Personal Narrative: My Community

I believe you can achieve anything you want in life with hard work, dedication, and passion. There are many experiences I have gone through that have helped shaped who I am today. I may not have control over certain situations, but I have a choice on how it affects me.

It was the beginning of my freshman year and I did not know how to help prepare for my future. When I found out about this assignment we had to do for our Learning Community class I know I needed to start attending events on campus to just get this paper over with. I heard about the Business Tri-Rush and I thought it would be a good event to go to and write about. The talk about Tri-Rush was insane. I heard people talking about it from almost everywhere in Copeland. There were always people in Copeland sitting behind tables advertising the event and there was even a geo-filter on snap chat of this. My best friend is also in a Business Fraternity here and only has good things to talk about.

Walking away from everything you once knew and starting over is never a picnic. Leaving Iraq, and moving to America has impacted my life more than anything. I was only 4 years old at that time, and the only English I spoke was “excuse me, water please.” My family and I did not know it then, but our lives were going to change; we would become “Americanized”. Learning English was one of the massive changes that occurred, the way I dressed (culture), and even the way I had power to go to school and educate myself.

In metropolitan urban communities, plagued with economic hardships, social injustice, and violence, rising out of those communities is glorified as the greatest achievement one could earn. In fact, most of my family members and peers congratulated me for being accepted into UNC-Chapel Hill with phrases like, “you made it” and “it’s over.” But, I knew different. I was well aware that attending UNC-Chapel Hill, the first public and most prestigious university in NC would be substantially different than the conditions of my hometown. No longer was I around the likes of my melanin, socioeconomic status, or cultural background, and adjustment proved to be difficult. During my first year a UNC, I endured social isolation, homesickness, academic hardship,

I have always taken great pride in my ability to bring myself out of poverty and to become a well-rounded person. I have suffered through many obstacles along the way, and with great determination, I have been able to overcome them. I know that I have been fortunate and I never take that for granted. Friends and family are a great support system and I am blessed to have the best of both. I work very hard to instill strong beliefs into my children and their friends. It is very important to me that I give back to the community. Understanding social culture and economic provides and even greater sense of wanting to help those that need it. I volunteer through my work with Habitat for Humanity and the Houston Food Bank. My daughter also volunteers

I am a PhD student at the Dalla Lana School for Public Health at the University of Toronto. I work as a research coordinator under the supervision of your former colleague Dr. Julia Woodhall-Melnik. Dr. Woodhall-Melnik has recommended the Communications and Dissemination Research Assistant position on "The Community Ideas Factory Project" to me as she knows I am interested in continuing my work in this area. I have two years of experience in knowledge creation and dissemination from institutions such as St. Michael’s Hospital, and I can use the skills I have built to help you on this project.

One tip from the book that I would very much like to implement into my own life is "create time together." While I believe all of the lessons and tips from the book are very interesting and have a lot of validity, this lesson made sense to me right away. There are many other tips in the book that I believe go along with this one, such as 'make a date,' 'identify your inner circle,' 'get closer,' and many others. Humans are social beings, and throughout the book we are told repeatedly how much of an impact having a close group of friends, a close family, and an overall close community is beneficial. The idea that creating a feeling of belonging impacts your lifespan in such a way makes sense to me, as it certainly can be a way of creating emotional and mental well being.

On another task to look at the community, we had to broaden our world. Instead of going around and interviewing professors, we have to interview people in and around the Durant area. We got a list and had to pick from that list. I was hoping that someone from the Church would be on the list. Looking over it, no name sounded familiar. However, one person in our group knew someone on the list, which gave us a leg to stand on. Our chosen person was located in Calera, and went by the name Samuel Sanchez.

My community involvement started my Freshman year of High School when I began helping with the Miller Keystone blood drive. I was too young to donate but I did my part by helping sign others up. During my sophomore year it became more of a club and they trained us more so we could be a bigger help. I worked at the canteen, this continued up to this year. I have donated twice so far and plan to donate once more in May.

Identity is what I believe the thing that makes up all human beings. Everybody has an identity, some just aren't as brisk to comprehend what it is or what it means. Identity is generally what someone's traits make up and in my case, I believe I am benevolent, venturesome, and optimistic. Some of the qualities I consider myself to have are not what I would have considered myself to be last year. I believe life lessons that someone undergoes can change their identity and the way they come off drastically.

Community has a very strong positive connotation attached to it. A community bonds together when one falls. The true reliance an individual has with their own community runs deeper than any explanation can explain. It is because so many people often forget this connection, that I have taken the most drastic measures to immerse myself with my whole faction. The easiest yet most beneficial involvement that I have had with my community is through tutoring. Teaching a child, or even an adult, makes each individual in the population a stronger contributor to society. As one who struggles with family finances, I cannot put a price on knowledge.The payment of my tutoring is in the brightening faces of those individuals that see the connection.

My diverse background allows me to see both sides of the spectrum. One day I live in the suburbs of the city that I live in. I see old white males in drive around in their corvettes and think about what it would be like to have one of my own. Another day I see poverty. I see urban areas. I see what it’s like to not have anything. I see the quality of life that the people in the suburbs would not have the experience of living in.

An important part of every humans life is having something they believe in. Having something to care about is essential for people to reach their full potential in life. People need a special person in their life, or a great job that sparks passion in them to bring them happiness. There are many of these types of passions in my life but to better understand who I am, there isn't just one, there are three people who have shaped the young adult I am today. My two little sisters and my little brother. However they aren't exactly normal siblings, they were given to us by the City of Cincinnati for temporary care, while their mothers tried to recover from heroin addiction and battled in court to explain why their child was hospitalized because of a lack of food.

Who am I? I’m I considered African or African American? So what is my social identity? Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s). Social groups such as family, organizations, sports team, etc plays an important role a person’s pride and self esteem. Interacting in such groups gives us a sense of belongingness, which leads to our social identity in the social.

How many different “hats” do we each wear on a daily bases. From our careers, to our family and friends we all have different identities that we claim and live out day to day. These identities help us define who we are. “When we identify ourselves, we draw on a host of different characteristics associated with various social groups to which we belong” (King 2012, pg. 429). My ornament is explaining the social identity through a snow-women and her many hats.