Blog #9

I think the best thing that this class has taught me is how to be socially aware. Whether it was the various quizzes we took or the discussions that we had during class taught me to be mindful of things that I am saying or doing. The most important thing that the StrengthsQuest taught me and the discussions that followed were my weaknesses when it comes to leadership. I've never been in too many leadership roles but I believe that when I will be in the future, I'll take the various things that I've learned in this course and be able to connect with people on a deeper level. The class discussions were a great way for me to learn from other people unlike how a normal class would go where the Professor just lectures you for 2 hours and sends you on your way.  I wouldn't normally hear stories and other situations that my classmates have been in, that I will literally never have to experience in my life. Everyone should take this or a class similar to this to be able to open their mind to the fact that not everyone has the same strengths as you. This class teaches useful skills that will be essential for the growth of myself as a person. I've used a few of the things we learned in a separate group project that I had for my Foreign Policy class, being mindful of my strengths and learning the strengths of my group, I believe we were able to be a more successful group compared to if I never took this class. To end, this is a class that teaches real life skills and if applied correctly, these skills can help great amounts for me in the future.

Blog #8: Peck's Theory

When reading about Peck's theory, the first thing that came to mind were the various basketball teams that I played on throughout High School. With team's of any sport there is always a period that the team itself may think they are a lot better than they actually are and have high intentions for the season ahead. This occurred especially in my Junior year. I wasn't exactly the best player so I rode the bench for that year and I saw these stages occur with the starters from the outside looking in. In the preseason, we thought so incredibly high of our team that we thought that we'd walk through competition and make it to our sectional tournament. That dream didn't exactly happen...

Which leads into how for the first five games we didn't record a single win. There was yelling in the locker rooms between teammates and it was simply just not a good environment. Our team continued to butt heads and we fell to a terrible 1-7. As a bench player there wasn't much I could do other than just practice and keep my mouth shut when the Seniors were going on there rants. That leads to the third stage which was us realizing what was working and what wasn't. Our best player was ice cold and obviously needed a reality check. During practice another player called him out, normally this would instantly go south and would end in tempers flaring but for some reason, he took the criticism and changed for the better. That moment is what turned our season around. Eventually we pieced together a record worthy of making the sectional tournament and we were just having fun playing. We ended up losing in our second game but it was clear that we came together as a team and we are all closer friends because of that season.

The biggest key for being on a team is being comfortable enough to give criticism and of course the ability to take it right back. Unless you and your team have played together for years, there is always a feeling out process that takes place. Ours took a little longer than we would've liked but eventually we came together and figured out how to be a team.

Blog #7: Identity

This blog was by far the most difficult for me to write because of exactly what the privilege quiz told me, I am the most privileged but this didn't come as a surprise to me. I am a straight white male, above 6' tall, and I am currently studying out of state at one of the largest universities in the country. Not one of those is a target identity.

I will combine my two most obvious identities, I am a white male. Being a white male, as we went into great detail during class, has far more positives than not. But what this brings to me is an embarrassment of how other people that identify the same as myself treat other groups. Whether it is towards other races or people who are apart of the LGBT community. There is also a lot of unknown for me, with how the lives of people who have it far more difficulty than me day-to-day, I wish that I could understand but I just simply have no idea, which is a shame. The best thing that I can do is show understanding and compassion for those of who struggle on a day-to-day basis with who they are.

My only target identity I can think of is that I am Agnostic. Not that I have any ill-will towards anyone who follows a religion, I just don't really care for it. Being Agnostic has brought multiple jokes with how I'm going to hell and other things to that effect. Not that it's the worst thing it's just a little annoying. My father passed away almost two years ago and that was a test for someone who identifies as me. Many people's first reaction with death is to go to God or their religion for guidance but I didn't have that to fall back on.