Success by Six; Emily Baker

"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army."

 

- Edward Everett

 

 

"He who opens a school door, closes a prison."

- Victor Hugo

 

 

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

 

- Nelson Mandela

 

"A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated."

 

- Horace Mann

 

 

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

 

- William Butler Yeats

 

 

Education

 

 

       "If a child is not ready for first grade, then they will never catch up," "there are 10,000 children living in poverty in the tri-county area," "half of kindergarten students [in America]," "seven out of ten 4th graders can't read at a basic level" -- This forum was a real eye-opener for me. I had no idea that the children of America were struggling to such an extreme extent; especially so close to home... literally.

 

         Success by Six is a great program centered around a solid platform with three sharp points: education, income, and health. It has a goal that is incredibly valuable in every community in that it is aiming directly at providing the help for children that they may not find elsewhere or may not know that they need. United Way is tackling this issue from several solid angles; they are proving resources for children and giving advice to those closest to the children that will help them out. I particularly liked the idea of sending text messages to teen mothers to give them tips to help them raise their child.

 

      That said, I'm not sure if I would want to volunteer for Success by Six, but I am behind what they are doing one hundred percent. I have a lot of respect for Ms. Baker having found the perfect position for her and so ealry after graduating. It sounds like she started looking early, began to build experience, and worked super hard for something like she has as soon as she knew want she wanted to do.

 

       This is a huge issue everywhere in America, but, as we all know, Alabama isn't exactly at the top of the list for education, and the best way to tackle this problem is through programs like Success by Six that are aimed at the young'uns. It not only benefits the community, but also the children. I'm sure that it isnt fun to struggle in school so early on, live in a low-income family, and be unaware of how to stay healthy at such a young age.

      Success by Six is a great program and I can't wait to see the impact it makes on our community!

      

The Healing Place; Kay Parker

"Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it."

- Tori Amos


"Healing yourself is connected with healing others."

- Yoko Ono

  

 
"The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world."

- Marianne Williamson

 

Healing

 

 

       Kay Parker was someone that I just wanted to go up and hug after class rather than shake her hand. Though she wasn't as strong of a speaker as many of our past speakers, she made up for it with a radiance of caring for others. I can't think of anyone I know with a disposition that would be more suited to work somewhere like the Healing Place.

 

       Thinking about "what [I] would do, even if [I] were not being paid for it" made me think of the discussion we had in my Business Law class that I had just a few hours before this forum; we talked about how we would have to either try and balance what we want to do and what we could do to make the most money, or choose one or the other. Mrs. Parker told us several times that she didn't feel like she was working whenever she helps out at the Healing Place and is very thankful to have found a way to live her passion.

       I would volunteer at the Healing Place just to be immersed in the loving atmosphere, but it also seems like a place to help those who may not receive help elsewhere just because others would not view their struggles as a significant problem. It really seems like they will work with you and your schedule if you want to help out, which is one of the major problems I'm having with finding volunteer work.

       I really appreciated when Mrs. Parker walked us through a way to deal with emotional stress. I had never thought that actually voicing your worries to yourself was such a dire step in the process. She also reinforced what my dad has always taught me: physical release of stress is absolutely crucial in dealing with it. We have a punching bag in our basement and we'll go for a run if we're feeling angry, upset, or stressed. There have been so many times that I have been really upset and I'll go for a run and when I come back I feel like I have put everything to peace or can't even remember why I was upset in the first place.

       I am glad that Mrs. Parker was able to turn her dream into reality and have such great success with it. I hope that I will be able to do the same thing and I'm glad that she shared with us. I'm definitely adding the Healing Place to my list of possible volunteer opportunities!

 

 

 

Civic Engagement Platform

"To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

- Tony Robbins

"Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing."

- Rollo May

 

 

"Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family."

- Virginia Satir

 

 

 

"There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to."

 

- Michel de Montaigne

Communication

 

       Its year two for the UNA Honors Forum and the time has come for us to begin blogging again! I really appreciate that we are able to express our thoughts and responses to the speaker for each in these blogs and this ties into what I've decided to establish as my platform for my Civic Engagement.

 

       I believe that every able person has some sort of obligation to give back to the community through volunteerism because the most efficient community is one within which everyone works together to improve themselves and those around them. Since our first forum meeting I have put a lot of thought into what platform I could establish that I am really passionate about and the more I think about it, the more that I realize that it all circles back to helping others to communicate.

 

       My major is French, which reflects I think that communication is the single most valuable thing in this entire world. Whether is be through language, the spoken word, pictures, gestures, or facial expressions, communication is what brings us all together and is a very empowering thing. In a day and age in which there are millions of forms of communication, there are still countless individuals who struggle with expressing themselves or just telling others what they need to hear. They are many things that can be done to help others to communicate; such as counseling, translating, or just listening and helping others to express to those around them what is in their minds.

 

       A great opportunity that I found on the UNA Honors Program Civic Engagement page was Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). I would like to pursue a career in International Law, so any court-related experience would help me out immensely and this entire program is devoted to help abused and neglected children to make someone aware of their situation that can find a solution.

 

       I'm looking forward to this semester and learning more about the value of Civic Engagement and how to get involved!