Reflection Weeks 9 & 10

Week 9

On Tuesday of week 9, we had a class discussion about advocacy.  We learned exactly what advocacy is, how one can be an advocate, and broke down some common misconceptions about it.  One thing that really stood out to me, is that advocacy doesn’t necessarily mean you have you been on the front lines holding signs in the faces of our political representatives.  There are numerous ways to support a cause behind the scenes and make just as big of a difference by contributing in ways that are often unnoticed.

On Thursday, we discussed photography and the concept of Photo Voice.  The background information on Photo Voice was extremely interesting to me. I really enjoy how as a society we are always coming up with new ways to impact our political representatives that include technology and alternative ways of thinking.   During this class day we also learned some photography skills that to a professional may be considered “basic" but were entirely new concepts to me. Although I think it is interesting to learn about new hobbies and interests of other people, this discussion on advanced photography features didn’t really relate to environmental health and I was somewhat disappointed that class time was spent on it.  I think I would have rather read a little tip sheet or watched a YouTube video in my own time than spend class time talking about photography.  I think it would have been really beneficial to see some examples of Photo Voice projects-- especially some that have been presented at a national or international level and what impact some of those projects have made.

During week nine we also had to do a blog post that included my political representatives with their contact information, political affiliation, and websites.  I thought this assignment was really great.  I never knew how many people represented me, and I never knew that so many people were in office doing what they can to make the environment I live in better. 

 

Week 10

We didn’t meet for class this week because Dr. V was at the AAHPERD convention in Tampa, Florida (JEALOUS!!).  It was a nice break from class because I spent ridiculous amounts of time working on a presentation for my Methods class.  This week the Photo Voice projects were due.  I did mine on the disconnect between the natural environment and the man-made environment regarding food and diet for children.  It sounds intense, but it isn’t too hard to follow  Visit my post on it and leave a comment with your thoughts on my project!  I have enjoyed viewing everyone’s Photo Voice posts, as a group we came up with such an array of interesting topics!!! One thing I learned about blogging this week is that adding numerous photos into a post with text in-between can be quite the task! However, I prevailed and got it done and I am really proud to say that I can now successfully add as many pictures and as much text to a post as I want!  

One thing that I learned about myself this past week is that I have a acquired the ability to think much more critically than I ever have before.  I am somewhat intrigued by the fact that my mind has the ability to conceptualize so many different ideas now that I am so far into my education.  It just goes to show that as a human, I will continue learning for the rest of my life, and have amazing brain capacity that I don’t yet know how to use.  

Have a good weekend everyone!