Olivia
Psychology Undergraduate |
Olivia
Psychology Undergraduate |
It has been roughly one week since we have returned from our short-term study abroad trip to the Dominican Republic. The first few days were definitely an adjustment, specifically with the food and weather. The food in the Dominican was so fresh and delicious! This trip has definitely made me want to continue eating fresh foods, however, many fruits and vegetables don't taste nearly as good home as they do in the Dominican Republic! This is especially true for aguacates (avocados). I scoured the grocery store looking for an avocado similar to those in the DR and was able to find a Florida avocado which is the most similar I could find—still not the same though! As for the weather, it is pretty evident that Buffalo, New York is a bit different than Cabarete. I did not think the weather change would impact me much as I enjoy the cold and was almost looking forward to snow. I was very wrong. I have never turned my heat up so high. I typically keep it at 68 year-round but it was increased to 72 very quickly upon my return. I was cozied up in several blankets, warm sweaters, and socks. The weather was quite an adjustment! The ocean and warm weather is definitely missed. While in the Dominican, I was able to grow immensely both personally and professionally. I spoke in my pervious blog about my progress in my two goals: team-work and implicit biases. These were personal but they also cross over into professional growth. Being able to work effectively in a group setting better enables me to excel in a research lab. Research often requires communication and collaboration, meaning teamwork is an important skill to have. Thus, this personal growth will help me professionally as I am involved in many research projects/labs currently and want to work as a research assistant in my gap year following graduation this Spring. It does not stop there, however, as during my gap year I will be applying to graduate school in developmental psychology. Ph.D. programs are often heavily laden with research. Further, I want to remain in academia and pursue teaching after earning my graduate degree. Teamwork will be a necessity throughout all of these steps. Additionally, I worked on minimizing my implicit biases. This is, of course, personal but it can also be considered professional growth. It is important to minimize biases before conducting research and teaching as I do not want these biases to influence my research or treatment of students. Implicit biases are not explicit and therefore it is not obvious that they exist without introspection and honesty. Through this study abroad experience I can safely say that I have lessened my biases, however, the work does not end here. I think it is important to always keep yourself in check and understand biases because we all have them. We can’t make them disappear over a two-week period and therefore I will continue to be introspective and self-aware.
This trip has been an amazing experience that I think I will always look back on fondly. This was not an easy trip by any means, but it has challenged me and facilitated personal and professional growth.
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Lens 1 Prompt: To review, my two main goals for the IPDS Dominican Republic trip were to get more exposure to diverse cultures, thus decrease my implicit biases, as well as become a better team-player. Before beginning this experience, I had not worked with many people of different races/ethnicities/backgrounds as me. During my gap years between Fredonia and Buffalo State, I was a banker. The banking industry is typically plagued by white people; therefore, I was not exposed to many different populations during these years. Even while working in childcare, the diversity was minimum from my experience. Because of this, I was very excited for this trip. After taking the implicit biases tests last semester, I was very taken aback and disappointed in myself. Though I know that implicit biases do not equate to prejudices, I knew a main reason for this was the lack of diversity in my environments. I learned through this experience though, that yes, we all have different experiences in life, but we are also all people, and we all want to connect. Even with the language barriers, I connected with so many people during this trip, regardless of their backgrounds or skin color. I think the more we are exposed to people different than us, the more we can learn from others as well as foster kindness and love for one another. And of course, a test cannot tell you everything about your thoughts and feelings, however, I just took the implicit biases test again tonight and: “Your responses suggested no automatic preference between African Americans and European Americans.” My second goal of the trip was to improve my ability to work with others as a team. I think I have grown tremendously in this department. Considering the bulk of our experiences have depended on our collaboration with one another on lessons, activities, excursions, and even day-to-day life, we all had to adapt to a more collectivistic mindset. From planning English lessons for first graders with Emily to living with four girls for two weeks, team building has definitely occurred. I think a monumental team building exercise for me this trip was the kayaking experience. Even though we were much further behind than everyone else, we were constantly communicating and practicing patience with each other. Even when one of us would make a mistake, the other corrected them graciously and continued on. I also learned from this that the product isn’t always the most important part of an experience. The epic failures and subsequent laughs were worth so much more than our kayaking record time (which is, of course, non-existent). Overall, I am very proud of my growth throughout this trip, especially in regards to these two main goals. A major takeaway from this trip for me is that it's actually amazing to be apart of a close knit team. Yes, we bicker and we have our "icks" with each other but we are still a sisterhood through and through. I am so thankful for the friendships I have gained and grew through this trip.
And lastly, I wanted to add some really happy photos of me (most involving animals since I am an ANIMAL person). This trip has been a rollercoaster of emotions but there has been so much good and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
We have been spending a good amount of our time during our trip at the Mariposa DR Foundation (MDRF). This is a non-profit foundation that focuses solely on girls 18 and under, as girls are the most powerful force for change. In fact, during their morning circles they chant “I am the most powerful force for change” in both English and Spanish together. It is common for women to have children in their teens and subsequently miss the opportunity to get an education. This perpetuates a patriarchal society. Additionally, when women are able to get an education, they typically have less children. This can have an immense impact on the environment due to overpopulation, which leads to more factory farming. Factory farming has been shown to be one of the most harmful factors towards global warming along with fossil fuels and deforestation. With a decrease in the population comes a decrease in the need for factory farming. MDRF is aware of the impact of factory farming and the consumption of animal products on the environment and therefore only serves plant-based food on their campus; I really enjoyed the plant-based meals they served! While at MDRF I was paired with Emily, and we were placed with a group of young girls for our time there. We were able to practice gardening, ballet, music, weaving, and kickball with them. Although the gardening involved some fire ant bites, it was fun to dig in the dirt with the girls and plant some flowers near the foundations entrance. Ballet was taught by a ballerina originally from New York City. I was surprised at how much of a workout ballet was but enjoyed doing it to encourage the girls to give it their all. For weaving, we were able to make a craft that I can take home! The craft was therapeutic as it is very repetitive, I will most likely use their craft in the future when working with kids and planning activities. Kickball may have been my favorite of them all. I was on a team with a girl who did not seem to feel very confident in her abilities, thus I worked extra hard to show her that if I can do it, she can do it. She seemed much happier after my second point earned for the team and gave me a smile and a big thumbs up. It was a great feeling to become close with some girls in our group. Some became attached to Emily, and some became attached to me. I loved knowing that I am making an impact and forming real relationships with the girls here. Our entire cohort was also with the sixth graders a lot during our time at MDRF. When paired with them we were involved in a cooking class where they learned how to make granola. The purpose of this lesson was to become familiar with the measurements of food and therefore during the lesson we were all grouped with a few girls to ensure they were using the cups and spoons correctly. They needed little correction though as they were very independent. Emily, Andrea, Anna, and I were with some of the sixth graders during our last day in which we observed the students in their coding class and another cooking lesson. To end our time at MDRF, the entire cohort and sixth grade class made hand butterflies on a long roll of paper for the foundation to keep. It was a nice way to end our time there and leave something for them to remember us.
One of the schools we have been visiting is 3 Mariposas Montessori (3MM). I had little knowledge about Montessori schools before this trip, other than some TikTok mom's and a review of Montessori during our class last semester. Thus, when before arriving at 3MM, I had little expectations, though was still shocked at what I saw. The moment you walk in you are transported to an oasis--it feels so calm. Not to mention--there are several cats just roaming the grounds that Sarah (the founder and foundation director) feeds, along with dogs that are let out to roam on the grounds once school ends for the day. The educational philosophy of Montessori was developed by Maria Montessori. She opened the first Montessori school in 1907 in Italy. This philosophy has spread around the word and is the method of education that 3MM lives by. The class names are as follows: 1-3 is “El Nido”, 3-6 is “Primary”, 6-9 is “Lower Elementary”, and 9-12 is ”Upper Elementary”. Each group has their own building dedicated to their age-appropriate educational materials/tools. While at 3MM, we have conducted observations of these 4 classrooms. The 1–3-year-olds, deemed "El Nido" (the nest), was the classroom I most looked forward to. For this classroom, I got permission to take a photo of the observation room. For each classroom, besides the 9-12 room (due to construction), we were in an observation room behind a two-way mirror. During all observations, I was paired with Andrea and we were able to discuss and take notes on the classes. For the 1-3 classroom, we both noted the excellent balance and gross motor skills of the children. Additionally, the children were able to pick up their materials off the shelves and, when finished, place everything back the way they had originally found it. When using their materials, they were careful and deliberate. For instance, one child was using the small animal figurines. Instead of dumping all of the animals out on their mat, they carefully picked each up at a time, examining them, then setting them with clear intent on their mat. We also were able to witness a child who was not able to complete a task: placing a paper they did not need back into the vertical folder. Instead of the guide (teacher) doing it for them, the guide took the child's hand and assisted them with placing the paper back: hand-over-hand to practice the skill. For the 3-6 classroom, again we saw the children carefully cleaning after themselves. I took note that even though independence and individualism is emphasized at 3MM, the children can often be seen sharing and caring for one another. Individualism doesn’t seem to be taught by competitiveness or status but rather building their abilities to care for themselves and grow into caring individuals. We observed some children drifting away from their task and being silly, however, the guide did not step in and without intervention, the children returned to their task shortly after their giggles. For the 6-9 classroom, the children were all working on mats with their materials. The children were seen working solo or in pairs and continued on were focused and engaged. Similar to the 3-6 group, they exhibited much prosocial behavior. For the 9-12 classroom, calming instrumental music played in the background, similar to classes 3-6 and 6-9. In addition to music, we were greeted by the smell of calming incense. This classroom is temporarily in a room next to the offices because their room is currently under construction. This is the first room Andrea and I observed and we noticed the student’s ability to move and explore. In a traditional school, children are most often expected to sit still and take notes. One student stood out to me as he moved between two different tables as he saw fit, however he was still on task. He seemed to have more energy than his peers but the environment allowed him to move a bit to stay focused. It was refreshing to see. Lens 2 Prompt: We have also been conducting research as part of the trip. My research focuses on types of aggression that the teachers witness in their classrooms, be it relational or physical. I am also looking at how culture impacts this aggression. When we are back home, I will be interviewing some teachers at a local Montessori school to compare the two countries. We were able to interview the teachers using surveys we had found/created last semester. I chose this question because I have become more interested in peer relations this past semester while working in the Social Development Lab at the University at Buffalo as an Undergraduate Research Assistant. During our lab meetings we review articles that pertain to the principal investigators (Dr. Ostrov) research, thus I have read a lot about peer relations and aggression. Additionally, many articles touched on cultures role on child aggression. Because of this exposure to these topics, I was interested in comparing the aggression seen in classrooms amongst U.S. Montessori schools and D.R. Montessori schools, particularly the types of aggression (relational and physical). This project has required flexibility considering we are collecting data within schools. School staff need to be flexible by default, since their time is heavily dependent on children and parents. I came into this trip not being the most flexible person. I like routine, schedules, timeliness. But sometimes in life, you have to toss these things aside. Especially considering the relationships we foster in the schools are pertinent to the data collection process. We often had to have our materials at the ready at all times in case we had a moment to interview. I appreciate that this experience forced me out of my comfort zone in terms of spontaneity and flexibility. Yesterday, we were invited to eat lunch in the classrooms after some fun on the grounds with the kids. It was not like your traditional school lunch by any means. Upon arrival, we got in line to eat and served ourselves. We were asked to sit at a free placemat, which made us Buffalo State students all separate and join a family-style table with a few students per. I was with a table of three girls who were very helpful in teaching me the lunch rules. Before eating, we sang a song which was in English and sign language about table manners, including no elbows on the table, a napkin on your lap, and a straight posture. There was a lunch director: a child at the head table, who directed us and the children to wash our dishes after raising our hands. The children wash their dishes and assist each other with each dish. It was a really interesting experience and I loved seeing how much the children enjoyed their lunch routine. Today, we began the Day-Away activities. We arrived at the 3MM campus at 1:15pm to begin. First, we read our books with small groups of kids. I was paired with two girls, one of which being from my previous days lunch table! My book is about my cats with many pictures of them, which the kids loved to see! Their favorites were Hank and Powder, understandably so. After our reading sessions we moved to other activities including Mr. Fox and our dance: the Cupid Shuffle! The kids loved it! We ended our day with them all by coming in a circle and chanting “Let’s go Buffalo” and “Let’s go 3MM”—a great idea from Janinna and Hailee! Throughout last semester, our cohort spent some time reading and discussing Julia Álvarez’s novel: In the Time of the Butterflies. This is a historical fiction; however, it is largely factual and an accurate representation of real-life events. During this novel, we were introduced to an important piece of Dominican Republic history: the dictatorship and assassination of Rafael Trujillo. Additionally, we met four sisters: Dedé, Patria, Mate, and Minerva Mirabel. We learned of the horrors of Trujillo’s dictatorship, including (but certainly not limited to) the grooming of young women and the murdering of anyone who displayed opposition. All of the women supported the revolution in different ways. Minerva, a strong-willed law school graduate with a strong sense of justice, began fighting against the Trujillo regime with her husband Manolo. Mate followed in her sister’s footsteps and asked to assist in what she could. Patria stored weapons under her and her husband’s land in support of the revolution. Dedé did not technically join the revolutionaries, however, she was home to care for her sisters and her own children with her mother as needed. Much occurred from the beginning of the rebellion till the assassination of Trujillo, one of the most noteworthy events being the murders of Patria, Mate, and Minerva. On a trip to visit their husbands in prison (the imprisonment being a result of their rebellion) the three sisters’ deaths were staged as an accident. First, they were stopped on the road, murdered, then placed back in their vehicle which was then driven off a cliff. Six months after this devastating event, Trujillo was assassinated. While in the Dominican, our professors planned a trip out to view the Casa Museo Hermanas Mirabel, as well as the Mirabel sister’s childhood home. Casa Museo Hermanas Mirabel is a museum dedicated to paying tribute and remembrance to the sacrifices of the three sisters. The museum is their maternal home, where the sisters resided for 10 months before their being murdered. In the home, we were able to see the original furnishings, clothing, and more. This was a heavy trip for everyone, however when you exit the home, there are pictures, murals, and lush plants in every nook and cranny of the property: very uplifting sights. They also have a monument for the sisters, along with a fountain centering the gravestones of Patria, Mate, Minerva, and Manolo. There was also statues in memoriam of the three sisters and Manolo. Following the museum, we went to the Mirabel’s childhood home. Upon arrival, we were faced with the frame of the car the sisters had been in when they were driven off the cliff. It was a shocking, devastating sight to view the mangled skeleton of the car. The Mirabel’s first home was guarded with military who take shifts standing guard. We were luckily able to enter and one of the military men gave us a tour. He showed us their beautiful original glassware and outdoor furniture, as well as their kitchen. We were surprised to also see some six-day old puppies and drying cacao while on the property. At the end we got a group photo with our driver, Maximo, who drove us on our five-hour trip to explore all of the above (and even gave us a couple “let’s go buff-a-lo” honks on the way home for the Bills game)! After we will be living in the Dominican Republic for two weeks and seeing the Mirabel homes, I know I am not alone in wanting to re-read In the Time of the Butterflies when we get back home. I highly recommend that you read it too!
During our time in the Dominican Republic, we have visited numerous schools including La Ciénaga, 3 Mariposas Montessori (3MM), Coral, and The Mariposa DR Foundation. We spent much of our first week in Coral, where we observed classes and taught lessons. I am more drawn to working with younger children, so I requested to observe and teach the youngest class possible. This was great for my partner Emily as well as she has experience working as a Teacher Aide at a preschool in Buffalo. Our first time in the classes, we simply observed. Emily and I focused on a behavior checklist we had gotten from our class last semester which prepared us for this trip. It was interesting to note the differences in behaviors between the different schools. This day was very calm; however, we did take note of one thing: we couldn’t communicate with the teacher or the children well. As mentioned in a previous blog, I am not a strong Spanish speaker and similar to her sister: Andrea, Emily took French in high school and therefore speaks little Spanish. We did not consider this when choosing our class. Being a first-grade class, they are learning their own language and therefore know little English. In addition, Emily and I are psychology majors, not education majors. We felt at a bit of a disadvantage at this point. The thought of lesson planning and teaching became daunting for Emily and me as the following day we were to teach the class a lesson. I have some teaching experience; however, this experience was teaching college students statistics as a teaching assistant, a bit different from teaching first graders English! There may have been some tears shed that night from nerves while prepping our lesson, but our cohort really supported us in coming up with a simple first lesson to get the ball rolling. For our first lesson, we focused on Emily’s book* about a sea turtle who has lost his shell; Spoiler Alert: he does find his shell with the help of his friends! During this lesson we practiced emotion and under-the-sea vocabulary in Emily’s book such as “triste” (sad) and “tortuga” (turtle). Our lesson was pretty short, and we were a bit disheartened--until we were not. After our activity, we observed the class where they learned about sentence structure. The word “triste” came up and one child yelled “SAD!”. WE HAD REALLY TAUGHT THEM SOMETHING! It was an amazing feeling to know that they had absorbed something that we had shared with them. Because of the previous day’s win, we had returned more prepared and confident the following day. We wrote ourselves a script to refer to during our lesson and key words to assist us in communicating with the class and the teacher. Our friends: Anna and Janinna sat in with our class to take photos and be our Spanish speaking back-ups in case we need help. For this day’s lesson we planned two activities: my book with relevant vocabulary and a coloring activity. My book was about cats coping with their emotions, the characters being my own cats: Powder, Hank, Tauheed, and Macy Gray. During this activity, we often said “repite despuéz de mi” (repeat after me) while teaching them emotions and coping skills in English. Being similar to our previous days lesson, this was short, and we soon moved onto colors. For our color activity we handed out paper for drawing and had a box of crayons in case anyone was missing some colors. We wrote the Spanish words: “rojo”, “naranja”, “amarillo”, “verdes”, “azúl”, and “marado”, with their English equivalents on the blackboard as our lesson progressed. While we worked through the colors the kids were to continuously add to their rainbow with the color they had just learned. We quickly learned that most of the class had already known many of the words, thus it became more of a review session. We used our well-known phrase again, “repite despuéz de mi”, and the kids chanted colors with us. Although it was chaotic considering the noise, language barrier, and sharing of crayons, it was exhilarating! Many times, Emily and I almost asked our friends in the back for a translation, but we ended up finding ways to communicate on our own. It was a great feeling to know that not only are we teaching the students, but they are teaching us English. I have not experienced such a symbiotic lesson and really enjoyed it! I am glad that even though Emily and I were nervous and felt ill-equipped in the language department, we persevered. We are so grateful for the support our cohort leant us, which lead us to a meaningful experience. After the class ended and we said our goodbyes, we were (happily) bombarded with hugs and a variety of rainbows! Although we felt at a disadvantage in the beginning of the week, it was clear that could not be further from the truth as we gained so much from this experience. We were sad to leave but excited to start our next adventure at The Mariposa DR Foundation next week! *Each of us wrote books about emotions and coping during the semester leading up to our trip.
One important experience we get to partake in during our trip is our host family lunches. I was paired with Andrea for these trips and we were assigned Jivelis as our host mom. During our first lunch on Wednesday we spent time with Jivelis and her son: Alexander. Andrea and I are not fluent in Spanish by any means; Andrea studied French in high school and while I did study Spanish, I am 9 years out of practice after graduating in 2014. Because of this, Andrea and I were nervous that we wouldn't be able to communicate and connect with our host family; we couldn't have been more wrong! Our host mom did speak some English and because there was a small language barrier we ended up taking turns talking in English and Spanish so we could all practice our language skills. While talking with our host mom, we were surprised to learn that similar to the U.S., January is considered winter in the Dominican Republic. Thus, Jivelis said that she is actually a bit chilly in the evenings and even some mornings and afternoons because the weather is much colder in January than, for example, June. We were shocked to hear this because we are all panting and sweating in this "heat"! We laughed at how silly our cohort must look, looking so warm in their cooler months. We further explained our "normal" weather by showing her pictures of snow in Buffalo, including the Blizzard we had just experienced during Christmas. Andrea and I felt a genuine connection with our host mom after just a few minutes. It has become my favorite part of our days thus far! And to top it off, Jivelis takes care of a neighborhood dog named Tobi. He is a sweet, docile dog who loves ear scratches and nibbling on hands. He walks us home each day! Our second day for our host lunches, it poured which led to flooded roads. Because of the road conditions, Iskania (the program director of 3 Mariposas Montessori) walked us to our host families. On the way, we took a detour to Iskania's home. Her house was surrounded by beautiful, lush tropical plants, along with many pet birds. She has chickens and a rooster, doves, and a duck! We started towards our host family's home again, but did not take a conventional route. Iskania's shed has a window which leads just feet away from our host mom's front door! We climbed through the window and arrived for lunch! For this lunch, we spent time with Jivelis and her three children: Esther (8), Alexander (4), and Staci (3). This was so much fun as I love working with and spending time with younger kids. Tracy was a sweetheart and gave the best hugs while her brother Alexander was more shy, but eventually opened up! Tracy continuously handed us her toys to show them to us which was very sweet. Although the younger children didn't speak much English, we were able to communicate in smiles and a bit of Spanish on our part! Esther attends 3 Mariposas Montessori, a private local Montessori school. Here, they emphasize English language learning and she happily became the translator of the lunch hour. After our lunch we took some pictures with our host family to make sure we don't forget before our last lunch with them on Friday. We took our walk back from our host family's accompanied by our host mom and Tobi. During our trip she was pointing out different stores and sights within the community when we set our sights on a tree in the distance behind a fence. Jivelis pointed out there was an abundance of fruit and then began to find a way behind the fence. We went into someone's backyard and collectively gathered three starfruit's! I was surprised that this was allowed and was assured that this is a normal occurrence here.
Thus far, I have loved my lunches with Andrea and our host family and am sad to say tomorrow is our last day! Yesterday our cohort went on a group kayaking excursion where we kayaked the Río Yasica. I have some experience kayaking in New York, in Canandaigua Lake and Lake Erie, however neither prepared me for this excursion. I have always kayaked solo. For our excursion, we each paired up with a girl and rowed down the river in double kayaks. Not only was this a challenge, but I am someone who typically likes to take control of situations, yet I was placed in the front of the kayak. My job was to gain momentum while the rear’s job is to steer. Additionally, I was paired with someone who had not kayaked before. Normally, I would consider this scenario not ideal, however, I kept in mind my goal in being a team player and thinking more interdependently in group situations. Although this thought process did not make us efficient no matter how much we yelled “izquierda (left), derecha (right)” to each other while paddling, it did make the experience much more enjoyable. Going in with an attitude of not being perfect but trying to work as a team led us to eventually accomplish a 90-minute round-trip: a major accomplishment! We were not the fastest or smoothest of kayakers by any means, but we definitely had a lot of fun. Because we were not the fastest, we were behind the rest of the cohort by about 5 minutes. While we kayaked, a staff member of the kayaking agency stayed with us: Frank. Frank speaks very little English, and we speak very little Spanish, but this did not stop us from talking and laughing the entire way back. Regardless of our language barrier, we were still able to hold conversations by adapting them to each other’s language abilities. For instance, my partner and I continuously paddled our way into plants on the side of the river, “las plantas” in Spanish. Because of this, Frank told us “las plantas es tú casa” which translates to “the plants are your home” in English. We had to simplify our phrases, but the humor came across easy as can be. We continuously used phrases we knew like “no me gusta” and “ayúdame” in unique ways, while he corrected our mistakes such as using “bueno” instead of “bien” when describing something separate from yourself and that “plants” is feminine and translates to “las plantas”, NOT “los plantos”. It quickly became a hilarious and completely organic language learning lesson. We made many mistakes, but mistakes were corrected with laughter and warmth. Going into this situation I could have decided to view it negatively. I was not working independently, I did not have control, and I was not able to perfectly communicate: an Olivia nightmare. Instead, I put the perfectionism and hyper-independence aside and embraced it all. I would say my first time challenging these perceived barriers and viewing them as positives was a success and I plan to continue to view future experiences in a similar light.
It is just about two weeks until we leave for the Dominican Republic! I hope to gain many experiences and grow personally throughout this trip abroad. Specifically, I have two main goals that I will be focusing on during our trip. I plan to update you all in my final post on the progress I have made and the stories along the way. 1. Be aware of and begin to deconstruct my implicit biases. When preparing for the Dominican Republic, we took some implicit bias tests. Two of the tests I took were regarding race and gender. I was surprised to see that I hold moderate implicit biases, and I wish to change this. Through working with people of various races, ethnicities, and backgrounds, I am hoping to reduce these biases. However, this will not be accomplished simply by being among people of differing backgrounds. I will strive to be intrinsically aware by reflecting on negative reactions and assumptions if/when they come up. 2. Learn to work more collaboratively with others. I am a very independent thinker/worker. Sometimes this is a great advantage; other times this may be a detriment. For instance, I am very interested in research and would like to continue my education to eventually work in academia. Research takes immense communication and collaboration, thus having these skills are crucial for my future goals. Group projects have never been my strong suit and I would like to change that! While in the Dominican Republic, we will be working as a team most of the trip. I will be focusing on the positives of working in a collaborative environment and journal daily on my progress. |
AuthorHi there! I am a senior at Buffalo State College, working towards an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a certificate in Child Advocacy Studies! I am passionate about working with kids, painting, learning, and animals. Although I will miss my 4 cats dearly, I am so excited to gain experience in education and advocacy in the Dominican Republic! ArchivesCategories |