https://youtu.be/BN3yzFZ00Ho

Littany Homemakers Write-Up and Reflection

On September 18th and October 9th, our Community Service Group, The Littany Homemakers, visited two different Centre County Transitional Houses to do landscaping for both a shelter and for a first-time homebuyer. We performed activities such as outdoor maintenance (i.e. pulling weeds, planting bushes, and putting down rock paths) and indoor maintenance (i.e. cleaning bathrooms, basement, and fridge). Over the duration of our service projects, we realized the direct importance of service in the State College community.

​The first house our service coordinator, Morgan Wasikonis, organized for us, asked for our services in order to host a meeting featuring Penn State president Eric J. Barron. This first service project was particularly impactful for us because we weren’t sure what to expect. The Centre House was only about a fifteen-minute walk from the hub, and located in the center of Frat Row. We pointed out the glass bottles and cigarettes littered throughout the lawn from the frat houses, and quickly understood the necessity of our job. Under Morgan’s guidance, we spread gravel, put down stone paths, pulled weeds and planted flowers to create a decorative space, and more. In the midst of working, we noticed a little girl watching us from the top window of the Center House and were pleasantly surprised when she started waving at us. It was a great experience seeing one of the faces that would directly benefit from what we were doing.

​The next house we did landscaping for was located in a small State College suburb and was completely empty. This job was a little bit harder because we were trusted to more jobs considering our previous good work. We split into groups with half of us working on indoor maintenance and the other on outdoor maintenance. We crossed several obstacles, for instance, broken window covers full of weeds and thickly overgrown roots, but as a team we were able to overcome and look upon a house that was much better in reflection.

​Our whole experience volunteering with Centre House is one that will stay with us for a long time. We learned a lot about ourselves and about working together as a productive team. We pushed past all our obstacles and made the most of our experience. But, most importantly, we were able to make a palpable change in the community we live in.

Littany Reaction Post

Yesterday in class, the scholars presented their community service projects. There were in total eleven projects presented. Our group, the Littany Homemakers, worked with Centre House Housing Transitions on two occasions. Centre House Housing Transitions is a non-profit organization that offers many housing services to those in need in Centre County. The first day, we did landscaping for a transitional home. The work we did included pulling weeds, moving gravel, planting flowers, and cleaning leaves. It was important that we finished in a timely manner and that everything looked nice because President Barron was giving a speech the next day. On the second day, we helped clean a home for a first home buying family. We did landscape work, cleaned a refrigerator, basement, and bathroom. As a group, we were grateful to have the opportunity to improve the lives of those less fortunate. We are glad to have made an impact on our community and are even more thankful for what we have. After listening to everyone else present their projects, it was satisfying knowing that everyone learned something through their community service and was able to impact the Penn State community in a positive way.

Through this project, we scholars learned that volunteering is important because we live in a world where there will always be someone in need and it never hurts to lend a hand to someone, as we may need someone to lend us a hand in the future. After completing our projects, I believe many groups improved their spiritual emotional health because seeing those less fortunate than us filled us with gratitude and by contributing to the improvement of their lives lifted our spirits in return. Another lesson we learned was how to work as a team. Being able to work with others is an essential skill to develop when going into the workforce. This allowed us to practice that. We all had to cooperate by finding times to meet, volunteer, and work on the presentation. Each person had a role in the project. No one could slack off and we each had to contribute to the project equally for this to be successful. Each group had their obstacles whether it was finding a place to volunteer, schedule conflicts, or lack of communication. In the end, each group did a good job presenting and we made a great impact on our community. Hopefully, we will all continue to make a positive impact in the world.

One of the cardinal things I’ve learned at Penn State thus far is the importance of networking.

Networking is all about the myriad of one-on-one relationships you create, foster, and withhold. Holistically, such connections are vital in expanding your web of interactions.

The most highly regarded stipulation of networking is most often the Elevator Pitch. It’s the brunt introduction that allows you to stay in the minds of potential employers and, ultimately, to sell your brand.

My Elevator Pitch

My name is Cameryn Hunter,

[**it’s important to say full name, we’re not in high school anymore]

I am interested in becoming a service medical professional or epidemiologist,

Because I know my passion for global health will make me me a valuable asset,

I have extensive experience and accomplishments but I am most proud of my time spent at Columbia’s National Youth Leadership Forum of Medicine,

[My noteworthy experience may change as I encounter more academic experiences throughout college]

Anyone who hires me can expect unmatched resiliency, ambition, and an endless thirst for knowledge,

Here are just a few reasons you should refer me: ________,

[Variable to situation but can draw from achievements as a scholar, as an athlete/artist, generally]

I can be reached at cah6056@psu.edu or as Cameryn Hunter on LinkedIn,

Can I have your card so I may follow up?

Thank you.

I’m excited to apply this new skill and cultivate it as I cultivate my own network of relationships!

Core Value #1: Embracing your cultural background while interacting within a multicultural society.

Core Value #4: Establishing identity, developing racial and ethnic identity

Micro-aggressions.

For a number of reasons, Ms. Jeffries’s lecture last class has become my favorite AAAS 003 class thus far. For one, I felt an immediate connection with Ms. Jeffries – perhaps it was the fact that she also grew up in the DMV area, the shared commonality of a first name adduced by superbly creative liberties, or simply that she seemed to radiate the same love for psychology that I’ve grown to harbor. Needless to say, I related to her. Another reason I loved the session was the construction of Ms. Jeffries’s lecture. She told us stories, tested biases, and kept everything entirely interactive – even I, a person who used to conduct psychoanalyses for people as recreation in high school, was caught off guard. It was the first class in which everyone was quiet and attentive. The first class where I knew everyone was engaged, and it was because of Ms. Jeffries’s cultivated skill as an educator to keep people listening. The last reason this class has become my favorite, however, is also the cardinal reason – the concept. In a room full of multicultural students, the concept of diversity is well-accustomed, something truly indicative of identity. Race is the box that we, in particular, have spent our lives checking. It’s the terms that we’re asked about so others can feel politically correct. It’s that word…that word that I haven’t been able to stop saying since I heard it last week… It’s an existence full of micro-aggressions.

I took the implicit bias quiz recommended to us in class twice and was told both times that I am impartial to race. I’m not too surprised by this because in the past year I’ve made an active effort to be impartial. Last year, I was forced to have a lot of open discussions about race with family and friends, and realized that I was just as biased as antagonists if I was not cultured in more than my own perspective. The quiz is tricky, though. It speaks to first impression, the unconscious decisions we make, the preconscious teaching we grow up with. This is the basis of micro-aggressions – the little things people say that cause you to squirm and ruminate. I learned about my natural hair at the same pace as the rest of my predominantly white high school, so ‘Why does it look like that?’s and ‘Can I touch it’s were all too common and rarely corrected. Our conversation about it in class resonated with me on another level.

“Candice, how do I even do it? I’m already struggling.”

“You just do it. You’ll do it. You’ll be fine.”

            The second enumerated AAAS 003 Core Value is “Surviving intellectually” and, in concept, the value comes as naturally to me as my own breath. For as long as I can remember I’ve been opportunistic. My mother always said that I was my grandmother’s daughter, that her intense work ethic had skipped a generation. But, for as long as I can remember, surviving intellectually to me was synonymous with surviving. The only way I could ever work was with my schedule packed, with my classes advanced, and with my opportunities optimized. For me, it was never about fluffing a resume or making my brand palatable – I just found that I thrived in high stakes and turbulence. I craved the feeling of excelling at the highest tier of all that I did. I yearned for the title “intellectual” the same way others might aspire to homecoming court. But that was high school.

“I want to tell you all about one of my students, Candice Crutchfield. She’s a sophomore from Northern Virginia and not only a Bunton-Waller student, but a Schreyer Student.” When Professor Nichols described Candice to our AAAS 003 class, I thought, for a moment, I was hearing my own reflection. I am a Freshman Schreyer and Bunton-Waller student. I am from Northern Virginia. And, before I’d heard of her, I’d been resigned to accept that the two other students I knew of in the dual programs were the only other people who would share this new experience with me. So, as soon as class was over I got her email from the professor and reached out to her. I swear my email could’ve been a Core Value Assignment – it was so long. I wanted to know all about her and where in NOVA she was from. I wanted to ask for advice, I wanted to ask her experience, I wanted to know everything about the scholar who sounded so much like everything I am and aspire to be. I can’t recall my final product email but I know it was a spewing of every stress I’d met since coming here.

As much as I can never admit it, I’d been stressing. In high school, school always came easy. But being ambitious in college is very different than being ambitious in high school. I’m still learning to balance the Schreyer workload, the emails, the activities, and the commitments. And even though I’m just starting, that core value, surviving intellectually, has become a new struggle for me. I’ve realized, more than ever, the importance of prioritizing academics to extra-curriculars – because a lot of the extra-curriculars here feel like academics. Talking to Candice made me realize that I am not the only one struggling with this. She told me that it all comes together, that it’s hard, but everyone finds their way. She sounds like me and looks like me – my reflection, but she’s doing things that I couldn’t even dream of doing

When I asked friends and family what they would tell others about me, I was pleasantly surprised by their feedback. I was met with an amalgamation of positive comments including “If there’s anything fun or interesting you’d want to try than Cameryn is the person to go to”, “She’s hella’ talented and uplifting and creative and overall a great person”, and “An independent minded, level-headed, inquisitive, creative, and big-hearted young woman that’s talented beyond measure”. I was met with a beautiful portrait of myself that I believe may have spoken more largely of the caliber of people I surround myself with than the caliber of my own persona. The comments came with an unshakable confounding variable – the fact that they came from the people who knew me best. I realize, however, that when applying for internships and summer programs and, ultimately, a career in my field of choice, employers most likely will not be those closest to me. But I can’t help but sit in awe of the clear potential perks in even dreaming of warranting the same type of fond casual comments from employers. What if I could even just cultivate that same impression with my social media or reputation. I suppose that’s why fostering a positive yet powerful brand is important – It allows your influence to reach industry before even meeting face-to-face with an employer.

From what I gathered, my current brand rings primarily as charismatic, kind, independent, open-minded, and creative. In high school, I was a track captain, a PEER mentor, and an active thespian, so it’s easy for me to understand where this brand originated. However, college is not high school, and I am by no means doing the same things I did in high school. Though I received a lot of diverse positive comments towards my perceived brand, the single negative cited was the same for every person I asked – “Be more organized. You do too much stuff to not be.” I’ve always been overly ambitious in my workload and activities, and even now I have to take care to monitor thresholds. Our class discussion about personal brands made me realize that if I want to succeed as a recognized professional, first I would need to strengthen the weakness that all brands are founded on – organization.

To do this, I realized that I would need a new resume. In high school, my resume was sculpted to optimize my opportunities in college. I was focusing my brand on a specific audience. But being well-rounded as an individual is much different than being well-rounded as a potential employee. I started a word document to begin recording the activities in college that will replace my activities from high school.

Then, I decided to start building up my online presence, my virtual brand. I’ve never been a huge fan of social media, but I realize now that professional social media is entirely different than recreational social media (though the two can merge). Professional social media allows you to connect and propose and stay in the back of potential employer’s minds just by existing. Going the extra step to create a LinkedIn in itself shows both maturity and ambition, and a lot of the things required to maintain a LinkedIn profile require an accessible and organized portfolio. Everything is connected! So, earlier today, I made my first LinkedIn page and connected to some professors.

All of these things are just tiny steps. They’re all just miniscule building blocks. A proper brand takes time and cultivating and initiative. I possess the character from my high school brand, I know who I am as a person and who those close to me see as a person and who I want to be as a person. But that initiative I mentioned, that is what decides whether my brand ends up looking the way I want it to. It’ll take a lot of initiative to build up my social media and to rebuild my resume and to succeed in my new academic environment. Mastering organization and initiative are my two first brand-dedicated initiatives.

Core Value #10: Take Social Responsibility

In a few glasses of liquor, in a few drunk and heedless decisions, in one night of complete, unadulterated, stumbling, dizzy, vertiginous recklessness, you can lose it all. College kids constantly jeopardize their experiences, their opportunities, their entire lives, no less, because of the mentorship guiding at the bottom of a bottle. Athletes lose the full scholarships they’ve been given by spending significantly less than that on an 8-pack downtown. Students with parents who have taken on the surplus debt of their seed are told they now have to take on the extra $250 fine because their child was caught breaking the Code of Conduct. We get through high school hearing about how fun college is, how much there is to do, how much easier it is to be independent. “Go wild!” Adults advised. “This is the prime of your life!” “Party!” But, I wonder, do the pros of an alcohol-driven lifestyle justify the potential costs?

In our last AAAS 3 class we discussed the Code of Conduct and the potential punishments a person might undergo if caught breaking this code. The lecture made me think a lot about the immense social responsibility thrust upon us, the hefty social responsibility expected of us, immediately upon entering college. I never really partied in high school, particularly because I never had any time — aside from the fact that I’d never cared to. I’ve always been overly ambitious in that, I always feel like there’s something else I could be doing or learning or listening to, and when I’m not doing those things, I’m studying or writing or playing and training for sports or performing in my school’s theater program. Even in high school, I watched plenty of friends attempt a similar load as me, if not more so, but with the amelioration of drugs and alcohol on the weekends. I also watched them fall apart my senior year when they realized that they’d allowed these distractions to become apart of their identity. Alcohol and prescription drugs warped their vision of not only the world, but themselves.My sophomore year, I watched half our senior class nearly lose their entrance into college, let alone financial aid, because they’d decided to completely let loose on prom night.

This is why what really struck me about the Code of Conduct was the way in which it was conducted. The one question I got wrong on the “Code of Conduct Quiz” was “Is the Code of Conduct the same as the law?” and I realize now that my answer “True” fell product of a misconception. The Code of Conduct is a check meant to help students – it’s not the harsh, severe, and absolute law that the negative connotation of its punishments imply. A fine for drinking underage is far kinder than the worst legal punishment for drinking underage. A second chance after disorderly conduct is more than a couple nights in ‘juvi’ could offer. We come to school to get an education. We come here to learn about the professions we aspire and the people we aspire to. It’s important to be safe. It’s vital to be safe. Everyone here wants us to be safe. So actually being safe, that is our newfound social responsibility.

Core Value #4: Establishing Identity

Last week I got to do something I’d never imagined I’d have the opportunity of doing – I was invited, along with several other Freshman peers in the Schreyer’s Honors College, to sit in on an advisory committee meeting at the Nittany Lion Inn and to speak in a student panel for about an hour.

We were asked to come in professional attire and to answer questions about why we chose Penn State, how our experience was thus far, and who we are as people. Through this experience, I was able to implement a lot of the lessons I’d gathered from AAAS – networking and representing. As we talked to the board, a board stocked with esteemed characters such as Dean Bieschke and Associate Dean Kirsch, I realized that I’d spoken to many of them before, that they’d recognized me and that, in that way, I’d ultimately allowed myself to obtain this opportunity. I realized that I’d unconsciously networked. And then, as the six of us on the student panel delved into our own recruitment and acceptance experiences, I suddenly was hit with the sheer importance of this one value – representation. Of the six Schreyer students on the board, I was the only one of color. I was the only one from out-of-state. I was the only one without family at Penn state, the only one who hadn’t interviewed at Schreyer, the only one who wasn’t coming to the school with Penn State as their first choice.

I realized that I was representing a minority, an identity moreover, that the board found unique. “What did you know about the honors college?” “What was your first choice?” “What clubs are you interested in?” “Would you be willing to attend another board meeting?” With every question that board members started to address to me specifically, I realized the wealth that comes with representing a less common voice. I realized that though the voice may be less common, that does not dilute its power. That is what makes the voice attractive, unique.

I often talk to my roommate about how it feels like everyone here is from philly (mostly because we don’t know any other cities here other than that and Pittsburgh). We laugh about how there’s no one from Northern Virginia so we have to advertise our origins with the encompassing title “DMV”. We joke about how it’s weird to see so many Eagles fans instead of Redskins fans, how we still don’t know the difference between State College and University Park. But perhaps those little new experiences are all just advantageous perspectives. Perhaps this adaption I’ll undergo is another layer to my character, another cultivation to my identity. I’m so thankful.

I walked into my first class, fifteen minutes early no less, and everyone was there.

Now, to anyone other than me, this revelation may have been insignificant. To anyone other than me, the concept may read trite. It may read unremarkable. It may read obvious. So typical, probably, that everyone forgets the stipulation in the deed, instead recalling it as something habitual. But, for me, it’s something entirely different. At my high school, everyone poured into morning classes like water from a severed pipe – the force with which we pulsed through the frame to our seats, mere seconds before the bell’s chime, it was so anomalous that ‘coincidence’ was the only word teachers could ever find to explain it (and only after those teachers actually arrived five-to-ten minutes late to class themselves). Coming early to a class at my school was a rarity to say the least.

This first AAAS 3 class provided an answer to the one unanswered question I harbored about college. I’ll relay: A crowd scintillating with studious faces, with ambitious scholars and intellectuals like myself but, get this, they were diverse. Much more diverse than I’d ever experienced in high school. At my school, I was often the only minority in my class. More than once, I’d sat in a surprise Socratic Seminar about #BlackLivesMatter, though the only black person in the room. And when that happens, as much as you try to fight the feeling, you feel like you’re carrying the weight of your culture on your back like some kind of entitled Atlas. You see, I grew up in a place with very little diversity, and so representation sometimes gravely felt like all I had to offer. That’s why it mattered when I saw the representation offered through AAAS. That’s why the punctuality of my classmates hit me. Both were visions, instances that I’d always yearned for, and here they were materialized before me.

Now, I’ll assure you that the class was much more than just a “good first impression.” We briefly assessed core values and the definition of being a scholar. We talked about the personal and academic demands of a Bunton-Waller Fellow as well as examples corroborating. We all offered our own values and our own expectations of ourselves. We all experienced the realest dive into college that I think someone in our positions could experience, and as anxious as some of the class concepts made me feel, the perpetual excitement overpowered that anxiety – excitement because all of these people like me were doing this with me. So, yes it wasn’t just a good first impression, but the first impression was definitely a defining realization for me.

I’m ecstatic just thinking about all that this year has to offer for me. I’m ecstatic thinking about all the opportunities and experiences I’m able to wield. I’m ecstatic thinking about the wisdom my professors have to offer and the friends I know I’m going to continue making. But, most of all, I’m ecstatic to come into class fifteen minutes early to see that everyone’s already there.