Words of Inspiration and Motivation

I think I've stated in most of my final blogs for all of these classes that I am forever grateful for the Discussion assignments. Getting the opportunity to actually interact somewhat with other thinkers has helped me grow so much. I am someone who absolutely loves hearing everyone's opinions. I know that not everyone in life loves hearing my opinions :), but when I can hear other voices just processing their thoughts, feelings, musings, what have you, oh I find it so enlightening. Especially when people actually take the time to share their authentic feelings and experiences, take the time to question and ponder instead of just agreeing with every piece of assigned material, and responds to others' posts with genuine interest... which everyone in this class did, so I find each of you exceptional. I am grateful Walden provides a platform for interaction in this way.
Consequences/Outcomes:
-I was able to attain a more developed understanding about all we learned in the class.
-I was able to process my thoughts alongside everyone else.
-I can prosper from everyone sharing their feelings and experiences.

*Goal*
To remember to trust my own voice, to trust my heart, and to hold to my integrity with everything I've got... from there, I will be the strong, compassionate, and effective voice I choose to be for all the little ones in the world and the adults who love them.

EDUC 6766 Profile of a Volunteer

I'd like to take a moment and recount my first, big volunteer venture. I was a 21-year-old college student, and I randomly drove past a YWCA in downtown Grand Rapids, MI. For whatever reason, I pulled over and went inside and picked up a few brochures in the lobby. I had never heard of the YWCA before. One of the brochures was about Sexual Assault Advocacy. I was immediately drawn and signed up for the intensive training. It really was intensive too. I learned so much about trauma and care, and about all the responsibilities of being an overnight on-call crisis counselor. I toured their facility and the local hospital, meeting with police and advocate nurses.

My very first shift arrived and I kept that pager by my head all night. We were on-call for a few days in a row at a time, and I didn't even care if I lost sleep or missed parts of classes the next morning. Looking back, I am so in awe at how committed I was to that job. Over the course of a year of volunteering I answered many suicide calls and drove in to meet survivors/victims with the police and nurse. I learned that I was really good at comforting and connecting. Most survivors/victims felt a kind of kinship with me, especially the teens, and I learned quickly what emotional drain was and how it's essential to not take work home with you. To this day, that is very hard for me to do.

I know my work positively impacted others' lives. I give the most credit to the YWCA over myself, of course, for having such a responsive program. I've heard people debate about the selfishness that comes with selflessness. I felt so involved and productive as a counselor, and I think my main take-away was that I felt like I was finally doing something that mattered. I lived most of my young life doing things because it was what was expected of me, not because my heart was in it. My heart was fully invested when I was caring for those teens, and I got to give a piece of myself to them, and it felt wonderful to share humanity and compassion in that way.


I believe, with all that I am, that we need to support children's passions and interests over our own expectations for them. We don't all need to learn the same things, we don't all need the same work. We need to be shown that we can be trusted with our desires and curiosities, and encouraged to explore. Volunteering was one of the first windows into my soul, where I could put all my energy into what I loved, instead of into what others said I "should" be doing. My takeaway is to help children connect to themselves from the get go, not when they're an adult.

EDUC 6765 Hypothetical Family

Allie and Sarah are currently expecting their first child together. Allie is carrying the child and so far everything seems to be on track and everyone seems to be off to a healthy start. She is at the beginning of the second trimester, week 14 to be exact. They have been seeing a doctor they found through their insurance, but are looking around at all the different options they've been hearing about from their friends. They are both extremely overwhelmed with all the baby information their friends have been giving them, and are having a hard time connecting with their doctor in the way they need. Further, many of Allie's relatives have stopped talking to her since finding out about her engagement to Sarah and decision to have a baby together.
They are also expecting a second child, their nephew Jake. Jake is the son of Sarah's brother who recently overdosed after losing custody of Jake three months prior due to drug addiction. Jake was put into foster care, and his mother signed away her parental rights after he was born. Jake is 5 years old and has been diagnosed with autism since being in the foster home and seeing a doctor. He never actually met Sarah and Allie before being put in the system, and has stopped talking since being taken away from his dad. The foster family has been keeping him home and are leaving schooling decisions up to Sarah and Allie since the adoption has been finalized and Jake is moving in with them at the end of the month. It's nearing the end of summer, and the new moms are collecting as much information as they can about Autism, what they should expect, and what type of help they'll need.

Yikes, just posting this I know that I am going down a rabbit hole. I keep seeing more specifics I need to detail. I suppose this is a start, however! Please, any and all comments are welcome. Sincerely.

EDUC 6766 Using Social Media to Get Connected

I believe, in this day and age, social media is both essential to our advocacy causes, as well as highly advantageous. I remember reading a statement in one of Gloria Steinem's books (wonderfully inspiring feminist advocate) about how hard it was to mobilize "back in the day". :) She used the copier and drove around for days hanging flyers and passing out pamphlets. Today, technology really is beautiful with what it does for connection. People are more globally aware than ever before.

I remember being little in middle school when AIM started getting popular. It was so cool to have a computer in the house and I could sit for the hour it took to connect to instant messenger. :) Instant messaging did wonders for my typing and cognitive skills, I can say that. :) Today, my son learned to read and write on his own through being saturated with reading materials and using the internet, YouTube, texting, and games at his discretion. He and his friends never once had forced, formal instruction, flashcards, or worksheets. But I digress.

The platform I am most familiar with is Facebook. Though I am knowledgeable about Twitter and Instagram as well. Today people mainly get their snippets of news off accounts they subscribe to, or from news articles their contacts post. I have noticed throughout this degree program that most websites for organizations have links to connect through social media. This way, they can share all the current happenings. I remember the March for our Lives being all over social media, and the world could watch in real-time. Social media is at the height of social education. It is where everyone's focus is throughout the day. It's how many government strategists run elections nowadays!

Further, this isn't social media, but there are texting platforms as well. I subscribed to Planned Parenthood alerts through my phone. I get texts about bills to sign and news to be aware of. They don't bombard me with emails and texts on a weekly basis, which is very important to note for future advocacy efforts. You don't want to become white noise or an annoyance. You also want to be trustworthy. Never ever give subscribers' information to other organizations.

I am interested to know if anyone else personally uses or has used social media in their work settings as a campaign strategy?

EDUC 6765 The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

Honestly, the strategy that has most influenced and inspired me is collaboration. Through collaboration Advocacy efforts become exponentially more active, effective, and sustainable. I have two organizations to share that highlight this strategy.

The first is Children Now. I learned about this initiative through my other Advocacy class, and have been very taken with them, their message, their communicative abilities, and their strong ability to collaborate. Their entire mission is based on collaboration. Children Now claims that the fatal downfall of many advocacy efforts is their being so separate and isolated. By joining initiatives together, reaching decision-makers is much more effective. They're based in California and have connected more than 1,650 organizations to speak as one! That's huge.

The second resource I found is Spark Action. They work as a way to mobilize advocacy efforts through social media and the internet predominantly. They are message mobilizers, so to speak. Their work is all about communication and collaboration. This strategy has the ability to spread more awareness, which in turn creates more allies and voices.

The component of Advocacy work that most appeals to me is being a part of an effort that speaks to my heart truth. It's so energizing and uplifting to have a passion and then find that others out there share that passion and are working with it on a global (or even local) scale. It's purposeful. I am eternally grateful to those who have changed my world and life through their selfless efforts, and I want to be that for others. It's heart work.