Diversity Seminar

Our first Summit class of the year was focused on diversity. I really enjoyed what Camille, the counselor leading the session had to say. She also had a few activities that were good and allowed us to learn more about our classmates. She asked us to find someone outside of our group to talk to about the hardest thing that has happened to us in the last month. I talked for a while with one of my classmates who's also a music therapy major, so I see him a lot in my classes, but it was a good chance to learn something new about him. My favorite part of the night, by far, was the Cross The Line activity. (I think that's what it's called, anyway!) There were so many things I never knew about the other people in the class, and even surprised myself with some of my own answers. It was a good reminder of what we all have in common, and the fact that everyone has gone through a hard time of some sort in their lives.

Communication and Conflict Resolution: Collaborating Owl

In the class presentation about communication and conflict resolution the test I completed informed me that I am a collaborating owl. This reaffirms what I already thought was true, which is that when there is a conflict I am almost always interested in compromising so we can reach a consensus that is much closer to everyone being happy. My communication strength is that I am a strong communicator when there needs to be a critical conversation. I am bold enough to talk about topics that need to be discussed which may be difficult because I want the group to achieve resolution. My communication weakness is that I have a need to be informed of the details at all times or I feel "out of the loop." I can work on my weakness for the Summit group by asking less questions and trusting that when I'm not informed to the last detail, everything will still work out.

Diversity

I learned a lot during the January Summit class. I think one of the main themes was that it is important to realize everyone has baggage that may be weighing them down whether you see it or not. We all need to know that others are affected differently by comments or events that happen to them. Even if we don't understand each other completely, we have our own experiences to rely on to help us know what they are feeling and to be more sympathetic. Diversity is beautiful and we should cherish it while taking note of its importance.

The website for Ravenwood is: http://www.americareusa.net/assisted_living/Springfield_MO/zip_65804/americare/1294.html

Their mission is to make older adults as comfortable as possible and aid them with their daily needs. The residents love company, so I would encourage you to meet some new faces by visiting them sometime!

SMART Goal

My goal for this project is to look at the calendar of events and see what was planned last year at least once a week. I want to give notice to the group a week in advance before an event is planned. I want to organize the budget in excel with each month the expenses occured. I also want to make the budget include what the group member spent the money on and which project it was for. I will also email the group the budget bi-monthly so that everyone knows how much we spent as a group and how much we have left to spend.

I feel as though we can meet this goal as a group pretty easily. We just need to improve our organization and communication and our goals are reached! We all have a copy of the calendar & are aware of how much money we have to spend, I just feel as though it would be easier on everyone if it were organized in a different manner, ie what I mentioned above. I'm still very excited about our project and am lucky to be in a group with such great girls!!

Personal Accomplishment

Something I personally hope to accomplish before the end of the semester is to be able to play my viola at Ravenwood. When Candace played guitar and the residents sang along it was such a hit! This makes me really want to play Christmas carols on my viola for the residents either for them to sing along to or for them to just listen. I need to practice to get my Christmas carol songs back in shape but I think it would be a really neat thing to do for them.

¡Objectivos! (Goals)

Our goal was to increase communication as a group. It is difficult with all our busy schedules to keep everyone on the same page, but we know that it would really help our project. We hoped to improve our communication by meeting weekly for at least 10 minutes to discuss the project and by taking notes on the dry erase board in our apartment, so that everyone can have a visual of the necessary tasks. We will be starting this week and continuing until the end of the year.

Candace, Suzy and I went to visit the residents on Sunday and had fun conversation with some new faces while they finished lunch. Candace played guitar and we held a sing along of some classic songs the residents liked. This progressed into singing hymns together out of the books and Candace playing some current pop songs. Shockingly, the residents really enjoyed hearing "Baby" by Justin Bieber and"Timshel" by Mumford & Sons. It was so great to see their faces light up and sing with them. I am really enjoying to know some of the residents pretty well and reconnecting with them every time I visit. It's going to be great because I think I will be going on this Sunday again too and I'm really looking forward to it.

Goals

One of my main goals for this service project is to form a relationship with the residents of Ravenwood. The past few times that we have gone to Ravenwood, a resident will mention how they were expecting one of their family members who didn't show up. This is really upsetting to me because nobody should feel like they are forgotten about or a burden, especially not to their own families. This is why I want to form a relationship with as many residents as possible. I want them to look forward to us coming and get excited about an event that we have planned. Hopefully we will have a fun activity for them to do while they have someone to talk to and more importantly someone who will listen to them.

For a quick update, Brittany and Candace went out to Ravenwood today to volunteer. Sadly, I couldn't go with them. However, I'm definitely going to Ravenwood next Sunday with a few other volunteers to perform a magic show for the residents. I'm a little nervous about this and I'm really hoping everything goes as planned and that they enjoy it! I'm also potentially going either next Thursday or next Saturday. So, I'm really excited about being able to volunteer this week and bringing new volunteers with me!