Community

When I was a diving coach last summer at a local private pool, I considered my team to be a community and it relates to Pecks theory. I have around 15 kids on my team aging from 6-15 yrs old. Every summer I have a handful of kids that just joined the team and have never step foot off of a diving board before. Also I'll have divers that have been involved in the sport for years at an advanced level. There are a lot of emotions during the first few days of practice. Everyone there are typically scared/ nervous/ intimidated. I believe this to be apart of Pecks first stage of a community. The kids are trying to get to know each other and make each other feel comfortable without really know who each other are. As the summer progresses, chaos, Pecks second stage of community building, also increases. With 6 yr olds running around the diving well and cliquey teenage girls bossing the other divers around, things get hectic, and everyone seems to test my patience a little too much. This is where the organization steps in, rules are defined, time out area are set in place, and practice becomes a time to improve instead of social hour. It isn't until the diving competitions against other local teams that I can notice our community coming together and the energy forming in a positive direction. After the divers get in their matching team suits, chant the team cheers before the meet and motivate/ support their teammates during and after meet I can see everyone comes to a general consensus that they are a team, they are one. And, as a team you need to work together, encourage other, and provide support, even if it is an individual sport. By the end of the summer, everyone on the team has new respect for each other and new friendships are defined.

7. Target Identity

My target identity is the color of my natural hair. Often people perceive blonde's as dumb, fake, and materialistic. They aren't taken seriously in most professional settings. I have been teased and taken as a joke for my hair color. If I would make a simple mistake, people would blame it on me being a dumb blond, or say I showing the true shades of my hair color. I know this isn't the worst thing that could happen but it is irritating.

The non identity I have is being a white female. I grew up in a neighborhood where the majority of the people were middle class white families. I never had to experience racism where I grew up and I consider my self extremely lucky and privileged because of that. It makes me sick that we still have issues with racism even after all of the progress we have made to change within our country.

#7

My highest score was in Encouraging the Heart. This did not surprise me at all because every test we have taken, my highest results had something to do with emotions and the heart. My lowest score was in Inspiring a Shared Vision. I knew I would score low in this because I take everything day by day. I don't plan for the future well because things can change in a heartbeat. I know I need improvement in this category , especially to become a better leader. I can improve by writing down things I would like to do in the future and accomplish and then make goals to reach them.

Random act of kindness

I live in the East Village Apartment complex off of Summit St. My neighbors are great but they're terrible at taking their trash to the dumpster. They normally leave 3-4 trash bags outside their door until our realtor sends us an email to throw it out. For my random act of kindness I took any trash bag outside a door and threw it in the dumpster.
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Blog #4

I have participated in moral muteness while working at a sports bar and grille one summer. After a busy dinner shift I overheard a coworker telling her friend how much money she made and that she wasn't going to claim all her tips so she wouldn't have to tip the busser out as much. I was fairly new to the restaurant business and I didn't understand that the busser heavily relies on his tip out. After the server left, the busser was really confused on why he made such little money that night even though the restaurant was very busy and he worked very hard. After he talked to the manager, the manager came up to me and asked me how much money I made and what I tipped my busser out. It was a lot higher than what the other server said she made and he started asking me more questions about the server. I was always taught to mind my own business especially when it involved money so I told him I was too busy to pay attention to the other servers. I should have told him that the server lied about her tip out so she could keep more money for her self but I kept quiet. I stuck to my own values of keeping to myself and not getting involved in situations that do not include me.

Blog #3

My first quiz was about preferring gay people to straight people. My results showed that I preferred straight people over gays. I thought it was interesting they came up with this result because I responded quicker when straight words were followed by good words. I am straight so I do prefer straight people over gay people but I do not think being gay is bad or wrong. I think everyone should be treated equally.

My second quiz was preferring light skinned people to dark skinned people. 
my results showed that I moderately preferred light skins than dark skins because I responded quicker with light skins and good words and dark skinned and bad words. I disagree with this quiz. I grew up in a light skinned neighborhood so I am more familiar with them but I can now say in college I have more dark skinned friends than light. I do not prefer one over the other and believe everyone should be treated equally.

Lastly, I took the quiz that identifies males with careers and women with families. My result showed I was neutral. I did not associate male and females with careers and family. I believe men and women can have families and careers. It is all about preference and individual situations. 

Blog #2 "We are Marshall"

"We Are Marshall". It's an inspirational true story of the fatal plane crash in 1970 that killed 75 of the Marshall football team's players and coaches, and how Jack Lengyel, a young coach, comes in and rebuilds the Marshall football program and helps lay the foundation to restore it to future glory. It's a great story of leadership, hope, courage, and how to overcome devastating loss and grief.  

This movie is relational leadership because it is inclusive, empowering, purposeful and ethical. The 4 minute clip from the movie shows evidence of empowering and purposeful. The surviving team members and coaches are at the grave yard where 6 of their teammates were buried. The coach is giving a speech telling the players that their opponent is bigger, fast, and stronger than their team but they do not have the same purpose to play as they do. They need to play for 6 of their teammates that died in the plan crash and play for their heart. The coach takes this time to motivate and inspire each one of his players to become one and never give up..