It’s my last
semester at Prescott College. With lots of hard work and scrambling, I will be
graduating on May 4, 2013…standing before the people I love most in the world,
my family and friends.
As such, I have
been reflecting upon my experiences here…all the good, bad, ugly and AMAZING
memories Prescott College has given me. Sometimes, I can’t even believe that I
made it here. In fact, if it weren’t for huge loans, scholarships and grants,
two jobs and a supportive family I wouldn’t be here at all. The cost of
Prescott College to me was so daunting, especially since I come from a modest
family and have had to put myself through college. But, I understand now how
worth it this experience was…and is! Prescott College has been necessary for my
personal growth, my academic maturity and in helping me decide on a career that
I was passionate about. The biggest thing on my mind, however, is my Senior Project. I have spent DAYS (perhaps even weeks) turning ideas over in my head since my first day of Orientation, trying to find something doable, community-based, and enriching for the college and everyone involved.
Finally, I came
up with this:
For my senior project, I will to create a sustainable, collaborative
group called ComeUnite (pronounced like the word “Community”). Because of some
of the arising tension caused by aggressive, negative approaches practiced by
some members of the Prescott College community, I felt there was a need to
create a group that practices holistic, positive, non-violent and peaceful
forms of education and activism that can be used to enrich the lives of and
build relationships with all people. ComeUnite is a group for members of the
Prescott College community to gather and share ideas, stories and experiences,
within and outside of the group. This group will integrate community
development though individual, cultural and national history into a setting in
which the participants may explore these issues on a deeper, and perhaps more
personal, level.
The primary focus of ComeUnite will be to practice ahimsa, non-violence,
through various activities and events sponsored and/or attended by the
group. This group is designed to allow
students to study and learn about themselves, their community and their individual
and collective histories, while integrating rituals, visits to places of
educational and environmental significance (monuments, historical sites,
museums, etc.) and learning to return the “favor” by hosting a multitude of
events significant to the Prescott College environment and student body. While in
ComeUnite, students will be able to identify the many categories and
subcategories significant to the development of personal, immediate and world
communities. Students will have learned about and developed a sense of
appreciation and understanding for these people and places, as well as respecting
the different methods of community building utilized by each of these cultures
and subcultures. Students will have developed a more profound sense of
themselves, their place in the world, and the many roles they have had and will
have to fill as different obstacles make themselves known. Because of the
content studied and analyzed, students will also be able to effectively identify
social justice issues in present society, and will, as part of the group,
research and present on a social justice and/or educational issues of their
choice.
As a final component, the group will work together to identify areas in
which Prescott College could improve the quality of education and experience
for current and future students, faculty and staff. These include, but are not
limited to; creating diversity workshops for the PC community to attend, working
to ensure that diversity, inclusion and social responsibility are part of the
dialogue and curriculum of PC courses and by collaborating with each other (and
faculty and staff) to draft a new Orientation option for incoming students.
Because Orientation is a student’s first introduction to and impression
of the college, it is important to make this experience one that is inclusive,
fun, and mindful of everyone’s needs. With ComeUnite’s involvement and input, I
hope to bring light to and change Prescott College’s Orientation in two ways:
1) Examine and work to alter the ways in which new Orientation leaders are
chosen, and 2) Making a real effort to create a new Orientation that is central
to the Cultural and Regional Studies and Education programs.
To put it
simply, I know that Orientation leaders could improve on ways in which all
these forms of diversity (and others not listed here) can be better addressed
and understood by the group. But, the area that Orientation needs the most
improvement on is culture and identity. I know this because I experienced it
myself, and because I know of several others who felt excluded based on one or
more of the above diversity categories.
If Prescott
College is to fully transform itself as an institution that meets the needs of
all of its students, among other goals, (as per the 2020 Plan http://www.prescott.edu/intranet/assets/strategic-planning/strategic-plan-2020.pdf ),
it needs to happen through Orientation. This
can’t happen overnight, though. And it certainly won’t happen by targeting the
Orientation experience alone. This needs to happen In a trickle-down sort of
way. Beginning, of course, at the top.
-Talk to
President Woolever about my findings and my ideas.
-Discuss
this with the Dean, Jack Herring.
-Meet with
the Orientation Director and the Director of the Adventure Education Program.
-Invite the
Prescott Community to share their opinions about Orientation and discuss
whether my idea can be implemented by Fall 2013.
-Find out
what the qualifications are for being an Orientation leader and how those
current standards limit the Orientation experience because they are set for a
certain target group. Attempt to change these to be more open and to make sure
group leaders are sensitive to the diverse needs and backgrounds of their
students, and that they are implementing an Orientation curriculum that
incorporates aspects of ALL the program areas and includes student-centered
interests.
-Aim to
alter the current ways in which Orientations are conducted so that they better
align with the mission statement and philosophy of the college and fit better
into to 2020 plan.
-If the
previous goal can’t be met, strive to create a new Orientation option…one that
is based mostly on Cultural and Regional Studies, and Education. Or, try to
create it anyway!
Angelica R.
Brady
1.17.2013
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