time being part of student acceptance day. To be honest my classmates and I from Ydev were very nervous. We were nervous because this was our first time participating and we knew how competitive the other majors can be. The moment you walked into the student ballroom there were 5 students upfront with burgundy RIC t-shirts that said on the back "Ask me about Biology at RIC" and they were very friendly and confident about their major and it seemed like they were very proud. Unfortunately, that day I was the only person wearing my youth development t-shirt so it was hard for us to really look official. We had many experiences that I would like to share with you. Many of the students that were with their parents were to shy to stand up for themselves, there was a girl that was with her parents and we were talking to them about youth development and it seemed like her parents were more involved with what we had to say then she was. I will never forget when Anthony completely turned in her direction and said so what do you think? Are you interested in Ydev and after the girl spoke about what she wants to do Ydev classmates and I looked at each other and realized what a perfect fit she would be for Ydev but realized that her parents had other plans. We still gave her a pamphlet and told her if anything please email the Professors. There was another situation where since secondary education was sharing the same table as us we had a ton of potential students that we could convert to Ydev. There was a student that came up to us and looked like she was confused, and once again Anthony was there to the rescue lol and began to spoke about how she wants to do secondary education but feels overwhelmed by all the hoops you have to jump just to get in and how she is just passionate about working with youth and wants to help them become successful not do all this student teaching and create lesson planning. And once Anthony was about to explain how awesome our youth development program is, someone from secondary education jumped in and interrupted what Anthony was about to say. After awhile Nina and I got the hang of talking to the parents and their kids. We ended up having a great time. I definitely recommend my professors to allow future Ydev students to expose themselves in activities like this.

TED TALK: What will blow our minds in the next 30 years?

As I was watching this YouTube video from TED TALK called “What will blow our minds in the next thirty years?” it was amazing to see the years of technology flashing before me.  As a college student growing up with a desktop computer in my household, having my own laptop by 8th grade and getting my first flip cellphone by 9th grade; these are things that were and still are natural for me. Whereas my parents until 7 years ago really started to get used to using technology, they had absolutely no idea how to do anything. My brother and I would always have to take the time to teach our parents how to text, even how to create their own Facebook which I had since I was in 18.

To see how every generation is going to be raised with different types of technology is amazing and scary all at the same time. It’s bittersweet because I saw how hard it was for my parents to get accustomed to this new technology that my brother and I were constantly being pulled into and I guess I don't want to be that old fashioned parent in the future not knowing what my future kids will be up to. I guess I will always have to make sure I go to tons of technology workshops so that I can continue to stay on top of it. Which I feel many parents/guardians don't think of, they usually just give up which is dangerous because how can you keep up with your child and how are you supposed to know what your child is doing if you have no idea how to use the technology that you just handed to them for their birthday or Christmas?

After I finished watching the video underneath it the speakers allowed the attendees and speakers to discuss or share what they think the future will bring. Nicholas Negroponte, founder, MIT Media Lab, speaking in Session 1 at TED2014 mentioned that, “One of the things about learning how to read — we have been doing a lot of consuming of information through our eyes and so on — that may be a very inefficient channel. So my prediction is that we’re going to ingest information. You’re going to swallow a pill and know English. You’re going to swallow a pill and know Shakespeare. The way to do it is through the bloodstream; once it’s in your bloodstream, it basically goes through and gets into the brain and when it knows it’s in the brain it deposits the information in the right places. I’ve been hanging around with Ed Boyden and Hugh Herr and a number of people… This isn’t far-fetched.” Which I found completely mind blowing and a little weird, because imagine trying to study for a English exam in High School/College and just taking a pill and you will automatically remember and absorb Shakespeare?

“What will blow my mind in the next 30 years is the ability to diagnose a disease before you know that something is wrong with you, treat it with medicines designed specifically for you and eradicate it so it never happens again. The concept of connected health, wearable technology and ingested medicines are all pointing us in that direction. The ability for someone to tie it all together, tailored for the individual is what is mind blowing.”

Doreen Lorenzo, president, Quirky

 “We will see the big picture with more clarity and resolution than ever before. Whether for good or ill (and surely it will be both), ever greater legibility of everything around us, between us, and even in us, and in every system from the physical to the social, financial, commercial, environmental and more is going to transform our relationship to the world, each other and to every system of which we are part.” [Read more about "The Legible Planet" in this separate piece, written just for TED.]

Andrew Blau, managing director, Deloitte

If this is what the future of technology will bring in the next thirty years, all I can say is life is definitely going to get interesting.   

Extended comments from Jackie's Blog: Laurea

 

 

I decided to use Jackie's blog post about Lareau. When she said that in her household it was a major priority for her and her siblings to go to school I agree. My parents ever since I was in middle school always made sure that not going to college was not an option and the standard remains with my younger brother. My parents just like Jackie’s, “…always taught me that education comes first.” Especially because when my parents got married my dad only had his associates in accounting and my mother only went to school for cosmetology. Which to be honest got us pretty far, my brother and I could never say we missed out when it came to having a childhood. We went to Disneyworld and Canada to see Niagara Falls but as my dad would always say. “When you leave this house I want you to live the same or better. But you should be living better since you will have your B.A. in college.” I have to say if it was not for their constant strives to keep us motivated about school. I would not be where I am today. As I mentioned in my other blog there are moments when I feel as if they are pushing me to the edge but I know that in their hearts they are doing it because they love me and only want the very best. Also because they know that it is when I feel like everything is crashing down when I pull myself back together and do even better.

 

Understand Youth

Veronica's Context Map

    Home

• Big sister
• Safe
• Great relationship with my parents
• Silly
• Sarcastic
• Open book
• Chatter box
• Hyper
• Comfortable

       School

• Tired
• Always learning
• Hungry
• Sometimes fun
• Never ending homework
• Socialize

       Work

• Serious
• Organized
• Fun
• Multi-tasking
• Productive
• Chatterbox with other student workers

      Church

• Leader
• Peace
• Happiness
• Relaxed  
• Sing
• Complete

       Friends

• Loud
• Silly
• bubbly
• caring
• happy
• chatter box 
• I can be myself 

As I was creating my context map I realized that as much as I wanted to think that I am the same person everywhere I go. I am not, and that is okay. The reason why is because when you are at work yes you want to have a bubbly personality but you also want to be able to maintain professional so that your boss takes you serious. Or at church since I am a youth leader yes I can have fun and associate with the youth but I also have to be able to have certain boundaries and know that if I make a mistake because I am a leader I have followers who look up to me. Also when I am at home I do have the opportunity to be myself but at the same time because my parents see school as a top priority my conversations with them tend to always lead back to how I am doing in school. We have time to have fun and watch television as a family but we mostly talk about school and where I see myself in 5 years or more. They are the ones that keep my feet on the ground whenever I feel like it is impossible but at the same time because I have to be strong all the time around them about school I rarely have a moment to let myself go when I am having a hard time. Which is why I am thankful for my friends, they are the people that I can cry to and express my sadness or stress to and not feel judged. Instead they always tell me empowering words or give me my favorite type of hugs which I like to call "bear hugs"

     
  

Resiliency, Positive YD, and Critical YD

I remember when the Professors and Youth in Action came and spoke to us about Resiliency, Positive development, and Critical Youth development. And how we had to take a short written survey about our identity status and explain a story that has a an emotional attatchment to us. It could be something that either excited me, puzzled me, or caused me to work harder at being me, or perhaps make me sometimes feel that I am not myself. Afterwards we would turn to our neighbor and discuss our story and then figure out if we were diffused, achieved, forclosed, or moratorium. Then we walked towards the corner that was labeled with our identity status and took turn sharing a shorter version of our story to our group and figure out the connection between all of stories.

So my story was when I was in the 9th grade at first I was very close to 8 girls, based on how people treated them and how they treated others they were known as the popular girls. When you are a freshmen in high school all you really want to do is fit in. Especially if a year ago you just moved to Providence, RI from Florida, and the year before that I was born and lived in Queens, NY. So finding a group of girls that I could actually fit in with for four years was very important to me since I moved so much. The only problem was, that I was friends with girls that were popular only because everyone was scared of them. You were either friends with them because you were scared or enemies because you decided to part ways. Since I was the studious one of the group they never made fun of me and called me hurtful names, because they knew how much value I added to their grade point average. Until one day, I will never forget and until today it is something that it does not hurt me but it does make me wish I never became their friends. I was extremely shy they probably would of never noticed me. But it happened no way to turn back now. So that day during 4th grade I was in my English class and the main girl of the girls was looking around the room trying to find someone to make fun of, it was a daily routine that never went unnoticed. She stopped at me, and said some really rude comments about me and just like that the entire room erupted with laughter. Without me giving my eyes permission I started to cry and my face turned extremely red, and because she realized how embarrassed I was she enjoyed it and kept doing it. In the hallway, in the cafeteria, in each of our classes because when you are a freshman you take the same classes besides electives, then goodness for electives. I tried getting help from my teachers but unfortunately there are so many students in a classroom that they could miss so much in a matter of just turning around or stepping out to discuss something with a teacher between periods. I also tried getting help from a school counselor but she only made it worse by inviting the girl to one of the appointments we made and just when the humiliation died out it begin again since the girl went to class and told everyone that I went to the counselor. My parents never found out since back then they both work 8am-5pm jobs so by the time I came home with my brother who is 5 years younger then me, my eyes were completely cried out.

I turned to my neighbor and explained all of this to her and then told her what my identity status was in this story and I said diffused. The reason that I believed that I was diffused in this story is because I felt helpless and even though I tried going to teachers and the school counselor it just made it worse. I also feel like because I just wanted to belong and follow a group, I was losing my identity.

YIA Documentary: Reflection

I really enjoyed how Adeola the executive director of Youth in Action not only explained and gave evidence on why she thought Youth in Action was a great place to be, but she also included other YIA youth and allowed them to be able to contribute and share their experiences. Who better then the YIA youth or alum to explain their experience and how YIA helped them grow from being close minded and believing that they are too young to have any bright ideas, to being leaders of certain groups. And because I have been there every week I am a witness to this amazing program. From the moment I walk into YIA and join and participate in their deep discussions my views, my thoughts, and beliefs become challenged. It is truly amazing, especially because there are times that if my classmates are having a discussion I tend to shy away, but when I bug-in into their conversations they really make you feel comfortable with what you have to say.

I also like how they give each other space to grow, Erroll the director of the YIA programs explained that every time a youth or even the director of YIA created something the adults and the youth gave deltas and pluses. “We decided to use a YIA team tradition called the “Plus Delta Hot Seat.” It’s basically an opportunity for everyone to give and receive feedback on contributions to the team and areas for growth. A piece of newsprint with a person’s name on it is set up with a column for pluses (strengths and contributions to celebrate) and a column for deltas (areas for growth). The person is asked to leave for a few minutes so the team can begin to discuss their pluses and deltas. Then they’re invited back to join the discussion. Now I know it sounds brutal here on paper, but believe me, the whole process comes from a place of love and respect.” The fact that they are not afraid to stretch themselves and challenge themselves for the better gives me so much respect for Youth in Action.

One of the YIA youth that impacted me the most was the story of Marlie Board Co-chair. “When ideas flow at YIA, relationships form and minds are opened. In fact, regular debates help us build from dis­agreement, which is an important part of what we do. I remember one day Izzy, Chris, Olu, and I had a debate about faith. It was pretty emotional – with Izzy who is agnostic, Chris not believing in a higher power, Olu a Muslim, and myself a Christian. Ordi­narily with such different backgrounds, it could’ve been an impossible discus­sion to get through. But this is one of the many conversations I cherish at YIA because it changed me. My core values and belief in Christianity are the same, but I have a different perspective because now I fully understand all of their views too. ” The reason her experience caught my attention is because of the way she discussed how even though she had a certain belief it should not intervene with having a good friendship with other YIA youth. That she should still be able to give them the respect they deserve just as she would like to be respected for what she believes in. Most adults unfortunately do not believe that youth have the maturity to handle the situation the way Marlie did. I always knew that youth can become great leaders such as Marlie. Sometimes being a leader doesn’t always mean that you are in charge it also means that you step back and look around and see if people are scared of you or respect you. It means that you have a firm understanding that maybe you are so focused on what you think that you may be losing out on many opportunities to learn about people’s culture and what makes them who they are such as youth in Youth in Action.

                                                                             

 

Find this on YouTube and thought this was pretty cool, simple but straight to the point on how we can help youth feel more empowered where ever they are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biTdR3OA46A