Question: Which of the five principles has been most relevant in your work with CODES in previous semesters? Which of the five principles is most relevant now?
Principle of the Past: Join the Community
I would say in previous semesters, specifically our first semester and last school year, we definitely prioritized this principle of joining the community. When we did out interviews in Alton our first semester, that was us as a cohort making an effort to immerse ourselves into the world of our community partners and Alton’s residents. Asking meaningful questions to learn about how Alton influenced their lives was significant to the mentorship program we later created. Last school year was all about mentorship for my research team and interacting with the mentees at the Alton Boys and Girls Club. Our mission here was showing the mentees the value of education and trying to inspire them to graduate.
Principle of the Present: Tell Better Stories
Within CODES 320 I’m noticing that there is a lot more work that pertains to reflecting internally. What does that look like? Writing out our reflections from readings and having discussions in class sharing our thoughts. With these tasks, I’ve learned to be a better story teller to effectively convey what is in my head. Additionally, the two podcasts I’m working on as my products for the class require a lot of little tricks to make sure my audience is engaged with the story I’m painting for them. From the background music to my choice of words, these are things that I tried considering to make my podcasts about mentorship and afterschool program a bit more interesting.