What is Youth Development?

After reading a chapter and taking this YDEV class as well as my social work 324 class, I can definitely explain what YDEV is better than I could Have in YDEV 250. The chapter I read explained how at first, the programs for youth were controlled by the government and were really just ways to keep youth "off the streets and out of their parents way." This is an alright idea for the adults, but the youth won't benefit from it in the long run

Youth development is working with youth to help them grow into the best version of themselves that they can be. Whether it's in a school setting, residential setting, or a recreational setting, our job as youth workers should never be to mold students into what WE think they should be. We are there for support socially and emotionally most importantly. Every single youth we encounter is going to be different from the next with different needs and interests. This is why we can't try to teach them who to be. Our job is to LEAD WITH the youth. I feel like no matter how long or short we work with youth, we should be memorable. We should be able to make some type of impact in their lives that they will remember forever. 

Context Mapping

What is Context Mapping?
Context mapping is the way we describe ourselves and values by the different environments that we put ourselves in. These environments include school, work, home, volunteering, sports, or any other commitments that you have in your life that are important to you.

In this chapter, Julian is asked to create a context map which describes all the places that he is usually in and what relationships he has with the people there. This will help him define who he is.

My Context Map

Personal Life:
Mom
Brothers
Grandma

Work:
Key Family (coworkers)
dealing with behavioral girls
Blessed Sacrament School Daycare


Academic Life:
RIC
YDEV Classmates
Graduation in May!!

Achieved Identity: When an individual has resolved any identity crisis in the past by incorporating those past identities it with their present self to be understand themself

Moratorium Identity: When an individual is in the state of exploring and experimenting identities but does not make any commitment to one

Foreclosed Identity: When an individual has an identity that is forced upon them with being explored or looking for alternatives

Diffuse identity: When an individual is always between identities and has no commitment with only one

Center For Resiliance

Watching the testimony videos on the Center For Resillience's website, it made me think of how useful a program like this would be in ALL schools. When you teach youth mindfulness at a young age, they only improve that skill and can influence their peers. I could only imagine how different my high school years would've been if I was involved in this program. My grades would've been way higher and I wouldn't have had much conflict with my classmates. I taught myself how to be mindful once I hit college because I felt really stressed between becoming an adult, being in college, and having a job. All of it was new to me and I learned how to cope, but it would've been nice if someone would've advised me that things would get hectic after I left high school and how to cope. The video below explains the story of one of Gisele Polanco's students who did a 180 from this program.

Election 2016

                               


Politics was never and still is not something that I am familiar or ever felt any interest in. I always shy away from conversations about it because since I don't have any interest in it, I am not educated in anything that has to do with it. Quite frankly, I do not like speaking on topics I know nothing of especially if I'm not interested. The only thing I know about any candidates in any election is who they are and what the media says about them. This election the two candidates were Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. To be honest, at first I didn't think anything of it because of all the hate towards Trump that was publicized and I thought most Americans didn't agree with what he stands for. Now that Donald has won the election, I am a little bit scared. I don't know what's going to happen with this country especially for us minorities. The policies and laws that I've heard that he wants to pass will not make this country better. I honestly try not to think about it because we still have some time before he's inaugurated, but at the same time I feel like I'm running from the issue.



3 Questions
1.) Why aren't the other parties that we can elect for ever publicized, the way democrats and republicans are, so more people can know there are other options?

2.) Is our new President going to get rid of a lot or all after school programs?

3.) How can Hillary win the popular vote but not electoral college?

YDEV Event #2

For my second event, I had the opportunity to sit in at one of my student's, Jean,  exhibitions at The Met High School. For those of you who aren't familiar with this school, it isn't your typical high school. The year is split into trimesters rather than four quarters and all students have an internship in an organization that interests them. Each trimester, every single year, the students all have to present to their advisory all the work that they have done for that trimester. This includes school work and what they do in their internship. For each of their internships they also have to have a special project that they are working on for the year.

Jean is a senior at The MET and his internship is at CDL as an engineer. He did a great job presenting what he does daily at his internship with videos, work samples (a bird house that he made), and had a personal experience to talk about for a lot of the information he spoke about. He also talked about his project for the year, which is making a mailbox for his advisor that he has a blueprint for already.

the mailbox model

I chose this as one of my events because what these students do each trimester is what us YDEV majors are doing in our senior year. I commend the students at The MET because it takes a lot to get up in front of your peers, at that age, and deliver a great presentation. I thought about myself in high school and how much I would’ve dreaded doing 3 exhibitions a year. I would’ve probably changed schools from the anxiety. It really amazes me how brave and yet knowledgeable the students in this school are, while I’m a senior in college and still am not looking forward to presenting my work from my internship this year.

YDEV Event #1

On Wednesday November 9th, the Key Program held a training on suicide prevention and common diagnoses. I decided to use this as a YDEV event because all youth can have different disorders that not all may know how to deal with or understand. It i . s important for us to recognize signs of different disorders so we can do early interventionsAlso because any youth can be suffering from suicidal thoughts and won't know how to cope by themselves. We as youth workers should know how to help youth when they feel like their less than because of a disorder that they have or when they feel like suicide is the answer. Some of these youth don't have anyone at home who may understand or they feel that they can trust.

As someone who works at the Key Program with “at-risk” youth every day, I can honestly say that my clients are not the easiest to deal with. Some have ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Mood Disorder, Depression, or RAD disorder. All are difficult to deal with especially if you suffer from them. Because of the behaviors that are associated with all of these disorders, it is easy to get very frustrated and not be sensitive to their disorders. This training was a reminder that as someone who works with youth, we have to put our feelings aside and try to be that youth’s allie to help them come up with coping skills when they feel they are losing control.

Constructing Our Stories

List of 10 Words

1. Integral
2. Emergent
3. Pedagogies
4. Inherently
5. Quadratic
6. Paradoxical
7. Exalt
8. Exacerbated
9. Espoused
10. Interpsychological development 

 
 
 
List of 10 People

1. Mom
2. Dad
3. Brother
4. Cousin
5. Ex boyfriend
6. Best Friend
7. 12th grade English Teacher
8. Grandma
9. Mentor
10. Step-Dad

My ex boyfriend and I were together for only a year, but I learned a lot in that amount of time and the time since then. We broke up about a year ago and it was a bad one. I knew it was time to leave the relationship when we would have fights almost every day about nothing, but it took me about 3-4 months to actually leave and stay gone. Of course at the start he seemed perfect, but after some time he showed his true colors. He was very controlling, jealous, possessive, and insecure. Since I was “in love”, I let a lot of it slide and it only got worse from there. I began to distance myself from my friends and family just to please him but it was never enough for him. Aside from his ways, I grew to be very stubborn and impatient with him, so it only added fuel to the fire. The fights continued,the jealousy continued, and my impatient ways continued. And I still stayed because after every fight he was always so apologetic and thought things would change but I was stuck in the same routine. Once I felt like enough was enough, I finally put myself first and stopped thinking about how he may suffer if I left him and actually left him. Even though he blamed me for everything during and after the relationship, I learned that I cannot stay where I am not happy. Ever since that break up, I know what I can and will not tolerate with anyone. I’ve grown stronger and realized that I do not need to be in a relationship to be happy. I also realized I can’t be happy in a relationship when I have lots of growing to do. I wasn’t the most understanding or patient person, but now I’m working on being just that. If it wasn’t for that relationship, I would’ve never realized that I had to change some of my ways and I would’ve never known what I won’t tolerate from people anymore. Even though the relationship ended on a bad note, I’m glad I went through it because it was definitely a life lesson.