Category: Experiential Reflections Page 3 of 5

2nd Week Reflection

On February 23, 2024

In comparison to the first week, week two was significantly more smooth and organized. Walking into the detention center with a plan that we knew we would stick to made things much less stressful. I also enjoyed the fact that we were all in the same room for this week. For week one, it was a weird sense that the kids were extremely comfortable in the space since they live here but we had just visited for the first time and were uncomfortable. It made it that much worse when we split up and not only were in this place for the first time but also on our own. For week two, being together in a familiar room where we had been the previous week while also all being together made things much more relaxed.

One interesting thing I noticed was the kids’ relationships with the staff at the detention center. In conversation, they are typically friendly and lighthearted, joking with each other and being loose. However, this week while I was sharing stories with my partner he was laughing and he lightly backhanded the staff member on the arm as he was laughing. The staff member, who previously was also laughing, immediately became very serious and said, “What did I tell you about putting your hands on me.” It was weird to see that immediately flip of a switch and go from joking around to being dead serious.

3rd Day at the Detention Center (Feb 20, 2024)

By Kaylee Wyrick

On February 21, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, Kaylee

This week’s visit was great, and it made me very happy to see some kids return and come again. When we first got to the site I noticed that the staff was completely different from those who have been there the past two weeks. The difference between the energy the kids have with certain staff versus the staff there this week is like night and day. The kids seemed more reserved and less relaxed. When we got into the gym area with our group, we started by talking about the different books and movies that we liked. I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks that many of the boys enjoy gangster movies such as Menace to Society because it teaches people the consequences of being involved in that lifestyle. I also noticed that everyone mostly likes superhero and science fiction movies/books because they are interesting to them.

When we divided into pairs, I worked with the same girl that I worked with last week. She was happy to see me and she told me that she had thought a little about stories over the past week and that she had told a couple of her friends who are at the juvenile center as well. She was a lot more talkative this week than she was last week, which made it easier for me as well. A boy joined our group as well, and he has been there every time we have visited the center. The first week we went, he sat in the back with staff and didn’t participate much. Over the past couple of weeks, I haven’t worked with him but I noticed that he was interacting more. Yesterday I finally got to work with him and he was a lot more talkative than I expected. He even shared a couple personal details. When I gave them the prompt of a time that they helped someone who was sick, he shared about his mother being sick. He told me that growing up they didn’t have a lot of food at home, and that he would steal canned chicken noodle soup for his mother and his siblings. We eventually got back to the topic of superheroes and they told me which were their favorites.

Week 2 Experiential Reflections

By Brice Di Carlo

On February 20, 2024

In Brice, Experiential Reflections, Uncategorized

Our second week at the detention center ran very smoothly. I felt much more comfortable walking into the building than last week. The first thing I noticed walking into the classroom were all the basketball shoe drawings covered on the wall. They added a lot of personality to the room, making it more welcoming. I talked to the guy who took our IDs (I forgot his name) and he shared how the kids loved the activity. To them, it’s a tradition.

I loved the activities we did for class. I worked with J. and we connected very well with one another. The activity was also very engaging for us. As one of the other students said, sharing our future dreams through storytelling makes it come to life. It opens up the possibility. J. told me that his superpowers would be similar to Superman. He wanted to use his powers to help others, whether it be fixing buildings or catching the bad guys. When it came to his dreams, he imagined gaining new perspectives by traveling around the world, one location being Hong Kong. He dreamed of being at the top of a mountain looking over the trees and the horizon. One aspect that both of our stories share is having a family. J. wants to have a family, and then become a grandfather playing with his grandchildren.

Week 2 Reflection

By Nicholas Javier

On February 19, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, Javier

Writing this a little bit later than I would have liked, as it had slipped my mind over the weekend. This week’s experience was much better than the first week, and I think a significant component of the experience was a much more individualized process. The folks who we ended up working within the Post D program ended up being some of the kids I had the first week, namely J, J, and another, while I met a new student named R.

I ended up working with R with Kristine through the discussion and getting to know him was much easier and much richer. It became clear through our discussion that he very much loved his family, his sisters, and his nephews especially whom he pretty much equates to his own kids in a sense of closeness. He tells about the car crash he was in, and he expresses regret over the “stupid” decisions that he made that brought him here, but he also seems to have many hopes and dreams and plans for when he gets out.

He discussed how he wanted to go to college, possibly for engineering — and how he wanted to also go to trade school, how he wanted to fix cars. When he envisioned his future, he pictured a happy family with three kids, many cars, an amazing man cave, and a career as an athlete. His superpower was to Rewind Time, which would essentially give him all the time in the world to make his dreams come true.

He was quite friendly, and he seemed pretty invested in the storytelling component. He had some difficulties in terms of a train of thought, often repeating certain lines that he had already stated, and I learned in the aftermath that he has certain difficulties in terms of writing that will require assistance from the teachers as he goes through the project, but I really like him. He is a friendly kid, and he talks about starting a clothes-selling business once he graduates.

Week 2 Reflection

By Mitchell Parker

On February 17, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, Mitch

Even though it was a bit different from last week, I still enjoyed talking with the students there. I’m glad the not-too-serious atmosphere is still there, and everyone else seemed to enjoy the arrangement of it as well.

I am sad that none of the students I worked with last week were there, because I had told them I’d see them again next week, but that’s okay. This group had a very similar vibe; laid back, genuine, and funny. I’m looking forward to next visit!

Reflection 2/16

By William Sheets

On February 16, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, Will S

I think our second visit to the detention center was a lot more promising than the first. While I had a good time with the kids I talked to during our first visit, the Post-D group seemed much more willing to participate in our project. Mitch and I paired up with a Post-D student during the visit. He told us a story of when he first got into basketball and how he grew to love the sport, and other sports, because he had a good friend who played with him. When talking to us about his dream life, he mentioned that he wanted to be playing basketball in college. One thing that really stood out to me from the conversation I had with him was how much he had already thought about his future. He had thought about jobs he could get and colleges he was considering applying to and even mentioned that he had a bank account set up for the money he got while working in the detention center. He seemed intent on moving past this point, and getting his life back on track. It was a very encouraging conversation, and I think it’s a good sign for the rest of the project.

Detention Center Week 2 Reflection

By Kristine Nguyen

On February 16, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, kristine

While I was a bit sad I wouldn’t get to work with the girls again, I could tell that the Post D kids were also willing to share stories with us, which I was grateful for. Nick J and I paired up with one person who was really excited to tell stories about his family, his interest in cars and being a mechanic, and the ambitions he has for a man cave in the future. I think telling these stories really animated our story partner since he got excited about the idea of being a mechanic and having his own business. It’s like what that one person said about speaking the future into existence. I think he was happy talking about a future that could be his later. He respectfully listened to my stories and when I brought up the task of working out for my first story, he launched into a discussion about how he hates doing push-ups and prefers running. I think I had a bit of trouble connecting with him on my own because we have different interests, but he and Nick got along well with me interjecting here and there. Also, we didn’t really follow the storytelling model as well (listeners didn’t tell it back), but we just went with the flow of the conversation, which I think worked better in this situation.

Other than the stories, we talked about our favorite characters with superpowers since it came up during the prompt on superpowers. We also talked about car models we like since it came up when our partner told his dream story. I noticed that our partner’s body language was respectful when we told stories, but he kind of fidgeted a bit when telling his, and he was always moving around. I noticed that he also was interested in college, just like the girls I was with last week. All these kids seem to have future ambitions they’ve been thinking about for a while. I was wondering how the whole going to campus thing might go if we get the chance to do it. While I preferred connecting with the girls because we have more in common, I’ll settle for any situation because I know that we just have to work with what we’ve got.

Week 1 Reflection

By Nicholas Gunn

On February 16, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, Nick G

Going into this experience, I tried to keep an open mind and not have any expectations as to what it would be like. Although I feel I accomplished this, it was still much different than I could’ve imagined. Despite not going in with any expectations, I did have this idea in the back of my mind that it would be all of us in one room, conducting storytelling activities with the kids in a very controlled environment. To my surprise, it turned out to be the complete opposite. When we got there and started to be split up, I could feel myself getting a bit anxious. It quickly went from Professor Dolson controlling the situation and conducting these activities, to each of us individually being thrown into the fire and having to conduct it ourselves. Although this was so different from what myself, and I think all of us were expecting, I think it overall went well.

For my group, I tried to keep things very casual and just get to know the kids on a base level. We went around and introduced ourselves, our names, where we are from, and a few fun facts about us or hobbies we have. To my surprise, two of the three guys in my group were super interested in cooking which I found to be interesting. I then gave a brief synopsis of what our class was like first semester and how that connects to what we are doing now. The kids, in all honesty, seemed pretty indifferent to the idea but if I were in their shoes, I would likely feel the same. For my group, and from what I’ve heard from other people on the bus ride back, it seemed like just another class for them, a task to get through. I think I had this perception that the detention center would be more of a typical jail and that this activity could be something to look forward to each Friday. However, it just seemed to be the next thing on the schedule. For my group, they seemed more excited by the gym time they had the following period.

One thing I did notice was the tight relationships all of the kids had to the staff at the detention center. They viewed them as friends and mentors, not as people keeping them from leaving this place. Hearing the banter back and forth between the kids and the staff was entertaining and showed how their relationship was both respectful but also loose and friendly.

For the second half of the time with my group, we got to go to the gym and play basketball. I think this was super effective in breaking down this barrier between us and becoming more casual with the kids. They all were impressed with my jumpshot too so that was a plus.

Overall, although the first week was nothing like I was expecting, I think it went about as well as it could have given the circumstances. The whole point of the first week was to meet the kids and start building a relationship with them so they would feel more comfortable sharing stories with us in the future. I think I accomplished this with my group, although not by the means I had anticipated.

2nd Day at the Detention Center (Feb 13, 2024)

By Kaylee Wyrick

On February 15, 2024

In Experiential Reflections, Kaylee

This week’s visit was very different from last week’s but I still really enjoyed it. This week we got to talk with the kids as a whole group instead of the kids being separated by gender. There were about 8-10 kids there, and we were in a gym area. We got to make a large circle with our chairs and talk all together. I really enjoyed this because it didn’t feel like we were presenting or just talking at the kids; instead, we were talking with them. I paired with two kids, one boy, and one girl. I noticed that the boy had velcro shoes, which was interesting because, in different facilities shoes with velcro are reserved for kids who can’t have shoe laces for their own safety or the safety of others.
As I was talking to my group partners about where they wanted to be in 5-10 years, the boy said he wanted to play in the NFL like his cousin, and the girl said that she wanted to become a defense attorney. She explained that she wanted to be a defense attorney because the one working on her current case is overworked and isn’t doing a great job defending her. I thought that it was very sweet and interesting that she wanted to help someone like herself later in life.
My group was more on the quiet side and gave short responses to the questions I asked. Eventually, I asked each of them what superpower they wanted if they could choose one. They both said that they would want the power to read minds. I asked them to elaborate and they talked about how it would help them know who was lying to them and it would teach them not to trust people. This was sad to me because they both expressed a deep distrust for the people around them, but with their backgrounds and a few personal things they shared, this made complete sense. The boy also started to explain to me how much I reminded him of his sister who had passed, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. All in a;; it was a great visit and as usual we ended it with a fist bump. Both kids said that if they were still at the facility next Tuesday they would love to participate in the story telling visit again.

Prep Note 02/13

By Angelos Charalampos Bouras

On February 15, 2024

In Angelos, Experiential Reflections, prep note

This time I had a quite significant experience. We started in big groups by introducing ourselves and sharing some information but the real discussion started when we were in 2 groups. I was with 2 young boys who were about to finish high school and shared a lot about their future and past. They shared how much they want to get out of the center, collaborate, and create their own music industry. They were so passionate about their goal indicating they don’t just want to achieve it, they will! Something significant is that they wanted to create lyrics with meanings to prevent young people from making the same mistakes they did following their dad’s life decisions. The thing that they regret the most about life is making that mistake that made them end up in the center. One of them chose as a superpower to know all the information that exists to prevent future mistakes. Similarly, the other person would like to travel in time to change his behavior in the past and not end up in the center. I was surprised at how passionate they were about their future, how much they wanted to graduate high school and go to college as well as how they wanted to help other people through their passion; music!