Stefany's Field Experience

       My field placement does a well at representing culture and cultural sensitivity. As a Program Intern, I have had the opportunity to look over past programs the staff has offered to the students over the years. Many of the programs have included topics that are related to different cultural backgrounds and traditions than normally seen. Majority of the staff and students are Caucasian and from the suburbs. With this being said, they would not have the opportunity to experience many of these activities without the help of my field placement. I love hearing the students reactions to the programs that are from different cultures and how they wish they participated in it earlier.        One of the majority issues that I have noticed while being a Program Intern at my field placement is the fact that students who are ethnically different than the majority tend to be left out and not interact with the other students on their own. We are trained ...

    The first exercise I chose go do was Exercise 4.2. The title of this exercise is Privilege Watch. I paid close attention to the aspect that states, "If you have Christian roots, look for the ways in which Christianity is reinforced by the dominant culture." In everyday life, we take notice that people try to separate faith from life. But, we should take notice that we, as Christians, have privileges that other religions do not. We have the opportunity to have Christian based holidays off of work and school. This can be seen in Easter and Christmas. Sadly, other religions do not get this opportunity.      The second exercise I chose to do was Exercise 5.1. The title of this exercise is Your Social Map. During this activity, one had to make the decision of choosing 5 people to be the closest people that you could talk to about anything. After you composed that list, you had to go through each person and check off if they fit into the following categories: ar...

     Situation number three in Connecting Across Cultures by Pamela A. Hays gives the example of an older man getting on an elevator at the same time as a woman in a wheelchair. As the woman was trying to enter the elevator, the man offered to help her and reached towards the woman's wheelchair without her consent. The woman reacted towards the man's actions by telling him not to touch her wheelchair. The man believed that the woman was being impolite.      Good intentions do not always translate into multicultural aware choices. The way that the man assumed that the woman in the wheelchair needed help had good intentions behind it but, was not the right decision. The woman took offense to this due to the man believing that because the woman has a disability she needs help. Also, one must remember that the wheelchair belongs to the woman, you would not want someone touching something that is very important to you without your permission.    ...

            My experience so far at the Bridge Teen Center has not been what I expected it to be. I initially thought that I would only be working with the students and staff during After School hours and on Friday nights. I go to the Bridge on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. During the days that I have gotten the opportunity to get to know the students and staff, I have enjoyed it and I look forward to many more of these moments during the upcoming weeks. The staff is absolutely amazing and are easy to talk to and get to know. My supervisor Mandi is someone that I have gotten to know and I have proved that I care be trusted with big projects. One of the Founders, Priscilla, is also one of my favorite people. Her presence in the organization is very positive and she genuinely cares about all of the staff and students on an individual level. Mondays are very weird for me since I am only there for four hours and students do not come in on that day. Durin...

     As I begin the long journey of completing my field experience, I have already found myself using many of the skills that Carl Rogers talks about when creating the optimal environment in order for a person to feel safe and to facilitate growth. I am completing my field experience at The Bridge Teen Center where I am an After School student program intern and a program assistant intern. I am going to have the opportunity to not only interact with the students that attend The Bridge, but work along side many of the staff members and learn about many aspects of an organization. I have only completed one day at The Bridge so far, but have interacted with many of the staff members already through email or phone calls and have built a relationship with many of them. The skills that I have used mostly so far are: unconditional positive regard, optimism, hope and encouragement, and humor.        I believe that the skills of optimism and unconditional pos...