Group on Signal Hill

Group on Signal Hill
Back row: Avery, Kelsey, Ainsley, Patrick, Wylie, Erin, Ethan, Janiel, Larissa: Third Row: Tekowa, Anna, Audrey, Jerard, Andrew, Carl, Allie; Second Row: Elise, Aimee, Vara, Carolyn, Melissa, Morgan, Liz, Erica, JR; Front Row: Savitri, Brianna, Sharon, Lindsay, Andrea

Welcome to Our Blog

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG

As anyone who has participated in this program will attest, there are no words or pictures that can begin to adequately capture the beauty of the scenery or hospitality of the people in Cape Town. Therefore, this blog is merely intended to provide an overview of the program and a glimpse at some amazing adventures and life-changing experiences had by the students and staff of this program who have traveled together as co-educators and companions on the journey. As Resident Director and Faculty Advisor since 2008 it has been a privilege and honor to accompany an incredible variety of wonderful UConn students to a place we have all come to know and love.

In peace, with hope, Marita McComiskey, PhD


20 February 2013

Ainsley exploring who she wants to be!


 Initially, I was going to write this blog post about climbing Table Mountain this past weekend. I wanted to explain how unbelievably hot it was that day and how the trail seemed like it would never end but once we reached the top it felt like sitting above the rest of the world. If I was a little timelier with my blog posts then that is probably what you would be reading. But right now I’m glad that I’m not so prompt because Marita’s class last night affected me much more than climbing the mountain did.
            
Technically this class is about race and gender but I find myself learning more about myself and changing my own perspectives more than anything else. Last night specifically Marita brought up the idea that we go to college for four years all to prepare for what we want to do. There is no preparation or consideration put on who we want to be or how we want to live our lives. So why is our career considered to be more important than our values?
            
This short discussion in class launched me into starting to question not what to do with my life but what type of person I really wanted to be. I’m beginning to question how I plan to be a member of my community, an activist, a conscious citizen, a partner, a parent and how I plan to build an atmosphere to foster this growth. We don’t learn these things in school, so where do we learn them? What exactly do I want to know that I cannot learn from books and websites? I feel like I created more questions than answers but for my own education and how I plan to teach other students one day these things are so important to acknowledge. At the end of the discussion Marita emphasized that you don’t have to know where you’re going but it helps to know who you want to be. And maybe this idea will give me more direction for my future than the potential of a career.

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