Prompt: What did you learn about the problem, about the community, about yourself? How will the work you did in CODES relate to your remaining time at SIUE, to the career you are planning for yourself, and to the person you want to be?
This reflection topic is incredibly charged; not just due to it being three-pronged, but because there are layers to be unraveled to get to the true things we learned about ourselves, the problem, and the Alton, IL community itself. I think on a broad spectrum, I learned that I really care about community service and helping others than I thought I did. I’ve always considered myself as someone that likes to help others, especially ones that are disadvantaged by no fault of their own; but I definitely learned that going and volunteering with these kids brought me a lot more joy than some of my peers. While some of my teammates may have wanted to skip mentoring, I was always eager to go speak with the kids and get to know them more and more to establish a connection that was beneficial for both parties. Community wise, I learned that the community of Alton, IL isn’t newly divided; this racial division has been established for decades or even centuries. Due to its location on the Mississippi River, right in the heart of the midwest, and just north of the 37th parallel, it would’ve been hard for the town of Alton to not play a part in America’s history of racial relations. In terms of the problem we have been researching and my focus, I’ve learnt that one issue which influences the efficacy of mentor relationships at the Boys and Girls Club of Alton, IL is the lack of male volunteers to work with the kids. While there are a good amount of volunteers, most of the young men are just wasting time instead of studying or even exploring topics they may be interested in. The work we did in CODES will be a prominent part of my remaining time at SIUE partially because it’s taken up so much of my time as a student, but also because my choice of pursuing medicine is one that was made consciously knowing there aren’t many Black male doctors. My aspirations to be a doctor, can also have an impact on some of the young men we worked with that may be interested in sciences; perhaps I can even help them achieve their goals in ways I wish I would’ve been helped. I want to be someone that is successful, but not by being terribly selfish; I want to bring my people with me and I firmly believe that Black people deserve to be in the room where important decisions are made whether that’s in the realm of politics, medicine, economics, etc.