Mission, Value, and Engagement Reflection

1. Given what you know about the topic so far, please reflect on the heritage and values of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the context of your own values and belief system.

Based on my own values and beliefs, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were women who were passionate, caring, faithful and leaders. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were all women who became part of the covenant because of their vocation to dedicating their life to God. They were very passionate and faithful toward their religion and vocation. They were also very caring towards all the people they encountered wherever they went. Being caring also included honoring the dignity and sacredness of every person. Like that time when Sister Dorothy protected one of her students who couldn’t speak English as well and got bullied by the other students. She was able to protect him from the others and also help him with his English. Due to their passion in what they loved to do for God and also their passion to help others, has made them leaders in the eyes of everyone else.

2. What opportunities have you had so far at NDNU to develop relationships that honor the dignity and sacredness of each person? Why is this so important?

The opportunity I had so far here at NDNU to develop relationships that honor the dignity or sacredness of each person, was getting the chance to become friends with the people I’m now friends with. This is important, because making friends here in college is a really important part of the journey here. Friends are always there for you when you’re sad, upset or even excited about something. Friends are also there to motivate you and give you different opinions. Another important thing is that these people are able to give me their full trust, they are able to tell me things that other people don’t know about them and by telling me, they are trusting me not to tell anyone and that honors their dignity and sacredness as a person. Having trust in someone is one of the most important aspects.

3. During your time here as a member of the NDNU campus community so far, have you been challenged to assess your own ethical positions in any way? In what ways, if any, have these ethical considerations involved issues of justice or peace? In what ways, if any, have they caused you to change the way you think about your own future career choices?

No, during my time here at NDNU so far I haven't been challenged with my own ethical positions. Although it has only been one semester, I'm sure down the line I will at some point come across a situation where it will challenge my ethical position about something. But even if it challenges my ethical views on something it won't ever change my future career goals. I have always wanted to become a doctor and studying Biology here makes me more dedicated to become one because being in college can be tough. But as time goes by, it'll just increase my passion towards my future career.

4. Have you, in the context of any class this first semester, had opportunities to apply classroom learning to address community or social problems? If so, did this make your classroom learning more engaging? Please explain.

Yes, in my English Composition class we had the chance to pick our own topic about something to present on as a final presentation. One group decided to talk about a social and community problem, feminism. It was very engaging and the one thing that everyone probably took from this presentation was about the cons of feminism because one of the group members stated examples in today’s society that related to feminism. My group decided to do it about poverty and wealth around the world, and this really brought the discussion open about how poverty and wealth is very much different in other continents and countries compared to the United States. Everyone was able to discuss about how they felt regarding the poverty of third world countries and the things that could be done. I think doing presentations on topics that are an issue in society today made classroom learning more engaging.

5. How do you personally define diversity? What have you learned so far this semester about the challenges and rewards of embracing diversity as a gift? Is embracing diversity of value to the human community?

To me, diversity is being in a community where everyone is different. Being different can include having many people come from different places from the world, being of different ethnicities, or even being someone with different ideas. Diversity means being different and it’s always good. So far in this semester, some things I have learned about the challenging aspects of a diverse community is that everyone always has different opinions on things and sometimes getting feedback from certain people has put me in a spot where their criticism is too forward and sometimes hurtful. Although there are challenges to a diverse community, there are also rewards and good things. A good thing about a diverse community is that you’re able to meet a bunch of new people who maybe come from different parts of the world or they are of different ethnicity. And due to this, I’m able to learn so much more about everyone that I befriend. Another good thing about diversity is the amount of different opinions that make you see things in a new way. These opinions can help me understand things in an easier way, or these opinions can be about things that I have never heard about before. But embracing a diverse community is very important because I see this as a value for the human community because wherever you go there can always be diversity.

6. In what ways, if any, have you had opportunities so far this semester to build a sense of community with others? Who were the "others"? Were they students? Teachers? Mentors? Coaches? NDNU staff? Were they campus partners who met through community engagement activities?

I have opportunities so far this semester to build a sense of community with others in my classroom area. In my English class my professor loves to tell us that our class is a form of a discourse community where we are able to exchange ideas and opinions that other people can learn from. But not only does forming this discourse community happen between students, but it also includes our teachers and other mentors. They most especially give us new ideas and ideas that we can easily understand and empathize with. I also had another chance to develop a sense of community with others during my Call To Action Day with the kids from Ravenswood. We were able to become their friends and learn together with them about the San Francisco Bay marine life.

7. Have you had opportunities this semester to develop spiritual or ethical leadership in working toward a more just society? What specifically were those skills? How do you see yourself applying those skills during the remainder of your four years at NDNU and/or during your life and career after college?

During the Social Justice Speaker Series, Rose Jacobs-Gibson encourages us to work more towards a more just society when she talked about youth gun violence and how she was proactive about the correction facility. Those skills being passionate about what we love and to spread awareness. I see myself applying both those skills during my life and career after college. My future goal is to become a Pediatrician, and ever since I was younger I was always glued to that dream. Now as I grow older and I find that I love working with kids and helping others, the job of being a pediatrician really embraces the passion for what I love to do. Not only do I get to work with little kids and help them when they’re sick or need a routine check up, at the same time I’m spreading awareness about sickness to the parents of the children I see or to others like in a conference. Applying these two skills in my life now and later on will be very important for me in regards to my career in the future.

Student Life Activity

Recently there was an event hosted by the RAs down in St. Joe's lounge to make christmas ornaments. My roommate and I attended the event because we love the christmas season and we thought it would be a good idea to be involved in some event hosted by the RAs. It was really fun getting to make our own christmas ornaments and seeing how they turned out and stuff because I've never made my own christmas ornament before. Not only was it a good way for me to get out of the room and do something, but it was a good way to bond with my roommate and other people. We were able to make small talk with these other two girls from JB who were also roommates. These type of events helps others to get together and the opportunity to meet new people. I would definitely recommend going to an event by the RA's because it's very fun and you get the chance to bond with friends and get the chance to meet tons of new people.

Social Justice Speaker Series

Rose Jacobs-Gibson was a former member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. After years of helping her community and to strive for social justice she has resigned. Gibson's approach to leadership reflected one or more values of the Hallmarks. Her leadership approaches were reflected in Hallmarks 3 and 4. Hallmark 3 was, "We educate for and act on behalf of justice and peace in the world", this hallmark reflected her approaches because Gibson who heavily believed in social justice for everyone which is why one of the topics she talked to us about was regarding Youth Gun Violence in the San Mateo. She has mentioned that she has worked with community leaders and law enforcement to protect the youth from gun violence in San Mateo, and she stressed this was a very big problem to be addresses because there is a large percentage of kids who become the victim of gun violence by gangs. She establish this problem through programs like Operation Ceasefire and with the East Palo Alto Crime Reduction Task Force, and this was all when she was a member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Then when she became the President of the Association of the Bay Area Government (ABAG), she established a Youth Gun Violence Task Force that had to develop common approaches on how to keep firearms from the hands of the youth and to reduce the youth gun violence. Her goal for this was to educate to others most especially to the youth about the problem of youth gun violence and how to approach that problem. Not only did her approach towards this problem was to establish programs and task forces, but she holds speech events like this at many different campuses to educate us. By this we can go out to spread the word, and she this helps to spread more awareness. Another issue that correlates to the example of her leadership approaches is her leadership of helping inmates to lead a better life in a correctional facility. She committed tons of time to helping the inmates of San Mateo to have a normal life like any other citizen of this community. She believed that everyone was equal, and she had always pushed the issue of helping these inmates to receive the equality and social justice they deserved, she believed that they do indeed deserve better to live a better life. Hallmark 4 was, "We commit ourselves to community service", Gibson has devoted more than 20 years to social justice because she saw that as an important aspect in life that needs to be addressed by someone who could fix it in accordance with the help of others. She helped these people not to benefit her title of her position, but because she truly wanted to help the people of her community. For more than 20 years she has devoted herself to her community and to the people of her community. 

Personally, I aspire to reflect these values in my life and leadership because actions can speak louder than words, and actions can be a 1000 things if it was meant to be done right. Helping others without anything in return and simply helping them just because you want to, is honestly one of the best feelings ever. Knowing that you might make an impact or you have made an impact in someone's life is very rewarding and goes forth to all your efforts in wanting to help others. Giving back to the community and striving for social justice is something that everyone should do and practice. Dedicating myself to my community has been something I've loved to do as I was very involved during high school, and the values from Rose Jacobs-Gibson can help me become a stronger leader for my Youth Group for my church when it comes to helping out the community. But aside from being a leader for my Youth Group, this can help me to overall become a better leader. I'm someone who sometimes likes to take charge and I'm seen as someone to go to for help. I hope in the future, that I too, can do amazing things for my community and the people in my community in a big movement.
Listening to Rose Jacobs-Gibson talk to us about how she's dedicated herself to what she loves to do the most is something that my fellow colleagues and I can learn from and help us become people who will strive for social justice and giving back to the community, and it was truly an honor.

Freshmen Research Conference

From this conference I was able to learn more about cooperative learning and how it actually does work within our class. From being in four different groups to separately find information on cooperative learning but yet coming back together to tie in everything as a whole, really conforms to the idea of cooperative learning and it brought out some cons but nonetheless the research project went great. From the other presentations from the other classes, I was able to learn more about how self-esteem which is your confidence in one's self worth and self-efficacy is the one's belief of about their capabilities towards success. We learned how they weren't the same thing but they were related and they can affect a person. From the other class, I was able to learn about altruism which is the practice of having selfless concern for the wellbeing of others. We also learned about different people's experiences with altruism. This conference was a good way to learn more about other topics and how they could in some ways be related to one another.  From our research project we can use this to improve and do better on any future class cooperative projects.

Call To Action Day

The day finally came and we were able to spend part of our day at the Marine Science Institute with 5th graders from Ravenswood. From this learning experience with the kids, I learned that service isn't just done because you have to do it, it's done wholeheartedly with purpose. From the reactions of the kids to when they were told that they would be going on a field trip with college students, caught them by surprise, but they were more than glad to befriend us. It wasn't about watching over these kids, but being able to interact with them in a way for them to know that we enjoyed being with them and that we were excited to discover new things. This activity gave us an opportunity to develop meaningful connection with our community partner organization, in a way that we were able to learn more about the Bay and its marine life along side with these 5th graders. I was able to learn so much from these 5th graders during the trip, because they are at the age when they're always filled with underlying questions and they weren't afraid to ask. By them asking the same questions I wondered about, it was known to me that kids are way smarter than they look. At one point of the activity, our guide for our small group had said how that her group of 5th graders were the first ones to get the container open without anyones help, and the object seemed very complex for 5th graders to operate. If we were given the chance to do another activity with these kids, it would be great because this would be something I would definitely look forward to do again. 

Student Performance Activity

Today was the first home game for lacrosse against San Jose State University- SJSU. It was held at 2pm at the field, and it consisted of 4 quarters. The players warmed up first and practiced a bit before the game started. Once the game started it was first quarter. Ever once in awhile, you can parents or students saying, "Get it!"Hoping that the player from our school was able to get the ball and get a goal. Throughout the game, the players constantly had to switch in different players so they all had the chance to play. There were times when both teams were thrown a foul, but they brushed it off nonetheless and continued on with the game. Around the second or third quarter, SJSU asked for a time out and after a few minutes the game started again. In the end, our school won with the score 16-5. Both teams played really hard and did a great job, it was a great thing being able to see the lacrosse team kick off with the season winning their first home game. At the end of the game, they all came together to get in a line and to shake everyone's hands including players and coaches. Surprisingly, SJSU had a really small lacrosse team and our school had much more players despite the fact we're a smaller school.  This was the first time I've seen a lacrosse game because there isn't really any school who plays lacrosse back in Hawaii. It's a very interesting game and it's almost like soccer, and I would definitely recommend this sports event to others because it's an interesting sport and pretty lively.

OEE

Dealing with our planned community engagement activity with the Marine Science Institute and the Ravenswood School, the Hallmark that I think that is most relevant is Hallmark 4: We Commit Ourselves To Community Service.

During our last class, all three pods met up and we talked about what our main idea is for our engagement activity- community service and/or service learning. Individually for our Frosh Seminar, one of our goals for the class throughout the semester is to see how we learn. By collaborating with the Marine Science Institute- MIT- we can observe how the 4th graders learn and to adapt to the way these kids learn so we may explain things in a way that they would understand if there was something they wanted to know about. Another reason why I think our community engagement activity relates to Hallmark 6, is that we are partnering with a community agency that dedicates their time to service learning. MIT is a non-profit agency that helps bring the sea and Marine life to the children. This Hallmark calls out to me about giving back to the community while being able to learn something from it.