Week 5 (8/12-8/16): Building Bridges

This week, I was able to explore many different facets of my responsibilities as a Shinnyo Fellow.

Monday and Tuesday followed the pattern that I have become most used to: bike to work, do some reading, have lunch, do a bit more reading, check in with Manuelito, and then bike home. I’ve really come to appreciate these check-ins; Manuelito always gives me really good insights and guidance as to where I should be investigating, as well as probing questions that I as a non-researcher never would have thought to ask. I’m really valuing the collaboration between the Gardner Center and Redwood City 2020, as I can see what the benefits will be once I start working regularly in both places (there was a space mix up, so I have been working almost exclusively at the Gardner Center). In the near future, I can envision 2020 presenting questions that they would like the answer to, and then the Gardner Center providing the means to answer this question. 

Wednesday was a big day for me, just in terms of starting to make relationships in Redwood City. It started with a special Redwood City 2020 Joint Policy meeting with the Coordinating Council and the Cabinet, made up of leaders from each Core Partner. During this meeting, Jana recounted everything she learned from the conversations that she had with each Coordinating Council and Cabinet member. I was so incredibly impressed because, even though the meeting was 3 hours long and covered a vast array of topics, Jana was able to lead the discussion effectively and efficiently so that the meeting was able to end exactly at noon, and not a minute later. She was able to pack so much meaningful dialogue into those three hours. I think this just speaks to how well she and Janneth did their homework, and how much they respect everybody and their busy schedules. 

During the meeting itself, I was able to see a behind-the-scenes look at how Redwood City 2020 works, and how decisions are made. I really enjoyed the aura of collaboration; no one person or organization dominated the group, and everyone’s voices were heard. I got to see how they decided how Redwood City 2020 would move forward, as well as ideas for future meetings. 

I was also able to meet many of the people on the Coordinating Council and Cabinet. While it was only really in the context of an icebreaker (human bingo!), just meeting people and learning a little bit about them is integral to laying the foundation for future relationships. I have a feeling that I will be working a lot with these people in the coming year, so beginning to build these bridges (theme alert!) is crucial to what I will be doing in the Redwood City community. 

After the meeting, and a quick lunch, I got a chance to meet with Elena, the Community School Coordinator at Hoover Community School. Jana, Elena, and I walked around the North Fair Oaks neighborhood and I learned about some of the issues facing the North Fair Oaks residents. I also got to visit a Healthy Corner Store, a product of a Redwood City 2020 initiative. Afterward, Elena gave me a tour around Hoover and answered some of my questions. The school was a little empty, given that the school year hadn’t started yet, but I plan to go back soon to see it in action. In fact, this Friday is an event at Hoover called “Nuestra Escuela,” which I will be attending and observing. 

The time with Jana and Elena was invaluable to my work in the Redwood City community. I am extremely grateful that they took the time to show me around and acquaint me with the school and the neighborhood. I hope to visit the rest of the schools soon!

That Thursday at the Gardner Center was full of meetings. I had a morning meeting during which we discussed the various research projects related to the Youth Development Archive. The meeting immediately after that was a brief one about research at another school in the district. The meeting immediately after THAT was our weekly staff meeting. So between Wednesday and Thursday, I think I experienced the full spectrum of what I expect to do for the rest of the year: learn about research and other initiatives during meetings and learn about the community by being in the community. 

As previously noted, this week’s theme is “Building Bridges.” I think this week did a lot in the way of giving me an opportunity to build bridges, not only in making connections with people, but making personal ties with the community. I think it’s also an apt metaphor for my role as a Shinnyo Fellow this year: to build a bridge between two institutions so that interactions between the two are effective.

Week 4 (8/5-8/9): Six Billion Paths to Peace

Retreats, to me, have a lot of different connotations. My personal definition of "retreat" has changed quite a bit with time.

In high school, my retreats were largely impersonal: my whole 170-person class was split up among 10 or 12 groups and then slept over in the gym, or spent the day off campus, all the while talking about brotherhood (it was an all-boys school) and service.

In college, a “retreat” was more of just an excuse for a student group to rent a house somewhere in Tahoe or Santa Cruz and justify not doing homework while simultaneously stressing about not doing homework.

This past weekend, though, I participated in the Shinnyo Fellows Orientation and Annual Retreat. And I have to say, I think I experienced my first real retreat. 

* * *

Before I unpack that more, though, I thought I would quickly recount the events of the Fellows’ Orientation the day before. The Fellows’ Orientation was held at the Shinnyo-En Foundation’s office in San Francisco. Thankfully, Katie at the Foundation was able to get me a guest parking pass, so I didn’t have to worry about paying for parking.

Somehow, though, parking wasn’t even the best part of the day. I really enjoyed getting to know the rest of the Shinnyo Fellows (4 from George Mason University, 3 present from Seattle University, and 2 from UC Berkeley) and their supervisors. I was initially worried because I had only very recently been given the opportunity to attend the Fellows’ Orientation, and thus didn’t have time to inform my supervisors. So it was a little intimidating at first knowing that I would essentially be there alone. 

It wasn’t like that for long, though. Jana, my supervisor at Redwood City 2020, was able to stop by and introduce herself on her way to work. And even after she left, the Fellows, their supervisors, as well as the Shinnyo-En Foundation staff made me feel very included as we had discussions about service, peace, and our individual projects. We ended the day with dinner at Rosa Mexicano, which has to be the fanciest Mexican restaurant I’ve ever seen (with the best mini churros I’ve ever had--I even wasn’t aware you could buy churros in units less than 1.5 feet long). 

* * *

I left the next morning for the Marconi Center, about 1.5 hours north of San Francisco. Besides overshooting the turn into the conference center (thanks to Siri and a lack of common sense), the drive went very smoothly. After a boxed lunch, we began preparing for the actual retreat. As Fellows, we would be co-facilitating groups made up of participants from various partners associated with the Foundation. I met with my co-facilitator, and talked about some guidelines and goals for our Home Group (Group 2, represent). Soon, everyone had arrived, including representatives from the Shinnyo-En Youth Association and the UC Berkeley Chan Fellows Program. After a few initial icebreakers, we all took about 3-5 minutes introducing our organizations to the group as a whole (approximately 50 people). Then it was off to dinner!

I really enjoyed these meal times; not only was the food delicious, but I got to eat meals with people that were not in my Home Group or fellow Fellows. Having this time also allowed us to talk about things not just related to service and get to know each other on a different level. 

Friday night was the Personal Object activity. There was a cool twist to this show-and-tell, though. Instead of explaining the significance of our objects right off the bat, we first gave them to our group members, who assigned meaning to the objects. It was like playing CSI but with more bracelets and necklaces. It was really cool to see the things people came up with, especially the last couple of people who had to go. Some of the coolest interpretations came from these people because everything superficial had been said about the object. They either had to go deeper to find significance or come up with another apt metaphor. Really great activity to get to know someone. 

* * *

Saturday started early with breakfast at 7am, but somehow felt less packed than the half-day on Friday, although the three hour break in the afternoon may have had something to do with it. I personally was stressing because I had been thrown off my MCAT study schedule a little bit, so I took this good three-hour chunk to get some studying done.

...then promptly fell asleep for 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The session before the break had to do with “Play,” the things we feel guilty for doing because we don’t deem them “productive,” but are ultimately beneficial to our mental and emotional well-being. So, there you go, nap justified.

Anyways, feeling (very) rejuvenated, we had dinner and watched a video about reframing the question of “What’s wrong with the world?” to ask “What’s right with the world?” This was another cool activity that sparked a pretty deep discussion afterward. After the discussion was the Open Mic, which was an experience in itself. This was another one of those opportunities to really get to know people as people, out of the context of public servants and peace makers. It was really cool getting to see everyone share their talents.

* * *

Waking up Sunday morning was different yet again. There’s always a tone of finality or closure on the last day of something: noting the last time you have breakfast together, the last walk from the dining hall, the last time you get lost on your way to the building where you’ve met for literally every single session. Even though it was only two full days, it had seemed like much longer, like time had slowed down.

The main activity on Sunday after breakfast was focused on self-reflection. For the first 20 minutes, we were led in silent meditation. I unfortunately wasn’t as relaxed as I could have been (never was good at criss-cross applesauce sitting), but it was soothing nonetheless. The next 40 minutes or so were spent navigating a labyrinth. I had walked a similar one on the UC Santa Barbara campus, but this one was pretty cool in that it was essentially a labyrinth printed on a mat that could be used anywhere with enough space. If you’ve never tried this type of labyrinth before, I highly recommend it. It’s not a maze; it’s not intended to trick you, and there are no dead ends. Rather, it is one continuous path in the shape of a circle, positioned in such a way that it folds on itself. I likened it to the many folds of the small intestine, but that might have just been the result of hitting the MCAT books too hard. In any case, once one reached the center, there was time to reflect on the journey, and the retreat as a whole. It was a really cool experience.

After that, there wasn’t much else left. We took a lot of pictures together and exchanged information. One walk up and back down the treacherous hill to the dining hall later, I was on the road again back home to Redwood City. 

* * * 

Overall, the combination of the Fellows’ Orientation and Annual Retreat was an amazing opportunity to meet so many people who want to make peace in the world. I found this week’s theme--Six Billion Paths to Peace-- quite appropriate. Six Billion Paths to Peace is an initiative from the Shinnyo-en Foundation to make the world a more peaceful place, one person at a time (at a time when there were still only six billion people in the world). The idea is that every single person can have his or her own path to peace, and that, though they are many, they are all valuable. I got to see this first-hand, not only by learning more about each Fellow’s project, but by seeing the Shinnyo-En Foundation staff work as well. So much work and planning went into this transformative weekend, and I cannot thank everyone enough for allowing me to be a part of it.

Additionally, I think I truly felt rejuvenated and refreshed after the retreat. I say this because when I got home, I was able to knock out a chapter of Ochem, a chapter of Gen Chem, and a chapter of Biology, without the fatigue or crying that usually accompanies it. Moving forward, in terms of studying, I think I’ve learned the value of a short break to recenter myself and reinvigorate my determination to study, pass the MCAT and get into medical school, as I try to pave my own path to peace. 

Week 3 (7/29-8/2): The Heart of Embracement

This week was another week filled with firsts for me; I wrote my first report for my first meeting outside the Gardner Center, and finished off the week with my first day at Redwood City 2020.

The report I put together consisted of an organized spreadsheet of all the research papers I had read since I started my fellowship on July 15. The final result consisted of information about 30 different studies on a variety of topics, and included information on the paper’s authors, what partners were involved in the research, where the research was done, and what areas (academics, health and fitness, physical development, emotional development, etc) the research was addressing. I plan on adding to this spreadsheet as the year goes on and as I learn about more and more research that goes on beyond the Gardner Center. 

After finishing the spreadsheet, I outlined common themes and trends in the research -- populations and age groups that seemed to be well documented. Just as important, if not more so, were the gaps that presented themselves in the research. I am hoping that this report is useful in guiding future research.

On Wednesday, I presented my findings at the District Office in Redwood City to Manuelito and Jana. It was a productive meeting that I hope was informative. If nothing else, we established a regular schedule for me (Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday at Redwood City 2020 and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday at the Gardner Center) and set some important meeting dates on a shared calendar I made just to keep track of everything. I came back to the District Office on Friday, for my first day of work at 2020.

This week’s theme is "The Heart of Embracement." A heart that is ready to embrace anything is necessary in dealing with all these firsts, especially during the first few weeks of a job. Even though it can be confusing or hectic adjusting to a new routine, a new office space, and new people (who all apparently have new names; definitely need to work on this), I am doing my best to embrace things as they come. Though I am, as I’m learning, a creature of habit (I had a banana instead of oatmeal for breakfast yesterday and it threw off my whole day), I need to embrace all these changes as part of my growth. I am trying my best to be open to all these new experiences and just be as helpful as possible. Or at least, for now, as out of the way as possible. Soon, though, these new changes will become routine, so my brain can stop freaking out. 

Next week is the Shinnyo Fellows’ Orientation, as well as the Annual Retreat! Please check back here for updates on how it went!