AmeriCorps Opening Day, First CEMP Session & Oct 2010
This has been yet another whirlwind month--I can't believe we're already in early November. Both Dad and Manda's birthdays have passed, though I'm going home tomorrow to celebrate Dad's and hopefully I'm seeing Manda on the 14th to celebrate both of ours. So good things.
Work has been intense lately. There's been A LOT going on and I've certainly felt overwhelmed and like I had too much to do. But then I have days off like today and I feel so at peace. I don't know why, just the fact that I have next to nothing to do today is nice. My plans for today include: journaling, meditating, watching some more SATC and potentially going for a walk or run around the reservoir. It's just nice to have time to relax, sing and dance and think about life and the world. I don't really get a lot of time to reflect on the bigger picture which makes things hard, because I feel like this is the time I should really be thinking about it.
But we had AmeriCorps Opening Day yesterday and it was so much fun--and the speakers made me think A LOT. The first speaker was Rebecca Onie, who founded Project HEALTH while she was a sophomore at Harvard. It was inspiring for a few reasons. First, she saw a need, came up with an idea and went for it--which is naturally inspiring. But she also talked about how they started in one hospital with a folding card table and a sign made out of construction paper. They started with nothing. Zip. And they made it happen. She didn't know if it was going to work or be successful. She just wanted to try and help people and her system for it ended out working. That to me was greatly inspiring. To see that she started with nothing and simply tried. She put forth the effort, which really is the hardest part. She also talked about the perseverance necessary to do what she saw needed to get done. It was really inspiring and what I also loved is she seemed like a chill person. She wasn't particularly dressed up and she didn't seem high strung or fancy. She was just someone doing what she felt needed to be done. And I really liked that she started this project without any public health experience. She just went out and talked to doctors and discovered that the biggest need in health care isn't prescriptions and pills, it's basic health needs: food, water and shelter. She was an outsider, but being an outsider gave her perspective to see that the system was broken and needed fixing. She didn't accept the status quo, which time in a career or a field can often do to us. She brought an energy and new ideas to the field that they needed, which is why being a driven outsider can be important.
Next was a speech by Congressman Mike Capuano. He was also great and inspiring with a slightly different message. He talked about the joy of doing a year of service, but that doing a year of service is not enough. He talked about the importance of giving back to society for a lifetime and he said that the most important thing we should take away from his speech is that this enthusiasm that we have right now should never be lost. We should always maintain it because it's important if you want to have vision, have a new perspective and have an energy to really get things done. Another thing he mentioned was the importance of having your voice, your vision and your opinions be heard. He utilized us as an example, stating that there were about 2000 people in the gym at RCC. If all of us had written to our congressmen about something (for example, the IT guy at the hospital in Queens who blew off Rebecca 12 times before showing up on the 13th), it wouldn't happen again because the people would make it a big enough issue and it would be dealt with. So that helped me realize the importance of writing congressmen, who we elect. Of voicing my opinions and helping to mobilize people in similar efforts. It was a lot to take in, and it presented me with a lot to think about, but I'm hoping that over the course of the next few years I will be able to implement it into some kind of action.
In other news, at HSTF we had our CEMP training AND we had our first session on Oct 30th. Training went really well and I was really proud of what Joel and I pulled off. Things started out slow, but the activities we had planned and the energy we brought really made for a productive and fun afternoon. People seemed to like it and benefit from it.
But the thing that really made me happy was the first session. We had some minor issues, such as mentors not showing up and people being late, but people really had fun. The HSTF olympics was a great idea for a first event and it got people moving around and it got them to work together. MISTER and WEPA went well for the most part, but we need to work on some things. But overall, from what I heard the youth had a good time interacting with the mentors and I think it was a good way to get them excited about the year. A lot of them came up to me and told me who they wanted and said they really liked some of the mentors which was great. Yay! And I also was really happy b/c during the plus/delta one of the plus' was either Francys or Marcelly or someone like that saying I was funny. So that made me happy. AND for the first time I felt like I was in control-ish. I wasn't yelling over people and basically I felt for the first time like I will be able to manage them. Of course it'll be tough and I'll have to keep working at it, but it made me confident to know that I have the skills to do a basic job and will be developing them consistently over the course of the year. So that was good.
Also service week is coming up which I'm excited for. Our group seems to be coming along. And last night I went out with Krystal, Sarah and Mike and we had a great time. So that made me happy to get a chance to bond with everyone. :-)
And in last random news: I turn 23 in just under 2 weeks!
Also, I just read this on Post Secret and loved it.
Work has been intense lately. There's been A LOT going on and I've certainly felt overwhelmed and like I had too much to do. But then I have days off like today and I feel so at peace. I don't know why, just the fact that I have next to nothing to do today is nice. My plans for today include: journaling, meditating, watching some more SATC and potentially going for a walk or run around the reservoir. It's just nice to have time to relax, sing and dance and think about life and the world. I don't really get a lot of time to reflect on the bigger picture which makes things hard, because I feel like this is the time I should really be thinking about it.
But we had AmeriCorps Opening Day yesterday and it was so much fun--and the speakers made me think A LOT. The first speaker was Rebecca Onie, who founded Project HEALTH while she was a sophomore at Harvard. It was inspiring for a few reasons. First, she saw a need, came up with an idea and went for it--which is naturally inspiring. But she also talked about how they started in one hospital with a folding card table and a sign made out of construction paper. They started with nothing. Zip. And they made it happen. She didn't know if it was going to work or be successful. She just wanted to try and help people and her system for it ended out working. That to me was greatly inspiring. To see that she started with nothing and simply tried. She put forth the effort, which really is the hardest part. She also talked about the perseverance necessary to do what she saw needed to get done. It was really inspiring and what I also loved is she seemed like a chill person. She wasn't particularly dressed up and she didn't seem high strung or fancy. She was just someone doing what she felt needed to be done. And I really liked that she started this project without any public health experience. She just went out and talked to doctors and discovered that the biggest need in health care isn't prescriptions and pills, it's basic health needs: food, water and shelter. She was an outsider, but being an outsider gave her perspective to see that the system was broken and needed fixing. She didn't accept the status quo, which time in a career or a field can often do to us. She brought an energy and new ideas to the field that they needed, which is why being a driven outsider can be important.
Next was a speech by Congressman Mike Capuano. He was also great and inspiring with a slightly different message. He talked about the joy of doing a year of service, but that doing a year of service is not enough. He talked about the importance of giving back to society for a lifetime and he said that the most important thing we should take away from his speech is that this enthusiasm that we have right now should never be lost. We should always maintain it because it's important if you want to have vision, have a new perspective and have an energy to really get things done. Another thing he mentioned was the importance of having your voice, your vision and your opinions be heard. He utilized us as an example, stating that there were about 2000 people in the gym at RCC. If all of us had written to our congressmen about something (for example, the IT guy at the hospital in Queens who blew off Rebecca 12 times before showing up on the 13th), it wouldn't happen again because the people would make it a big enough issue and it would be dealt with. So that helped me realize the importance of writing congressmen, who we elect. Of voicing my opinions and helping to mobilize people in similar efforts. It was a lot to take in, and it presented me with a lot to think about, but I'm hoping that over the course of the next few years I will be able to implement it into some kind of action.
In other news, at HSTF we had our CEMP training AND we had our first session on Oct 30th. Training went really well and I was really proud of what Joel and I pulled off. Things started out slow, but the activities we had planned and the energy we brought really made for a productive and fun afternoon. People seemed to like it and benefit from it.
But the thing that really made me happy was the first session. We had some minor issues, such as mentors not showing up and people being late, but people really had fun. The HSTF olympics was a great idea for a first event and it got people moving around and it got them to work together. MISTER and WEPA went well for the most part, but we need to work on some things. But overall, from what I heard the youth had a good time interacting with the mentors and I think it was a good way to get them excited about the year. A lot of them came up to me and told me who they wanted and said they really liked some of the mentors which was great. Yay! And I also was really happy b/c during the plus/delta one of the plus' was either Francys or Marcelly or someone like that saying I was funny. So that made me happy. AND for the first time I felt like I was in control-ish. I wasn't yelling over people and basically I felt for the first time like I will be able to manage them. Of course it'll be tough and I'll have to keep working at it, but it made me confident to know that I have the skills to do a basic job and will be developing them consistently over the course of the year. So that was good.
Also service week is coming up which I'm excited for. Our group seems to be coming along. And last night I went out with Krystal, Sarah and Mike and we had a great time. So that made me happy to get a chance to bond with everyone. :-)
And in last random news: I turn 23 in just under 2 weeks!
Also, I just read this on Post Secret and loved it.