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.