Articles and Scholarship Junkies

I found the Finding your Power article to be very accurate in what it was trying to convey. I think that it is very necessary for us to embrace our power, like it said with the swimming example. However, we need to be sure we are using it to benefit others and to make sure we value them. It is not right to just blame others for problems. We should take responsibility when it is due. We can help others do this as well by consulting them and making them feel less alone. 

I also agreed with a lot of points from the article, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Good Ally.” I think that a good way that we can become better allies to other communities is by becoming better educated on them. We can do things such as engage in discussion, read books, and actually listening to people. Being a good ally is not about status but about doing what’s right in the right way. This can be very applicable to the STARS LEAD Program. We always engage in discussion on sensitive topics and it is important that we are allies to each other and try not to derail the discussion. We might not agree all the time but we try to stay as respectful as we can and try to learn from one another and I think we can always improve ourselves in that way. I think that my biggest strength as an ally is being able to listen and not derailing a discussion. I am very good at staying on track and making sure we are using our time efficiently. An area that I can maybe improve in is becoming more educated on the subject we are talking about by reading books and links. I usually don’t do that and I think it can really help me become a better ally. 

I found the Scholarship Junkies workshop to be very helpful. Obviously it was geared towards the inner-city high school kids, but I think us leaders got a lot out of it as well. It can really help the kids in the Empowerment Pipeline to potentially get scholarships and be able to afford college. It helps to give them hope that they in fact, CAN succeed. It is a step towards more social justice. That’s because scholarships give them a chance that they otherwise, could not ever have. It puts them on, if not an equal plane, a better plane than before, as other kids in terms of chances of success, which is a step closer to social justice.

Waiting for Superman and 12 Lies Article

I found the “Waiting for Superman” film to be extremely moving. I was able to relate to it, even though I didn’t go to a really bad public high school in Chicago. I was really surprised by the severity of this problem. I knew that inequality in education existed, but the number of schools that are failing is insanely high! I feel like to help save these kids, there is a lot that needs to be done. We talked a lot about this in our meeting on Friday. There are just so many variables in this conglomeration that it is almost impossible to look solely at one reason, and say that if that problem is fixed, everything will be better. Many things can be factored in to help determine why these kids and schools are failing. We talked a lot about the federal system and how their agenda is different than the state’s agenda, which is different than the district’s. There is also the distribution of money issue and the strain on the teachers. Some things that are often overlooked are the things that we have to control over, such as the neighborhood the kids are in and the situation away from school back at home. I think a good place to start is getting everything fixed at the federal level and trying to get everyone onto the same page. Then hopefully it will trickle down to the district level and will improve some things. We can also get parents involved to help by making the communities better and just educating them on the seriousness of this matter. I believe that all the parents would be more than happy to help to make sure their child gets a good education. Voting for officials that can help solve this issue is a big way that parents can certainly address this problem.

I found almost everything the “12 Lies to Stop Telling Yourself” article to be relatable to me. There were many things in there that I think I tell myself all the time. There are many improvements that I would like to make for myself after reading this article. The ones that I found really interesting were the ones that said, “my dreams are impossible” and that “failure is bad”. I’ve always had the mindset that failure is terrible and that it should never happen. Plus, if I do fail at something, then I will almost never reach my goals and dreams in life. I now know that this mindset is really bad and to always remember that we are always improving ourselves to make sure we always get back up whenever we fall down. This will not only make you a better person, but it will rub off onto the people around you which will only make their lives better as well. A perfect example is with the inner-city students and how their mindset is that things will never get better. We need to show that there is always a chance.

Happiness Reflection and Summer!

The article on the 10 Ways Happy People Choose Happiness was very interesting to me. I was able to relate to all the topics it covered and I believe it is 100% true. Just reading that article made me smile and brightened up my day. I want to focus on just trying to be more positive whenever I can. When I look back, I can see opportunities that I should have dealt with a more positive attitude. It’s going to be a challenge because I usually have trouble expressing myself to others. But I know that the more I do, the better it will be for me. 

There are many things that make me happy. I love it when I can help other people with anything that they need. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. I am also very happy whenever I succeed in something or reach my goal. It shows that I have grown and that I am slowly improving myself to be the best I can become. 

When I went back to my dorm on Friday and read the stuff people left me in the booklet we made, it made me really happy. Everyone said such kind things about me and gave me a lot of good advice. It felt good to know that there people that appreciate you. I think that the activity in general was very beneficial. It was interesting to see what people wrote on their respective covers to describe themselves. I found it actually a lot more difficult to give characteristics to myself than I thought it would. But overall, I think it helped us come together as a STARS LEAD family, and bond a bit more as a group. 

As for the E-Portfolio, I actually haven’t done anything with mine as of yet. I think that it is a great tool to help us organize ourselves and to show potential employers everything that we have to offer. However, I don’t think that I have enough quality material to put anything of value into my Portfolio. I will start building one soon and hopefully I will be able to add to it over time. As for the Capstone project, I had some ideas on what we could do. We could film the high school students that are coming to Loyola in the next couple of weeks and somehow integrate them into whatever the theme of our video will be. We haven’t filmed anything yet, but I think that we have some good ideas.

Spring Break was a lot of fun! I didn’t go anywhere special this year, however. I spent a day on my Uncle’s farm in Wisconsin which was great and got to meet a lot of my friends in high school and other colleges. I slept a lot and made sure to get a good amount of homework done because I knew the week I came back would be a struggle with all the papers and tests that are due. I can’t wait until this semester is done and for summer can be here. I don’t have that big plans, but my family wants to go on a trip somewhere (not finalized). I want to able to go swimming and play football, and just not have to worry about classwork and college. It’s only a couple months away!!