Wednesday, December 7, 2016

YDEV Elevator Speeches


"When I first started Rhode Island College, I was studying to be a elementary education major. I really enjoyed the major and what I was learning in all of my classes, which helped me be a better elementary education teacher. As time went on, I learned that I had to take the PRAXIS in order to be accepted into the teaching program, and that scared me a little bit. Granted, facing my fears, I took the test out of whim to see how I would do, and I failed all three areas of math (only by a few points), reading and writing. I was very discouraged by this, sincerely because it costed a good amount of money to take the tests, and I wasn't in the greatest financial situation at the time. So, through everything looming over my head, I decided to change my major. When trying to pick another major, I knew that I still wanted to work with kids, but didn't exactly know how I would be able to do that. Thankfully, two of my close friends were in this major called Youth Development. I had no idea what it was at the time, but after hearing my friends explain a bit about what the major entail, I was greatly interested and contacted the head of the major to see how I would go about and declare the major of youth development"

The previous paragraph above is my own elevator speech about how I was introduced and got involved in the major known as youth development. Every person that is now declared a youth development has some sort of backstory before picking youth development as a major, obviously unless they decided on youth development from the start. However, many people, whether it be from my own experience or hearing about other peoples' experiences, either drop the major they are currently in because they cannot see themselves doing that anymore, because they want to do something similar but not the same thing, or even because for reasons like mine. However, even though there are many reasons as to why people change from a previous major to a youth development major, it is obviously important to explore what youth development entails before just choosing the major just because it "sounds like a good one"

I found this youth tool wheel to be very inspiring because
it shows the different aspects of youth to be looked at by
youth workers in order for them to be successful mentors
In a nutshell, youth development can have a variety of different definitions. Youth Development folks, also known as youth workers, are taught to be their absolute best to promote youth in society. Not only that, but youth workers are also taught to be strong mentors towards youth and to have a lasting impact in the youth's lives as well. Youth workers can be found in a variety of places as well, such as in schools, in day care centers, in after school programming, and many more youth-related sites that require youth workers to build positive relationships with youth.  Whether it be assisting youth in day to day activities, or guiding youth on paths that they will discover in their lives, youth workers are responsible to encourage and challenge youth to create a better lives for themselves and help them achieve the best that they can be.


Going along with what was said above, youth workers can have several positions in society that can create jobs for them so that they can help the greater good. Looking at the picture above, youth workers can lead and plan youth programs, counsel and mentor youth, manage youth behavior, establish community and parent outreach, work in organizations as administrative staff, advocate for youth's rights as people, coordinate events for youth, supervise staff and volunteers of a youth organization, fundraise on behalf of youth or a youth organization and provide transportation for a youth organization. These are only a few of the jobs that can be provided by youth workers. At Rhode Island College, the Youth Development major is a branch of Education that also includes Social Work and Nonprofit Studies. These other two inclusive majors encourage as well as assist youth workers in exploring different fields of youth work. Youth workers do not have to stay in one secluded field, but can branch out from Education and explore opportunities in the Social Work and Nonprofit Studies fields. Youth workers will only continue to build experience from what they do and as the major grows, more profound opportunities will be established for youth workers, having youth workers being able to inspire and encourage youth in ways never thought imaginable. 

Event #2: Staff Meeting at Henry Barnard School

For one of my events I attended a staff meeting at my work study job, Henry Barnard School, on September .  In the after school program Explorations there are about 100 students that attend on various, if not multiple days, a week from the school.  Each year we have about 1-3 meetings depending on how hectic the year begins, progresses or is setting to end.  At this meeting the director of the program discussed some interesting focal points for as to think about.  Majority of my co-workers at this job are teaching majors, some nursing and others are Youth Development which can sometimes be hard when working with the children.  As youth workers you sometimes depending on the situation can have a different opinion or outlook on a situation compared to a teacher our a nurse.  Over the past five years that I have worked here I definitely have encountered many students over time and have been given the opportunity to get to know them as well.  In this meeting we discussed how it its important for us to stay interacted with the students at all times which means no distractions such as cell phones.  Another topic that was brought to our attention was the discussion of the few students who we should be more aware of.  All of these students come to this program to have fun in a safe and learning environment besides school.  As a youth worker or someone who works with youth, the concept of being mindful is absolutely key.  We discussed as a group how we as workers can make being mindful dominant in certain situations.
The blog post that I feel relates to this event is when learning about The Center for Resilience and how they are incorporated into settings with youth.  Being able to cater to these students and his or her needs is something that is absolutely crucial.  With having the same 100 students attending the program everyday or a few days a week, you get to have the opportunity to spend time and watching them grow creatively as well as academically.  With The Center for Resilience they not only want to gather the students together with the youth workers but also involving the parents.  Community is needed especially when these children have been in the program since prekindergarten. 

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Event #1: Out In The Night


For my first event, I decided to attend a film showing by the Gender and Women's Studies Department on Novmeber 30th during free period. The film that they showed was called "Out In The Night" directed by Blair Dorosh-Walther. The film follows the journey of four African American lesbians who are charged by New York police for attacking a man who was making homosexual slurs to them along with three other of their friends. However, that is not the whole story. The media is a huge player in the case because the case was made out to be way bigger and way worse for the women than it already was. The seven women were minding their own business walking down the street, when a straight African American male started making gay slurs towards them and all of a sudden attacked them. In order to defend themselves, the women decided to fight back. Sooner or later, many people got involved in the fight and the cops were called. All seven women in the group were arrested. When the women were brought to trial, they were told that they could go one of two ways: they could plead guilty and receive a minor sentence or lead not guilty and let the judge and jury decide their fate. Three of the seven women decided to plead guilty and relieved minimal sentences. However the other four, Renata Hill, Terrain Dandridge, Venice Brown, and Patreese Johnson all plead not guilty, with self defense as their reason for attack, and they were convicted guilty and were all given much more harsh prison sentences. Terrain was given three and a half years, Venice was given five years, Renata was given eight years and Patreese was given eleven years. The media was a huge factor in victimizing the women to the public, making it seem as if the male attacker was the victim and the women were the guilty attackers. Not only because of this story, but this story adds to the societal hype, African Americans always have to be on guard, homosexuals always have to be on guard, and specifically for this case, African American homosexuals always have to be on guard as well. The women were attacked by the African American male because they were homosexual. The women were attacked by the media because they were African American and homosexual.


One can relate this film to our class topic of Color Blind or Color Brave. Color Blindness is when Americans ignore the fact that racism exists in America. Color Brave is when America
acgknowledges that there is racism present in our society and then do something to help people's way of thinking when it comes to racism. In class, we watched a TEDTalk by Mellody Hobson in which she talked about what roles Colorblindness and Color Bravery play in America. Color Blindness plays a big role in this film. Even though the women were attacked because they were homosexual, their story of self defense was never greatly shared because of the media coverage. The media blew
up the situation that they were the attackers simply because they were African American. However, when it came to the trial, the women were looked at as no more than criminals: not homosexuals, not African Americans, just criminals. During the trial, society ignores the fact that they were African Americans and ignored the fact that the media purposely focused on the factor and it made the trial and the women much more worse off. At the end of the entire event, Terrain served two years, Venice served three years, Renata served three years, and Patreese served seven and a half years. Also the city of Newark New Jersey established an LGBTQ community center in order to prevent violence against the LGBTQ community.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Resiliency and the Center for Resilience


The Center for Resilience focuses on children and teens being able to express themselves and helping them find ways to express as well as control their emotions. A lot of students who are participating in this are from very low income neighborhoods and have a lot on their plate other than just going to school. The Center for Resilience is a program in which students can openly express themselves and learn coping mechanisms in terms of stress.  Stress is something that everyone faces especially throughout this generation.  The Center for Resilience has positive outcomes for those in the urban communities in Rhode Island.



The video that I really enjoyed was when Amy Leclarie spoke about how it has effected the students that she has been working with.  She spoke about how she has students who have never been in a school setting before which definitely plays a major role in a child's life.  I really find it empowering because as a youth worker, mindfulness is a true key.  Students are faced with the obstacles of everyday life and a majority of that is focused on schooling.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

2016 Election: Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton


As an American citizen, I got the right to vote at age 18 and because of that I feel like I had the absolute right and obligation as an American citizen to register to vote. I wasn't able to vote in the 2008 because i was not old enough to, but I still had my personal views and wanted Barack Obama to win over John McCain. To my happiness, Obama won and became the first African American to hold the office of the President of the United States. Four years later, Obama was running against Mitt Romney and I was old enough to vote. I was kept up to date by the news as well as my Political Science class, which is how I decided that I wanted to vote for Obama once again. I did not agree with some of Romney's views and things he was standing for, so I was glad once again when Obama
was re-elected for another four years.


Here we are another four years later and unfortunately, Barack Obama cannot run for office again. To be honest, if I could vote for him, I definitely would again. This upcoming election is, for lack of better words, a circus-like popularity contest. On the Democratic side, we have Hillary Clinton: wife of former president Bill Clintion, possibly the first woman president of the United States. However, she has many allegations against her between deleted emails and controversial decisions she has made as Barack Obama's Secretary of State and beyond. On the Republican side, you have Donald Trump: a very rich and very powerful business man who has a lot of influence in our country, who is know for the TV show, the Apprentice (YOU'RE FIRED!). Trump also has just as many negative flaws, if not a bit more, than Hillary Clinton, wanting to build a wall at the US-Mexican Border, deporting Muslim refugees because of different ISIS terrorist group accusations, and much more. I
firmly believe that neither of these candidates deserve the position because of their backgrounds, along with their present day troublesome acts they've committed.


I am aware of certain topics that are going on in our country, however, I'm not 100% caught up with what issues the candidates are running for, but I hope to catch up a bit before I go to vote. I do not feel well informed about the issues that the candidates are running for because this election really seems to be a serious popularity contest. Both Trump and Clinton don't seem to focus on the issues, but more on bashing and sabotaging the other candidate. To be honest, I don't really have any specific questions to ask in class, but I hope that in class we can have a general not bias discussion about both candidates so that I can learn more about both positives and negatives about each candidate.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Identity in Context

This week's reading the discussion of 'context mapping' is explained. The examples that are given are between Mitch, Julian and Antwon. One example given in the article is Mitch had Julien write down important people and things in his life that he comes into contact with in his everyday life. Mitch then had Julien write down the expectations that all of those people and things had of him, which is part of what builds Julien's identity. Context mapping, in a nutshell, is an approach to discover one's own identity using their everyday lives to inform and inspire themselves.

As for the identities, there are four of them and they are as follows: Achieved Identity, Foreclosed Identity, Moratorium, and Diffuse Identity.

Achieved Identity is when "the individual has successfully integrated [his/her] ego identity needs from the past, within the present, and into the future and can therefore display a certain level of self acceptance and ego strength across changing contexts" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 38).

Foreclosed Identity is when "an individual has committed to a life direction or way of being without exploring it carefully and without experimenting with alternatives" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 29).

Moratorium Identity is when "one actively explores roles and beliefs" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 36).

Diffuse Identity is "a state in which there has been little exploration or active consideration of a particular identity and no psychological commitment to one" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 32).


Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Inventory Quiz and Ideology Horoscope


To start off, I was very close between two of the three YDEV personalities and I actually relate more to the opposite of what I got. The ideology that I got was Critical Youth Development, however, after reading all three ideologies, I thought that I best related to Risk, Resiliency, and Prevention. As for the points system, for Critical Youth Development, I got sixteen points and for Risk, Resiliency, and Prevention I got fourteen points. Regardless of my opinion, I will explain about the Critical Youth Development Horoscope. Critical Youth Development means focuses on wanting youth to engage with and impact their community and culture. Critical Youth Development is about youth critically thinking about their world and what they can do to be apart of it and what they can do to make an impact. Critical Youth Development has adults and youth work together in order to learn more about and understand their environment and create meaning in the world. They also strive to made the world better for not only themselves, but for everyone. Even though I feel like I relate more to the Risk, Resiliency, and Prevention Ideology, I do see some qualities in the Critical Youth Development Ideology that I relate to. I do believe that it is important for youth to connect to their communities, or even a certain community in which they feel accepted such as their school community or an after school community.
When relating to the Risk, Resiliency, and Provention, I truly connected with the Belief Column of the Ideology, that being: "Teens brains are not fully developed, and so teens do not always make the best decisions. Children and teens need specific coaching in how to make good choices for themselves...". Everyone makes mistakes, especially when they are young. Youth can be influenced by adult teachers/mentors in making good choices and can learn how to be good role models for their peers and their communities.


Through the duration of this blog, I was unable to pick one Ideological Horoscope because the two were so close in number, also because I share many common beliefs with both ideologies. I feel like I am both Risk, Resiliency, & Prevention, along with Critical Youth Development. I believe in aspects of both ideologies and it is very hard to side with just one. There are several aspect of my own personality and belief system that I cannot consider to be only one of the ideologies. 






Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Construction of Adolescence



In this week's reading, I found about 10 or 11 vocabulary words that I found important to the main focus of the article. These words include: theoretical thinking; tested knowledge; theoretical imagination; construction of adolescence; co-constructive perspective; meeting of the minds; interpsychological development; scaffolding; zone of proximal development; reciprocal transformation; and applied developmentalists. I believe that most of, if not all these words are essential to know in order to understand the construction of adolescence. Even though most of these terms are and can be used in a school setting, they can also be used in any setting of youth in society, whether it be their home life, extracurricular activities, and much more. In the article, Nakkula and Toshalis primarily focus on the aspect of authoring life stories. They say "... contributions to this constructive process are anything but random. The order and magnitude of coauthorship are critically important, even if the particular authors and their evolving roles cannot always be determined in a convenient manner" (Nakkula and Toshalis, 7). This means that it takes several different people to create an individual and shape them during adolescence, whether it be for the better or for the worse.


When coming up with my list of 10 people, I feel like I had a lot to think about. Even though I'm only 22 years old, I've been through a lot of things, one huge thing being my two open heart surgeries at two weeks old and seven years old. I also factored in things that I am most passionate about in my life, the biggest thing being my love for theater. With both of those being said my list is as follows: my mother Betty, my father John, my sister Rachel, my grandmother Ann, my great aunt Mary, my girlfriend Gianna, my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Campbell, my child care teacher Mrs. DiSano, my theater director Andrea, and my theater executive director Ann.

I have chosen to focus on my great aunt, Mary. My Aunt Mary is one of the most generous people that I have ever met in my life. She has always been generous towards my entire family as long as I can remember. My Aunt Mary has been one of my greatest supporters ever since my grandmother, her sister Ann passed away in 2006.  She has supported me throughout all three big aspects of my life (health, school, and theater) as well as many more aspects. She has been a watchful protector and silent guardian as I've gone through my life, making my own decisions, whether or not they were good ones. She has not only been one of the greatest coauthors of my life, but also an inspiration that I hope to become like one day. Here's to the best second grandmother anyone could ask for!







Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Color Bind, Color Brave, and Invisibility

I thought that this TED Talk was very powerful. In the talk, Mellody Hobson discusses the negative effects of race that takes place in society. Especially in this day and age, race is a huge topic in our country. Granted she presents facts in the TEDTalk, but she is absolutely right in saying that being a minority race can definitely affect how other people look at their lives. I thought that it was very interesting when she said that going into a board room and having the board room consist of all African American people was weird. I'm not quite sure if "weird" is the word to use, but it definitely would be different because we don't normally think that would be something that would happen because in America, people believe that whites are the more privileged race.



In her TED Talk, Mellody Hobson brings up two interrelated terms: color blindness and color brave. Color Blindness is when Americans ignore the fact that racism exists in America. Color Brave is when America acgknowledges that there is racism present in our society and then do something to help people's way of thinking when it comes to racism. Hobson stresses the importance of being color brave, rather than color blind. As youth workers, it is our job to work with youth of color so that they have a place in society and that they grow up in a community that acknowledges African Americans and whites as equals, rather than one race being more powerful than the other. It is also important to educate the white community about being color brave so that it will also strengthen the equality between race in America. When applying Hobson's views to Youth In Action, the mentors of YIA can work with and inspire the youth to make change in their community in the way of defying race in society. YIA can create ways to advocate for color bravery and create ways to destroy color blindness in society. When changes are created by the YIA members, society will be influenced and be instilled to advocate for color brave changes as well. 



Have I ever felt invisible? Of course I have, in a sense, who hasn't? In elementary, middle, and high school, I never seemed to be noticed by anyone. I didn't have a lot of friends and mostly kept to myself because I was very shy and not so outgoing. I mostly felt like an outcast in school, that is until I went to college. Second semester of my freshmen year, I got more aquatinted with my classmates, made friends, and even joined an on-campus club. Nevertheless, sometimes I still feel like an outsider, depending on what settings I happen to be in. However, I know that I can beat that invisible with my inner strength along with the help of my friends.










Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Youth in Action: A World Where Youth Hold the Power



The overall main idea of this article is that social change must take place in order to have youth voices to be heard. In the first half of the article, Adeola Oredola the former executive director of Youth In Action (YIA) , has worked with several YIA youth to share their views between the world they live in among society versus the world they live in among YIA. The youths participation in YIA has made them more confident and more aware of the surrounding problems that underprivilidged youth face in society. In the second half of the article, social change is further discussed, however in a slightly different manner: among the LGBTQ society and the establishment of the National Student Bill of Rights. In Providence, youth workers are trying to create organizations in which can help youth in the LGBTQ community, specifically Southeast Asian youth, become comfortable with their gender identity and sexuality and how to go about living with it in their own lives, specifically in their homes and schools. Also, across the country, youth workers are trying to create a National Student Bill of Rights that is able to provide education to all youth in the United States. This document will be a huge step towards the direction of social change. The National Student Bill of Rights will make sure that every student has the same fair chance at a good education whether they are privileged or underprivilidged, white or black, male or female. the National Student Bill of Rights will give youth a chance to stand up for themselves by being able to be taught in ways that are meaningful and engaging to them.

When discussing social change and where it comes into play with my own youth involvement, for both my Foundations of Education and Special Education classes, I was required to go to a Providence Public School and tutor/mentor children who needed help in their classrooms. When working in these classrooms, I was glad that I was able to help children who were struggling in their education. Spending time tutoring the students gave them confidence that they were able to learn just as well as the other students in their class.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Youth Work: Preparation for Practice

Seven Characteristics of a Youth Worker:

1. Role Model/Mentor- When working with youth, it is good to behave appropriately and set examples for youth. Not only will the youth worker be influenced by the youth, but the youth will also be influenced by the youth worker. Depending on the situation, the youth worker can teach the youth, whether it be in certain skills or problem solving ways; the youth can also teach the youth worker, by exploring their own views on the world, as well as displaying values that each of the youth may have. The youth worker and youth can both be mentors towards each other, but in these own special and different ways.

2. Ethically Respectful- When working with youth, it is important to be aware of ethical boundaries, since youth workers can and will work with a variety of different youth groups from several different backgrounds. Youth work may take place in many underprivileged communities; it is important for youth workers to research and investigate these communities in order to understand the conditions of how these communities work and possibly figure out ways how to best work with the youth in these communities.

3. Learner and Listener- When working with youth, youth workers will not only influence and mentor the youth, but the youth will also mentor/teach the youth worker. In the youth/worker relationship, both act as the student as well as the teacher. Even though the youth worker is there to mentor the youth, the youth in several ways can mentor the youth worker about certain things that the youth worker might not have know before. It is important for a youth worker to learn from the youth in order to get a full understanding on why they work with youth as well as how to influence other youths in the same or different ways.

4. Self Aware/Self Acknowledgment- As mentioned in the article, when working with youth, it is important to be self aware and acknowledge oneself before and while working with youth so that the youth worker can help the youth discover who they are and who they want to be. When working with youth, it is very important for youth to be comfortable with themselves as well as being comfortable with the youth workers that they are working with. Being able to open up and be able to share their experiences with youth workers, and vice versa, will give a better experience to both the youth as well as the youth worker.

5. Prepared- As mentioned above, it is important for youth workers to know background about the youth that they are going to work with. It is important to research specific areas that youth workers will be introduced to and possibly what to expect of these areas. Youth workers can and will work in several different communities of youth and not one will be the same. It is important for youth workers to devise some plan as to how they plan on going about helping, supporting and encouraging youth in their communities. Research and preparation is extremely important because it will make the youth worker aware and ready for their work to come.

6. Well Maintained/Disciplined- It is important when working with youth where to draw the line between friend and teacher/mentor. There may be times at which are appropriate to have fun and enjoy time with youth, however there may be other times in which professional behavior is necessary.

7. Educationally Persuasive- It is important for youth workers to take part in not only the social aspects of youth but also their academic behaviors as well. It is important for youth workers to be involved in youth's education and it is important for youth workers to encourage education. Since youth workers do work in schools a lot of the time, it is easy for youth workers to be involved in the youth's academic schedules and studies. Youth workers can also be used in schools to help youth cope with school or assist youth in school whether it be academically or socially.

I've worked for five years at the Henry Barnard School Explorations Program and have had several different interactions with several types of youth. I have most certainly came across these seven traits one way or another. I do my best to be the best role model/ mentor that I can be to the students. There are times at which I can have fun and kid around with the students; however i know that there are times at which I must be professional with the students. When the students first come to the program I ask them how they school day was and if there is anything going on that might make them feel uncomfortable; I also help when it is necessary in the homework room when I am assigned to it. I do my best to get to know every student individually rather than knowing them as a whole group; since there are some teachers and much more kids, it is easy for them to know me better. Not only do I influence the students, but the students also influence me and the way I do things while working with them. Overall, these seven traits are traits that I do believe I have and use within my "youth worker" job and will continue to develop these traits as I go on to continue in my future youth worker career.

Who Am I? Batman or 24601?

My name is Ryan Ross. My birthday is April 25. I am currently attending Rhode Island College going for a degree in Youth Development with a concentration in Arts/Performing Arts, as I have a passion for theater and have a background of 7 years of musical theater under my belt. Outside of school, I currently have two jobs: one being at the Henry Barnard School on the RIC campus and the other being at Chester's Restaurant in Glocester, RI. I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend, going to dinner and hanging out with my friends, and also being around my family. I have an endless obsession with Batman and the TV Show Gotham. Batman is my all time favorite superhero and I am a huge fan of the movies, comics, as well as the pre-Batman show, Gotham. All of these things is what makes me who I am and I am very excited to share more about myself on this blog.

My girlfriend, Gianna and I 

Dinner with Friends

Christmas with Great Friends


My friend Dan and I at Fenway 


My Family 
Christmas presents adding to my Batman/Gotham Obsession!!