My Past Job - FINAL
My Journey with Social Justice Work
In high school, people develop extracurriculars to differentiate themselves in college applications. Some may establish clubs at school that aim to solve fundamental issues. Some may volunteer many hours of their time at local soup kitchens. For me, I found myself in a youth internship that seeks to educate local youth about teen-dating and domestic violence.
Now, you may wonder, why this topic? Parents, teachers, and even teenagers themselves are often guilty of overlooking teen-dating violence (TDV). People also stigmatize the topic, which causes victims to suffer in silence. In my job, I would help host workshops, organize events, and public-speak throughout the greater Bay Area to shed light on this topic that affects our youngest generation.
This job helped me experience some heart-warming and life-changing moments that altered the way I view social justice work. Here are three of those stories:
- Annual Gala Speech
- Awareness Workshop
- Microsoft
The non-profit my internship is under hosts an annual gala to celebrate the organization’s yearly accomplishments and honor fellow community workers. When I interned, our program had to speak at the gala, and I volunteered to be one of the speakers. Our speech ranged from topics such as Kavanaugh’s controversial Supreme Court Justice nomination to recent school shootings around the nation. We urged listeners to embrace young voices and to uplift us as we challenge the social issues in our lives.
This speech was emotional to say the least. After exiting the stage, a crowd of attendees came to us and shared how powerful our call to action was. This was the first time I felt the power of young voices and saw how inter-generational efforts can create social changes.
Awareness Workshop
At our workshops, it’s very routine. We have a slide deck about teen-dating violence teaching others where it may show up in our lives to how we can tackle this issue. At the very end, we have a slide of resources for our attendees to save in case they or someone they know is in a TDV relationship. We also leave the information of our own program’s social worker in case they want to talk to someone directly.
Most of the time, people will snap a picture and move on with their day. This one day was different. We had finished our workshop and were packing up, but there was one teenager who stayed behind. After most people left, this person came up to me and began asking clarifying questions:
How do I know if I’m in one of these relationships? Am I going to be in trouble if I talk to your social worker?
I reassured them that any conversations with our social worker would be confidential, and they would be in safe hands. I then reminded them of our contact information and told them they are free to ask away whenever they need help. While I don’t know what happened after that interaction, it warmed my heart to know that our work may have rung some truth into people’s heads and guided them towards potential help.
Microsoft
Yes, you thought correctly. I’m talking about the technology conglomerate that is Microsoft. How is it related to my internship, you ask? After my internship ended, I was randomly contacted by my program’s coordinator and they said, “Hey! I have an opportunity for you.” This opportunity entailed flying out to Los Angeles and doing a video campaign with Microsoft. The campaign wanted to highlight community members who provoked social change, and they wanted to share our stories working in this internship.
This trip was a whirlwind of experiences. I participated in the video production set and met the other spotlighted guests. This was life-changing because others recognized my work’s impact even though it felt minuscule to me. It solidified the idea that any work can evoke change. It also motivated me to continue doing social work to bring forth positive developments to the world.
Readability score:
Queenie, I admire your passion and determination for change towards the social issues we face today. In particular, violence among teen-dating is definitely an issue that is often overlooked. It is awesome to hear that your workshops have enlightened people to question whether their relationships is an abusive one as well. In terms of your writing, I think you did a really good job of utilizing italics for the reader to understand your post better.
ReplyDeleteQueenie, I really enjoyed your approach to this assignment. I found it interesting how you choose to go over a array of past experiences and how you were able to show the connection back to your central theme of social justice work.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to hear how your work has helped others. I can see how after that experience you might want to continue doing social work. I'm curious to see the final product of the video campaign that you were a part of.
ReplyDeleteMy original Minor was social work and juvenile justice so this type of work is very important to me aswell. I loved reading your post and all of the cool things you are doing to promote positive social change. Working with Microsoft must have been such a cool experience, especially knowing your work is going to been seen and heard by so many.
ReplyDeleteWow this experience sounds amazing! Doing all of this in high school too is even more insane. I liked how it was a collection of experiences all related to justice work. It was a very smooth and easy read, and your passion shines through. Your drive to help make the world a better place is very clear and it's very admirable!
ReplyDeleteThese are such great experiences. Your hard work and passion paid off when you director gave you that opportunity with Microsoft. Glad you were able to make such an impact!
ReplyDeleteThis internship sounds extremely interesting and influential to teens in any relationship. I wish there was a program like this at my high school because I can imagine you made a huge impact on many students that were seeking guidance in such a confusing time in their lives. That also must have been so exciting to receive an opportunity to fly out to LA and work with Microsoft. I really enjoyed reading your job description!
ReplyDeleteThis is so admirable! The work you have done has clearly had a tremendous impact, and I'm glad you were able to see that firsthand. Plus, it's awesome that you were able to find this passion so early in your life. Now that you know this, I am sure you will keep changing people's lives as you continue with social work in your future!
ReplyDelete