***As an honors student at ETSU, I am required to go to certain events and work on community service hours in order to maintain the experience that comes along with being a higher-achieving student. In this section, I will be posting reflections on such events that I go to.
Let's Talk
3/12/2018
On March the 1st, I went to a Let's Talk session since there were a couple of things that I needed to talk about. I think I spend almost an hour there and talking about some of the issues that I have on my mind really did help. During the time that I have been a student at ETSU I have found that the stress that a 4-year university gives to the students is a bit more intense compared to the stress at a community college. This has caused me to act and think in ways that I am not used to. This session was very helpful and important to me and I hope that others that are going through rough times at school or at home are able to find help so that they continue with their studies and get the most out of their college/university experience.
3/12/2018
On March the 1st, I went to a Let's Talk session since there were a couple of things that I needed to talk about. I think I spend almost an hour there and talking about some of the issues that I have on my mind really did help. During the time that I have been a student at ETSU I have found that the stress that a 4-year university gives to the students is a bit more intense compared to the stress at a community college. This has caused me to act and think in ways that I am not used to. This session was very helpful and important to me and I hope that others that are going through rough times at school or at home are able to find help so that they continue with their studies and get the most out of their college/university experience.
Reflection on the Native American Performance
9/21/17
On Thursday, September the 21st, I left my second class and headed to the honors house on the ETSU campus. As I was walking, I heard some music that caught my interest. I saw a lot of tents with tables set up, but I decided to keep walking towards the source of the music. I found that on the Amphitheater there was a small performance taking place. I sat down and started watching.
It was a group of Native American individuals dancing around in a circle. I thought their clothing were very colorful and had wonderful designs that looked very similar to something that I had incorporated into my handmade bracelets (back when I actually had the time to do arts and crafts). I'll admit, the drum beat was very nice, but the singing was very unusual. What I liked most was that the dances they were performing weren't just for moving for the simple enjoyment of the act itself. Each dance meant something unique and important to the Native American culture.
For example, there was the Corn Dance. Corn, of course, is what they harvested in large amounts to feed their families. While they were dancing it looked like they were actually picking corn because they were making the hand gestures of picking something and putting it in a basket. By dancing in groups of two, they were symbolizing how important it was for them for couples to pick corn together because of the team effort it took to provide for a family. They would even pick corn in groups of couples, to collectively gather for the whole village.
My favorite dance that was performed was the one that I happened to participate in with Maria Cacini, who is also a Midway Honors Scholar at ETSU. We danced together in a circle while following and copying the simple steps of one person that seemed like the leader of the group. Then we held hands and repeated the same steps. What I understood from this particular dance is that you can do anything in your own individual manner, but if you need help your friends will be there to give you a hand. Everything we do is essentially part of this circle of life, but life is much happier with friends and family.
I am very happy that I decided to participate in at least one dance because I realized how different it is to be a spectator versus a contributor to a performance. It was especially important to me because I have a significant amount of Native American ancestry, and for a brief moment I felt like I had stepped back in time and experienced a little chunk of something similar that my ancestors would have gone through. I hope that I get to see more performances like this one.
9/21/17
On Thursday, September the 21st, I left my second class and headed to the honors house on the ETSU campus. As I was walking, I heard some music that caught my interest. I saw a lot of tents with tables set up, but I decided to keep walking towards the source of the music. I found that on the Amphitheater there was a small performance taking place. I sat down and started watching.
It was a group of Native American individuals dancing around in a circle. I thought their clothing were very colorful and had wonderful designs that looked very similar to something that I had incorporated into my handmade bracelets (back when I actually had the time to do arts and crafts). I'll admit, the drum beat was very nice, but the singing was very unusual. What I liked most was that the dances they were performing weren't just for moving for the simple enjoyment of the act itself. Each dance meant something unique and important to the Native American culture.
For example, there was the Corn Dance. Corn, of course, is what they harvested in large amounts to feed their families. While they were dancing it looked like they were actually picking corn because they were making the hand gestures of picking something and putting it in a basket. By dancing in groups of two, they were symbolizing how important it was for them for couples to pick corn together because of the team effort it took to provide for a family. They would even pick corn in groups of couples, to collectively gather for the whole village.
My favorite dance that was performed was the one that I happened to participate in with Maria Cacini, who is also a Midway Honors Scholar at ETSU. We danced together in a circle while following and copying the simple steps of one person that seemed like the leader of the group. Then we held hands and repeated the same steps. What I understood from this particular dance is that you can do anything in your own individual manner, but if you need help your friends will be there to give you a hand. Everything we do is essentially part of this circle of life, but life is much happier with friends and family.
I am very happy that I decided to participate in at least one dance because I realized how different it is to be a spectator versus a contributor to a performance. It was especially important to me because I have a significant amount of Native American ancestry, and for a brief moment I felt like I had stepped back in time and experienced a little chunk of something similar that my ancestors would have gone through. I hope that I get to see more performances like this one.
Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
9/13/17
On Monday, September the 11th, my friend Maritza and I decided to go visit the Reece Museum at ETSU. One of the exhibits that were currently open was about the study of eugenics and how it had been used during the early to mid-1900s in order to separate “superior” individuals from the “inferior” ones.
First of all, what is eugenics? Eugenics is the science of how to improve the human population by increasing desirable heritable traits through controlled breeding. Between the years of 1933 and 1944, the Nazi regime used eugenics, along with many scientists, as a basis to create “a superior Aryan race”. This was used to encourage people deemed as “more valuable” to marry and have many children, while the ones looked upon as “inferior” or “unfit” were mistreated and even murdered.
I can begin by discussing Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of the Species (1859), which introduced the concept of evolution through natural selection. Many “social Darwinists” used this to support their idea that charity, welfare, and the modernization of medicine kept “defective” individuals around, and that this was an issue causing a deterioration of the human species.
If you paid attention in history class, you might remember Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. A group of ruthless individuals who took it upon themselves to kill large groups of individuals who were looked upon as less worthy. Jews, Gypsies, Poles, homosexuals, political opponents, and the disabled were all included as well as others. Here is a summary of the information that we read about in the exhibition:
Sources
“Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008193.
9/13/17
On Monday, September the 11th, my friend Maritza and I decided to go visit the Reece Museum at ETSU. One of the exhibits that were currently open was about the study of eugenics and how it had been used during the early to mid-1900s in order to separate “superior” individuals from the “inferior” ones.
First of all, what is eugenics? Eugenics is the science of how to improve the human population by increasing desirable heritable traits through controlled breeding. Between the years of 1933 and 1944, the Nazi regime used eugenics, along with many scientists, as a basis to create “a superior Aryan race”. This was used to encourage people deemed as “more valuable” to marry and have many children, while the ones looked upon as “inferior” or “unfit” were mistreated and even murdered.
I can begin by discussing Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of the Species (1859), which introduced the concept of evolution through natural selection. Many “social Darwinists” used this to support their idea that charity, welfare, and the modernization of medicine kept “defective” individuals around, and that this was an issue causing a deterioration of the human species.
If you paid attention in history class, you might remember Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. A group of ruthless individuals who took it upon themselves to kill large groups of individuals who were looked upon as less worthy. Jews, Gypsies, Poles, homosexuals, political opponents, and the disabled were all included as well as others. Here is a summary of the information that we read about in the exhibition:
- There were up to 6 million deaths of Jewish people alone
- Soviet civilians: around 7 million
- Gypsies: 196,000-220,000
- Jehovah’s witnesses: around 1,900
- Repeated criminal offenders or so-called asocials: at least 70,000
- Homosexuals: hundreds, possibly thousands (exact number is unknown because many were included in the 70,000 repeat criminal offenders and so-called asocials list)
- About 5,000 institutionalized disabled children were murdered throughout Germany and Austria
- Under “Operation T-4”, about 70,000 institutionalized adults were murdered in six killing centers through the use of gas chambers, starvation, deliberately not treating disease, lethal injection, and poisoning (euthanasia)
- Prisoners in concentration camps that were no longer able to work were murdered there
- Doctors, social workers, teachers, hospital and prison directors helped identify candidates for forced sterilization
Sources
“Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008193.
Women on Wednesdays
Lecture on Grit and Mindset
9/6/17
On Wednesday, September the 6th, I had the opportunity to go, in between classes with my friend Maritza, to an event at ETSU called Women on Wednesdays. The speaker, Dr. Bethany Novotny, gave a great presentation about research that she conducted about grit and why mindset matters.
You might be wondering by now, what is grit? Well, it’s basically the strength of character that help carry us through tough situations, and ultimately help us achieve our goals. As a college student, I understand the importance of grit and it has certainly gotten me, not only through school with good grades, but also through some very difficult and upsetting life situation.
Here are some of the important points that she brought up that I summarized in my own words:
I hope that some of you will find this interesting and try to find out more about what grit really is. I put a video link below to get you started:
https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance
Lecture on Grit and Mindset
9/6/17
On Wednesday, September the 6th, I had the opportunity to go, in between classes with my friend Maritza, to an event at ETSU called Women on Wednesdays. The speaker, Dr. Bethany Novotny, gave a great presentation about research that she conducted about grit and why mindset matters.
You might be wondering by now, what is grit? Well, it’s basically the strength of character that help carry us through tough situations, and ultimately help us achieve our goals. As a college student, I understand the importance of grit and it has certainly gotten me, not only through school with good grades, but also through some very difficult and upsetting life situation.
Here are some of the important points that she brought up that I summarized in my own words:
- It doesn’t matter how smart or talented you are. If you don’t persevere through tough challenges, how can you achieve your goals? If the thought of something scary coming up makes you want to quit, how can you deal with scarier or tougher challenges later on.
- You got to have a growth mindset. Growth mindset is when you believe that your ability to learn is not fixed. If you put enough effort into your work, you can succeed. An example of this can be when a child is struggling with school assignments. If this child truly believes that if he keeps trying to understand a difficult math problem with the help of teachers, then when he figures out how to solve his problem he would have learned a valuable lesson. To him, it doesn’t matter how long it took, just that he actually accomplished his task.
- It is important to have passion for what you are trying to accomplish. For example, if you are working on a project, how can you expect to make it interesting for others to listen to or read about if you don’t find it interesting yourself?
- Failure is not a permanent condition. If you believe that you can build yourself up from nothing, you can make something out of yourself.
- You must have confidence in yourself. If is very difficult to accomplish anything if you don’t think you are capable of doing it and just quit halfway through.
- Everyone goes through burnout (prolonged response to chronic emotional stressors), so it’s important to take breaks every now and then and make sure that you have someone to talk to about your issues.
I hope that some of you will find this interesting and try to find out more about what grit really is. I put a video link below to get you started:
https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance