Angelica's World

I've been preparing to go back to school for my senior year (what?!) for a little while but nothing made it more definitive that summer was over and my NYU life was getting back in action than today being my last day at work.

I have been incredibly fortunate to have such a great summer job. I worked at the Long Island Spectrum Center -- an alternative treatment center for children with disabilities, primarily Autism. I have learned so much in the just three months of employment there. The approach that LISC takes is different from any I've seen. The office is run like a doctor's office so all our work is done one-on-one with the children so I have been extremely fortunate to have gotten to know so many amazing children. The children who come in are very different from one another but they are all so great and have each taught me a ton! And, their families are such terrific people who have enhanced my summer experience more than I ever planned.

Needless to say, I have had a great summer and loved going to work. The small staff gets along great and we're always having fun, laughing, and working as a team. If that doesn't make leaving difficult, I don't know what does. Oh wait...how about walking out after treating my last client to a cake, a plaque, flowers, and a gift?!!! I was never expecting all of that but it means the world to me! Some of the parents also gave me hugs and kisses and thanked me and all of that makes my job even more rewarding than it already is.

Now that work is done, I have two days to finish packing and getting ready to move back on the 15th to begin my RA training and then my final year as an undergraduate...how quickly life goes! Fortunately, mine has been filled with so many unique, amazing experiences :)

YAY!!! I moved in yesterday--the best, easiest move-in yet--and started training last night. I am officially a Resident Assistant and I am super fortunate to have an awesome staff. There are 30 RAs in our building, one of the largest at NYU, and we all mesh so well and have been getting along great...tons of fun!

We still have a LOT of training in store for us, and a lot of eatting at Palladium, and a lot of icebreakers and team building activities, but it should totally be a fun, interesting, educational week. I'm really excited about working here this year and especially working with everyone else on my staff.

Just wanted to give a quick update on back to school and my SENIOR year but there will DEFINITELY be more where this came from in the next few weeks :)

This past Sunday was Move-In Day for all NYU Freshmen which meant that I acquired about 36 new students to be responsible for. The day ran more smoothly than I think anyone could have imagined and when we had our first floor meeting Sunday evening, I got to meet all of these incredible people. Everyone is so different but has joined our floor with a common interest and goal in mind--to help and serve others.

All week my Co-RA and I have been taking our residents to various Welcome Week events to help them get involved in the NYU community. Wednesday we went to an interactive workshop called Theater for Social Change which was facilitated by an Educational Theater faculty member who demonstrated to us the effectiveness of using theater (games) to open up dialogue about diversity and social justice issues. It was a very powerful session that my Co-RA and I are hoping to bring to our entire floor community this year.

That evening we brought students to a Spoken Word Poetry Slam which everyone seemed to really enjoy. We then learned about the Hip-Hop Theater Festival taking place September 23-October 11. This event was reintroduced to us last evening when we went to a screening of "On the Outs"--an extremely powerful film that follows the lives of three teens who get caught up with drugs, teenage pregnancy, and violence, and end up in and out of juvenile detention centers (definitely watch it). Following the screening, our Faculty Affiliate joined us for a discussion about the issues addressed in the film and it was incredible to see the open dialogue that my residents had. Our conversation touched upon many things and everyone contributed something very valuable to it. My Co-RA and I are extremely excited for this year because after only 5 days of knowing these wonderful people, we see the interest, intellect, and curiosity they are bringing to our floor and we can only what we will be able to learn this year.

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me (and my residents) because social justice and community service are things I am very interested in and passionate about learning more about and I really think that I will be able to do that this year. But perhaps more importantly, I will be able to do it with a group of students who feel similarly and I (along with my Co-RA and Faculty Affiliate) get to be the person who provides them with this experience.

Two entries ago I wrote about how I had just moved in to my new residence hall and was getting ready for training to become a Resident Assistant. Well, the week was very successful and educational. I absolutely LOVE my staff and really think we're going to have a great year together. I got to meet some people from other building staffs and participate in workshops and info. sessions about many of the situations I may be dealing with this year. And, last Thursday night Residential Education hosted a trip to Chelsea Piers for all of the NYU RAs to go bowling. It was so much fun and my staff even started our own dance party...and I tied with someone else in my lane for the highest score (but it wasn't even very high, though I broke 100, so I'm not going to share it). Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick recap since I just talked about my excitement and anticipation in my last training entry.

OutReach is a community service program I am EXTREMELY involved with. It completely changed my college experience and is a program I feel very passionate about. Basically OutReach is an introduction to community service in NYC for new NYU students (freshmen and transfers) that they participate in for 4 days prior to Welcome Week. The selection process is rather difficult as we try to keep the program somewhat small so everyone can get to know one another, and all of the leaders are prior OutReach participants.

I was a participant going into my freshman year then became a leader and coordinator, and then just maintained the role of coordinator for the follow two years. Basically I have helped to organize and run the entire program which I absolutely love. However, this year I did much of the behind-the-scenes work but was unable to attend the program because it overlapped RA training. I was really upset about it but tried to get over to as much of OutReach as I could.

I attended the guest speaker (who is also the Faculty Affiliate of my floor), their big Saturday project which was a carnival for children in the Starlight Children's Foundation hosted on our campus, as well as the tail end of the Saturday evening wrap-up. I heard some really great feedback from this year's OutReach participants and leaders and am so excited because four of the participants are actually living on my floor this year!

Essentially what we do at OutReach is divide the 75 participants up into 12 groups, each run by two leaders, that participate in three different community service projects (the third being the big final one on Saturday with the whole group) during the day and then engage in reflections before going out with their group to explore NYC at night. It's a truly phenomenal program and certainly an amazing way to kick-off your college experience. Almost everyone walks away from it a changed, more enlightened person, and says that their closest friends from college are the ones they met at OutReach--and my situation is no different. I just wish I could continue to be a part of the program in the future because it feels like it has become my baby since I've been here and it was really hard for myself, and all the other seniors in the program, to accept that it is our senior year and we do have to pass the torch and watch the flame grow! But I am certainly excited to do that because I know I'm leaving OutReach in great hands!