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?
I learned that there was great lack amongst certain communities and areas. This lack leads to more unfortunate circumstances that are carried through developmental to adult years. There seems to be a need for more resources that can directly make an effective and worthwhile change in the lives of those who are at a disadvantage. A way to bring this idea to life was through mentoring. Mentoring can provide more opportunities and outlooks outside of certain circumstances. In our early stages, we did a lot of research into mentoring, its benefits, its influence, statistics/data around its impact and planned how we would want to go about pursuing mentoring ourselves. From this prepping and planning, I learned much about how helpful and advantageous to the youth we could possibly be.
We were able to bring our preparation to life when we intentionally set out to find who and where we would mentor. Early on we would determine what age-group, type of environment, activities and resources we would utilize. Fortunately, we were able to partner with the Boys and Girls Club and start meeting with and getting involved with the youth there, building consistency and intentionality. It was nice to get to know them, and spend quality time that was productive and fun.
Based off time spent, research gathered, and preparation/work done for this whole experience in CODES, I have learned how to be more adaptable, resilient, a collaborator, and much more. I’ve been taught so much that I would like to take with me in the future concerning how I go about interacting and working well with people, planning things, and knowing how to effectively present and share ideas I am passionate about.