Assignments for 7/12

THINK:

What communities are you a part of?
How does your participation in those communities relate to who you are?
What do these communities achieve?
How do online and offline aspects of the community relate to one another?

 WRITE:

Journal Entry (5): ‘My Real, Virtual, and Ideal Communities’

5 Responses to Assignments for 7/12

  1. qwd5014 says:

    Quentin D’Adderio
    Phil 003

    I’m a citizen of many involved communities, including the lifeguarding community, the college community, and the basketball community among others. Each of these associations has played differing roles in my development as a person and active citizen in the communities themselves. I’ve been involved in the communities for a long time to the point where I’m not sure if my personality is a result of my involvement in these communities or my involvement in the communities is a result of my personality to begin with. I suppose it’s a combination of the two.
    The lifeguarding community, a group of workers with a common purpose to ensure pool safety, has been a group that has taught me new skills as well as a better understanding of responsibility. With patron’s lives in our hands we have developed a set of skills in first aid and rescue to ensure we stay true to our communities purpose to keep people safe. Our community is one that is open to new ideas and evolving as new and more efficient medical techniques and rescue skills come to light. The internet and the ability to rapidly spread ideas has allowed the lifeguarding community to advance and constantly keep lifeguards up to date on training.
    My newfound college community has already had a major impact on my life. Not only has the community changed my lifestyle in multiple ways but it’s already forced me to grow as a person and find a responsible level of independence. The community has expanded my social horizons as I’ve been introduced to other college students from all over the world and met people I never would have been able to meet otherwise. The community also offers a vast pool of knowledge and people who share similiar ideas as me giving me a chance to grow intelectually. The diversity of the college community has expanded my view of the world and given me a better understanding of myself. The community itself aims to give people the support and resources to transition from young students to young members of the global workforce. I think the community has done a good job of meeting this goal. Again the online aspect of the community allows for a wealth of ideas to be shared and that allows for great mental growth. The internet also has allowed the social scene in the community to develop through sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. While the internet prescence in the community has continued to play a larger and larger role, the person to person interaction and offline aspects of the community are still where the root of the college experience lies. While being connected online is great resource I think its best not to overdo it and rather use the internet as a means of connecting face to face and making the offline aspects of the community better.
    Finally the basketball community has played yet another role in my development as a a person. The goal of the basketball community is to offer a place for fun competition. While this community may not seem as serious as the aforementioned communities it still has played a large role in determing who I am as a person. It’s connected me with some of my best friends and also given me an outlet where I can showcase my leadership and teamwork abilities in ways that I can’t in other environments. The community has taught me to be a better motivator and to better motivate myself and push through limitations, whether they be physical fatigue or a lack of focus in some other area of my life. The online aspects of the basketball community, like basketball blogs, sneaker sites, and sports sites keep me and other members up to date on what’s going on with the professional members of the basketball community and serving as inspiration for me and the lesser skilled members in the community.

  2. Morgan Dreisch says:

    also, the online aspects relate to offline aspects because we would always plan/communicate online. and sports wise, we would always post encouraging statuses on the day of a game. it connected us and helped us to support our team.

  3. Morgan Dreisch says:

    I have a habit of involving myself into communities/clubs/activities a lot. I just joined the Blue and White Society so I can be part of things like THON and the Homecoming here. at my old school I was literally involved in everything at one point or another. It is not a habit I feel regret towards. Though it sometimes makes me overwhelmingly busy, it keeps me involved and gives me something to do with my free time. I am looking to be involved in some sort of athletic community as well. I find that I do better academically when I am also busy being involved in other things. My best grades came from the season where I held a leadership position in my 2 sports and had a job on top of all of the clubs and committees I was part of. I enjoy it. I have always let it define me, because it’s one of the things I am most proud of.

  4. Jacob Jayne says:

    I consider myself to be apart of many communities. Before I moved here, I was a part of my hometown, Dallastown’s, community but now I am part of an even larger community which is Penn State. I have grown to love this community for the few weeks I have been here. THON is one thing that I am going to be getting involved with and as soon as I am, I become part of an even larger community. I don’t know of any other community I would like to be apart of. Below this Penn State community, it branches off into two other subsets that I am a part of. I consider myself part of the academic community because I’m in college to learn more and expand my education. However, I do enjoy going out and having a good time when I am not learning. I feel like all of my community connections are going to help me grow as a person.

  5. jca5211 says:

    I like to think of myself as a well-rounded individual, so I think I am involved in many communities. One community that I am a big part of now and is new to me is the Penn State community. I dont think I have ever been a part of something as great as what is going on here. Everyone has so much pride that they are involed in this community that I cannot help but get excited about becoming a part of it. I am also involved in my community back in Oxford quite a bit. My participation in these communities has been meaningful to me. It is an important value of mine to get involved in my community, and cant wait to join so many clubs in the fall here at PSU. The Penn State community achieves so much all over the world its remarkable. THON is one of these. They have raised so much money for the kids that it makes me want to get involved with this.

Leave a Reply