Reflection on Social Justice, Diversity, and the Hallmarks

The Notre Dame de Namur hallmarks are a set of values that I feel everyone should look up to as standards for one’s character. They develop a person all around personality to be members of social justice and they help people accept diversity. Hallmark 5 says that “We embrace the gift of diversity” and that something I have come to accept and love because I grew up in a non-diverse school. After coming to NDNU, I have met so many people of races I have never really been acquainted to. Diversity is something our school encourages and I am glad it does because I have met many close friends of different races at this school. We love to share our experiences of being our respective races and to make fun of any common stereotypes in good fun. Social justice is something that can be improved as long as there is diversity. When there are multiple races in a community there is less chance for acts of social injustice because everyone would be respectful of each other’s ethnic backgrounds. The main cause of social injustice is when there is so much of one race such that there is nothing a minority can do to protect themselves. In today’s society, social injustice is rampant and together we must do something to protect one another. Implementing the hallmarks into our life would help everyone treat diversity as a gift from God and hence lead to less social injustices. 

Second Non Athletic Event

                                                                Second Non-Athletic Event

The second non-athletic event I attended was the talk by Rose Jacobs-Gibson and I am glad I attended because it really inspired me. Rose talked about the youth violence in San Mateo and her part in trying to help the situation. What she has done in the San Mateo county really shocked me because she made a huge realization and changes to the San Mateo county. I am from a part of the Bay Area where youth violence is not much of a problem but I whenever I visit schools in other areas, I can see the need for help. Although I have never seen the San Mateo schools before, I admire the mere fact that she decided to do something to change the violence among the youth. It must have taken a lot of courage and determination to be able to get her ideas through and make a difference in a society that does not give too much importance to youth violence. As I was listening, I realized that her actions go in accordance with Hallmarks 3 and 6 of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. I say that because she acts behalf of justice and peace as well as creating a community with those with whom she works with. Because of her, children the age of my brother can feel safer while going to school. Overall, I am glad I went to her talk because now I know there are people who I do not know that made a difference in the world. This is important to me because it makes me feel like I can make a difference in the world without being well known.   

Rose Jacobs Gibson Reflection

After attending Rose Jacobs-Gibson’s talk on youth violence in the San Mateo and her take on the issue, I have realized that her approach to leadership is one I aspire to follow. Her approach to leadership reflects almost all of the hallmark values and that is something that surprises me and makes me want to follow it even more because it’s so thought-through. The second hallmark states that “We honor the dignity and sacredness of each person” as a way of saying that we should dedicate some of our time in support of another person’s life. Rose has served nearly 20 years for the San Mateo Country Board and East Palo Alto council and was a key part into making the high crime city into a much safer city. Her actions perfectly match hallmarks 3 and 6 which both reinforce the importance of acting on behalf of justice and peace as well as creating a community with those with whom we work with. Her actions have made a huge impact on the San Mateo crime scene and has helped people find a good sense of direction in their lives as well. Her article on the economic and social costs of youth violence gives me a very clear picture of what the school system is like in San Mateo and the Bay Area because even though I was raising in the Bay Area, I went to schools in districts that were extremely safe and had almost no crime going on. The article explains a lot about how not just the kids are being affected by the criminal offense but also the government because it is expensive to pay for crime investigations and juvenile centers. I thought her solution to the problem was also a good one because I remember attending programs in elementary schools that warned us about the effects of drugs. I felt these programs were informative and effective but there were no programs on gangs and violence which is why kids went towards it. If the students were more informed about things, then they would have enough knowledge to know whether it is good or bad for them. Her initiative to start programs that work with kids who have been around firearm violence is one I really admire because as useful as it is, it is also compassionate because she’s treating the kids like human beings and not like “different” kids affected by violence. This matches hallmark 5 which states that “We embrace the gift of diversity” and shows how she respected and treated everyone fairly and well. I personally also aspire for this quality because when I was growing up, I grew up with almost no diversity in my school. This led me and my peers to make misinformed assumption about what other races were like and we made racist jokes. I wished that if we had more diversity in our school, we would be more informed and more equipped with hallmark 5. Although I will never be able to commit myself completely to community service, after reading about her and all the things she has changed in the area I live in, I am inspired to do something that impacts the community for the better when I have a job. I’m thinking maybe once a week I could go do volunteer work and see what’re some problems in the community and try my best to work on them. Being able to serve the community has always been on my mind and even during the tough college semester, every Saturday I go the local church and participate in feeding the homeless. The sense of happiness and joy that I get from helping people in need is not one that can be replaced. The sense of gratefulness that homeless people have makes me want to do even more for them. In conclusion, the talk that Rose Jacobs Gibson had was really enlightening and inspiring because it made me think that community service really does change people and the society for the better. 

PostFlection on Call to Action Day

                                                               

Steven Rokkala

Freshman Seminar

Professor Therese Martin

Notre Dame de Namur

                               

                                                                                   

                                                         Post Call to Action Day                 

After waking up early and spending time helping out the Ecumenical Hunger Program I am pretty tired but content at the same time. First of all, I am really glad that although I had to wake up really early, I was able to do a lot of useful work. What we did over there was quite simple because the organizer was giving us instructions on what we should do. I started taking the rice bags and moving them to other places in the building. Then I would separate the white rice and brown rice and put them in boxes for families to take home. Next I went over the place where all the refrigerated items are stored and helped organize milk and eggs in a way that all of them would fit on the selves. After that I helped take out all the cardboard boxes and throw them in the recycling bin. I ended my time there by packing boxes with food so that families that come could just take the box with food. Although I was slightly disappointed I didn’t get to directly help assist the less fortunate, I know that they would be happy when they received their boxes because I worked hard to ensure that every box had two of everything. Although I didn’t find out about the finances, I found out that the place runs of the goodness of volunteers who package and distribute all the boxes. On the way home, my friends told me they didn’t enjoy the trip that much but I had always wanted to do something like this so that is why we have differing ideas. 

Pre-Flection Before Call To Action

                                                               

Steven Rokkala

Freshman Seminar

Professor Therese Martin

Notre Dame de Namur

                               

                                                                                   

                                                         Pre-Flection Call to Action Day    

I’m planning out my week now and I realize there’s important task coming up this week and that is going to the Call to Action day. Our Professor has decided that we go to the Ecumenical Hunger Program in Palo Alto which meant we would have something to do with feeding the less fortunate. I am glad I found that out when I was reading about it because every week I go to a local church and volunteer to feed the homeless. For me, it is the best way I can give something back to the society that I grew up in and it makes me feel good whenever I help other people going through tough times. I was thinking earlier today about if it would be similar to the type of work I do at church. Either way, I believe that the whole idea of Call to Action is great for me because it ties with the 4^th Notre Dame de Namur hallmark value: “We commit ourselves to community service”.  During the school year, I’m really busy during the weekdays so community service during the week would almost be like a holiday because it is something I enjoy doing. I’m pretty excited and I’m happy it is a learning experience too.  I hope to gain more knowledge of how places that help the homeless work and what impact they make on the families they give to. Another big discovery I’m looking forward to is how the organization run financially and who provides the financial resources for it. Some of my friends are interested in this trip and I’ve never done anything like this with my friends so this should be a great and fun learning experience of all of us.

Orientation Engagement Exercise

The orientation exercise in Taube center was a very enriching exercise in which we learnt about Sister Dorothy’s accomplishments and hardships and how they relate to the Sisters Notre Dame of De Namur’s core values. The documentary on Sister Dorothy opened my eyes to her hardships even though I’ve read her biography but it’s completely different when you see it. Through the engagement exercise I learnt how my own values incorporate into the school’s values and gained a better understanding when we made posters. The posters helped gain a better understanding how we felt about the school’s values. When Sister Dorothy moved over to Brazil, it was shocking how much contempt she got from her oppositions. She was a kind and fun person even during the most stressful of times. She had no need to help the farmers in Brazil but she had a calling and she followed it till her death and proved her persistent loyalty. This is what the orientation exercise really imprinted into me; her loyalty, her humility, her faith to God are all areas to improve on in myself. While working with the group I learnt that each one of us had learnt something unique and fitting for our lives and it was quite interesting for me to see that I’m not the only one that learnt something from Sister Dorothy. All in all, I believe that without the orientation engagement exercise, I would’ve been left with a bunch of undeveloped ideas and understandings of Sister Dorothy’s life and I’m glad I took part in the seminar session to collect my thought and build a knowledgeable understanding and find ways to incorporate it into my life.