Reflective Blog 1

Honestly, I believe 916 Ink is an amazing organization. I absolutely love how they are reaching out to the youth in order to help them express themselves through writing, while also helping kids grow as individuals. I am confident that writing and art can have such a huge impact on people of all ages, especially kids who struggle to find a creative outlet. As a teen, I too struggled with finding my voice and I did not have a creative outlet. It wasn't until I began diving into the world of literature and writing that I found my voice. I think that's why I am so excited to know that an organization like 916 Ink exists, because I know first hand the positive influence that can result from being creatively express. The many positive stories Henry shared with our class were also heart warming and motivating. 916 Ink is surely helping better the lives of the kids they are helping, and I am beyond happy that they are granting kids the opportunity to grow as both writers, and as individuals as well. 

Literacy is such a huge issue, especially within this new generation of youth who have access to so many technology based things such as social media, and youtube. Henry also mentioned that kids in Sacramento are reading below grade level average, which is heartbreaking to hear. I believe kids are shying away from literacy, and are choosing to spend their free time watching youtube videos or playing video games (my 14 year old brother is a prime example). There’s nothing wrong with watching youtube videos in moderation, however, kids are most likely not gaining much valuable knowledge from videos, and they aren’t doing anything with what they’re gaining. For that reason, I am (along with 916 Ink) needed to help youth get back in tune with literacy. All kids need are a little push to get out of their comfort zone from their usual leisure activities. Plenty of guidance and positive reinforcement will surely help kids become comfortable with being creative, and using writing or art as a new form of enjoyment.

I am excited to embark on this journey with 916 Ink because I can't wait to truly experience everything that they do to help these kids, along with learning more about community involvement and participation in an organization. I have never really helped or volunteered any of time to an organization, so this will be a great learning experience for me as well. However, I am worried about my time management skills, and how volunteering will affect my schedule. As a college student with a part time job, it is difficult to find time for anything. I also have a fear of not being helpful enough, if that makes any sense. I just hope I am able to do a great job with whichever “job” I pick at 916 Ink. I am interested in being a “button pusher”, which consists of formatting manuscripts, and I am nervous about missing any typos, or errors. However, I am positive I will gain plenty of valuable information, and inspiration from volunteering with 916 Ink.





























Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Can Awareness Be Spread Without Talking About the Cause?

The article “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Service” by Adam Davis is an interesting piece that discusses the idea that community service/engagement should NOT be openly talked about because it takes away from the service, and steers it in an ego boosting direction.  I find the claims Davis makes as quite negative and not entirely true. Davis states, “It seems to be so clear that Service Is Good (SIG) that we do not need to question service or to talk about it; we only need to do it. It even seems that talking about service might be a problem—first, because if you’re talking about service, you might not be doing service, and second, because if you’re talking about service, you might start to wonder about its goodness”. Yes, some individuals may use community service as a way to enhance their ego among peers, but not everyone is like that! Talking about service is not a bad thing, if anything, I believe talking about service helps spread the word about the cause, espec...
Read more

Killer Millennials

So for my last blog post, I think it is fitting to touch on a topic that we covered in the beginning of our senior seminar course. The topic is of course non other than millennials! I recently stumbled upon this video on Youtube that is all about Millennials. The video aims to focus on explaining why millennials are 'hurting the diamond industry', many of which include the fact that the diamond industry exploit minors, ruins the eco system. And lastly, diamonds are an item that have an arbitrary value. It is all marketing! Diamonds essentially have no value! Millennials are also the generation that dealt with the toughest economy since previous generations, and they earn 20% less due to that. Not to mention that Millennials are stacked with student loans, and it doesn't help that the Government keeps trying to take away our health care, and all of the other services offered to help individuals. In conclusion, millennials are more aware of the negatives associated with diamo...
Read more

Reflective Blog #2

On Friday, October 13th our group made the trip out to 916 Ink, and we explored the imaginarium along with interviewing some of the staff members. My initial reaction of the imaginaruim was simply WOW! It was such a beautiful space that was carefully crafted with so many details. I absolutely loved all of the details such as little boxes filled with starfish and other knick-nacks, typewriters, and a huge amount of books. Creativity definitely fills the room, and I can see how students might be influenced to think and write creatively in such an amazing space. The vision behind 916 Ink and their desire to help youth through literacy is amazing, and I truly want more youth to get involved! Our group is currently working on helping 916 Ink get more youth involved in the workshops. While interviewing Henry, he explained how participation at workshops has been lacking. For the new media plan, our group is proposing a revamp in the social media area; we think 916 Ink can be more active on ...
Read more