event 2

Smash your insecurities

For this event nat, ash, and I went to the smash your insecurities even held by delta phi epsilon. (Gi's sorority) The idea of this event is for students to have the physical opportunity to face an insecurity that you are dealing and smash it till its gone. When I was participating one insecurity that I had in mind is my self esteem. I really struggle with bad self esteem and tend to beat myself up more when I feel like I'm wrong. One way the this actually helped me was actually recognizing my insecurity and what triggers it and ways that I can improve on it. Smashing the pumpkin was actually super fun and relieving. Everyone was laughing at each other so it was just a really nice community to be around. 

event 1

This semester one event I attended was the Advising meeting for YDEV. My intentions for this event was to come and help other students form their schedules and work myric and give them feedback and experiences on classes that I have taken in the past. When arriving at the meeting there were more seniors than those who needed help with their schedules so I tried to make myself as much useful as I could. But for me the advising for YDEV is one of the aspects that make this community so strong. The YDEV professors have constructed a plan of study that lays out all of the classes you have taken or the classes you need to take and when. This is so powerful for students because it sets us up for success instead of taking shots in the dark guessing what type of classes to take which eventually could make the student fall behind. I have loved the aspect of advising since I joined YDEV and it is so different coming from a teaching community where you are thrown at oasis who have no clue who you are and just take a wild guess on what will work for you the following semester. The Advising meeting to me displays the anchor of leading with because the plan of study sets us up for success. It provides the opportunity to visually see what is completed and what needs to be met.

Ideology

   

For my YDEV ideology I identified with positive Youth development with a close second to Risk and Resilience. I believe the values that I can identify with both is that support is such a huge factor in both ideologies. For positive we try to bring the support into our field to help our youth. Community factors rely heavily on both of these and how with risk and resilience this can influence no control over situations that lead to behaviors and for positive we take the community factors to build upon.

Injustice

A time in my life that I can reflect on where I felt an injustice was my junior year of high school. This was a point in my life where so many things where going on, so many emotions where flying around. I had found out a couple weeks before that I was pregnant so all eyes were on me at school and everyone had something to say about me. A teacher that I had really trusted and had established a trusting relationship with had wanted to meet with me in the school library during lunch. This was not weird for me because me and her have shared many moments like this before. I would tell her about issues I had at home which was frequent and the issues I had with my friends. I could trust her with my feelings and for her to give me some advice or just say things that made me feel better. On this day when she asked to meet with me she had me sit down and started talking about how her brother and sister in law adopted a baby and it was the best gift they could have received. She kept talking about how unstable of a household I live in and that this environment would not be healthy for my baby. As I sat there with tears rolling down my face she told me she knew why I was crying and it was because I knew that what she was saying was right. All these thoughts ran through my head as I second guessed myself and my abilities to actually be able to parent, as if I was not feeling defeated enough in the moment. Her words really impacted me and it forever changed the relationship I had with her. The trust was no longer there because when I thought she was listening instead she was judging. As I walk about from this moment in my life, what I took the most out of this was that this is not the type of relationship I would want to have with the youth in my life. I know she meant well but she did not really know as much as she thought she did. Rewinding, I wish I had stood up for myself more but now I think I have proved myself.

My observation of injustice I could connect to one of our previous readings about teenagers. The stereotypes that teenagers have on others, and also just stereotypes in general. This is an example of how society today views the capabilities of our youth.

Youth Work is care

The work of keeping “kids in mind,” remaining attuned to their needs and perceptions even whenthey’re not present, echoes one of Lynch’s (2007) core practices of “love labour:”

Care based on a love of humanity, rather than maternal instincts.

Caring labor and intentional linking of “self and community” reflects a care philosophy rooted simultaneously in individual. 

Caring for relationships is a broader conception of community and justice.

↠The way Sarahs hair is cut is to represent gay community and they way she dresses but also opens up about herself to her students that provide them a perspective of the LGBTQ community that they may not receive in their home environment.

Care beyond the classroom. Michelle, buying weekly snacks is more than the physical effort, cash expenditure, or time it takes before school. 

↠ It is very much the invisible work of “feeding the family” that MarjorieDeVault (1994) describes—the planning, shopping, preparing of meals that go into raising children up. It is the effort of making school a “safe space” and a “second home,” effort comprised of all the countless large and tiny, often invisible, acts that mothers and motherers do to make a space feel cozy, predictable, provided-for, safe.

Care in terms of race, culture, social identity and survival.

 ↠ I cannot be a teacher without exposing who I am.” She connects cleaning to deeply held practices and roots as a Latina woman. She says that sometimes she “want(s) to break that stereotype of the female teacher—nurturing, keeping everything nice and clean,” but she cannot. Cleaning is part of where she comes from as a woman, a mother, Puertorriqueña, and as someone who also came up in neighborhoods where public investment in cleanliness and community were lacking.

Care within self

 ↠ Eli demonstrated his caring approach in work of seeing himself “through the eyes of students,” in his commitment to breaking through with hard-to-reach youth, in the great care he takes with his own practice and with supporting and mentoring other teachers.

It is physical, emotional, intellectual. It is compassion, presence, and curious care.

My Youth Development Story

Before declaring my major as Youth Development the paths I’ve taken have been difficult but I would not be where I am without those experiences. Growing up I have always felt led to work with you but my journey is finding where I fit in. In high school when I became pregnant I was so judged by others I lost sight in who I am and conformed to who people were telling me I was. Juggling the identities of teen, student, mom, and part time employee became my full time responsibility. But I knew I had to do what I have to in order to provide the best things for my son. Going through this it was drilled into me that I need to provide a life for my son that he deserves because “ he did not choose to be brought into this life.” I was told I would not be able to do this unless I went to school, got a degree, and got a job that would pay well. So I strived for this. I thought I belonged in Early Childhood Education but I soon realized that I did not want to be a teacher in a classroom. Working with the education system is so black and white and I want to color outside the lines. This brought me to YDEV where I experienced a community like no other. I found my voice and passion and the knowledge that opened my eyes into a whole different world outside of what I have known and my thirst to learn more has grown. To get where I am today I would not have been able to do without my support system. My family watched my son while I attended school and while both myself and my now husband would work right after school in order to provide for our son. My family provided a roof over my head and tried their best to make sure I was not struggling. But I was still responsible for my son. I provided his needs and cared for him since he was born. But because of my experiences and support system it has made me the person I am today and I have really wanted to give back. I am so fortunate that I was able to have the people in my life that I did when I needed the support. I would like to be that support to someone who is not as fortunate as I was. I want to be that friend that I did not have. I want to be that someone who I needed. I feel that Youth Development has led me to here and has given me the tools and opportunities to succeed.  

Leading With

Youth in Action describes leading with as giving and supporting the tools for youth to impact a change for them to live in a world that they want to live in. They lead through youth through different learning skills such as project based, service, adventure, and cooperative learning. These learning styles supports leadership skills, basic needs of our surrounding communities, healthy peer relationships, and the inspiration to reach beyond what society tells them they can do. They promote this by giving ALL youth a space to share their stories, practice leadership, and create change in their communities.