Wed. 8/24 Notes

Ashley Williams came to class to discuss how we will be interacting with the residents at Bon Air. After some short introductions (including a story of the first time you got in trouble or what you were doing right before class), Ashley explained the situation regarding the people at Bon Air. Various offenses can result in one being sentenced to a juvenile correctional center from skipping school to murder. Those at Bon Air can be anywhere between the ages of 11-right before their 21st birthday. Almost everyone at Bon Air is from Virginia. The difference between juvenile detention and juvenile correction is that everyone at a juvenile correctional center has already had their cases heard and received his/her sentence. Ashley went on to describe how we will be forming relationships with whoever we are paired with at Bon Air. Partners will not necessarily be assigned, since connections tend to be formed naturally. Only those that are in Ashley’s program are eligible to be paired with a U of R student. The goal is to foster a safe community of storytelling and listening. We will develop greater communication and language skills as well as positive relationships. In peer mentoring, both parties greatly benefit, so both our class and those at Bon Air will learn from the program. Towards the end, we will collaborate with our Bon Air partner on some sort of project of our choosing.

IMPORTANT: Check your schedule for next Friday (September 2) from 2:30-5 for fingerprinting

The weekly schedule on the blog is now up to date and accessible. For Monday, have a 1 paragraph – 1 page summary of either the Course Policies or the StoryCorps podcast which we will discuss in class.