-by Nia Huggins
Enriching our Community: Kaiser Permanente/INROADS Interns Attend INROADS National Day of Service
This year, our National Day of Service was held on Thursday, July 26th at the Whittier Boys and Girls Club. We spoke to various age groups ranging of students from middle school to rising college freshmen.
We began the day with an icebreaker. First, we split up in groups by birthdays: January – June versus July- December for a trivia game of True or False. This activity eased all of our nerves and opened the door for communications during the following activities.
Next, INROADS interns lined up on one side and club members on the other for a round of speed networking. We had one minute to get to know each other and it was fun to discover how much you can learn from someone when you are running against a clock.
In the next activity, we broke up into small groups where each table had a bag filled with strips of paper containing conversations starters like, “What is your major and why did you decide to pursue it?” and “How to you manage stress while in college?” which helped many of the students open up about their own personal lives and school aspirations. After a while, we found that we did not even need the strips to jump start our conversations, as we quickly flowed into a dialog about life, multi-tasking, working with others, and how awesome Netflix is as a stress reliever. This activity really helped the teens see that despite the huge transition of school and adulthood, many of the experiences they are having today will be similar to those in college. Before we knew it, this activity was over and we could see how engaged the teens had become.
Our final activity was the INROADers panel. Five of us volunteered to tell our stories and answer any additional questions. Many of the fears and anxiety over high school and college the teens faced were ones that we had as well when we were their age, and we assured them that those are fleeting feelings whether you are shy or not. We emphasized building a network of mentors and support during their journey and to create an individual path for success not based on where your friends are headed or where your parents would like to see you, and to just pursue their own passion. We discussed how grades are important and how volunteering and joining clubs were also influential factors when it came to being good candidates to colleges and universities.
Overall, this was a great experience all around. Being a part of INROADS gives us a chance to give back to the community. After all, the gift of time and energy is the most valued form of giving!
To read about our 2017 National Day of Service click here.