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Philosophy Statement: Understanding Myself

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Philosophy Statement With everything that I have done and everything I want to do, I try to remember that understanding starts with you. You have to put yourself in situations to learn, you have to do your research, you have to be willing to be wrong, you have to be willing to change, and most importantly, you caring about people is the first step of beginning to understand. The work that I am involved in are all reflections of me trying to understand my identities, how they were created, and how they continue to exist and mingle with other identities that I hold and that I do not hold. Being a Black woman from Saginaw, Michigan that is from a multiracial low income family that battles domestic abuse, mental health illness, health issues, …show more content…

My college experiences has allowed me to read theories and learn about institutional issues and then go to interact with people directly influenced through established programming. While this is not the only way to learn, this method is one that many people who are not in college will not get to experience. People can go online to learn about people and issues but may not have direct access and guidance on how to interact with other identities without doing more damage. Some of the programs, organizations, and classes that have impacted my life are Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), Telling It, EPIC Program, National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), Trotter Multicultural Center (Trotter), Language and Discrimination. These experiences were valuable to me because they helped me understand parts of myself and helped me connect with people of different experiences than my …show more content…

When I came to college, like most students, I was premed. After learning about people, policy, and systems, I decided to pivot into research instead. My idea of research was limited to chemistry beakers and biology colonies. Taking classes in research and learning how people are discriminated against in many ways, including their language, fueled my desire to get into the field. Through classes such as PCAP and Telling It, I would facilitate workshops with great people, but I would leave at the end of the semester. These experiences enhanced my desire to work with people and build long lasting community connections. Before PCAP and Telling It, I wanted to start connections where I can research low income minority adolescents and present the research to the community to figure out how to solve issues they may be facing. This can be in the form of starting interventions, after school programming, altering policy, and other forms. This goal still holds true, but PCAP and Telling It has expanded my view and made me pivot to wanting to also work with younger children, juvenile youth and adults that went to jail with they were youth. Being a research will also be helpful if I decide to start or be the director of programs that participate in social change as well. These experiences has made certain values such as acceptance, accountability, creativity, integrity, courage, ethical, and transparency hold

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