SALT CONFERENCE

Hello again and welcome to the second annual Zach goes to an event blogpost. For this second event I chose to write about the professional development conference called SALT. SALT stands for the Student Affairs Leaders of Tomorrow. This conference is run by NASPA. See the link below.
http://www.naspa.org/

This conference was for myself and seventy other student professionals who applied and were accepted out of a total of one hundred and fifty. We were going to learn strategies for future job searches, connect with professionals already in the field, and evaluate dozens of graduate school programs within the area of students activities. This conference couldn't have come at a better time. Its crucial that I decide my path before the end of this semester because grad school applications are going to need to be turned in and I need to start planning for after graduation. I can't say that I am one hundred percent ready for the next step in my life but this conference definitely helped. I would like to that Kristen Salemi for helping me through this process because she pushed me into this conference and even paid for myself and another RIC student to attend. She is definitely the biggest reason that I am going to succeed in the field of student affairs and that's because of her push.
http://www.ric.edu/news/details.php?News_ID=1602
The link above is for a picture of Kristen as she received an award from NASPA years ago. Her information can be located on the RIC website.
At the conference we learned how to develop our resumes to attract future employers, we also learned how to interview correctly, and finally we got to talk to two separate panels of professionals about the field. That was only the first day.
We got to spend the night in the Regency Hyatt in Newport for the night and we also got a banquet for all of us future professionals to talk to the distinguished professionals in a non-formal setting. This was extremely beneficial because we got to develop personal connections for the future.
On the second day dozens of grad schools spoke to us about their programs and we got to walk around and talk to each of the programs individually. This was great because for someone who didn't know much about the programs I needed some guidance. This was a wonderful experience.
Since I am majoring in Youth Development, this conference was very beneficial. I plan on working with college level youth and in student affairs this would potentially be a dream job. I want to work with the student in residential life or in the counseling aspect of student affairs. This is important because I don't want kids to struggle through college and I believe I can help them by being the best student affairs person I can be. I may also be able to use my guidance to help mold them towards the future. Potentially I would pushing them towards youth development or other fields that work with youth.
I like to think that guidance during young adulthood benefits the youth the most because they are already questioning what the want to become or which direction they want to take their life. The area that I am working in right now is Life Skills coaching and I have learned that kids need this guidance throughout young adulthood to help push them. It is a wonderful program and it has helped me in my pursuits of a future career.
http://ricorp.org/class-schedule/

ResilientKids 2013

 

Let me begin by saying the last line of the video pretty much sums up how kids should be taught. You need to teach to the whole child. This is why I feel as though Resilient Kids is such a wonderful program. Like they said during the video it is easy for kids to build themselves up in to a frenzy but they are never really taught how to calm down. I know from experience that mindfulness exercises work and if the data supports it in younger children then I don't understand why this isn't something that is being utilized in every school.
This could be great for different classrooms settings because as they stated they can tailor the exercises to the lessons being taught so that they are beneficial to the learning environment. Not only do these exercises work with younger students but they can also work with older students as well. Older students need this just as much as the younger students because they get worked up in different ways and could use deep breathing and mindfulness to get things together.
When we talked about the jar last Thursday I though it was a dumb idea and I had no idea how it was going to have anything to do with what we were being taught in class. After seeing the video the bottle is supposed to represent the student and the glitter being shaken up inside the bottle is supposed to represent what happens when the child gets riled up. As the bottle comes to a rest it takes time for the glitter to settle and that is why learning to calm down is so important for the children. If they every what to refresh and think with a clear head these strategies can help them. I understand the metaphor and I think this is a great way for kids to understand just exactly how their bodies work. It is ingenious. I love this program and I think it is a program that works. Who knew breathing would be such a success.
Below is a link to a guided imagery session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar_W4jSzOlM
 

YIA Visit and Documentary

Today Youth in Action made another special guest appearance to the classroom. Not only did they get us thinking once again but they did it with minimal interaction. We watched a documentary about relationships between teachers and students. At first I thought that this session would be pointless because every teacher is different and I know that even if most teachers want to build a positive relationship, it is hard. Many students don't understand that teachers aren't their to be your friends, they are there to educate you. At the end of the day this is a job for a paycheck and if it comes down to losing their job or not the teacher is most likely going to focus on teaching versus having a positive relationship. This isn't my complete opinion though. I do feel as though there has to be a healthy relationship on some level in order to keep the student interested but in the end that is not most teachers priorities.
Through the years I have many teachers and I can only think of a few who I had a negative relationship with. Many did their best to keep us kids happy while having us work towards our education. My school however is set in rural part of Rhode Island in a predominantly white neighborhood. I hate to say that we were affluent but I do think that that has a lot to do with the teachers and the effort that they put into the job.
The video that we watched in class made it seem as though the students have a tough time forming bonds with the teachers and they feel like it effects them learning. I can understand that even if I don't relate. Hindsight being 20/20 I know now that the teachers have a hard enough time trying to teach us the materials while attempting to be our friend. I wish kids could see when teachers are really trying to help them even if it seems like they are being neglectful.

Open House- Event #1

Hello everyone,

On Saturday we had the first Open House of the year. I always enjoy this time of the year because many of the faces you see during the open house are going to be the future faces of the RIC campus. Unfortunately for me this is the last time I am going to see the students this way because I am graduating this year. Since I am an Resident Assistant I could not attend the YDEV part of the Open House. http://www.ric.edu/residential-life/rar.php
 I had to give tours of the Residential side of campus to the hopeful new students. This didn't stop me from throwing in a few shameless plugs about Youth Development while I gave my tours. I had very few people ask me about Youth Development but because of our practice with the elevator speeches I was able to convey my mentality on the major. We had very few students this year and I think that helped contribute to why the number of questions was so low. The groups didn't seem very interested about the academic portion of RIC by the time they got to me but seemed more focused on how their living arrangements would be setup. I'm sure the topic on Youth Development got to a lot of these individuals before they got to me though.
I have to say though this Open House really got me thinking about the future. Mainly because the youth I am working with at my internship now are of a very similar age to the kids who will be coming to RIC in the upcoming years. That means the youth that I am learning to work with could potentially be the youth that will help the Youth Development major prosper. http://www.ric.edu/educationalstudies/youthDevelopment.php

This cycle was awesome to think about because if I am able to impact the lives of these kids then maybe in the future they will do the same. Its a crazy thought.  This next hyperlink isn't what Youth Development is RIC but it's one of the very few other YDEV programs that I have seen and I thought it has a lot of great ideas.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/youth/training-events/understanding-youth-development-work/


Stayed tuned for my next event evaluation coming next Monday based on the SALT (Student Affairs Leaders of Tomorrow) Conference.