Journal Update #8 - 10/17/19
Throughout my practicum experience, I have been on top of certain things: emails, planning, scheduling, posts, and updating the website blog. However, I have been procrastinating working on my assignment templates and deliverable. As Justin and I have not yet established a concrete due date for each, I technically have by the end of the semester. Nonetheless, I decided to start my week on an efficient note by working on adding to my research proposal for my practicum pre-assignment. Justin (for those who forgot, he is my McBride Practicum Adviser) encouraged me to add a literary review or annotated bibliography to my already-made independent study research proposal in order to add an objective component to the work. I opted for the latter since I have had experience in high school grinding with countless research papers, so I finally got to researching. Monday through Wednesday comprised of roaming through Google Scholar, PsycInfo, PubMed, and other relevant databases through research papers and articles. This further involved translating medical jargon, decoding complex graphs, and sorting through credible and subjective information. In the end, I felt like a mental health professional--if you had any question about the topic, I could refer to a formal study about it off the top of my head.
Wednesday morning was the second gathering of the campus culture change committee (one of the eight branch committees of the main Every Oredigger group). Unlike the first session, only half of the 14 people showed up, and the meeting opened with dreary attitudes and low energy. It wasn't hard to reason why this was the case for the meeting was all about everyone's favorite topic: goal setting. I believe most people have a human inclination to do rather than to sit-down and plan out an action, and I definitely felt fairly antsy while talking through logistics. I have to admit that there were certain times I checked out of the conversations, like when the faculty members when on a tangent regarding revamping/refining the "faculty club" at mines. Despite this, I still felt like I was improving in my involvement as a committee member. I took notes, asked questions, and even proposed partnership ideas relating to Every Oredigger programming. I don't quite know if it was the number of people in the room, my confidence, or my gained experience, but I started to feel like I was an official member of Every Oredigger.
While Rebecca in the Every Oredigger chair leaders meeting always ensured that there was time allotted for me to share my progress in my practicum, the culture-change subcommittee has yet to address my work. I honestly do not mind as I have been making considerable progress with Roel, Sareen, Justin, and Becca, but I do not mind the opportunity to share what I've been doing. Roel at the end of this Wednesday meeting gave me a private check-in to make sure that I still feel comfortable with the Every Oredigger committees and members. I assured him that I couldn't ask for a better opportunity, and I greatly enjoy being at the meetings. One thing that has surprised me during this practicum experience has been how much people are willing to help one another. I, a student who came up to a counselor with a question, now has professors, faculty, and administration constantly offering a free hand or discussion time for me.
The week ended with me continuing to dig my own grave by finalizing my during and after-practicum assignment templates. I believe that these two projects accommodate very well with my holistic vision, and I plan on visiting Justin with them in the near future.
Every Oredigger Culture-Change Subcommittee official goals (as of Wednesday October 16, 2919): https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/732a53_48bf7a2598ae4008abaf184b82cc0978.docx