Reflecting on a road less traveled - the road of a CES


A big shout out and thank you to all the CESs that made it to the reflection last night. With a focus on, essentially, what your road traveled as a CES has been and what the legacy you are leaving behind is, we tried to get everyone to think and reflect on the progress they have made and what they have learned on their CES journey. Since next reflection we will be meeting and coming together with Mary Jane's next saga or installment of engaged students, we tried to come full circle and get people to reflect in order to determine how their efforts have paved the way for their followers, for the Mary Jane Institute in general, and also how their expectations, successes, roadblocks, etc. have not only contributed to their respective programs, but also their self growth, and development as an individual. Together, the culmination of our experiences and tribulations compile the many significant footprints that we have all left on the CES road, and thus the legacy we are leaving behind as we venture out into the world to tackle new challenges and adventures. On that note, we wish you all the best of luck! You are all inspiring, intelligent, and influential people that are developing the tools to change the world. Don't forget it, and continue on your journey with an open mind and an open heart.

What up!

So after our reflection I went home to eat (Jasmine, you are right, warm food is the best) dinner with a former CES, my best friend and girlfriend, Karla Aguilar.  Debriefing about your day with a friend, peer, classmate, CES (HINT HINT), etc may help put your thoughts, ideas, concerns into a better perspective. Vicky is right, take care of yourselves first!

Happy Friday!

-Michael (inside joke)

Stress Management: A Short Introduction by Callie and Cheyenne

CES: A Good Balance

A pre-reflection activity!

Reflection #4 Summary

Written by Andrea Satchwell | February 2013

The reflection began with a summary of what everyone is doing lately with their programs: any problems or good things, just a general summary of how the quarter has been. We talked a little about what we've accomplished since the beginning of the year. I think this was really helpful to most people. It gave us all a clearer picture of what's going on with service learning as a whole. I know that I benefitted from hearing what other programs are up to.

Because we had such a low turnout compared to what we planned for, Vicky and I scrapped the format we agreed on earlier and just chatted as one big group. We talked about ideas for collaborations, and how those collaborations could be helpful to different groups. A few tentative plans were made for collaborations spring quarter.

We specifically talked about FIRE's First Fridays, and about how the CESs would probably like going to those more often. FIRE and El Sol talked about working with Cesar's after-school program. The Woodward PALS program discussed perhaps working with Partners in Art. Farms to K and KDO discussed working on a few activities together. CAPS essentially invited everyone to collaborate at some point because we have Saturday tutoring sessions in need of some variety.

I think all in all it was a very productive reflection. 

Written by Vicky Sebastian | February 2013

This reflection was awesome! It definitely benefited all of us to hear what other CESs are doing. The reflection gave us a space to celebrate our achievements or struggle through to finding solutions for some of the problems we have. It established a better connection within each other. 

Chris reached out to us to help him find more tutors for his program. (Usually, the El Sol Team would usually just ask each other for help). This allows us to reach a larger body of students, that otherwise the El Sol team couldn't reach alone.

Bridgett invited us to First Friday's @ FIRE and asked us to circulate by email and word of mouth. She was having trouble with people showing up for FIRE events and last Friday she had a pretty good turnout.

These are two solid examples in the recent things that came out of the reflection. Like Andrea wrote,  we talked about bigger collaborations between the programs for Spring. I wish we could have gone beyond talking about planning. I think we need to remind each other that we'd all like to make this happen, how beneficial it would be for our programs, and hold each other accountable in making this happen. I know that it's 9th week and maybe this isn't something we want to take on this quarter (I don't really know), but definitely, Spring Quarter, we should sit down, plan, and make this idea a success. 

Reflection #3 Summary

Written by Jessica McInchak | February 2013

6th week of winter quarter is half-way through the year and presented a good chance to think about what we've accomplished in our programs so far and also what challenges we're still up against, I know this is something on my mind as a CES often, personally.  To do this kind of thinking in a structured way, we had 11 cards with categories ranging from communication to measuring impact to having fun to doing "critical" service-learning and three categories to rank them, including got it right/working well, current  challenges, and spring/long-term goals.  CES's were grouped as similar programs to collaborate and share thoughts/advice about how each index card category is effecting their program this year.  I think this reflection was effective because it allotted time for CES's to think about their programs in a less-stressed, not task-orientated way that we can often get caught up in through the week when we have to-do lists to accomplish for our programs.  Conversation was productive and brought up important (and sometimes sensitive, over-due) issues within groups.  To conclude as a group, each group wrote one stand-out card for each of the three categories and shared a bit about how/why they ranked it there.  And Shwarma was delicious, too, thanks for picking it up!

Written by Sashae Mitchell | February 2013

Since Jessica already did a fine job laying out what we did at the Reflection, I will share my thoughts about the reflection. This reflection was done at a good time as it gave us an opportunity to evaluate ourselves and our programs in order to continue to work towards creating impacts in our communities. I see the CES Reflections as a place for us to learn from each other and talking about our strengths in terms of what has been going well, was certainly a way to do so. In addition, it is essential for us to highlight areas that have not been going well so that we can actively discuss potential ways to improve. It was also good to set goals for the future, in order to have clear things that we need to work towards. Most people indicated that they would like to work towards creating sustainable programs which can sometimes be a challenge but nonetheless, something we can aspire to. Overall, this reflection gave us the opportunity to reflect on the year so far and the way forward. 

Reflection #2 Summary (Bridgett and Audrey's Goal Visualization Reflection)

Written by Audrey Slough | January 2013

1) The reflection's theme was "Goal Visualization" and asked CESs to put the goals that they have for their programs (be them for reflection or otherwise) down on paper.

2) We began by checking in with each other and discussing our highs and lows. This set the tone for a comfortable atmosphere. We then did a goal visualization for CES reflection meetings, outlining the goals we had for our reflections and for our work together as a collective of individuals working in social justice. Our last activity was to use the ideas Bridgett and I demonstrated for goal visualization to outline the goals we had for our programs and how we would accomplish those goals. Each CES presented one of their goals and talked about how they would achieve it.

3) The group was smaller than usual, and this lent itself to a more intimate atmosphere then some other reflections. The other CESs found the group activity of visualizing our goals as a collective beneficial because it highlighted common goals and reinforced our group identity. We also received positive feedback on the individual activity of visualizing individual program goals as it helped to see those goals written down on paper.

4) Bridgett and I both felt really good about the reflection and were extremely pleased with the level of participation we got from the CESs present. When we talked about our goals for the group as a whole in terms of reflection, I think everyone had something to contribute which was great. We would have liked for more CESs to have attended, however.