Professional Documents
Culture Documents
4/7/17
Fw8554
SOC 2000
HON3000
I have done extensive tutoring for ACT and SAT for high school
college students come and help high school students with a wide array of
done well on the ACT, I was one of the main tutors for ACT preparation in this
program.
application process, which schools to apply to, what classes to take, etc.
Students come with all sorts of confusion and questions and express
bewilderment at the new and seemingly complex process. They also express
instructor and consider him/her a role model. The students will then
repeatedly come to this instructor with questions about classes and other
value of educators. In a world where the lapses in our education system are
an enormous amount, deals with many obstacles be they from the parents
was merely an ACT tutor, I can not even begin to imagine the difficulties
Calculus, and Statistics. I taught high school students who were struggling
with these subjects, and it had honestly led me to a point of critical reflection
academically; many of them did not do very well generally, and I realized
evaluated the areas where they are most weak in, and typically the reason
was not because they were prone to laziness as many may think, but rather
it was due to deficiencies in content. This tended to be the situation for
almost all students I tutored, as high school teachers did not target student-
specific errors, but instead they simply very generally and with little
repetition, the consensus was able to understand concepts. Very rarely, there
would be the student that simply needed motivation. I explained to them the
university campuses themselves - this did the trick. Overall, I was able to
understand the psychology of high school students and accordingly use this
promote social change. Being able to work with kids to help the
of the poverty line, and I got to help the kids to stay out of this
social order.
Collective. This site was founded and run by a Detroit native who, upon
returning to his hometown and seeing the dilapidation his neighborhood had
suffered, decided to take matters in his own hands and effect change. This
individual started an urban garden that was open to all residents of the
community. The purpose of the urban garden was two-fold: it supplied basic
vegetables to individuals who lived in a food desert and made good use of
empty, abandoned land. The center also became a community center for use
Upon hearing this mans story, I was very shocked and awestruck. I
immediately realized all the aspects of my life that I had taken for granted up
until that point. I had never been worried about when and where my next
meal was going to come from, I never had to deal with the sight of
an urban garden and a community center, this individual had tackled all
three of those problems and, judging by the happiness and excitement of the
residents, was winning. I remember looking around at my fellow volunteers
and recognizing that same realization that I had in their eyes as well.
Together, we all reflected on all the things that we needed to be grateful for
on a more regular basis and how it only took a determined individual for
change to happen.
places around us that are this way, and we should change the macro
individuals go through it every day they wake up. Again, the only
running a booth with the organization United Muslim Relief at the annual
over America and began developing closer connections within the Muslim
community. One of the main things I observed while working this booth was
how many people would be stopping by to learn more of the nonprofits work
with organizations such as mine. I had dozens of people ask me how they
could begin volunteering with UMR, and having them tell me how they
always wanted to volunteer but never knew how exactly they could reach out
to help and give back to the world around them. This volunteering
general, but seeing so many people come together in one place, as well as
having that many people take initiative and go out of their way to try and
learn how they to, could give back to those less fortunate than themselves
helped, on some level, to restore some of the faith that I had lost in people
to work with the non-profit, they were having me get their financials up to
date by going through donations they were given. This showed me how
donations had been sent in a long time before. By not being organized, less
people were being helped than couldve been possible which isnt acceptable
at all. But more importantly what I learned from this job was how a little can
go a very long way, especially for those in need overseas. Just $30 could help
feed a family for a month, and handling those donations as well as seeing
was handling the lives of others. On average I spend about $5 on food a day.
If I didnt eat out for 6 days in a month I could help the standard of living for
where $30 could feed them for a month, as well as their positions as
a life where I could help others as much as possible because in the end it
we didnt even know each other. These values, beliefs, and behavior
the entire world to find a balance. Emile Durkheim said, When all of
around the world, but these countries and people should not be
suffering the way they do in the first place. It is essential for all of
having a meeting. The social hall was full of volunteers, some yawning while
others barely opening their eyes with coffee in hand. Our volunteer leader
divided us into groups, and then gave us materials from her gigantic binder.
It was the day we had all planned for 6 months. This was the morning of our
masjid (mosque) open house. I was tired but, as the day went on, I could
teach people about our religion and community while also learning from
community members (both Muslim and non-Muslims) than I had in the past.
I helped recruit and train volunteers, specifically the ones that would
be conducting tours along with me. Since I had volunteered at the open
house in the past, I knew what to train them for. My co-volunteers and I
taught the new ones the diagram for the tour, answering potential questions
the visitors may ask, and when to defer questions to one of the adults if it
was a media question or one that they could not/should not answer. We do
this to avoid spreading any false information. After tour training, we also
cross trained each of the volunteers on one or two posters. This was at the
instruction of the volunteer leader because she expressed concern for people
being able to take sufficient breaks. Also, one of the local hospitals also set
up a healthcare clinic in our gymnasium. They did this clinic every year with
volunteers were also trained on how to encourage people to utilize the health
clinic, attend the open house, and offer the hospital staff food. Sometimes,
we would have to take the food to them inside of the gym because they
would get so many patients. It was nice to see so many different people of
the community being able to use the hospital services. For them, our masjid
became so much more than an unknown building. During the event itself, I
was also able to learn about the surrounding community in a way that I had
not before.
While checking in with the trained volunteers, and participating in the tours
People around us did not fear us. They did not seem to hate us as I was so
often told by the news media. These people were curious. Mary, like many
others, stated I always pass by this beautiful building, but have been too
everyone was welcome to our masjid. I told her that girls and women of our
community dressed in a western way too. The only difference was that they
covered their legs by wearing jeans instead of capris/shorts, and some wore
semi-long to full sleeves. Like many others, Mary knew about Islam only
through the media or friends, so naturally she was unsure about how the
Muslim community actually was. The willingness to learn and ask questions
was surprising to me. I loved seeing that people of different faiths were able
open house to learn about the religion and culture, I learned that
the masjid, it served as the artifact and it was wonderful to see the
people were judging the religion because of what they say and here
attacks. It is very sad to see that so many people trust the media. In
the article Culture of Fear it is said that reporters not only spread
fears, they criticize one another for spooking the public and to
ultimately earn a profit from the media. The media is a great way of
getting information, but it is not always true, for many do not have
the intention to get the information across, but rather to get a flow
of money. The people that came to learn about the religion were in
3/25
The operators voice on the overhead speakers sharply interrupted the quiet
atmosphere. Code blue to the main lobby entrance. Code blue to the main
lobby entrance. Nurses, doctors, techs, and other hospital personnel rushed
past my post at the front desk to make their way outside in the bitter cold.
Machines, stretchers, and kits were being brought outside as well. This was
time management. I knew how to manage it, but I would waste time later in
the day after working for only a part of it. The older volunteers went home
and slept/lounged around for the rest of the day. Doing that made me no
different from them. After volunteering, I would go home and lie around,
study, or play video games. My friends and I would go workout at night. That
was pretty much it. Going to school, volunteering, and wasting time seemed
like my routine. I had the energy and the means to do whatever I wanted to,
but I did not. It was not until I spoke to John1, an older volunteer, that I
time where children answered with Yes maam/sir, and women were mostly
housewives. He told me about the various jobs he used work, how he met his
wife, and how they both worked extremely hard to achieve everything they
had. All this information was shared over a few weeks (since we only saw
each other once a week. His arthritis made it difficult for him to stay moving
for extended periods of time or go outside on walks with his wife. Hearing
this made me regret not using my time wisely. It also forced me to change
more productive than before was a service to myself and to John as well. May
others.
each other. They even use it to connect with new people. During this
able to connect with others. From John all the way to little kids coming in for
surgery, I was able to connect with an entire range of people. Working at the
front desk also helped. I had talking points to refer to in case I had to walk
interact with more people, but I am glad that I did. I learned that I am never
to ask a woman her age. This experience also helped me not rely as much on
project. Not only does it help you grow, but helps you better connect to the
During this reach out event our Youth group located at Tawheed Center
(YMTC) decided to help the adults that were in a rehabilitation center and/or
center I have to admit I was a little frightened, not knowing what would
happen inside and from what society illustrates, these centers are horrific
places with terrible people. How can someone be a terrible person if all they
did was make a mistake and go down the wrong path? We served lunch to
our new friends and it was amazing to see how friendly they were.
Throughout the event we were privileged to sit down with these wonderful
people and learn about their lives and the obstacles they faced. I sat down
with a rather quiet man named Michael. I automatically clicked with him and
he made me feel like I was at home. The deeper the conversation got, I
learned about his past and how he ended up in this center and he told me
that drugs took over his life and the reason being was because he was
depressed over his wife's death. Three days after they had gotten married
they were on their honeymoon in Panama City, Florida. A dark rainy day she
took the car to grab a few things from the grocery store and Michael did not
minutes later, he called his wife and all she said was, "I love you" in her last
gasping words. It turns out that the car had slipped in the rain and ran into
the barrier on the road. To this day, Michael feels as if this accident was his
fault due to the reasoning that he could have just gone with her and
everything would've been okay. From this experience I felt heartbroken. It's
crazy to think how he fell apart. His blame for himself took over his life and
the only option he saw was the wrong path. He was a happy, loving,
energetic person and this broke him. Some may say that he was weak to not
recover from this, however they fail to see why he was dependent on these
drugs.
homeless people around Detroit are like this and are suffering from
rehab live in a place where the only solution coming out of the