Elevator Speech!

What is Youth Development? 

Youth Development is a variety of many components into one. It is fostering purposeful conversations with young people in a way that they understand and in a way where they can make meaning of those conversations on their own terms. Youth development is not cut and dry, and focuses on leading with you and providing safe spaces for youth to express themselves and their views. Every component of youth work is purposeful both for the youth worker and the youth themselves. There is a concept called "leading with", and this gives youth work much meaning. Leading with teaches young people that they matter and their voices matter no matter where they come from, what their race is, what their religion is or what their sexual orientation or identity is. Youth workers lead with youth in ways that challenge their development and fosters meaningful relationships. 

Ydev Event 2!

Cystic Fibrosis Dinner 

On November 28th I volunteered at a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation dinner in Warwick. Some of you may know what Cystic Fibrosis is and some of you may not. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and other major organs like the pancreas, it is a build up of thick sticky mucus that can make it hard to breathe. Many CF patients have to take a handful of different kinds of medication a day and perform many treatments each day to ease their symptoms. This dinner was held to recognize the RI doctors and CF clinic and their hard work and new progress with medication for CF. I had the honor of meeting a man named Matt that has CF and we had a great conversation. He told be that as a child it was hard but he always had the support of his family and friends and that has made all the difference in his life. Matt is a flight attendant and wants to inspire others with CF that they can do anything and that they can't let the disease hold them back. Learning about the man with CF and learning all the new medical progress the disease is making was truly inspiring. My sorority is holding an event in March 2018 to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis and I asked Matt if he would come to our event and share his story. He said yes and was thrilled that I asked him and I can't wait for him to inspire others the way he inspired me. At the event I ran into the 5th grade teacher at St. Paul School which is my internship. We got to taking and I asked her what her connection to CF was and she told me that both of her brothers have it and one passed away from it earlier this year and said she loves to come to the dinners and fundraising events because her brother would go to them and she wants to celebrate him. It was nice to see her and hear her story about her brother and I think I might ask her if she would want to do a dress down day at the school and have all the proceeds be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Ydev Event 1!

Lanterns with Henry Barnard Students

On November 14 I attended an event that was led by the Henry Barnard faculty and students. The second grade students were teaching us how to make lanterns for the holidays that will be displayed on President Sanchez's lawn. I was paired with a second grader named Francesca and she was so excited to teach me and help me make my lantern! Since these lanterns were for the holidays, I put designs for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and Francesca said to me "I thought you celebrated Christmas" and I told her that I did and how important it is to recognize all holidays because we all don't celebrate the same ones. She didn't ask anymore questions and went back to focusing on her lantern and I could tell that she was thinking about what I had said because she was looking around to see what others were putting on their lantern. This event was a great experience for me and I took it as an opportunity to network. I gave the second grade teacher my email so that way if she ever needed volunteers in the classroom my sorority sisters and I would love to help. I also loved that fact that it was structured in a way that the students knew what they were doing but they could work with who they wanted and choose how they wanted to design their lanterns. The teachers were not guiding them all that much and they exemplified what leading with to me means.

Here is a picture from the event with some fellow ydev classmates, Rachael, my sorority sisters and some of the second graders from Henry Barnard School!