So, one great thing that City Year provides its corps members (CMs) is The Idealist's Journey, developed by Max Klau, which as CY states, "is more than just an opportunity for open reflection. It's City Year's leadership development guide, written to support and challenge each of us along a thoughtful, intentional process of developing into the most effective and inspiring leaders we can be." A deep statement, that is for sure, but looking at it, you can truly see that City Year is not only dedicated to the students it serves, but also to the CMs it brings on for a 10-month service year.
To break it down for you, we meet twice a month to have leadership development, which is a fancy name for a bunch of trainings that would have benefited us about 3 months prior to the time we hear them. However, one of the best parts of these days is our 1 hour (sometimes 2 hour) IJ (The Idealist's Journey) sessions. I have never been someone big on reflection, so at first I didn't put too much thought into my answers to the exercises, nor did I share much among my IJ group. That began to transition though when I finally was able to admit to myself that I no longer knew what I wanted in life.
As my team leader (TL) so eloquently put it last week, I fell on my face pretty hard in the first half of my service (metaphorically ya fools!). I had lost the assurance of what I wanted to do in my life, I was, to put it plainly, lost. I think that is one of the hardest things in the world to admit, similar (in my opinion) to admitting alcohol dependency. By stating you are lost, you are grasping at straws, at any outstretched arm someone lends to help stabilize your ship as it sinks. Little do you know, no one can save you, you simply have to sink, admit to the world you fucked up, go back to the drawing board and build a better, stronger ship.
I left college with a feeling of "Lost" in life. I didn't know where I wanted to go anymore. I was at a crossroads, but the fog was so heavy I thought one step would drop me off a cliff. Coming to CY helped me to lighten this fog so I could see I hadn;t lost my passions or options in life. My TL, without knowing it, made me question, ponder, and reflect on my life and where it was going. Through this, I realized, and slowly accepted, how lost I truly was, which was a hard kick in the ass.
I wrote what I think is a pretty great reflection that sums up me new blue prints for my "ship" (which, if you haven't gathered this by now, the ship is my life). This reflection came to be in IJ Exercise #13: Reflecting on Our Leadership after City Year. I will try to write this exactly as I wrote it in the IJ book...
"Prior to CY, I always had the plan to get my masters at Wayne. I knew this program would help me become a stronger applicant in a pool of so many stronger applicants. As this year winds down, one plan has not changes, I will be going to Wayne for my M.S. in Basic Medical Sciences.
However, what has changed are my plans after that. I am now kicking it into high gear, studying to take the MCAT June 21, 2014 and apply to medical school this summer. Another big change CY sparked, is my new passion to become a Naval Medical Doctor. I would love to continue to serve in whatever way possible, following any doors national service continues to open for me.
CY has inspired me, pushed me, and driven me to become a better all around person. One who uses their passions to better the lives of others.
There are no limits to what I can do, CY and its members have shown me that.
I CAN rock the MCAT.
I CAN get into medical school.
I WILL join the Navy.
I WILL change someones life through medicine.
I WILL become a Doctor Without Borders.
I CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING I SET MY MIND TO."
It is hard to believe how many young people feel "Lost" following college, having earned a degree, but no idea what they want to do with it. It is my belief that we get stuck in a dead end job because we fear admitting that we are lost, that we no longer have a grasp on what we love to do.
To those that are lost, I hope that you have someone like my TL, that will be honest with you (though the honesty will suck at times), providing you with the right questions to ponder. Through that, I hope you can find yourself again, and in that, regain control on your true passion in life.
To those that know what they love, and are struggling to achieve that goal, I hope that you find someone (like my TL) that will never lose faith in you, that will continue to push you, and continue to hold you to a standard higher than you hold yourself. I promise you it will make you a better person, and strengthen you as an individual, but more importantly, as a leader.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Halfway Through the Year
Hey y'all. To start things off, I would like to say Happy Holiday and Happy New Year to all!! Sorry for the long delay since my last post, but I did not really feel there was anything worth posting at the time. December wrapped up as a slightly crazy month in school. Lost of kids were losing their minds, for reasons that I still do not understand. It was as if they all decided that on a different day of the month they were going to drive on corps member completely crazy. Needless to say, they succeeded, as they always seem to do. The more odd part though, at least for myself, is that I always come back the next day wanting to see the kids that drove me up a wall the day prior. It truly is a love hate relationship haha.
In totally unrelated news, I got the most adorable Christmas cards from one of my students on our last day in school before the holidays! She was so excited to give it to me, yet so nervous at the same time, it was just adorable.
I guess keeping with the string of exciting news, I NOW HAVE A TEACHER!!!! The day of long-term substitutes is over, and a stable teacher will now be in command of my classroom!! It is lovely. And for those of you who thought I was teaching, I am not, I am a 1:1 tutor/mentor for students in my ELA class. For a long time now, I have had no teacher, therefore no real structure in a lesson plan, so that made tutoring a little tough. But in the one week that I had a real teacher, there was more coursework than I think me or my students were expecting, it was glorious!! This new teacher seems pretty cool, she is about 25, so pretty young (I think this is one of her first gigs), but it will help her be able to relate more to the students, so I think that will be beneficial.
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Branching away from work for a moment... Some of you probably know that each year my family has a crazy party on New Year's Eve, which tends to serve in large part as a family get together, but also as a way to see family friends. This year, despite the emcee being out of the country once again to serve in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, we were able to make the event happen! The family came in (for the most part, Keenan we were missin ya man) and we were all able to continue a tradition that has been going on for longer than I can remember. It is crazy to think that as we all get older, we are still able to find time to come together as a group and hangout like we were 12 again. I hope that as we all continue to get older, settle down, maybe start families, we will still be able to keep the tradition going, and maybe turn it into something that we can pass down to our kids.
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Okay, now back to work! As this second half of the year starts, a few things will change as far as what I do on a daily basis. Now that my role as a CM is perfectly defined, as well as my role as the Attendance Coordinator for the 9th grade, I will be pulling kids out of class on a more regular basis to tutor them in a more structured setting. In addition to that, I will be working harder to create attendance initiatives that I had proposed before the first semester ended, as well as working to implement them for the teams and students that win. I know none of that may make sense now, but hopefully it will make more sense as the year moves forward.
That is all I have for now, but I will try to make sure I keep this posting to a month by month basis from here on out!
Happy 2014!!!
In totally unrelated news, I got the most adorable Christmas cards from one of my students on our last day in school before the holidays! She was so excited to give it to me, yet so nervous at the same time, it was just adorable.
I guess keeping with the string of exciting news, I NOW HAVE A TEACHER!!!! The day of long-term substitutes is over, and a stable teacher will now be in command of my classroom!! It is lovely. And for those of you who thought I was teaching, I am not, I am a 1:1 tutor/mentor for students in my ELA class. For a long time now, I have had no teacher, therefore no real structure in a lesson plan, so that made tutoring a little tough. But in the one week that I had a real teacher, there was more coursework than I think me or my students were expecting, it was glorious!! This new teacher seems pretty cool, she is about 25, so pretty young (I think this is one of her first gigs), but it will help her be able to relate more to the students, so I think that will be beneficial.
-----------------------------------------------
Branching away from work for a moment... Some of you probably know that each year my family has a crazy party on New Year's Eve, which tends to serve in large part as a family get together, but also as a way to see family friends. This year, despite the emcee being out of the country once again to serve in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, we were able to make the event happen! The family came in (for the most part, Keenan we were missin ya man) and we were all able to continue a tradition that has been going on for longer than I can remember. It is crazy to think that as we all get older, we are still able to find time to come together as a group and hangout like we were 12 again. I hope that as we all continue to get older, settle down, maybe start families, we will still be able to keep the tradition going, and maybe turn it into something that we can pass down to our kids.
------------------------------------------------
Okay, now back to work! As this second half of the year starts, a few things will change as far as what I do on a daily basis. Now that my role as a CM is perfectly defined, as well as my role as the Attendance Coordinator for the 9th grade, I will be pulling kids out of class on a more regular basis to tutor them in a more structured setting. In addition to that, I will be working harder to create attendance initiatives that I had proposed before the first semester ended, as well as working to implement them for the teams and students that win. I know none of that may make sense now, but hopefully it will make more sense as the year moves forward.
That is all I have for now, but I will try to make sure I keep this posting to a month by month basis from here on out!
Happy 2014!!!
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