Blog post #7- Week 10 Podcast

Share a brief summary of the podcast you listened to. What are YOUR key takeaways? What do you want us to know? How does this connect to social justice youth work as described by Clemons?

I listened to the podcast, "Nice White People". It was about how the schools are segregated and how this particular school tries to "diversify" the school to raise the number of students attending.

The podcast was about a neighborhood school in New York named, School for International Studies (SIS). This school was made up of mainly Black, Latino, and Middle Eastern students. The principal of SIS was an African American woman and she reached out to the neighborhood families which were wealthy white families to give SIS a chance for their child to attend and raise the student population. The white families usually went to the same three schools that were populated with white students, SIS wasn't in their radar. The "white" schools were full so one parent, Rob, tried to gather other white families to attend SIS together. They were lured with promises of a French program so they came. They came to the school with a savior attitude. They formed their own committee and raised money for their children not necessarily for the school. They didn't take into account the feelings, the income level, and community of the children and families that were in the school before they came in trying to change it. They even had their children thinking they were sent there to make the school a better place. These new families had a way of thinking, because they can raise money, the school would be a better place, this isn't necessarily true and wasn't true for SIS.

My key takeaway listening to this podcast, I could feel the pain and hurt in the PTO members voices. All the hard work that they did for the school got over looked for money. If the white families came in and partnered with the PTO instead of creating their own secretive committee they could've brought together the community in a familiar way that the original families were used to. Instead it became an us against them thing. No one needed saving, they just needed help.

I want you to know that schools that are mainly populated with black and brown students don't need saving, they might just need a little help.

This podcast connects to Rachel's article on social justice youth work because if the students at SIS were able to have a say in the program that the new family brought to the school (French Program), the program would have been a language that a majority of the school speaks, not French.

BLOG #1-Week #2 My Covid Story

 One important moment that happened to me during the Covid-19 Pandemic was that I went back to school. I started back up in 2020 to finish my bachelor's degree that I started twelve years prior.

Going back to school did not look the same as it did in previous years. Covid-19 took the face to face aspect of going to school away. EVERYTHING was online. I am an older student, so I was used to talking to people eye to eye, going to offices for help, and just being in person. Having everything online was difficult for me to navigate successfully, luckily I had a classmate (Susan) that was really good at figuring things out. The syllabus for each class always had blogs, padlets and videos that I had to learn to maneuver and turn in homework assignments and projects on. Once I got the hang of it I felt more comfortable with my classes. Zoom was the way we showed up to class. In the beginning people were laying in the bed, or had the camera off, or was even at work while in class. By the second semester people had to show up bit more professional to class.  Zoom meetings ended up being one of the best things that came out of the pandemic once everyone got the hang if it. . 

Going back to school at this particular point in my life was very stressful. Having two fulltime jobs, having to take care of a husband, a son, a household and homework was A LOT, but I pushed through and I was able to graduate with my sister who was in the Social Work bachelor/masters program at RIC. This was the light at the end of the tunnel. Both my sister and I, although Y   E   A   R   S later, we were able to make our parents proud. They are now able to say their children are college graduates and this makes my heart happy and made the stress and aggravation all worth it.🎓🎓🎓🎓🎓🎓🎓

BLOG #5- Week #6 Positive Youth Development

Choose 3 quotes from the readings or org websites that resonate with your philosophy of youth development. Write up a short reflection on each: what does this quote mean to you? How does it resonate/ apply/ speak to you?

#1 Practitioners of this ideology believe that youth work programs should help children and adolescents further develop their strengths and interests (Pittman, et al., 2003)

To me, this quote means that family, teachers, youth workers, along with the youth themselves figure out what the youth are interested in and what their strengths are and build upon that. For Example, programs can start off with youth playing with Legos, then it can develop into a robotics program, and then it can develop into a career in engineering. Having multiple programs that the youth can get involved in to see if they are interested in can lead to finding strength in a particular interest.

#2  PASA’s Hub and AfterZone participants are supported by enriching and exciting programs that build vital skills and help them both inside and outside the classroom.

I love the enriching programs that PASA has for their youth! Having positive programming for youth to engage in helps with their positive attitude in life, their emotions, and their voice. Having diverse programs gives the youth the opportunity to experience new programs that they may have never tried if they weren't supported by the club.  Watching their video made me excited at the work that I will be starting at the Boys & Girls Club. I hope that the Boys & Girls Club has wonderful opportunities for the youth like PASA does. 

#3 FabX, We are committed to growing an equitable, learner-centered ecosystem of         

  learning.

To me, this quote means that Fabx wants everyone who wants to learn and grow,  have a chance to do so. I think that their programs are based on learning new things and building on it and expanding it to programs that may be connected to it. As I watched the video, I noticed a diverse group of youth. They were engaged in many different programs, fishing, bball, meditation, making music, surfing & sailing, and family events. There was an interest for everyone involved. All the youth, youth workers, and family looked engaged in the programing events. It gave me a good feeling as I watched all of the smiling faces that were enjoying the enriching programming.