Wood, Westwood, & Thompson

After reading the article "Youth Work" Preparation for practice by Wood, Westwood, & Thompson these are my big three that I gathered from it...

"Youth workers purposefully intervene in young people's lives, creating opportunities, activities and conversations that aim to enable young people to think, feel and act differently towards their social world."

I feel as though this quote that I took from the article resonates well with our mission in the Rhode Island College Youth Development program. We work to intervene children's lives with purpose to aim them to have a beneficial lifestyle that eventually will not need our assistance but they will remember our resources.

  
Two new things that I learned from the article were...

    

    1. In Chapter 8 it discusses how a youth worker identifies and asserts confidence in their role when working with others and also gains a better understanding and appreciation of different professional roles. What I grasped from that statement is that as a youth worker when I am in my profession stating a boundary and explaining to the youth my role will allow them to better understand my work and how I am helping them and we will have a mutual respect.

    2. I feel like as a youth worker it is easily misconstrued that you want to be the youths friend. It is discussed within this article that the youth actually respect and value you more if you show them that you are a trusted adult that is a guide towards the youth. They can gather enough from their peers who are actually children and their friend but with you being able to embody integrity and professionalism the child you are working with is actually more willing to grow to like you.

VOCABULARY TERMS HIGHLIGHTED:

1. professionalism: the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person

2. effective working: works to come up with an inventive solutions to problems and continually improve their performance to achieve best results. 

3. embodying: to be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form to an idea, quality, or feeling

Let's Get Connected!

(Making connections)

Using a personal connection I would say how I work at a summer camp and have been doing so for 4 years. I have moved up with the same group of kids since they were 7 (and they are now 11... and grown:(.) With working with children you will see that it is easier to be-friend them for them to like you but what you do not see is how they will NEVER respect you if you do it that way. With my group I love my kids and think they are wonderful but I absolutely recognize that they can get snappy and develop attitudes depending on how they are addressed. I have had co-staff that will be-friend them because it is displayed as "easier" to not be the disciplinary figure in these kid's lives. (Which I can agree that it can be harder at times) But, what they fail to realize is that the kids will never remember you as the "cool counselor that let me run off to the swings alone" they will just remember you as another face in their past. Every year I have kid's family message me asking saying that Billy Joe (ex.) wants to ensure that I will be returning to camp this year and how they look up to me as a role model figure.

Another experience that I have had with embodying a professional role would be my residential experience here at Rhode Island College. I feel that most of my residents view me as a more laid back RA. That the job to me is not about confiscating or looking to get anyone in-trouble but to be an outlet for them to ask advice from, or to come sit in my dorm and vent about the challenges and obstacles they are currently facing or a test they recently bombed. As this is my second year being on staff I look back to RA's that have impacted my experience here at RIC and remember the ones who didn't try to just be my friend but built friendship based on trust and respect of them as a person but an understanding of their position (job) and themselves as a person.

I feel as though both these connections are very insightful to what W,W,T discussed and connected the recommended habits and tips that I will also be taking in my future career.                               

Finding my PEACE and where I can be ME

 

THE NATURE OF BEING OUTSIDE & THE SKY'S BEAUTY

Being outside has always brought a natural healing for me. I remember being young and being taught if you're frustrated or upset that means you need to reconnect yourself and embrace everything that you DO have and it always relates back to the beauty of nature that we have. I grew up in Bristol, RI where it is surrounded by water and has amazing views of the sky. I actually took Taleah (our fellow classmate) to one of my favorite spots, Colt State Park where I have attended summer camp, birthday parties, gone to the beach, had cook outs, walked my dog, or just drove down parked and had some of my favorite laughs with friends or even just sat at a park bench or in my car and taken in the scenery and journaled.  I've also shared some of my hardest moments there. The summer of 2022 was one of the most life changing summers for me. It is the summer where I have cried the most, overworked myself to distract myself, and isolate myself from my friends and family. But like when my mother said when I was young I needed to reconnect myself with my surroundings. Even when I thought I would never be able to make it through and went through some of the hardest challenges, connecting myself with the nature of being outside and allowing to drown in the sky's beauty and A LOT of journal entries written under the sky at Colt State Park I worked through it. I confided in journaling my thoughts and feelings and working through my feelings and emotions through words and surrounding myself with healing views that helped me reconnect with myself and what I did have. I felt at peace and felt as though I could finally vent to someone and that someone was just a book of paper that my thoughts flooded. As much as that something couldn't talk I felt that its voiceless answers is just what I needed. I felt the most connected to myself when returning back to school even though I dreaded it. I felt like I was taking steps back by having to move back and not being able to continue journalling in my little spot... but all this did was encourage me to find new spots. I began to travel more and connect to new places and experiences. I became even more aware to my surroundings and being more observant of the sky and its beauty. The way that its always changing and will never look the same no matter how beautiful it can be reminds me of my journey and the places I have been. 

After listening to the song "Breathe" from "In the Heights" I felt the radiating peacefulness that the song was trying to portray. You could feel to the calming tune and "vibey" beat to it that gives you to sense of  zen/chill vibes. I can connect this song to another song that gives me a similar feeling. "Sunset Lover" by Petit Biscuit was a song I would always listen to when journaling or watching the sky whether the sun was rising or setting or just a regular cloudy day. I gives you a calming feeling that you can't even explain it just takes over your body. 

Song recommendations that relate to this feeling...

(THANK YOU TGANDY FOR THIS AMAZING IDEA)

    1. Glitter - 070 Shake

    2. ASTROTHUNDER - Travis Scott 

    3. Break from Toronto - PARTYNEXTDOOR

    4. W.A.Y.S - Jhene Aiko 

    5. Wiseman- Frank Ocean

VALUING values

A good example I give people when discussing their values and how they actually value them is when I say what do you look for in someone or something? Automatically you think of traits such as loyal, trustworthy, growth, peace, and respectful. I feel as though those term can change based on what you are looking to build such as a healthy work environment, friendships and relationships, a living space, a classroom, a club or hobby group, an organization, and MORE!

Things that I have grown up to look for and value within myself, the things I do, and the people I surround myself with are...

    1. LOYALTY: Loyalty to me is something that comes with EVERYTHING. I feel as though there is no relationship or connection to something without loyalty. A couple of examples that apply to my life would be the loyalty that I hold with my friends and family. I will always stand by them, defend them, and put them above all. Another example of loyalty is loyalty to your hairdresser or nail tech because you trust them and have a love for their work and how they make you feel and you wouldn't go elsewhere even if they are extremely busy because you are LOYAL to them.

    2. RESPECT: Respect is something earned and then reciprocated back. I feel that respect is another important value to have that builds relationships amongst one-another and care for your community or certain things/experiences. An example of respecting someone would be to be aware of their boundaries and having some sort of care towards how they feel and the restrictions they have set. Having respect for your community is recognizing them and how we co-exist amongst one-another. An example of this would be when you choose to give back to the community and help with a local organization or donate to a local food pantry, or maybe even just pick up litter around the area. You can also be respectful to your community by not saying derogatory statements or anything hurtful or offensive that may impact someone in a negative way.

    3.BALANCE: Balance is HUGE value to me. I look for in others when considering them to be my partner or even a friendship how well they are able to balance a healthy work to social life or even how they balance friendships to relationships. You can even implicate that into how you balance your school work to your job. Balance is something that creates a set schedule or amount of time where you execute one task or thing and have an idea of how much time you can set aside to complete something else.

    4. GROWTH: I feel that growth is a very important value to recognize. If you are not the same person next year and you have grown into a more open minded, kinder, and more uplifting person THAT is the goal. You want to see yourself, others, and your community... that is the goal in this life!!! To be able to acknowledge that you have had experiences whether they were positive or negative, impact you to change ways you look and go about certain things and re-access things and grow to hold yourself to a higher standard or to set boundaries that work better for yourself that means you grew. Growth and change mean you are advancing and pushing yourself to be the best version of yourself (which also inspires others around you) and leaves an impact on your community!

    5. LOVE: One of my biggest core values would be how much I am able to love. I am so lucky to have come from such a loving household and family and do not realize how often I do things out of love. People from college have said to me so many times that I have such a big heart and they don't understand how I am so loving and forgiving. Being able to spread love and love others that are unable to love themselves or understand how to love is something I will always do. I know that can be exhausting but it's my moral compass and is a value I grew up by that I have always shared with myself and others. Do things with and from love.

A time where I have seen growth is in the book "It Ends With Us" by Colleen Hoover it discusses a character named Lily Hoover who moved to Boston, MA to begin her life as a young women. She was running away from this life that she lived with her toxic home life with an abusive father and wants to escape her old memories. She ends up in a toxic relationship herself with a man she would have never anticipated to be this evil villain in her story. The growth in this story is how she reached a point where she has pregnant with a baby girl and had been getting physically assaulted by her romantic partner. She chose to want a better life for herself by moving to Boston and knew that she could not put her daughter through what she went through as a child. In the beginning of the book you could interpret her as a weak girl who has a lot of baggage but at the end you see someone who has grown to love and respect herself and want better for herself. Although she came from a life where she dreaded being home and her mother unfortunately was not strong enough to move away from Lily's father until he had passed Lily refuses to set that example for her daughter and wants healthy love and to be able to exemplify growth for herself and her new baby. Lily heavily struggled with trying to find a new way in the world without falling back and recreating the patterns of violence from youth from her childhood but at the end of the book mentions on how it will end with her and her newborn baby, which happens to be ironic because when I initially would've interpreted the title to foreshadow her finding her person who would POSITIVELY impact her life.

Navigating through Color Blind or Color Brave

 After watching Mellody Hobson's "Color Blind or Color Brave?" she brought up great points of how subconsciously people will try to not see race and not let them impact how they treat others but that takes away the fact that people of color have faced struggles and are able to embrace that their skin is beautiful and powerful and not acknowledging that is taking away from that power. I feel like white people at times don't see that if you don't acknowledge that race has an effect in a lot of scenarios it is being blind to color and not helping the racial issue it is more so hurting it. 

    I feel as though the phrase "intent vs. impact" is a great connection of this concept. You may think that you are "not seeing color" and treating everyone equally but subconsciously you may do something where you do not acknowledge the fact that people go through struggles with their race and identity and have a different outlook on how they view their identity. With that being said after creating my identity map I noticed some connections that I had made towards my identity and how it has created the person I am today. Things that make me who I am that I would like to emphasize is a first generation college student, a women, and my Portuguese and Italian backgrounds. These are all things that I feel really make up who I am today. 

    Being a first generation college student has given me opportunities here at RIC to connect with others that are also first generation students as well. With that being said I know how proud this makes my parents as well as myself allowing me to push myself to my greatest potential and know that I am one of the first people in my family being given the opportunity to see what higher ed has to offer and how to prosper here. As a women I am proud of all the accomplishments I have made and how self sufficient and independent I am. Lastly having my Portuguese and Italian background I am so blessed to be so involved in both of my cultural backgrounds. With my dad's side of the family being from the Azores and moving here when he was 7 years old there are so many traditions, food dishes and recipes, and more that he has brought into our families. My mom is adopted and has adapted her traditional Italian traditions from her adopted family however when she recently connected to her biological mother about five years ago we were able to connect and learn new traditions and a little bit of the language from her side.

My Identity Through Images

My name is Samantha Martins, I am a 4th year student here at Rhode Island College. Outside of class I like to travel, explore new locations, spend time with my family and friends, play with my sweet dog Tucker, and learning through others. I grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island where I spent most of my childhood either dancing or around my family. I probably had a couple school friends but never fit in well enough to hangout with anyone really beyond that. It definitely was a humbling experience going into high school because even though I was around the same kids I have grown up with the dynamic really changed. We were kind of almost forced to accept and surround ourselves with one another which made me a lot more comfortable in school and start to actually make friends. Before COVID came and took away a lot such as our gradation and these friendships that I came a long way and worked for I fell back into my regular routine of only really spending time with my family. Coming to college and moving away from home leaving behind my mom, dad, and brother (and Tucker) was a big deal for me, but as a first generation student my mom wanted me to have the opportunity to experience the college lifestyle. I am very content where I am now. Four years later I learned a lot, lost a lot, and grown the most. I cannot wait to see where this chapter flourishes to!

My Identity Through Words

After reading "This Book Is Anti-Racist" by Jewell and Durand really shares a clean and concise definition of what anti-racism is and how there are multiple components within it. Anti-racism is actively working against racism. It discusses how "we get free for centuries of living in a racialized society that keeps us separate and oppressed." I feel as though that quote highlights the true definition of anti-racism and how it has sculpted the society we are currently living in. Social media has been a huge part in spreading awareness on racially motivated acts and cruelty and to educate all people on all identities, races, and current news that should be heard. This reading was very telling on different people and or characters and their experiences as youth. 

In the song "Same Love" by Macklemore it tells a bigger story of someone coming out. It discusses someones story where it talks about how they "can't change even if I tried, even if I wanted to." this actually changed a viewpoint for a lot of people and it influenced a good amount of people to be more accepting of people in the LGBTQA+ community and show people some of the hardships people face within their coming out journeys.

Same Love

by: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0

Another song that demonstrates the mission of this read is the song "Where Is The Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas where they talk about discrimination, hate, racism, terrorism, and other forms of expressed criticisms of social ills.

Where Is The Love?

by: Black Eyed Peas

Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc