Hello! It was great getting to know everyone this week. I’m Marie, and I’m going into my sophmore year as an aerospace engineering major. I am on the HOPE Village Revitilazation project where I am helping market and prepare for the neighborhood’s local farmers market.
“Community” in my eyes is a collection of people with a shared identity, especially one whose people help eachother. The reason I was attracted to doing community work in Detroit is because I was born and raised here. I feel like the place I have the most qualification to have my voice be heard is in my own community. I am more aware of many of the issues in the Detroit community, and I feel I understand a bit more about how Detroiters think than somone not from here. I believe this will make me more effective at community work in Detroit than I would be somewhere else.
A previous skill I have that will be useful in the farmers market project from my previous research project is making good visualizations of data. I think it will be useful when compiling data from customer surveys and vendor data. A second experience that will help me with this research is being the marketing chair of Black Students in Aerospace. I think it will give me the foundation I need to do well in areas such as social media and outreach.
This summer I would like to become more proactive. I think this job will help me with this becuase it has room for a lot of creative freedom. I will likely be able to start my own initiatives in the market, so I will have practice with putting my own ideas into practice. I would also love to stop procrastinating. I’m writing this blog the night it’s due if that’s any indication of how bad it is (don’t tell anyone please).
I look forward to the rest of DCERP and getting to know everyone.
Hi Marie, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you over the past week! It sounds like your past experiences (with your previous research and as a marketing chair) will serve you well in your project, and I’m excited to see what kind of initiatives you’ll start–I’m sure they’ll be awesome. Best of luck with your project in the coming weeks!
Hi Marie! Thank you for sharing about tour goals and experiences. I’m excited for you and the creative role you have with your site this summer; I think that having some control to experiment and explore within your role can be dually helpful to the bigger group and to your own development, so that’s super cool!