Journal Update #6 - 10/3/19
Contrary to last week, the next days will be filled with meetings with the many people who are involved in my practicum. The first was with Sareen, and we briefly talked about our intentions within the subcommittee of the campus culture change initiative. Now that my format for my practicum was set, I needed to acquire information. Sareen talked about conducting interviews in partnership with the Trefny Center; she already had plans for conducting formal interviews with faculty, and this information would be especially helpful for the faculty stakeholders of my final deliverable. We decided to reconvene after we would spend more time formulating interview questions as well as working out the logistics and scheduling with the Trefny Center.
The next meeting was with my friend, Jake Schultze, to coordinate the laser engraving of the wooden boards. He told me that it was possible to work on a medium this large, but I would have to dedicate some time with running through multiple passes of the laser engraving. We decided to reserve a date in November for this project, and in return, I plan on paying him by the hour for his additional help. Jake got me to think about certain aesthetic aspects of the boards like the type of wood, font, lettering style, justification, and text centering. This session gave me a lot to think about regarding the physical component of the final project.
Next, I had a catch-up meeting with Rebecca Flintoft and Derek Morgan to discuss my current progress in the practicum. I told them that I decided to work with Roel's culture-change subcommittee in conjunction with my endeavors, and they completely respected this choice. Furthermore, both gave me great administrative insight relating to the people to contact in order to display my art exhibit, and Rebecca connected me with a lot of great resources. Unlike the last meeting with the chairs (that included Rebecca and Derek), I somehow felt more inclined to share my ideas and opinions about Every Oredigger. I gave them some suggestions about programming, possible partnerships, and anecdotes relating to mental health at Mines. Whether it was the smaller group size or an increasing confidence, I found myself becoming more comfortable in these kinds of meetings.
For the last event of the week, I was meeting with the entire culture change group in Volk Gymnasium on October 2. I was surprised to see a very different dynamic in this gathering than my previous experiences: there was a dog, another student, and a diverse faculty (athletics coaches, professors, administrators, counselors). Having experience with talking to this demographic, I found myself as an active group member--I asked questions, gave advice, and even introduced my practicum without any additional aid. Whenever I would have hesitations and a sense of impostor syndrome, Roel and Sareen were friendly faces who I could count on to give me reassurance. During the meeting, we talked about the faculty interviews with the Trefny Center as well as setting goals for EveryOredigger for the entire academic year:
Reviewing the list of goals for the group allowed me to align my project with one of the objectives: "Campus embraces its healthy social norms about mental health." I believe that creating a list of best practices for all those at mines would allow everyone to embrace their own healthy norms and habits and share it with others.
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