"Youth Development is a career that focuses on Education, Social Work and Nonprofit Studies. Youth workers get to work in different fields such as after school programs, school-age child care and summer camps".
The text explain the areas that individuals often forget to focus on such as early childhood, after school programs, social and strategic support, and placement support. A lot of parents focus on working and believe that their child is getting all the learning they need during the school day. Children and youth need to be engaged in after school programs to expand they learning, social skills and public speaking skills.
Whenever someone says to me What is Youth Development? I simply answer, youth development is a career for individuals who do not want to become teachers, but would like to work with children and youth. While in school, we focus on gaining Education, Social Work and Nonprofit studies skills. We are trained in different areas to be able to have a great outcome when working with children and youth.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
MET High School
I had the opportunity of attending the MET High School ( Justice building) to speak about self-empowerment. I Spoke to a group of twenty girls and told them my story about overcoming bullying in middle school, and anxiety and depression in college. I also told everyone to not give up on their dreams and to never let anyone bring them down. Everyone in life goes through difficult situations and whenever we fall, the only thing left to do is to get up.
The MET
The MET
A wish Come True, Inc
I had the opportunity of attending A Wish Come True, Inc One Arabian Night Gala. They celebrated thirty-four years of granting wishes to children ages 3 through 18 who have a life-threatening illness and live in Rhode Island and areas of southeastern Massachusetts.I had the opportunity of meeting parents who have lost their children to cancer and now spread awareness. I also met individuals who overcame life-threatening illnesses.
since I will be working with children and youth, this event helped me realized that i also need to find a way to support individuals who have lost someone due to an illness or are battling an illness.
A Wish Come True
since I will be working with children and youth, this event helped me realized that i also need to find a way to support individuals who have lost someone due to an illness or are battling an illness.
A Wish Come True
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Center for Resilience
The Center for Resilience focuses on teaching students how
to take care of themselves such as learning techniques to help them fall
asleep. They also learn how to take care of others. The main goal of the
program is to teach students how to be mindful, to know themselves and know
their surroundings. The students also
learn how to empower themselves by doing self-motivation.
The videos were very interesting because watching their testimonies
reminded me of how I learned to be my own cheerleader. By the students learning
how to be mindful, they change negative behaviors and turn them into positives.
One of the teachers mentioned a student who is not good in math. She taught him
how to motivate himself by counting with his fingers “I CAN DO THIS”.
As a result, students exercise at home the things they
learned in school. When times get difficult, students learn how to not give up
with the positive skills learned through The Center for Resilience. I wish I knew
about programs like this when I was in middle school, it would have definitely
helped with my behavior.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Activism and the Youth Vote
This election
has been very controversial because it seems like both candidates have done bad
and good things. Both candidates have done or have said things that are
currently hurting them because people are refusing to vote for them. A few
years back, Hillary Clinton was against immigrants, but she has now changed her
mind. Even though she has changed her beliefs, people are still using those
comments against her and call her a liar. Donald Trump is a great example of “it
is not what you say, is how you say it”. Trump has called Puerto Ricans
Mexicans and has also said that immigrants are rapist. Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado from
Venezuela was a victim of Trumps words while she was under his contract. He
called her miss piggy because she gained weight during her reign. Alicia is now
working with Hillary against Donald Trump.
At this point, nothing is making me
want to vote because both candidates spend most of the time arguing. Why must
the election be so negative instead of sending a positive message? This
election is honestly alienating me away because both candidates do not call my
attention. I certainly feel that I am
more informed about the inappropriate things that both candidates have done or
have said instead of the good things they would like to do if they become president.
I currently feel very disappointed because I wish this election was not so
negative. i also feel like they are both focusing too much on immigrants and not on youth.
Are you voting against you family's beliefs?
What are your thoughts on both candidates?
Who do you think would a better president?
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Nakkuta Ch.2
Context mapping is figuring yourself out, learning from
mistakes and what your interests are. Context
mapping also means learning friendship values and how you would like to be seen
by the world. Mitch asked Julian to list the various spaces and relationships
he must negotiate each day.
Foreclosed Identity: Individuals make decisions without exploring
based on parents or guardian ideas.
Achieved Identity: Individuals know their goals, values and know
themselves.
Moratorium Identity:
When individuals explore without making any commitment.
Diffuse Identity: When individuals refuse to explore and
become isolated.
Academics
RIC
YDEV
Graduation
Social
Community Service
Pageants
Friends
Home
Parents
Only child
Unity
Love
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
A PHILOSOPHY OF YOUTH WORK
Taking the ideology reminded me that I have been promoting
positive youth values since 2009. I have always felt that I have the power to
change the lives of individuals who believe they are not capable of accomplishing
their dreams. Even though I have always felt that I could help others, I felt
alone because I believed that I was the only person that wanted to help the
youth. My purpose in life is to help youth and even adults to find their
talents, have positive attitudes towards themselves, and learn the importance
of giving back to their community. At this point in my life, I am very proud of
myself for promoting positive values. I believe that everyone has a hidden
talent, and my talent is to give back and motivate others to overcome their
life struggles.
A question that I thought was interesting from the
ideology horoscope is “How can adults and youth work together to negotiate, and
make meaning of their worlds? How can they together make the world a better
place for all players? I believe that adults need to learn how to respect and
understand the youth because they focus on their age and not on their intelligence
and interests. I believe that we can all work to make the world a better place by
listening, understanding each other and respecting the values of others.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Nakkula
1. Defiance
2. Adversary
3. Pedagogies
4. Endeavors
5. Photosynthesis
6. Construct
7. Implicit
theories
8. Scaffolding
9. Proximal
development
10. Constructionist
metaphor
1. My
mother
2. My father
3. My friend
and mentor Jose
4. High
school Tack and friend coach, Coach Lipa
5. My
friends
6. Cousin
Kim
7. Pageant
directors
My parents
will always be my heroes and the reason why I push myself to do my best. Sometimes we need other individuals to teach
us a lesson so we can learn how far we can push ourselves. Someone who helped
me change my life around was my High School track coach, Coach Lipa. When I joined
the track team back in 2007, I was very irresponsible, did not like going to
school and did not have any priorities. Coach
Lipa always gave her all when she coached my team because she wanted everyone
to do their best. Coach Lipa noticed that I was not taking school or the team
serious so she told me if I did not get it together, I was no longer going to
be part of the team. I noticed how happy she would get seeing all her athletes in
the honor roll every semester. This showed that all her athletes had discipline
and it made her feel proud. It took me a
few months to get it together, but I did it. I began going to school and track
practice every day. Then, I made it to the honor roll almost every semester and
also got recognized for having a perfect attendance. During track practice, I worked
really hard and coach Lipa noticed my dedication. I will always be thankful for coach Lipa
teaching me the importance of being respectful, dedicated and punctual.
Monday, September 19, 2016
Hodson's TED Talk
I believe that everyone has felt invisible at some point in
their lives because I have felt invisible in many situations. Hobsons TED talk was very interesting and it
reminded me of all the awkward situations I have been through when I was in
middle school and barely knew English. Hobson
mentioned that when she was younger, she got invited to a birthday party and
she was the only black person there. She
mentioned that instead of her mother asking how the party was, she asked, how
did they treat you? When Hudson mentioned that, it instantly reminded me of
when I joined the step team in middle school. I was really excited to join, but
since I barely knew English, it was very hard for me to understand the
instructions. Since it was hard for me to understand the instructions, a group
of girls started to make fun of me and threatened to fight me after the
program. Since this situation kept happening every time I went to the step team
program, my mother noticed that I no longer came home happy. I told my mother what was happening to so me
so she convinced me to speak to the principals. I spoke to the principals and
nothing was done. I went to the program and the girls kept threatening me so I decided
to quit. When I got home, my mother asked me, did they help you? Did the girls
bother you again? I told my mother what happened and she supported my decision
because I was scared to be beaten up after school. A space like YIA is a great program for youth
to learn leadership skills because they learn to use their voice. YIA is an
antidote to invisibility because youth learn to use their voice to defend their
opinions and make sure they are heard. The youth also learn that being different is a beautiful thing. since the students learn leadership skills, they do not feel invisible in the classroom because they feel comfortable sharing their opinions.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
A World Where Youth Hold The Power
Youth in Action is a great organization because it focuses
on teaching the youth to use their voice.
It is very interesting that they have discussions about different
subjects such as race, sex before marriage, faith, abortion or gay marriage. YIA
students learn to have a voice and not feel intimidated when stating their opinion.
The students are also taught that when sharing their opinions, they have to be
respectful. The main idea of this article is to teach the youth to share their
opinion in a positive way and to also involve them in decision making about the
program.
The YIA model resonates with my own
experience as a youth because when I was part of the nonprofit organization Miss
Rhode Island Belleza Latina, I learned how to have a voice. I used to be very
shy and was always afraid to speak up. The members of the organization made
sure that everyone was heard when sharing their opinions. We were also part of
decision making about the organization. They taught me to always be humble, respectful
and to never be scared to share my thoughts as long as is done in a respectful
way.
The YIA focuses
on teaching leadership to all their students. All youth should be heard even if
they are not mature enough. Society often puts an age barrier between them and
the youth. This causes a lot of young individuals to feel lost because they are
not being heard. There should be more
organizations like the YIA teaching youth to use their voice and to let them
speak about real life problems that are not spoken at home. Just like the YIA, we should all learn how to
point out the good behaviors that students show. Sometimes, youth workers and
teachers focus on always point out the bad behaviors of some students and
forget to point out the good behaviors.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Seven Characteristics of Youth Work
While reading the article, there were more than seven characteristics
that described youth work. Some of the characteristics that I thought were very
important were, being respectful, being a role model, trustworthy, reliable,
positive, and consistent and willing to learn. These characteristics are very
important because it helps to have better relationships with students and
staff. To create a positive environment for
students, us youth workers, we have to show them that we are willing to learn
from them. When students see positive
behaviors from adults, they start to practice it as well.
When I was part of
a nonprofit organization that focused on having teenagers in a positive environment,
I learned a lot of things that were good and bad. The director of the organization was very
strict and made the environment feel unwelcome. The director would have a
negative attitude if someone did not follow the rules or came into the program
late. This used to make me feel very uncomfortable because I was afraid to
speak my mind and share my thoughts. I felt
like I was not allowed to speak to the directors or any of the youth workers
because they always had a negative attitude.
From this experience, I learned that you need to always have appositive attitude
when working with children and teenagers.
When a youth worker has a negative attitude, it pushes the students away
and it creates a negative environment.
After joining a new
nonprofit organization that focused on teaching team work, self-respect, and
the importance of giving back to the community, I became a new person. The directors and youth workers of the
organization were kind, respectful, and trustworthy and were always willing to
listen to our ideas. My antisocial and
anger behaviors became part of my past because I learned to be respectful,
punctual and learned public speaking skills. I also learned to respect the
opinion of others and most importantly, I made friends who had a positive
impact in my life.
Now that I am older
and about to graduate from college, I have a lot of respect for youth workers. Being
a youth worker is hard because you have to deal with different personalities,
and you have to be a role model to inspire others to do their best. After constantly doing community service with
young girls and teenage girls, I learned that they respect more when you always
have a positive attitude. Being punctual,
trustworthy and always willing to learn has opened a lot of doors for me. Organizations
that I have volunteered for always call me back to work with them.
Friday, September 2, 2016
Who am I?
Hello everyone, my name is Yinelly Ramos and I am a Senior at Rhode Island College majoring in Youth Development. I spent most of my time doing community service. My main focus is to teach young girls and teenagers the importance of self-love, teamwork, and giving back to our community. I have been involved in pageants since 2009 because they focus making a difference in the community. I am also part of the JoseArielDiaz4Autism campaign which focuses on raising funds to help organizations in other countries who help children with autism.
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