DST and Co-leaders are revealed!

This week was pretty great. The weather has been beautiful and most of the hard work for my classes is done. From here on out I only have to worry about 2 finals. This week in class we had a panel of former peer mentors answer some questions we have about the coming semester. I really appreciated their insights into different situations that they encountered. They say those that don't know history are doomed to repeat it, so it is good to know what steps to take when similar issues arise. We also watched the final product of our DST project! I loved every second of it. From the opening sequence, to the Rocky montage, to me accidentally body checking Jessica, to the bloopers/credits, I loved it all. It felt good to do some goofy acting again, it always makes me feel young.

The big reveal of the night was finding out who our co-leaders are going to be in the fall. I'm partnered with Coreen which I think will be a great combination. Hopefully our students are excellent spellers because they're going to have two journalism majors reading their blog posts. I'm looking forward to having a fun and successful semester leading our students with Coreen.

I had a blast at the retreat yesterday. I cannot thank Allie enough for having it at her house and making us food, it was great. Good weather, good food and good people; what's not to like? After the retreat I'm really looking forward to the Hixson retreat next fall. When I was a freshman we went to the zoo for our retreat which was fun but it didn't allow for as much interaction between all the Hixsons. This new format sounds awesome for developing better relationships with everyone. Also, adding a little competition into the mix is never a bad idea. I'm just ready for next semester to come already so I can start having fun and making a difference in the lives of some students!

Social Intelligence

Happy late VEISHEA everyone! I love VEISHEA because it is a celebration of what makes Iowa State such a great university, different people from all backgrounds coming together in one place and working on common goals. I feel that the Hixson Seminar class follows the same process.

This week we talked about the kinds of peer mentors available on campus again. It was a nice refresher that reminded me how important a peer mentor is for young students and what responsibilities they have. Afterwards, we discussed the article on Social Intelligence that we all read. I found the article to be extremely interesting. The fact that we know exactly what part of the brain influences our reactions and productivity when around certain kinds of people is astonishing to me. My favorite part of the article was that it said leaders who create a positive and happy environment have happier employees and get more out of them. I would say one of my biggest strengths is maintaining a positive and relaxed environment. When situations get to tense or negative I always try to lighten the mood and get people to feel comfortable again. I guess I never that about my positive mood influencing the moods of others. I was also happy to learn that leaders who create structure but are more laid back tend to have the most productive and positive employees. Many people think that if a leader is laid back, they won't get any work done from their workers but the article showed evidence that disproved this.

The article listed some attributes that socially intelligent leaders have. I would say my strongest areas would be organizational awareness and teamwork. I think I'm pretty good at recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of a group as a whole. Understanding the culture of a group of people is crucial to being able to teach them in a style that is effective to them specifically. I am also good at using certain peoples' strengths to accomplish certain goals. I also think it is important to make sure every member of the group is involved and active in accomplishing goals. One of the attributes I would like to work on more would be attunement. I am a great listener, but I don't always know when someone isn't telling me what they are really feeling. I believe this skill can be improved with practice and look forward to developing this skill over time.

Peer Mentor Ethics

This week in class we talked about possible situations that we could encounter as peer mentors. I think this lesson was extremely important. Because no student is exactly like any other, it is important to be prepared for as many different scenarios as possible. Splitting into groups and discussing several possible situations helped me understand the large spectrum of issues we could enter in the fall.

As a peer mentor I think it is important to maintain a professional relationship while still being personable enough where our mentees feel comfortable coming to us with any problems they have. This combination is best achieved through mutual respect, confidentiality, and reliability. Mutual respect creates a professional atmosphere. Respect also makes people feel like equals which encourages communication. Maintaining a mentee's privacy will increase their trust in you and will make them feel more comfortable telling you about certain issues that they might not tell someone else. Finally, being a reliable resource for your students increases the trust they have in you. If you can't be a consistently reliable resource then they may stop coming to you with questions or problems they have. Overall I thought class this week was very good. I definitely feel more prepared now for the variety of situations my students may come to me with.

So far I have had a great time filming for the DST project. It felt good to do some acting again. I haven't done anything like that since high school. Can't wait to finish up the filming and see what the finished product looks like.

Campus Resources

This week in class we discussed the number of available resources on campus. Everyone knows that Iowa State provides a HUGE number of resources but it never ceases to amaze me just how many there really are when I am told to think about them. I have only had to use a fraction of them and still I wouldn't be where I am today without them. Jessica and Megan facilitated class and did a great job of covering the vast amount of available resources that Iowa State offers.

We started by listing off resources that we have all used. Personally, the one resource that helped me the most over the years was the tutor program on campus. I had a tutor for a Spanish class I took my sophomore year. It was a great way of practicing what I learned outside of class and in a more private situation. I never would've succeeded in that class without a tutor. It is these kind of experiences that will help us assist new students in the fall. Being able to attach a story to a lesson gives you more credibility and will encourage a student to trust you and your advice more. Real world experience also help us as peer mentors in knowing what processes work best for solving certain situations.

Later we played Jeopardy which I thought Jessica and Megan did an awesome job on. They clearly put in a lot of work into the preparation for this class, and it showed. The game introduced me to some resources that I didn't know about before. The place that assists you with stress and anxiety was completely new to me. Not only will I tell my students about it, I'll probably use it myself!

Overall, I learned of some new resources that will benefit my students as well as myself. It seems that every year at Iowa State is another year that I learn about a new program that ends up helping me immensely. You never cease to amaze me Iowa State!

Academic Success & The Harlem Shake

This week Shelby and Stephanie facilitated class and discussed ways to improve Academic Success. I think they did a great job of selecting activities that made the class interact with each other while still emphasizing the point they were trying to make. During the question of the day I learned that our class has a lot of varying academic goals. Numerous people in the class said that they want to get their Masters or Doctorate. I have never thought of continuing college once I get my degree. Having a variety of goals as peer mentors will be great for next Fall when we'll be dealing with incoming freshman who also have varying academic goals.

During the quiz we took I learned that I am a kinesthetic learner which I predicted. If someone shows me how to do something, I can usually pick it up pretty easily. I think audio learning is probably my weak point. If someone describes to me how to do something it can very easily get jumbled up in my mind and I forget some of the steps. It is important to know your learning style so that you can use techniques that specifically help you learn. There are several different study techniques that you can use for each learning style.

This week we also had a very interesting discussion about the Harlem Shake. People from Harlem are angry that a dance rich in culture has been turned into an internet meme. I understand why they are angry but I believe that the meme and the original Harlem Shake are two completely things. No one could watch the two and confuse them for one another so I don't think the videos were meant to mock the original dance. Political correctness is at an all time high now which is necessary at times but can prevent innovation or growth which I think it does in this case. Also, today's society is all about changing things and adding new meanings to things that had been left alone for centuries. For example, there used to only be one solid definition for the word love, now people throw around the word love to describe their favorite ice cream. Culture in general is changing rapidly with today's technology. Lastly, I think the videos only brought attention to what the Harlem Shake really is. I had never heard of the original dance style before the meme became popular. The example we saw in class of people performing the dance was very interesting and entertaining. I would definitely consider in an art form and I kind of wonder why I had never heard of it before.

Ending Racism In About An Hour

I attended the diversity event called Ending Racism In About An Hour. The presenter was a comedian named W. Kamau Bell. I had heard of him before which was the main reason why I went to this presentation. The event definitely lived up to my expectations. Bell did a terrific job of mixing comedy with the points that he was trying to make. I personally think that comedy is the best medium for discussing issues that can be possibly uncomfortable for some people. Comedy helped Bell tear down some of the crowd's reservations which allowed for a more honest discussion on race and racism.

One of the main points Bell discussed was how racism has changed during this generation. It is no longer people out right discriminating against other races like it was during the civil rights movement. In today's society people think they are just being funny and innocent when in fact they are encouraging stereotypes and engaging in racist behavior. Another thing that has changed with this generation is that with all the technology and social media used by everyone, people are posting pictures of their racist actions.

Another thing Bell discussed is that white people need to own up to their actions. As a white person we should be proud of our heritage as well as own up to those of us that are ignorant of others. Bell said that many white people use excuses to separate themselves from other white people that have committed racist acts. Many use the excuse that they from a different racial group than the person who made the comment but in reality they are both white. We need to acknowledge when someone from our group does something ignorant and let the world know that we do not support or agree with their viewpoints.

Bell's discussion made me think about race in a more contemporary fashion. As technology and culture changes, so does racial discrimination. It is important that we recognize these changes and avoid discrimination

Leadership and Financial Awareness

This week Brady and Josh facilitated class discussion about leadership. The final question they asked us to think about is whether leaders are born or made. I believe that leaders are made. To me, everyone has the tools to be a leader; it is a matter of whether or not they step up. Some people don't become leaders until they find an issue that inspires them enough to become a leader. Also, how someone is raised has a large impact on whether they will become a leader or not. If someone is taught the values of a leader while growing up then they will have a better chance at retaining those values as an adult. I believe there are too many factors that make a leader to say that leaders are born rather than made.

During the retreat on Sunday we had a long discussion about financial awareness. The one thing I learned is that I need to keep a closer eye on my finances, especially now as I prepare for internships and graduation next year. I also learned that I should be paying more attention to changes in tuition and federal aid not only for myself but for my sister who will be going to college in the fall. I found a lot of the articles that the others brought very interesting, especially the ones that talked about alternate ways to pay for college. The more options you have, the easier your path will be. I'm definitely going to look into some of the things Allie mentioned like the webpage where you can see your loans and the government plan where you can pay off your loans based on income for a set number of years. I had never heard of that payment option before and it sounds like something I would be very interested in. Overall, I will be paying a lot more attention to my finances in the future.

ISCORE Sessions!

This Friday we went to various ISCORE sessions and discussed issues involving race and ethnicity. I could only attend the last 2 sessions because of my class schedule but I went to as much as I could. The first one I went to was called "Stop Actin' So Black!" It was about the stereotypes of African Americans. The one part of the presentation that struck me the most was their analysis of the Trayvon Martin case. It was a murder trial where the suspect shot and killed a 17 year old black male because he looked suspicious. The teenager, Trayvon Martin, was wearing a hoody and was going home from the convenience store. The neighborhood watch guard saw Martin and decided that he was suspicious and started to follow him. After Martin saw that someone was following him for an extended period of time, he felt unsafe and tried to get away from the guy who then shot him. The only things found on Trayvon was a bag of skittles and a can of ice tea. The presenters then described how stereotypes can predict our decisions before make them. Because the guy was suspicious of Martin and followed him, Trayvon reacted in a way that reinforced the man's expectations which led to the shooting. It really opened my eyes to the subconscious results of racism.

The second session I attended was a group of graduate students that have talked at ISCORE numerous years in a row. They discussed their experiences at Iowa State as multicultural students. The main thing I learned from this session is that they said it is important to create a support group of people similar to yourself as soon as possible. Creating a group with students that you can relate to will guarantee that you will always have at least one place where you feel like you belong.

Kat and I facilitated a lecture!

So if you didn't get it from the title, Kat and I gave the lecture in class this week. Overall I thought it went pretty well. The class helped immensely by jumping right into our discussions. It is much easier to teach a class that actually has thoughts and opinions on the topic than one that is just waiting for class to be over. Hopefully the freshmen come in next Fall with energy and enthusiasm.

I liked how right from the Hixson introductions, everyone seemed interested and having fun. I enjoyed seeing how each Hixson responded to our clothes question (you can't ever go wrong with cut off jean shorts). The class brought that energy into the baton game where we learned that leaders don't necessarily need terrific hand-eye coordination. We then watched the sardine video. I wasn't sure if the class understood what we intended to show them at first. Once we started to explain what we got from the video, I think it helped a lot. After we explained how much stronger the sardines were as a group, it appeared that they saw the lesson that we intended. The last activity allowed the class to analyze some group situations that they have been in and talk about what worked and what didn't. I think the group did a great job of talking about what they have learned from experiences in group situations. Overall, I think Kat and I did a good job of keeping the class involved throughout the lesson.

Finally, the discussion we had about the Kansas tweets was brand new to me. The fact that just a few people can tarnish the entire reputation of a university bothers me. It makes me take my future leadership role even more serious now.

Problem Solving

Before I read the chapter I never thought about the different parts of preblem solving. I knew that I approached different problems in different ways but never really identified the different kinds of problems. I had never heard the terms The Gap, The Hole or The Obstacle. Knowing what kind of issue you are dealing with will help immensely when trying to come up with a solution. I will use what I learned from this chapter to try and identify the source of my problems in the future. Also, practicing this technique in your own life will help you when trying to find solutions for the problems that your students come to you with next Fall.

I really liked the section about creative problem solving methods. Like the book says, not all situations can be solved with the same techniques. Even if the problem is similar to one you've dealt with before, that does not guarantee that the solution you used last time will work again. The creative problem solving method seems to work very well with my ENFP type. It encourages all possible ideas and discourages scrutiny. Like the book says, hundreds of ideas are better than a select few. Maybe I like this method because my mind is constantly full of ideas so this gives me a method to put them to good use. I plan on following the steps in the book so I can structure my problem solving technique a little better in the future.

So this week marked the beginning of social media week. I've enjoyed it thoroughly so far. It has finally given me a reason to start using twitter again. I look forward to using it more often in the future.

Interpersonal Communication and the first retreat!

This week Coreen and Katie directed discussion about interpersonal communication. They did a great job of facilitating the discussion and allow us to explore the topics. We talked about how to communicate when someone comes to you with a problem or question. I learned that I definitely react differently when helping a friend than when helping a peer. I tend to be more personal and direct with a friend than I am with a stranger. It's important to recognize these tendencies and use them to become more effective leaders. The entire topic of interpersonal communication is extremely important for the success of our groups next Fall. You can't help someone with their questions and problems if they don't feel comfortable coming to you with them. You can't provide answers to questions that are never asked.

I really enjoyed the retreat on Sunday. I felt that we all became better friends and peers by the end of it. Each ice breaker provided a unique way for us to interact together. I also learned something about at least one other peer mentor during each game. The sucker game showed me that we are all nice human beings because no one asked me to do the Hixson intro backwards, luckily. The balloon game showed me that some of us are more competitive than others *cough Easten cough*. The deserted island game allowed us to use our creativity and think outside the box which seems to be a strength for some of us. Finally, the "Would You Rather" game let us show some of our personality and tendencies, in a fun and silly way. Overall, I had a great time and can't wait to get started on the digital story telling project. Fair warning, I plan on writing at least one Peeta and hummus joke. You've been warned.

Being Different

The lesson this week was all about diversity and how to deal with differences. I think Easten did a great job of leading discussions and following up fun activities with conversations about how they applied to diversity. He allowed us to talk about the topic which I think helped to make everyone more interested in the lesson.

The "all my neighbors" ice breaker is one of my favorites. We played it during my freshman recitation session and I've played it multiple times during social events at my fraternity. It is a great way to learn about things you have in common with the other people you are playing with. It also showed me how many different groups we all fall in. As peer mentors, we are a fairly diverse group which I think is necessary for effectively helping the 100 incoming Hixsons next Fall. Having a variety of people with different cultural experiences is a definite advantage for us when facing the numerous questions the freshmen will have for us.

I consider myself very fortunate when it comes to accepting people that are different than me. My older sister, Cassie, was adopted from South Korea so growing up I didn't see her as different, I just saw her as family. Now we like to mess with people every once in a while. One time she dropped me off at an activity and some of my peers came up to me and asked who she was. I said she's my sister and that I'm the adopted one. We both think it's pretty funny. One of my cousins, who still stays in close contact with our family is gay so I've been exposed to that culture quite a few times. I think experiencing different cultures as much as possible is the best way to understand them. I can understand how some people aren't as accepting of certain groups if the only things they know about them are stereotypes. I believe spreading awareness of the diversity of people and cultures in the world is the only way to achieve global empathy.

Life as an ENFP

The thought of thinking that four categories can completely describe who I am seems weird to me. More than seven billion people are on the planet and every one is completely different. Some people make the comparison that people are like snowflakes but I think it is even more amazing than that. Not only are we different from each other as a whole, every little quirk that we each have that makes us different is significantly different than any quirk anyone else has. It just astounds me. I know this test in no way is supposed to tell me what kind of person I am. It is just a guide to show how you tend to handle things in different situations. With all that being said...the test was pretty accurate.

My main preferences were Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling and Perceiving. I guessed all of them correctly except for extraversion. I had always thought of myself as shy person that doesn't usually initiate communication. I tend to wait for someone to start a conversation and then I let loose with everything was swimming around in my head. Once I read why they placed me as an extrovert, it made quite a bit of sense. It said I was a receiver rather than an initiator and I chose to be more private than self revealing. Both of those make a lot of sense to me. The reason I am an extrovert is because I scored relatively high towards extraversion in joining groups, interaction and enthusiasm. Overall, I think the test nailed it on the head. Looks like I was an Extrovert the whole time and didn't even know it.

I leaned heavily towards Intuition in every category. I had fives in intuition for both abstract and imaginative. I completely agree with that. I find myself constantly analyzing everything and then asking the question "What if..." I found myself doing this one time when my sister used the phrase word vomiting. The normal person would just laugh and move on...but not me. I spent a good twenty minutes thinking about what word vomit would look like if it was a literal thing. I came to the conclusion that you would suddenly feel sick during a conversation and then some embarrassing or private phrase would slip out. I thought it was hilarious, my sister thinks I'm crazy. I may be too abstract and imaginative for my own good because I just realize I went on a long tangent about word vomit. I guess this test is pretty accurate.

I am a F instead of a T even though three preferences were towards T (including a 3 for questioning) and only two towards F (both of them were only a 1). I guess I have tendencies for both sides in each category. This is about how I base conclusions so it makes sense that I am both a thinker and a feeler. I think that every situation is different and therefore requires a different type of solution. I like to take everything I possibly can into account before making my decision. I think that's what the results are trying to show.

Finally, I got perceiving instead of judging. This one was extremely lopsided towards perceiving. The only category that I wasn't in perceiving was my 1 towards methodical. Every description of perceiving fits me almost perfectly. I'm very easygoing, flexible, motivated by pressure and spontaneous. I feel that when you make concrete plans you already ended countless activities that could have been better than the plans you made. I think every second is spontaneous and important so I like to let life come at me and lead me where it wants me to go. I understand this method isn't for everyone. I still make sure everything gets done when it's supposed to, I just don't map out exactly how or when it will get done. To me, spontaneity is the spark of life. I hate having pre-made plans because most of my favorite memories happened at the spur of the moment.

Overall, I don't think I was giving this test as much respect as I should have. It was fairly accurate in describing my tendencies. I'll use these results to remember what my strengths and weaknesses are as a leader and grow from them.

Jeopardy and Johari Windows

There was a lot to process this past week. I had never attended a leadership learning session before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The amount of information I received during the Friday and Saturday sessions was insane.

The first one I attended was multicultural jeopardy. The speaker did a great job of mixing important helpful information into a fun and entertaining format. I had no idea how little I knew about the resources for multicultural students on campus. I guess I had never needed to use them so I never got around to learning about them. I found all of the information during this session very useful because it was mostly new to me. I feel much more confident in helping multicultural students now.

The second session I attended on Friday discussed community building, something I thought would be extremely useful next Fall. The speakers had some great ideas for different types of events to get students together and interact with each other. Having a variety of activities to get they students involved is important to me. I get bored when I have to do the same routine over and over again. I'm all about mixing things up. The speakers also had some good tips for dealing with someone who feels alienated from the group. This kind of information will be very useful next Fall.

I went to some ISLE sessions with the president of my fraternity. He went to it last year and found it very useful. The session I enjoyed the most was the Johari Windows presentation. It was about analyzing how much of yourself you let others get to know. It was also about learning new things about yourself as well. I learned that I definitely could share more with others right when I initially meet someone. I still consider myself an introvert for the most part so it can be hard to show my personality to people I've just met. This is something I intend to work on a lot during the semester. I really like who I am so I shouldn't be afraid to let other people get to know me.

Peer Mentor Role Playing?!

Excuse the title, I'm not sure where I was going with it. It was either that or "The Question Ball: Friend or Foe?" Neither of them make much sense, but I digress.

I found this week's class to be both fun and informative. Starting things off with naming our strengths and skills that need improvement got me into the right frame of mind right away. This class is about bettering ourselves and I think that exercise helped me realize it.

Just so everyone knows, I love the question ball. As soon as I was selected as a Peer Mentor I thought to myself, "I am so using the question ball as an ice breaker in my recitation sessions." I remembered doing the activity during my freshman recitation session. It not only lets everyone learn more about the people in class, it also helps the group to become more familiar with each others names (which we all needed a little bit of). I found myself giving my own answer to most of the questions everyone else got. I was really hoping to get the "What is your dream job?" question because I've had an answer to that question for quite a while now. Since I was in elementary school, I loved doing comedy and making people laugh. It is definitely just a dream at this point but I want to host The Tonight Show. I would be in heaven if that ever happened.

The role playing exercise was very useful. Although you can't exactly recreate a student problem situation, it helped to at least practice handling a similar situation. Listing all the possible stresses for a first year student definitely made me realize how many different questions the students could ask me next Fall. It seems a little overwhelming at the moment but I look forward to being much more prepared to handle their questions and problems by the end of this semester.

Peer Educators

I was not aware how useful and necessary peer mentors are. I had no idea that 75% of universities used peer mentors in helping students. I was completely new to the term until the hixson seminar my freshman year. After that experience I learned what a valuable resource they can be. Peer mentors give the students someone to talk to without them feeling intimidated. A peer mentor was in the same position as the student not too long ago so they understand what the student is going through. Not only can the mentor tell a student how they dealt with similar problems or questions, but they also know the resources that a student can turn to for more help. After reading these chapters I kind of feel like I took my peer mentors from the hixson seminar for granted. I looked to them to answer all of my questions without thinking about all of the preparation that they had to do. I have a new found respect for all of the previous peer mentors.

I really like that the first chapter outlined the duties of a peer mentor. I had an idea of what they did but it helped to see everything that goes into being a peer mentor. I like to see exactly what is expected of me in the future so I can focus on properly covering all of my responsibilities.

I really liked the Borton approach to learning. Gaining knowledge, and skills is best achieved by looking back on the experience and thinking about what worked and why. Asking yourself questions is the best way to tailor information to how you best receive it and use it. I'm looking forward to getting lots of practice in this learning model during the course of the semester. I think it is a very effective technique and I would like to understand it well enough by the end of the semester to incorporate it into my mentor sessions next Fall.