May: Aloha!

I’ve been waiting to post this blog, partly because at the end of the last entry there was still 10 days left in May, and partly because I’ve been on a trip!

I just got back from an amazing extended weekend in Hawaii. Through the generous support of the Shinnyo-en Foundation, I met with young people from around the world (at one point, in a room of 30 people, there were over 10 countries represented) to participate in the GoPro global entrepreneurship summit, put on by Project Tsubasa. Though I had never really explored entrepreneurship (outside a brief month-long period during my senior year of college), my team and I worked together really well to solve a social problem.

After an afternoon of throwing ideas around and receiving feedback on them, we were able to more fully develop our idea. Without divulging too much information (we’re in talks to continue working on our business, after all!), our business would help anyone traveling to a foreign place. We gave a 10-minute presentation about our business, which included research around the need for it, how our team can fill that need, and how we plan to keep the business sustainable. It’s incredibly exciting to be a part of something that started as an idea, but has grown to be something that has the potential to help people worldwide.

On Monday, Memorial Day, Project Tsubasa was lucky enough to be seated near the main stage of Lantern Floating Hawaii 2014. Traditionally, people float lanterns to commemorate the passing of a loved one. On that day, more than 40,000 people showed up to watch the lanterns. It was an amazing event, rife with emotions: sadness, yes, but also hope. It was a moving sight to see strangers comfort each other, as the lanterns bearing the memories of their respective loved ones floated out to sea together. Loss, and the feelings associated with loss, is one of the most universal human emotions. This common ground, I think, gave way to love. There was so much love present on that beach, it really is hard to capture in words. My friend Chris captured this moment, though, which I think summarizes nicely everything I’ve just said.

Tuesday was our free day! I started by attending the Shinnyo-en Foundation interfaith dialogue with four other Shinnyo Fellows; here, leaders from eight different faith communities came together to reflect on the lantern floating event, and to have an open and candid discussion about topics like death and loved ones. I was so impressed by the maturity and respect that everyone showed one another. It gave me hope that we are, slowly but surely, converging all our individual paths upon one path to peace.

After the event, my friends and I were free to explore Honolulu. We found a cramped but charming clothing store with a charismatic shopkeeper who sold us on some pretty cool Hawaiian shirts. We then moseyed to Waikiki Beach, where we met the rest of the Project Tsubasa. We swam, lay in the sand, marveled at rainbows, and generally tried to enjoy each others’ company on our last day together.

Just like that, the trip was over. For the second time in two months, I had become very close friends with people I had never met, and may not see again. But the times we spent laughing, philosophizing, and getting bitten by mosquitoes are times I will never forget. I am very humbled and extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in such an amazing weekend. Thank you once more to the Shinnyo-en Foundation, particularly Ineko and Katie, for this amazing opportunity; not just the trip to Hawaii, but the whole year as well. I’ve been able to gain a world of experience because of the support from the Shinnyo-en Foundation, and I could not be more grateful.

June means that my fellowship is almost over! Stay tuned for a summary of my last few weeks as a Fellow, which include my plans for next year (and beyond), as well as the announcement of (drumroll…..) a brand new Stanford Shinnyo Fellow! 

April: Firsts

Though it was the ninth month of my fellowship, April was a month of firsts. I received the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. to present at the National Service Learning Conference on behalf of the Shinnyo-en Foundation. In collaboration with Manuelito, Jana, and our new friends at the White Plains Library in White Plains, New York, I got the opportunity to talk about my fellowship during a thought-leader session entitled "City-wide Collaboration." I had never been to our nation’s capital before, but it was a great experience. I had seen the National Mall and the various monuments and memorials in pictures, but to actually be there was something that had to be experienced. To stand where Martin Luther King, Jr. stood as he gave his famous speech sent chills down my spine. Seeing where Forrest Gump reunited with Jenny was cool too. I also got to meet many new people, including members of the Shinnyo-en Youth Association from various temples around the world, and representatives from other organizations supported by the Shinnyo-en Foundation (such as The School Fund). I was extremely humbled and grateful for the opportunity to travel and represent the Haas Center, the Gardner Center, Redwood City 2020, and the Shinnyo-en Foundation.

I also got the opportunity to create and brainstorm ideas for my first work-related video. I can’t divulge the idea just yet, but I can say that it summarizes my year as the Stanford Shinnyo Fellow pretty well. Please be on the look out for it! I’ll post a reflection on the video-making process in my May summary.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunities afforded me this year. Without the support from many people from different organizations, my experience this year would not have been the great experience that it was, and I would not have had the opportunity to experience all of these "firsts." And the year is only going to get better in the next couple of months! Keep a look out for a summary of the month of May tomorrow, along with exciting news!

March: Meetings

While some people associate March with Madness, I associate March with Meetings. By March, the work group meetings were in full force; I went to at least three work group meetings in three weeks, with each being an hour and a half long or more (which comes to 8-10 pages of notes!). In addition to the workgroup meetings, I attended a YDA meeting at the Gardner Center and a phone meeting with Jana and Manuelito.

Though meetings aren’t always glamorous, they are an integral component of sustaining an organization, especially ones that value collaboration as much as Redwood City 2020 and the Gardner Center do. Meetings are a time for a mutual exchange of ideas and strategies, as well as a time to make personal connections with partners. However, the meeting itself is not the thing that keeps organizations like Redwood City 2020 and the Gardner Center afloat. Meetings are great, but only inasmuch as they guide action. If no one translates the ideas generated in meetings to action, then many organizations would be all talk. And that would be true madness. 

February: Professional Development

The theme of February was professional development: I learned and honed so many skills that will benefit me in whatever profession I choose.

Once a week in the month of February, we met with a meditation trainer for an hour. During these meetings, the trainer checked in on our practice and gave us a space to talk about challenges or other obstacles to meditating. This opportunity to reflect on my meditation allowed me to focus on the parts that were hard for me: finding a consistent time to do it, finding a quiet place to do it, and acknowledging that it will have benefits in the long run. These were all qualms I had that were assuaged during these meetings. Since learning to meditate, I’ve found that I am more well rested, more focused, and more productive.

I also got to experience professional development of a different flavor. The other SPIN fellows and I, supported by Jim Murray and the Haas Center, went on a trip to the Cal Academy of Sciences. It was a busy morning (there were so many families there because it was the monthly Free Admissions Day), but ultimately a great experience learning about the universe and bonding with the other SPIN fellows.

I also gave my first real presentation of my work to the Gardner Center in February. I took the large environmental scan poster that had been created as a result of the strategic planning meeting, and hung it at the back of the room. I would like to think that my colleagues at the Gardner Center were impressed at the scope of the work I had done, but I know that their research has had so much more of an impact; I just had a larger poster! The presentation itself took the form of a quiz. I asked questions like “What percent of Redwood City School District students are eligible for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program?” I solicited answers from people, and then revealed the answer. Oftentimes, the real answer surprised them. From the presentation, it was clear that a lot of work in Redwood City had to be done. After the presentation, many people told me that it was informative and well done. I was just glad I didn’t faint from nervousness.

Lastly, I got a chance to sit in on work group meetings for Redwood City 2020. After the strategic planning retreat, Jana asked the attendees to sign up for work groups, which would tackle the areas they had decided to focus on. I won’t divulge what the groups or areas of work were, but I sat in on three different groups covering 6 different areas of work. It was another rare glimpse behind the scenes of a collaborative, a glimpse that I would not have had were it not for this fellowship. These work group meetings would lay the foundation for another big meeting date: April 9th, the Coordinating Council meeting. During this meeting, the work groups will present their work to the Coordinating Council, and the Coordinating Council will vote to move forward with that work or to move on to other areas of work. Exciting stuff! Stay tuned for more! 

January: Planning

January was the month that almost all my prior work at Redwood City 2020 had built up to: the strategic planning retreat. There was a lot more planning that allowed this strategic planning to happen, though!

As a result of a strategic planning work group meeting, I was tasked with helping to create two main documents: one summarizing all the Redwood City 2020 initiatives (“Initiative Summary”) and one synthesizing relevant data trends regarding Redwood City (“Environmental Scan”). I worked with Jana to create many iterations of each document (I was astounded at how many versions we ended up having!), which went on to be extremely helpful on the day of the strategic planning meeting.

The feeling in the meeting room on the day of the actual meeting was electric. That so many leaders from the City, County, school districts, and more could come together to talk about the work Redwood City 2020 has done and will do is a testament to the importance of the work that Redwood City 2020 does. By the end of the long day, and with the help of the documents Jana and I created, the partners present were able to work together to decide on several areas of work. It was exciting to have had a hand in laying out the work that this important and influential collaboration would do over the course of the next six years.

I also got the chance to meet with Ineko and Katie from the Shinnyo-en Foundation, to reflect on how the year had been going. After a large meeting with Jim from the Haas Center, Jana, Manuelito, and myself, Ineko and Katie asked to meet with me one-on-one. I was very grateful that they gave me the opportunity to provide them with honest and candid feedback about this fellowship. I really hope that my reflections will help prepare them in working with the next Shinnyo Fellow!

December: Celebrations

Besides my normal busy schedule (compiling documents, attending meetings, and taking notes), I got to explore a new facet of professional life that I hadn’t previously encountered: office holiday parties! 

I attended my first White Elephant gift exchange with the staff from the Gardner Center and walked away with a nice picture frame. The next day, partners in the Redwood City community came to the new Redwood City 2020 office for a catered breakfast before the work day. They also got to see the hard work that my coworkers and I had put into decorating the office. Being able to connect with my coworkers on a more personal level was something that I realized I was missing in my professional life. These parties allowed me to interact candidly with everyone without the strictures of a professional working environment. It was great making these personal connections! 

The rest of the month was spent with family in San Diego. It was extremely relaxing, as it aways is, especially since I knew that January was going to be a busy month! Stay tuned until next week for updates about the Redwood City 2020 Strategic Planning Retreat. 

November: Giving Thanks

Having read the Positive Youth Development chapter (Lerner et al.), and learning how much work there is around shifting the paradigms to that of an assets-based approach around children, I am thankful for the innovative research being done at the Gardner Center, and the hard work of Redwood City 2020 to incorporate this research into action. I am also thankful for the amazing opportunity I have working at highly respected organizations that are doing incredible things.