1st Quarter: AOD Blog #7 and #8

AOD Blog #7: Building social capital - developing relationships within the community, drawing on people's talents and resources for the good of the community

Building social capital. I think that this basically means to open up, make friends, and use other people's talents effectively to help the community. For example, I have played piano since I was in 3rd grade. Ever since 7th grade, I started to play for my church's praise. I would play the praise songs for the children's service first, then later on, for the youth group service. My church friends and pastors are like my family because we bond and we help each other through rough times. Things have been like this for about 4 years now. Since my church is not THAT big, it really does feel like a family; we do everything together; we're always hanging out over the weekends outside of church. Therefore my church members and I have developed a relationship and they used my talent for the better, just as I have used their talents like playing the guitar, playing the drums, playing the bass, singing, harmonizing, etc, for the better.

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AOD Blog #8: Mentoring - supportively guiding others in learning these arts of public life

I believe that mentoring is crucial for students. As students go on with their learning careers, its extremely helpful to have a mentor there to walk them through the process, giving them tips and advice. For example, in the mentor groups that were formed, my mentor Diana Lee, has helped me through my time here at PSEC. When I was a bit stressed out with everything going on, Diana was there to help me and walk me through the steps I should take in order to prevent these stressful times as must as I can. She would ask the groups about the teachers and how the assignments are going. For me, I think the quarter started out pretty okay, then as time progressed, things got tougher, and I just didn't like it. Diana gave me certain advice and studying tips so that I could get back on track because I was majorly procrastinating. Thanks to Diana as well as help from my fellow students and great instructors, I was able to get through this quarter. (: