I am working with the non-profit, Brilliant Detroit. This organization has three homes built over the city of Detroit. My office is in the South West Detroit area. I am very pleased with my placement because it fits me so well. I want to major in Psychology with a concentration on development; making these different lesson plans and making sure these children are receiving what they need to successfully develop to the best of their ability is right down my alley. I also work in south west Detroit, so I have many times when I can practice my Spanish. I even added Spanish to my DuoLingo app to become comfortable and more knowledgeable with my communication in Spanish. We are currently working on a project called “Wash and Learn” and we are creating actives that will help with children’s physical, social/emotional, language, and cognitive development. I am also researching the best resources to give to the family members who are apart of Brilliant Detroit. I enjoy working with these kids, their, families, and Brilliant Detroit. I am so grateful and blessed to have this opportunity. They goal of the program is to build the community for the community, by the community, and with the community.
My first week has been amazing! I have met many people in my office and at one other location. Dominque and I work excellent together so we always get work done fast and efficiently. Our supervisor Cindy is very sweet; she tells us how much she is excited to have us working with her how she loves us, how she wants us to stay, and how much she loves our ideas and work. We receive this acknowledgment every day and multiple times a day. This is the most frequent encouragement and appraisal; I have ever received and it feels amazing! From simply scanning papers to attending meetings to brainstorming lesson plans for children, we always have something to do and it is never a dull moment. I love how we are always doing something different, and not just sitting in an office doing one thing for the whole day. Our supervisor cares for us and she makes sure that we meet everyone on the team. I am always excited to go to work. We have already made amazing bonds with some of our co-workers like Larry, Lulu, Ebony, Megan, Migdalia, Esmerelda, and the list can go on. We also get to admire all the cute babies walking around the home while working. I am excited to continue to contribute my ideas and help make Brilliant Detroit an even better organization for this community in Detroit.
I had an amazing first week in Detroit, exploring Midtown when I can, but I would like to explore more in the next few weeks when I have time and not just Midtown, but Downtown and the New Center area. I am finding little shops around me that I would like to try like “Sy Thai” and “Mac N’ Brew”. I enjoy using the Q-line, because it is easy transportation and you can explore more places. One event that stuck out to me was the tour, “We are our Own Heroes.” I enjoyed all the knowledge that I gained because some of the things that was discussed, I never knew. On the other hand, I felt very awkward at the same time because I felt like I was touring my own city, looking like a foreigner, that I did not know how much history was in Detroit. I wished that this was a field trip while I was in high school, so I could have known this knowledge then. I would love to see this put into the DPS curriculum, because I think that the knowledge given was very important and could be a great field trip for a history class. I am going to talk with my past high school, Renaissance, and ask them to consider making a field trip to visit this tour. It was truly a great experience and I want so many more students to have the opportunity to gain this knowledge.
