September 28

Distance learning? I know her!

Hi friends! As I navigate life during this pandemic, I think I’ve learned how to become more creative in my responses to unanticipated circumstances, especially as it relates to my time as a graduate student at Stan State.

I originally was no fan of distance learning. I did not want to continue with school until in-person instruction resumed. I didn’t think I had the ability to be patient and flexible enough to endure online instruction for a semester, and now a full school year. However, now that it has been almost 2 months, I have to admit that I, for myself, am enjoying distance learning!

What do I enjoy about distance learning? Well, starting class within a few minutes of waking up is pretty nice I do have to admit! Before I would wake up hours before class started just to get myself ready in every way. Now, I am able to sleep in longer and wake up less stressed about getting to school on-time.

Another aspect of my experience with distance learning has been helping my relatives make the transition to online learning as well. I am the only person in my family to have a BA, and soon a master’s. By virtue of being the first, I’ve become the go-to support figure for many of relatives (aunts and uncles), who don’t speak English, are unfamiliar with technology, and have young children who depend on them to guide them through the process of distance learning.

I take this responsibility with much pride and fulfillment. For the last few weeks, I’ve been helping my relatives get their young children set up for the day. This includes setting up their laptops and making sure the space they’re in is suitable for distance learning, which can be difficult but we make it work. I observe my younger cousins “in class” to make sure they are understanding what is being said and what to do. I also engage with my relatives’ teachers in this new learning process and translate whenever needed. I do all this while making sure I am on top of my own distance learning responsibilities. This is definitely not what I expected my own time with distance learning to be like, but it is simply how it’s manifested and I am grateful I can use my privileges to help my family not tread behind during these times.

For many first-generation students, this is our reality. We’re dealing with online/distance learning on our own, while making sure those around us are also keeping up with their learning. Once this is “over” I am sure we’ll come out of it feeling like whole new people because in many ways, we will be. Well, time to make it to my next zoom class! 🙂

September 28

My internship at Stan State

Hi everyone! I hope everyone’s doing well! 🙂

I want to share a bit about my internship at Stan State. As a social work graduate student, I am expected to complete certain hours in a social work service/agency for a total of 16 hours a week throughout the entire school year. Last year I was interning at an agency off-campus doing housing security work, this year I’ll be interning at Stan State’s Basic Needs Program!

The Basic Needs Program is a service at Stan that assists students through financially struggling times. Universities across the U.S. have basic needs programs. Some are extremely established, with years of guaranteed funding and permanent staff, and others run on a volunteer basis. There is no universal way to administer a basic needs program since every school, region, and truly academic year is so different and with a population of students with various needs.

I’ve worked in basic needs efforts throughout my undergrad and am always a tad shocked when I remind myself Stan State’s basic needs program is only two years old! It has existed in other capacities in the past, spread throughout campus, but has only recently been institutionalized into one department. It is still growing, yet already doing great work that I would expect to take years to materialize elsewhere. I’ve only been interning for a few weeks, and from home due to COVID safety guidelines, but from what I have learned, the Basic Needs Program is such a resourceful service for students!

This pandemic has shown us how quickly our lives and more specifically, our sense of security can change in only a matter of days. I’m glad to be a part of one of the structures at Stan State that work to help students through stressful times. The Basic Needs Program offers students an array of services and knowing the Master of Social Work program is involved directly with the program makes me really optimistic of its growth and delivery of student support.

I’ll leave a link below for reference and hope you check it out and share with your friends/peers. Becoming knowledgable of student services that exist to help you during your time as a student is a great practice to equip yourself with :)!

https://www.csustan.edu/basic-needs

September 8

SUMMER 2020 REVIEW AND FALL EXPECTATIONS

Hi everyone :)! 

Welcome back to my life as a Stan State student! I am excited for this school year and I am taking it one semester at a time (because who knows where we’ll be these next few months). There is quite a lot going on and I feel blessed to have Stan State as my anchor through it all. 

While summer 2020 was eventful, Stan State’s presence in my life and in the Central Valley helped bring a refreshing sense of stability and safety. This summer it felt like everything around me was constantly changing. I tried my best to keep up with all the events that transpired this summer. I was left speechless numerous times as I read about everything as it became available, such as the elections, protests, wildfires, ongoing pandemic, and school closures. Needless to say, but my summer plans completely fell through and I didn’t do a lot of what I expected to. I didn’t expect to experience one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations ever this summer and I also wasn’t anticipating California declaring additional states of emergency. These are very intense times, but as I stated earlier, Stan State has been able to ground me through it all. I regularly looked for University emails and updates on all the latest events. This helped filter through a lot of the misleading media as Stan State was providing us with factual information and resources. This really made me rethink the role of universities in state and local communities; but that is a whole other conversation. 

My only expectations for fall 2020 are to stay on top of all my commitments (which I will be sharing soon) and academics. So far school has been going well, and once I make more sense of online/distance learning, I will elaborate :)! At this point though, it is going well and my professors are very supportive and eager to help us all and this has made me pretty optimistic.

Thank you all for checking in and joining me on this interesting ride we are calling Fall 2020!