In all honesty, I think the seminars were helpful but sometimes I felt like we were being talked to. I understand that it’s supposed to be a learning experience for all of us and way for us interns to touch base, but I feel like it would have been more effective if we were more engaged in the discussions. I also understand that the different organizations who presented material to us are extremely busy and could only do so much, but I feel like it would have been more helpful for us if we did more hands on things (or more exercises where we were moving around the room).
Personally for me, I zone-out if I am sitting in the same position for too long. I tend to perk up and pay more attention when there is an interesting exercise or video. Speaking directly to an audience, I found, is ineffective and just wastes time. It is grueling for the audience to take in the information as they continuously look at their clocks or take several bathroom breaks to wake up.
However, I will say that the seminar where we watched the video on Detroit left a huge impact on me. It showed me more of Detroit and I loved the urban garden aspect of it. Before this video, I never knew that there were schools in Detroit based off of African experiences. The video was definitely eye-opening and very informative.
