MY COMMUNITY HEALTH ROTATION
SRCC in partnership with John Muir Charter School
Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps Graduation Ceremony
Me with Kang Thao, one of my MBSR students at the SRCC - Graduating class of 2018.
LEARNING REFLECTION
My experience at the Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps during my community health rotation was a tremendous learning experience. Working with the students helped me find my "why." Why am I furthering my education? Why am I in this program? Why is having a voice and knowing your story so important? The answer is simple. I want to have a voice and know my story to make a difference. I want to make a difference to my patients and I want to make a difference to students like these (at the SRCC) who were dealt a bad hand and are trying to work through their traumatic life situations. They didn't ask for it, and yet they deal with it. At the SRCC graduation ceremony one of the student's read a poem. They don't teach poetry at SRCC, but a teacher's interest caught the attention of this student. He wrote about his life, his trials, his successes. He learned to release his feelings through poetry and it was amazing to see this growth. In this poem, he spoke about the dark and where it is and the light and where it shines; it struck my at my core. Through this teacher, through his experiences, he found his voice and he told his story. And it was a gift to share the space.
Today, I know my story and I have my voice. I have experienced the dark, but now feel the light shine on me so brilliantly. My "why" is to pay it forward and to influence others' journeys as mine has been influenced in this time and space that I have shared with my fellow students and educators.
The Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps Mission is to enrich the lives of young adults by providing a development program integrating education, job skills training, work experience and service opportunities that benefit the community and our corps members.