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. 

Important Announcement!

As I'm sure you've noticed, the week-by-week structure of this blog became increasingly hard to maintain as I found myself with more and more responsibilities. So, from this point forward, I will be focusing on smaller, event-based entries. I feel that this will encourage me to blog more, and will allow me to really reflect on events and experiences that have an impact on my work.

However, I still wanted to provide updates of my year (how has it already been 10 months?!). For the next week, I will post a summary of a month's work, starting with November, and ending with May. These will be short, but will still be loosely based around a central theme. Look out for these posts!

Thank you for your patience, and be sure to check in over this next week! 

Weeks 16-18 (10/28-11/8): Alignment

The weeks now are flying by. With the strategic planning retreat on the horizon, the amount of work I have is steadily increasing. I’m also finding that I have more responsibilities. For example, on Monday (10/28), I attended a Ready Schools Team meeting, and reported back to the small workgroup about research pertaining to the academic benefits of having smaller class sizes (according to the Tennessee STAR Experiment, advantages were minimal and seemed to fade after the third grade; more beneficial would be improving the quality of teaching).   

I’m also handling more responsibilities internally with Redwood City 2020. I’ve been emailing the core partners for their own strategic plans and needs assessments, in order to get an idea of our partners’ priorities. Eventually, I will group all of their priorities under common goals (health, safety, academics), so we can see what areas our partners are focusing on. This will tell us at Redwood City 2020 what we are doing a good job supporting, and what we can do better in the future. The partners’ needs assessments will give us a better idea of why our partners chose the goals they chose, and will then inform our own goals moving forward.   

The theme, then, for this week is alignment. As a community collaborative, it is important that we are in alignment with all of our partners. While Redwood City 2020 wants to have agency in the direction it takes in the next 4-6 years, being in line with our partners’ interests is essential in ensuring that everyone can work together. This is example of alignment in collaboration is extremely valuable for my work moving forward, both in my role as a fellow and beyond. 

Week 14 and 15 (10/14-10/25): Architects of Change

As I become progressively busier with new projects, and as weeks begin to meld into each other, I’ve decided to cover two weeks of work in one succinct post. This post is the first of such posts.

I spent much of the next couple of days focusing on the Prevention Partnership project; I sifted through various clearinghouses online (some of which were frustratingly unusable due to the government shutdown) and recorded various instances of evidence-based, peer-reviewed alcohol and drug prevention interventions. I compiled the best, most relevant interventions in an Excel sheet and made copies to hand out at the Prevention Partnership meeting on Wednesday.

At the meeting, we gathered the Prevention Partnership partners and explained to them the call for evidence-based practices in the new work plan. Many partners, as it turns out, were already using evidence-based practices, though they weren’t aware of that. Others needed more help. In the end, though, everyone was on the same page. We used the meeting time to establish a timeline and other deadlines by which the partners should have their revised proposals submitted to us, so that we can compile them into one work plan and submit that to the County. Overall, it was a very productive meeting!

The rest of the week passed without any incident of note. The following Thursday was the monthly in-person meeting with Manuelito and Jana. We met at the Redwood City 2020 offices, and discussed my role with the Prevention Partnership, the importance of the upcoming Redwood City 2020 environmental scan, and opportunities for my own professional development.

The grand opening of a Healthy Corner Store marked the end of the week. Although the irony of serving pizza and pastries at a healthy corner store was lost on no one, the meaning of the event was significant nonetheless. It was a nice change of pace to be in the community supporting one of RWC2020’s initiatives that I had read so much about. Hearing from straight from the mouths of the youth that worked so hard to put this store together I hope that this is the start of a trend that allows me to be in the community supporting various initiatives as much as I read about them!

For these youth, I've themed this week's post "Architects of Change." The Youth Leadership Institute, who headed up the Healthy Corner Store project, is comprised of local youth who want to change their community for the better. They approached all the store owners, convinced them to give their stores a healthy makeover, trained the owners how to take care of produce, and physically rearranged and cleaned the stores themselves. These youth are setting the foundation for future change, upon which a huge skyskraper of their influence will one day be built. 

Week 13 (10/7-10/11): Melt Away the Busy Day

A more superstitious person would not be surprised that Week 13 was my busiest week by far. I spent all of Monday compiling a funding report for the Shinnyo-en Foundation, documenting all of the goals and action items that Jana, Manuelito, and I had set, and doing a bit of reflection in the process. This report was only meant to be a check-in, but it was a really good opportunity for me to reflect on what I had done in the first 3 months (already?!) of my fellowship.

The next day, Manuelito, Jana, and I all met with Katie, Ben, and Ineko from Shinnyo-en Foundation at the new Redwood City 2020 office. It had been quite some time since we had all been together, but it was incredibly helpful to sit down and talk about my fellowship. We quickly went over my work plan and also learned about the opportunity to attend the National Service Learning Conference in Washington, D.C. I’ve never been east of Texas, really, so I am extraordinarily grateful for this opportunity to learn and do service in our nation’s capital. We spent the rest of the meeting time reflecting on the fellowship thus far, and other ways I can serve from this position.

After the monthly Redwood City 2020 team meeting on Wednesday, I worked on my Prezi for the presentation I would be giving to the Gardner Center staff the next day. The weekly staff meeting at the Gardner Center is a good time to learn about what projects other people are working on. So, for many people, my presentation on my fellowship was their first introduction to what I have been doing. People know I am the Shinnyo Fellow, of course, but I think they were unsure of the specifics of what my responsibilities are. I addressed these and spoke about my upcoming projects for the next hour and a half, and got some very helpful feedback, as well as recommended resources for the projects that I am working on.

Friday, on paper, was supposed to be my “down” day: my presentation was over, I didn’t have meetings planned, and I had no reports due. One thing I like about this fellowship, though, is how dynamic it is; new projects can pop up at any time. And this is exactly what happened! Jana returned from a meeting and asked for my help in informing Redwood City 2020’s strategic planning process via collecting the strategic plans of all of our core partners. This was a chance for me to reach out and make some connections in the community, so I was excited to get started. A few hours later, Jana came back from another meeting with yet another idea for work I could do; this time, I would be helping the Prevention Partnership make their proposed work plan focus more on evidence-based practices. So, my “down” day, funnily enough, ended up being one of my more productive and work-driven days yet! 

The theme, then, for this week is “Melt Away the Busy Day.” This sentiment expresses how I felt this past week: I’ve found that the more work I have, the more the days seem to blend together, and the faster the weeks seem to move. I definitely appreciate the slower days now, but still think that I am working at my best when I have to juggle a few projects (within reason, of course). I also feel more accomplished at the end of the day, and feel more justified in spending my evenings relaxing with old friends or forging better relationships with my newest friend, Netflix. Reflecting back on this week, it is pretty appropriate that this is how my Week 13 happened. And I feel very lucky to be able to say that.

Week 12 (9/30-10/4):The Importance of Young People

This week marked my first involvement with a particular initiative within Redwood City 2020: the Ready Schools Initiative. This group of individuals is comprised of teachers,  educators, and others, dedicated to making sure that children as young as preschoolers are ready for the transitions to kindergarten and later to elementary school. I attended the monthly meeting and immediately jumped in to one of the work groups. I was happy to be able to help so quickly: the group I joined wanted to find research supporting the idea that small class sizes make for better outcomes down the line. My ears, almost reflexively at this point, perked up at the mention of “research,” so I volunteered to try to find such a study. 

When I asked for Manuelito’s guidance later in the week, he directed me toward the Tennessee STAR experiment, which seemed perfect, as it seemed to support small class sizes. However, he brought up the point that this experiment was done in a specific population, at a particular time. Additionally, the effects seem to wear off after about 3rd grade. This got me thinking about how any experiment can truly be replicated, or how people can use research as evidence for informing policy, which I had never really considered before. I’m hoping that I can find a similar study that focused on a population more similar to Redwood City’s, but, if not, I hope to convey both the information as well as any qualms I have about the study to the work group next month. I’m learning that one can use research to support just about any stance, so it’s important to think critically about any piece of research and the motivations behind it. 

On Thursday, Manuelito and I met with Jana over the phone to prepare for our meeting with the Shinnyo-en Foundation that would take place the next Tuesday. We prepared an agenda for the meeting and documented all the talking points that we wanted to highlight. Overall, a very efficient meeting! Additionally, at the staff meeting, we viewed “Uncommon American,” a movie about John Gardner’s life and influence. Before the video, I had no idea what a big deal he was, so I was incredibly pleased to learn about him, and proud to work at the institution that bears his name. 

The theme for this week was “The Importance of Young People,” mostly because of my work this week with the Ready Schools Initiative. The work that they do definitely highlights the importance of serving young people, as we want them to have the best outcomes as possible. Young people have this habit of eventually becoming adults (I’m still working on this myself), so I think it’s incredibly important that we give them everything that we can in order to help them succeed. I’m very happy that I have this opportunity, and hope to make the best of it.

Week 11 (9/23-9/27): Stepping Stones

Like weeks past, I spent this week preparing for future weeks. This week, though, I got to inch ever closer to making this link between data and action. I spent Monday putting the final edits on my work plan, using the goals set out in the original grant agreement from the Shinnyo-en Foundation as well as the action items that Jana and I had come up with at Redwood City 2020. With this work plan, we nailed down concrete goals and projects and timeframes within which to complete these goals and projects. These goals included heading up a project about preschools in the area, putting together a series of youth development resources, and, of course, keeping up with this blog. I'm sure new projects will continue to pop up, so this work plan is intentionally pretty flexible, but it's still nice to have a general guideline off of which to work. And I’m incredibly excited to have more on my plate. I’ve always felt that I perform better with more responsibilities, so I hope to be efficient and effective as my role continues to grow. 

Besides more meetings (YDA and staff meetings at the Gardner Center), I didn’t do much out of the ordinary this week. I started becoming familiar with Prezi, a more dynamic way of giving presentations, for my presentation at the Gardner Center on October 10. Thus far, I’m finding that you have to think very differently from planning out a presentation for PowerPoint. Things are zooming in and out, and there’s so much more possibility for artistic freedom, which I like a lot; I feel like a director making a movie about circles and arrows. Check out my practice Prezi here; it’s not about anything, I was just playing around with the frames and colors. But it was a lot of fun (Don’t click through too fast, you might get motion sick)!

“Stepping Stones” refers to these baby steps that I’m making toward translating this data I’ve been compiling into action. I started out doing lots of reading, and now I’m getting more and more opportunities to use what I’ve read to make a tangible difference. Please continue to follow me on this journey!

Week 10 (9/16-9/20): Planting Seeds of Peace

Brief recap of the week I was gone: the first half of the week was understandably busy (I didn’t move from my dining room table for 4- or 5-hour periods of studying at a time); I took the test on Wednesday; the last half of the week went by quickly, because time flies when you’re binge-watching TV shows on Netflix. My flight back to the Bay got in on Sunday, and I was promptly greeted by my friends who took me out to lunch. It was a great way to celebrate post-MCAT life and fully commit myself to work! 

Starting this week, I’ll be doing a full 50/50 split between Redwood City 2020 and the Gardner Center: Mondays and Wednesdays at 2020, Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Gardner Center, and alternating locations every Friday. On this first Monday at 2020, I was tasked with researching digital camcorders for an upcoming project. I spent a long time comparing specs of tens of different camcorders, weighing pros and cons against what the camcorder would be used for (creating videos for the 2020 website), and reading the very opinionated reviews of many amazon.com customers. We finally settled on a camera, and will be ordering it soon, so look out for videos on http://www.rwc2020.org/ 

I spent Tuesday working on further expanding my workplan at the Gardner Center before returning to 2020 on Wednesday for the first team meeting at the new office. It was great to see what great work is ahead of us and to have an opportunity to put faces to names of people I had only heard about. We talked specifically about the office environment and how we as a staff can support professionalism, hospitality, and comfort and what each person needs and can contribute in an office environment. I thought this was a great way to get to know the people I will be working with! I also created what Jana called a “Props Tree” by drawing a trunk and some bare branches on a big sheet of paper. People in the office can now put leaves (sticky notes) with compliments and kudos on them as a way of celebrating the big and little things we do in the office.  

I also got a chance to meet with Priscilla at the Fair Oaks Clinic about research in Redwood City. I got a tour and update on the clinic (they’re planning to move in November), and learned a lot during my visit. She promised to send along research articles I had not yet read to add to my ever-growing inventory on research in Redwood City. 

After the staff meeting and another day at the Gardner Center, I stayed on campus Thursday for an event at the Haas Center that was for prospective and current fellows. There was a free dinner, a talk about finding fellowships, and an opportunity for networking afterward (they had me at "free dinner"; it was Darbar!). It was great seeing my fellow fellows again, and getting a chance to meet current seniors. Being on campus and around undergrads made me a little sad knowing that my time as an undergraduate was over, but I was also grateful that I had found a fellowship that very well suits my interests.  

This week’s theme is “Planting Seeds of Peace” because it reminded me of the Props Tree. But it goes much deeper than that. The whole purpose of this fellowship is to create more peace in my world. Everything I did this week helped set the foundation for my future work as a fellow. It may not look particularly fruitful now, but planting these seeds and making these connections with people will soon bear fruit!

Week 9 (9/9-9/13): MCAT

I took the MCAT this past Wednesday, so I was not at work. I came out of it feeling like I had prepared adequately, so we’ll see what the results are in about a month! Thank you for your kind and positive thoughts!

Week 8 (9/3-9/6): Harmony Within Yourself

In what is quickly becoming the theme of many of my weeks, this week was very much unlike the rest. Monday was Labor Day, during which I took a much needed break at Stinson Beach with a few friends. I think it was a really good time and place to just take a break both from studying as well as working. Much like after the Annual Retreat with the Shinnyo Foundation, afterward I felt much more centered and peaceful, and I came back feeling extremely relaxed and ready to tackle the week. 

I spent the next day doing CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) training, which is a necessary program that everyone who works with human subjects takes. I had taken this training before for another program, but it was still helpful to have a refresher course. The training essentially took all day between the modules, videos, and quizzes, but at the end, I got a certificate, so it was overall a productive day. 

Wednesday was a big day for Redwood City 2020: Packing Day! I met Jana and Janneth at the District office, and was ready to pack boxes all day. After a quick meeting with Jana about how I could best utilize my time that day, I rolled up my sleeves and started the process of splitting the shared stock of office supplies right down the middle (half to the District, half to Redwood City 2020). This was also an opportunity to inventory what we had and what we would need. I spent the rest of the day playing Office Supply Tetris, packing our supplies into boxes and labeling them for the move.

Thursday was largely uneventful, save for my fingerprinting appointment for the Gardner Center, but the next day was a very important one: Moving Day for 2020! I again met at the District Office and helped a bit with cleaning. I also sat down with Jana about fleshing out our proposed workplan. We came up with some really cool, tangible ideas that I will be sharing once we have a more concrete plan. Meanwhile, the wonderful Facilities people helped move the boxes into a truck and to the new office. Before I could help unpack, however, I attended a Community Youth Development Initiative (CYDI) meeting with Jana and the rest of the Youth Development team at the District office. We spoke about the structure of 2020 and how youth development fits into that structure looking forward.

After the meeting, we went over to the new office and began the process of unpacking. I spent the rest of the day organizing the office supplies into a functional, practical system in the Copy Room. It took a surprising amount of time to unpack only a few boxes, but I was happy to do it. I liked having work with an immediately tangible end result, and unpacking and organizing could be very easily quantified. 

The week’s theme, “Harmony within yourself,” comes as a reaction not only to the inherent disharmony of packing and moving, but to the hecticness of the week as well. Even though I spent much of the week moving or else spending my time atypically, having a harmony within myself helped me find the balance and stability that I didn’t necessarily find during the week. Being able to center myself during the holiday was a big part of this inner balance, but so too was the support of my friends, coworkers, and family. Finding this balance and harmony will be especially important next week, as I return home to San Diego in order to take the MCAT! As such, there won’t be a work blog for week 9, but I will return with updates.

Week 7 (8/26-8/31): Mapping Your Path

“Mapping your path” was this week’s theme, as I spent a lot of it involved in planning. Monday was the big strategic planning meeting at the Gardner Center. The entire staff spent the whole day focused on the strategic plan: looking back at the most recent strategic plan; looking at the present to see how current projects aligned with it; and looking forward to where the Gardner Center is going. It was a great day of reflection and collaboration (with an excellent lunch!), in which we all got together and aligned our individual visions with an overall direction for the Gardner Center. 

On Wednesday, I met with Al, who is an alum-mentor that was paired up with me through the Haas Center. We had lunch at Tresidder and had a great conversation, not so much about work (although we did touch on that), but about post-Stanford life. It was definitely a little weird realizing that we were both alumni (as opposed to an alumnus and a student). But it was still very comforting and reassuring talking to another person who went through Stanford, especially one who went on to do such inspiring work. We talked for about an hour about careers, finding housing, and reflecting on our Stanford experiences. I really hope to meet with him again!

Thursday featured more planning; this day was our monthly phone meeting with Jana and Manuelito. We spoke for an hour creating a draft of a work plan, bouncing ideas off each other for projects that I could be involved with or even lead. My work was really about to leap off the plane of the page (reading research) and into the world/the Redwood City community. 

So, all in all, things here are moving quickly toward the future. With proper planning and foresight, I hope to maximize my time as a fellow, while still remembering to reflect on where I have been.

Week 6 (8/19-8/23): Roots and Fruits

This week, the seedlings of a project began to take root. I spent Monday fostering what I anticipate will be a fruitful and recurring relationship with Post-It Notes and whiteboards. At the suggestion of Manuelito, I created a wall of color-coded Post-Its that represented Gardner Center Research, Redwood City 2020 Partner Organizations, Redwood City 2020 initiatives, target population and issues (e.g. poverty, obesity, chronic absenteeism, etc). It looks like the world’s easiest and most colorful puzzle right now, but eventually, I hope to move all the Post-Its around to help visualize strategies for addressing, say, health and fitness, by taking the relevant Post-Its and seeing how different combinations can interact with each other. This can help generate new questions and relationships among populations, issues, and resources (e.g. does early intervention in fitness for low-income children make more of a difference than a later fitness intervention?). After I brainstorm as many questions about as many issues as I can, I can start weeding out the more implausible ideas (“Have Arnold Schwarzenegger come and teach a fitness class”) and focus on the more practical ideas (“Have a community member teach a culturally-relevant fitness class”). 

The rest of the week was a standard week until Friday, when I went with Pat and Jana to Shinnyo-En USA, the head temple located in Redwood City. We had a really good lunch around a conversation about Redwood City 2020’s role in partnering with the Shinyo-En Foundation and vice versa, with an emphasis on my fellowship. I also got to see many people I had met on the Annual Retreat, so it was great seeing them again. Seeing the temple was very inspiring, and very calming; it was so grand, yet simple. We left with a greater understanding of the Shinnyo-En Foundation, as well as full stomachs and fuller hearts. 

We said goodbye after the tour, so I went to work from home until Nuestra Escuela which started at 4 that afternoon. Nuestra Escuela is essentially an open house for the parents of Hoover Community School. I had been invited to come by Elena, the Hoover Community School Coordinator, when I toured the school in the week before. This was my first real experience with this aspect of community schools: family engagement. And boy were they engaged! When I was a kid, parent involvement meant driving a car full of kids to the museum or something because we didn’t have school buses. But here, parents were taking a very active role: they were hosting stations (“Parent Education” and “What is a Community School?”), leading groups from station to station, and generally helping other parents find their way around the school. It was really cool to finally see this thing that I had read about for a month in action. I hope to come back during a school day and observe how the community school works on a day-to-day basis, but, for now, it feels good to have these roots in the ground. 

So, all in all, things are starting to feel more concrete. I have a few roots grounded in a few different pots of soil (projects, Gardner Center, Redwood City 2020, the Redwood City community). I hope to keep watering and nourishing this flower of a fellowship (flowership?) so that, by the end of it, there is very tangible fruit. Though there is sure to be winter ahead, I’m confident that I can come out of it smelling like roses.

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.