TED Talks

Greetings Everyone,

     For all of you who enjoy watching TED Talks, there is a great episode by Ron Finley. The premise of the video is that anyone can transform their neighborhood by acting and not just conversing about what needs to be done. Ron is from South Central, California where there are miles upon miles of vacant lots that are owned by the city. He expresses his frustration with the lack of food in his community, and that many people in poverty do not have access to dependable and nutritious foods. Ron eventually got tired of staring at the generations of families that were suffering from this and decided to turn a vacant lot into a community garden. 

     After the success of his first garden, he began to expand and then the city served him a notice saying that he needed to remove the gardens or face a warrant. He challenged the city and won his battle, but it is amazing that the city wanted to end something that was absolutely good. Ron was teaching people how to grow their own food, so that they would not have to depend on the government or suffer from food insecurity. What made this video so powerful was Ron's candor. He explained that many people from all over the state wanted to sit down and (in his words) "talk about some shit. He then explained that nothing gets done by only talking, but that we all must act to produce the change that we want. 

Teach for America Seminar

Hello Everyone,

     Yesterday, I attended the Teach for America seminar. I found out that there are multiple organizations like this one; another being "Teaching Fellows". In my opinion, the best thing about this organization is that they serve the lower socioeconomic populations and help students obtain their degree. They showed us a quote that was an eye opener; "just eight percent of kids growing up in low income communities graduate college by age 24". There are many benefits to this program, but the one that was most applicable for me was that you will have two years of teaching experience along with your masters degree. 

     There are some important dates to remember for this program, for all of you who are interested. The application deadline is October 24th, phone interviews are in November, and the final interview is between December second and fifth. The key take aways from building a successful resume for this program are to highlight your academic achievement, work experience and leadership, and what you are proud of. It appears that the most important thing is that you are passionate, and can show that you have been in a leadership role. The leadership role does not have to be in teaching, it merely needs to be in something that you were successful in.

     The program starts during the summer, where you will obtain training and shadow an experienced teacher. You will have to be in the masters program full time and teach full-time, which can be difficult but you are in a class with your teaching peers. In addition, you do not have to take the GRE and your masters thesis is broken up over the course of the two years. Since they do not have the educational policy masters for the program, I am considering doing a concurrent masters in public policy and educational policy degree. However, I still think that this is an excellent program for any degree discipline. 

Shae and I

      Out of all of my experiences with Shae, there is one that takes the cake, literally. One of Shae's most promising talents is her baking. She enjoys baking and completing exotic projects. We decided that we should build a three tiered cake, with each level representing a goal. Now, I have baked plenty of cakes in my lifetime, but I must admit that making a layered cake is not the easiest!

     The first layer we made was vanilla, the second layer was half chocolate and vanilla, and the third layer was marble. To make you all even more hungry, we put cookies and creme icing on it. The first layer represented our goal of achieving something that we thought was a solid accomplishment. This is where our mountain hiking idea came from. Our second layer represented our two personal goals. Shae wanted to do well on her standardized testing, and I wanted to do well on my biology final. In between the baking, we made a verbal commitment to apply ourselves so that we could achieve those two goals. Our third layer represented our goal of creating a better bond with one another. Shae came up with the great idea of making a memory box. The memory box is where we could put a small piece of memorabilia from our activities together. Lastly, we ate the cake and watched her beloved show, Law and Order SVU. 

Something New

Hello Everyone,

     I have just found out about some interesting information for those of you who enjoy teaching or want to embark on education policy. There is an organization called, Teach for America, which helps to provide quality teachers for children who face the challenges of poverty. Essentially, you would teach for them for two years and obtain a teaching certificate or a masters in education upon your completion. You also get paid during your teaching. I am attending an information session for the program tomorrow, but you can find out more information at their website. 

     In addition, ASU has a new masters degree plan through the education department: Masters in Education Policy. Education is my passion, so I am very curious to find out more about this degree plan. As you all know, I am in the public policy program, but this seems like a great opportunity for me to work on an area of policy that I am passionate about. My hope is that the college of public programs decides to implement a concurrent degree plan with the education policy, in the near future. I will have some more information regarding the program soon! I hope this has been beneficial to many of you. 

Any Given Day

     A typical day at my internship is partly unpredictable and planned. Shea and I will typically schedule a time for me to pick her up, and then we explore Phoenix. Although, some of our planned events will be occupied at New Pathways for Youth, as we attend monthly workshops that build our relationship. Two specific events that come to mind is our trip to Camelback mountain, and our trust relay at New Pathways for Youth. 

     One of our first trips was to Camelback mountain, where we hiked to the highest point. One of the key lessons that we learned from our workshops is to try to conquer our fears. My biggest fear is heights, so this challenge was extremely scary for me. Shea and I also had to learn to trust each other, and we had to help one another up many of the obstacles that the mountain presented. I distinctly remember wanting to quit after the third slope, as this slope was the steepest. However, Shea encouraged me to continue up the mountain. It took about three hours to do the whole trip, and Shea was so tired that she thought she wouldn't be able to get back down the mountain. So, every time she doubted herself I reminded her of all the times that she thought she could not do something and still completed it. She completed the whole trip, and we celebrated our victory afterward.

     The next event was at a New Pathways for Youth workshop. Here we were tasked to perform a trust relay against several other volunteer matches. Each trial tested our trust of one another, and was scored on the completion of the task. One trail that I recall was when we had to connect one of our legs to each other, then attach a balloon to the two free legs. We had to work together to pop the balloons of the other matches, while keeping ours from being popped. It was a lot tougher then it sounds, and we took 1st place out of all the trials. We learned the precious lesson of teamwork and trust together. 

The Imaginary Scenery

Hello Everyone,

     This morning, Angel and I went for a run behind my house on a dirt trail. I call it the imaginary scenery, because it's truly that. To let you all in on my experience before I describe its true essence, I will give you all a brief run down of what I saw. First things first, there is a gorgeous row of desert trees that perfectly stack along a mile's stretch of dirt trail. The trees perfectly cast their shadows, turning their reflections into odd shapes along the path. The dirt trail is fixed with exotic rocks, and separates the animated water channel. The channel walls contain disproportional murals of artwork, as if they were intentionally set up for their first art gallery. Many birds glide down to the channel and ride its calm migrating stream. At the very end of the trail stands the majestic cliff, where the water crashes to its doom, and where Angel and I are halfway to celebrating a great run.
     The truth behind my imaginary scenery is that all of the desert trees are cased along a huge wall that separates the trail from several trucking companies, and the shadows only cover the trench that separates the trail. Therefore, the sun gets ample opportunities to display its true power of heat. The dirt trail is cluttered with rocks of all shapes and sizes, in which, I nearly twist my ankle on. The water channel is a very large gaping water runoff ditch, and is filled with mud and debris like grocery karts. The artwork along the cement walls is some very interesting graffiti; although, it looks as if some kids tried to paint their best representation of their favorite cartoons. Regardless of the displaced debris, the birds still ride down the stream of water looking for bugs to eat. The cliff is a very large gutter, with these long metal prison bars that keep large objects from intruding. Lastly, Angel was ready to sprint back home, but she periodically circled around me as if she was trying to motivate me to finish.
     Although the trail is not what it seems, I think that it is important that we all imagine what we would like our surroundings to look like, even if those pictures do not match. I still love to walk or run this trail, because it temporarily takes me out of the desert. I hope you all can create your own environment in one that is not so pleasant!