Peer Mentor Panel

This last week we had a peer mentor panel come into our class. I thoroughly enjoyed getting our questions answered by this panel because even though two of the panel members are peer mentors with us, it really allowed us to have time to specifically put them in the position to give us the advice we needed! I had feelings throughout the semester that I was maybe not prepared for this role but after last week and coming to the realization that it is the end of the semester I am definitely feeling more prepared. Even if I wasn't, I would have to get over it, because it's coming up quick and we can't stop it! Haha.

The best advice I think I had taken out of this was to take pictures and document the entire semester. I know that our section got along very well when we were freshmen and there are only a couple of people I see out of that section and out of all the fun times we had, we only had three pictures from the entire semester. I was also glad to hear the previous mentors talk about their co-leader routines and how they prepared for classes. I would have never thought of using a spreadsheet for the grading and tracking of our student's so I'm super glad they told us about those techniques. I am also glad that they had told us about how they went about meeting up with their co-leaders in order to plan the lesson plans for each week. This panel really gave us some valuable information that we didn't have before talking to them and I am glad we sat through it.

Having the panel come in was very beneficial. It definitely made me feel as though I was much more prepared after listening to them as I was before they had come.

Diversity Event - Redefining Hip Hop Culture with Mc Lyte

This blog post is wayyyyyyy over due being that the diversity event took place on February 28th, but I just kept forgetting. Surprisingly I have remembered some key interesting things from this diversity event and I think the fact that they have stuck with me from February until now really says something about the content of this diversity event. At first I was a little nervous because I wasn't really sure of what to expect, but I am so glad I chose this event to attend because I had a blast. The atmosphere in general was just amazing because we were dancing, singing, and carrying on conversations with random strangers before it even started! This atmosphere was carried out through the entire session.

Mc Lyte was the speaker at this event and she is a female hip hop artist. Her raspy voice had a sweet tune to it even when she was just talking, but not only would she talk to us, as soon as she had some important she wanted us to really take in she put it into a song. The rhythms her words came across seemed to strike us in a way that made us really key into what she was saying which was interesting because one would think putting it into a song would muffle the words and their meaning. I learned the importance of spoken word from some friends we had met, and I find myself partaking in it now throughout my life. Mc Lyte really focused on leadership, and seeing the potential in yourself that no one else may see. She also said that you have to prepare for your future because you never know when the moment may present itself and it may never come again so you have to be prepared for anything!

I was really glad that I chose to attend this diversity event because it allowed me to partake in a culture that I didn't know too much about. It was awesome though because I absolutely loved the entire thing! :D

Peer Mentors in College Society

Even though this chapter was a little tough to plan a lesson around I think we still benefited greatly from it. I think that talking about our major roles as peer mentors and how peer mentors affect student's lives really puts into perspective the situation we have all agreed to be placed in. Not only that, but it is also a good wrap up for all of the information we have been given over the semester in order to prepare us for this fall.

Being a peer mentor is not just being a role model; it is about creating quality relationships that truly add value to both your life and the life of your mentee. In my own experiences I have not really had a bad experience with a peer mentor, but the peer mentors I had as a freshman coming in to Iowa State were the two most empowering people I know. They made me want to be a better student, made me want to go to class, and even made me want to make friends. Having peer mentors like them is the exact reason I wanted to become a peer mentor myself in this program. From this experience I want to build long lasting relationships and I want to make the same positive impact on their lives as I had received as a freshman.

There are so many personality traits and values that can make a peer mentor successful and to me being personable, honest, and available are some of the upmost important aspects I value. I am hoping that by putting these values as a priority that I will be able to make the positive impact I am wanting to.

Ethics, in business. Is. Uhh. Business Ethics.. is....

"Mr. Gordan, Explain business ethics and how they are applied today."           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRT62J80iyI

Whenever the word ethics comes up I always immediately begin to think of the part of Billy Madison where Mr. Gordan goes crazy because he can't answer a question about how business ethics are applied in today's society. It may be just because of this movie that the word ethics can be intimidating to me at times. After our class on Thursday I don't think it is as intimidating as I had pictured it to be before, because, I can now see that it isn't just a term used in only the business world. Ethics can be applied in our everyday lives because it is just simply the rules of conduct or a system of morals. Learning the actual definition of ethics really made me understand how common the word is which led it to be more applicable to my life. 

I am really glad that we used what we had talked about in regards to ethics and the Hixson program in order to create our pledge for quality service because it will allow us to always have guidelines to help us make our decisions in the future. This pledge will also encourage us to find ways that we can better serve and promote the Hixson name as well as our own. There were many good ideas brought up to be put on this pledge, and those good ideas lead us to think about situations in which our ethics will be tested. Situations such as: being asked to purchase alcohol, pregnancy scares, illegal activities, and even relationships within the sections as well as relationships between mentors or mentors and students. 

These are all hard situations to talk about. It does make it easier when we talk about them now in order to help us prepare for what we might need to do if we were to encounter these situations in the future, but at the same time, I don't think that talking through the situations will necessarily prepare us for the actual event. It is easy to talk through a situation but when you are actually placed in it sometimes it is not always easy to sit down, and work through it. In the end when these situations arise in the fall with our students, we will just need to keep in mind our pledge for quality service while trying to make decisions on how to deal with the situation. Along with the pledge, we also need to keep in mind how we are representing the Hixson program, ourselves, and our mentees when trying to make a decision. IN the end I think that working together as a team of 16 that we will be able to achieve and power through whatever situation we encounter, because as a whole we all have great sets of morals, if not, we probably wouldn't be where we are today. 

Kudos for being awesome and having standards! :) 

Resources and Referrals

Before Thursday's class I thought I had known a decent amount about our campus resources that are available for our use. After Thursday's class I realized I was wrong! Haha. Although I had known of the main resources like the Student Health Center, Career Services, Student Services, Academic Success Center, Writing Center, etc. I didn't realize how much was included inside all of these services. I had only really known the main ones I have used in the last couple years, but I am glad that we talked about many other resources not all of us normally think of right away such as the Multicultural Center, or the women's center. This allowed me to understand what resources might be of use to someone else who may be in need of those specific services. It is important to know all of these to better serve our mentees.

One thing that I also found very useful was the how to refer and when to refer discussions. I had not known this information before this unit but once again it is valuable information that we all need to know as peer mentors. Our mentees will have to feel like they are able to come to us with any situation they are presented with and it is our job to know how to help them out. Not only do we have to know where to send them in order to get the best advice but we need to be able to recognize when we can no longer help them and who actually can. One of the most important things we discussed was showing respect towards our mentees. By this I mean helping them find where to go to solve their problems but also nudging them in the right direction and not doing it for them. Coming to college is a big change in responsibility and sometimes it makes you feel almost older then you really are for all of the responsibilities you now have to take care of on your own. This being said, I truly believe that they need to learn how to take care of things on their own with the guidance of others so they can really learn how to live life and take responsibility over their own life. Yes we still do need to guide them in the right direction but it is also important to let them take the wheel and drive their life where it needs to go.

For the blogging prompt I chose to use the situation with Rachel and not knowing how much to take out in loans and/or how to budget for the upcoming semester. I would say this has a medium urgency rating because although it is not as high as self harm it is pretty important and needs to be taken care of as soon as possible so she has enough money to register for classes and also has enough time to find a job if needed. To further understand the situation I could ask what loans she has already taken out and if she knows how to take them out, if she knows what loans she qualifies for, and if she already has a budget that she is currently using. When needing to make a referral to her because according to the situation I am not completely knowledgeable on the help she is needing I would refer her to the Financial Counseling Services. I would sit down with her and say that I understand the frustrations she is going through and I want to help her in the best way possible which is why I would like to refer her to the FCS because I know they will be able to give her the best help, and that I know some professors there who could help her! To build up their confidence to use the FCS I would hand her brochures from the place and maybe tell her a little bit more of what to expect when going there and also give her contact information of people there so that she feels extra comfortable with the situation and is willing to go. Personalizing the situation I feel as if I would have already done by giving her the contact information of the professors I know as well as helping her find out the information and letting her know what to expect from the process; I would also keep it personal by following up with her about a week later to see how the process is going and figure out if she has followed through with her plans. I would continue with these follow ups until I knew she was sitting in a good understanding with her financial issues/frustrations. 

External vs. Internal Motivation

At first I thought that the birthday card activity was just kind of a way for us to help learn how we affect others through our actions but after participating it was so much more than that. This activity was sort of a light bulb moment for me because I realized that I am truly driven by external motivation. I do have some sort of internal motivation in taking action to get what I want from life but at the same time for homework, studies, and some daily life tasks I realize that my environment really has a lot of effect on my motivation towards that. It does make me wonder though, where our preference for external or internal motivation comes from. At first I had thought that maybe it had something to do with being an extravert because being such a social person can allow you to possibly feed off of others as your motivation and since Sam and I had felt the same way I had begun to that maybe that was related in some way. Looking back I think its more of a correlation not a causation because, I believe Katie was also an extravert but she had a preference for internal motivation. This is a question that maybe I would like to do a little more research on. Any ideas?

Finding out that I am motivated by external factors really allowed me to be able to make sense of my last couple years at Iowa State. I always loved life here in Ames, and I felt like it was my home away from home which is the exact reason why I wanted to stay, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I am generally a good student but when I am studying things I have no interest in or don't want to be studying, my lack of motivation really goes out the window and I lose all sight of related goals. So for me switching majors left and right really made me feel like I had made a decision that might not have been right for me even though I love Iowa State. I had always wanted to do nursing or something with that field but I had not pursued it because I knew I wanted to be at Iowa State and since there are so many majors at Iowa State I could find one that I would eventually like and could be happy with. I am still kind of in this struggle with what I want to do with my life but I know that whatever path I choose I am dead set on graduating at Iowa State. Honestly speaking, if it wasn't for Debra, Allie, and Chelsee I probably would have left at the end of my freshmen year here. I am glad I didn't but it's hard for me to go through all of these motions without having an ending goal besides graduating of course.

Recently I have decided that after college and once I get things settled in, I would like to become a part time EMT and eventually work my way up to being a paramedic along with a full time job I can hopefully receive after graduation. I would possibly like to be a full time paramedic but we'll see when the time comes because I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. It is all apart of God's plan for us. :)

ISCORE

At the ISCORE conference held on March 7th, 2014 I had the opportunity to attend two sessions. The first was the luncheon including the keynote speaker, and the second was called "The Land before I'm: Winners Write History."

I would like to start off the first session with noting how delicious the food was. I wasn't entirely sure if I was going to appreciate the Native American themed dishes as much as I would have liked to but I absolutely LOVED IT. Anyway, we had the chance to listen to Harold L. Martin speak while practicing our fine etiquette skills. He spoke about where he had been in his life and all of the adversities he had to overcome in order to get where he was going. It was a very intriguing lecture that seemed to allow us as individuals realize how much we should appreciate all of things we take for granted in life and how not long ago we didn't have all of the rights we do today. There were a few quotes Harold had mentioned in which I really liked and will hopefully be able to add to my wall of quotes in my room.
       
         " Through our differences we make differences"
         " It is not where you're from or where you've been but where you're going and where you end"
         " You have absolutely no excuse not to give your best efforts towards success"

Although I did find some of these quotes very inspiring and relatable, there were a few others that were a little harder for me to relate to but they still spoke volumes. Harold spoke about being able to do whatever you want as good as anyone else can do even though you have a skin of color and also the importance of making your presence and success felt, because you are no one's project. I may not be able to completely relate to these specific topics because I may not have experienced situations in which this would completely be directed towards but as a mentor I would want my mentees to know this about themselves. I would want them to be able to realize that they can speak volumes on their own and do not have to work through these adversities because inside you they do not exist.

At "The Land Before I'm: Winners Write History" we learned about the history of our lands. Often when being taught history we tend to glorify the new settlers and what they did with the lands instead of realizing the harsh truths of what they had to do in order to achieve those lands. This lecture allowed us to understand the history of native american tribes that had been established in Iowa before being kicked out by early settlers. They endured many hardships and from this lecture I do believe that is important to teach our society today about what had really happened and how these tribes were lead to being separated and even diminished completely.