Well this is the last blog! This is a shame because I am just now getting into these crazy things! I just want to thank Dr. Homan because one of his missions for the blogs were to make us become better writers and I think it worked. Before, I was not good at thinking critically about one situation and elaborating on it. I have learned that patience is a virtue and by taking things step by step, one day at a time, things would come out a lot easier. This may not make too much sense to you, but I look at this sort of as a letter to myself. I came into this class with a mind that it was going to be easy and taken very lightly, because it wasn’t one of my interests. Of course, I liked hearing about God and history but I thought that was up to the Sunday school teachers at church. I can actually tell people that I did get something out of Theology and I learned a lot of things. Many of those things maybe were common sense to you guys, but I was one of those kids who fell asleep in church every Sunday during service. (Of course my mom did not see me!) I learned about Bible history, different prophets, and events that came across as interesting because of Dr. Homan’s teaching style. It took a little time for me to get used to it, but when I compared it to some of my other classes, I realized it was not so bad! I’m really glad that Dr. Homan decided to have a review session because I know I need it. I get wrapped up in the blogs, readings, and papers. I even forgot that the final exam is next week! This is the reason why I am trying to get a good head on this blog. I guess that is enough of my opinions and views and time to get back to the original assignment. We were assigned to write a reflection blog evaluating our project. For reason I thought that we already did this, but if so I guess I have to do it again.
My project was to educate teenagers about the risks of the misuse of abortion. This seemed like an easy topic, but it was not. I had to come up with a way to change the world with this topic in a short time span. I had dreams and goals to organize an organization for teenagers and have teen conferences, where they could come and talk with their peers. This was considered, but time was the issue. Something like that would have taken months and months to organize. Therefore, I did small things to make the world a better place, or at least change it some what. I got my friend’s kids she tutors together and had an open forum of question and answer with them. We met for only about thirty minutes, but I can tell they enjoyed the small talk. Most of them knew about sex and were having it, but wasn’t aware of the dangers and risks. I only spoke to them for thirty minutes, but I think they got something out of the matter. I was just a static because most of all the kids didn’t have a clue what abortion was. Another thing I did was made small pamphlets as one of my classmates did. I knew because I did something for the kids in New Orleans that I had to do something for the kids back home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Most of them are very fast and need someone to stress points besides their parents. One of my favorite teachers from fifth grade, the teacher who taught my class sex education, helped me stress the point to her present students. In the school I used to go to, they now took sex education out the school after our class completed the fifth grade. I mailed her my informative pamphlets and a short letter to the parents, so that they wouldn’t feel worried. I had my teacher give the pamphlets to the kids and explain how to protect themselves, the misuse of abortion, what is abortion, the risks of an abortion, etc. She explained what I asked her to. She even invited me on Monday to come speak to her class about my pamphlet in depth, when I come home for break. This is very exciting because she said she will also ask the principal if I could speak to all the 5th graders at Hampton Elementary, because already they’ve had four teenage girls pregnant this year! I spoke to the class and I can tell I impacted their lives. At first, I admit I was scared of those kids, because I remember how I was and kids aren’t nice. I was scared that the kids would just laugh because they were at that age that sex just became an issue. I had my pamphlets and I was ready to go. I planned an entire speech, but when I arrived the class was so mature that I just free styled my speech. I must admit, I was nervous, especially because my teacher had her desks set up the same way they were when I was a student, therefore, I kept looking over at my old chair which made me even more nervous. I opened my speech up with, “Do you know where babies come from?” The class replied in laughter, but it most of been the class clown who outburst, “The Wild Thang”. I was so embarrassed for some reason, but it was still so funny! I told them how sex or the “wild thang” can lead to pregnancy, and most of the time teen pregnancy leads to abortion. I made sure I explained in detail what an abortion was, the risks, and miscellaneous facts. I didn’t really spend that much time on it because they needed to hear about safe sex as well, because an abortion can be prevented. As I explained everything, I became more comfortable and the kids even asked like two questions which made it easier for me. I was indeed surprised about how enthusiastic they looked. I was sure people were going to be sleep or chatting in the corner, but I was wrong. I only spoke for about twenty minutes, but I stayed until lunch time recess to help out my old teacher. It seemed like the kids enjoyed my company, and that was enough for me.
I think that my project has improved the world somewhat. Like I said several times, with the time that we had to change the world, it seems like everyone did very well in attempting to make changes. I know I did not make as many changes as I planned, but in the future I plan to. Overall, I think I did an excellent job on this project. I know I had a slow start but in the end I congratulate my self. I am a type of person that feels if you complain and do nothing about the problem, then you have no right to complain. But just because I made an attempt to educate today’s youth about the problems that the world is facing, I give myself two thumbs up. If the problem gets worse, at least I can look back and tell my self, “I tried”. And that is the only thing that matters to me!
If I could go back and start my project over, I would probably go to more schools and speak. I really enjoyed this because; I got to do something I enjoy, TALKING! For once I did not get in trouble for something I enjoyed doing. Even by the kids asking questions and getting involved with my presentation made it easier and more exciting to do. I would also get more of my classmates involved with my project and have them come speak as well.
My future plans for this project will take a lot of planning. Even though I did not get to all the plans that I looked forward to for my project, in the future I plan to do things to still contribute to it. As I said in my plans I wanted to organize a youth group that did different things for the community. In this group I plan to address different teenage issues, mainly sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, abstinence, abortions, Aids, and other important issues. We would address these issues in an open forum type setting; therefore everyone would be able to state their opinion and ideas. Everyone would be comfortable to speak in front of everyone because we would do activities to bond everyone together as a family. Some kids can not turn to anyone in their real families therefore this program will be designed to give them someone to turn to and call family as well as friends. I plan to begin this after college or whenever I am settled in my profession. I feel it is important to give back to the community, especially if the community did things to help you grow up successfully. I can attest that my community played an important role in the way I grew up. I was in a lot of community programs kind of like the program I plan to organize. Sometimes I could talk to the people and my peers from the parents. They helped me through many situations and I feel it is important that kids are aware of issues that they have faced or will face eventually. In addition to the program, there would be also different chapters of this program from different states of the nation. I plan to start the first couple chapters in the Midwest, being that I reside in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Whenever my programs become a success in the Midwest I plan to have them spread to the other states. Every year the different chapters would come together at one selected destination and have a teen conference. Of course we would address those issues to see if different teens from different places feel the same way as the others, but other fun things would take place that weekend. There could be a dance, so that everyone could break the ice and get introduced to one another. We would have presentations given by the different representatives from different states and other things. This conference would be once a year and there would be a series of things done to raise money to go. We would have car washes, baby sitting, and have parties for money. We would do volunteering all over the city, so that everyone everywhere would know about the group. My plan is to make the group known positively all over the city and instead of emphasizing how bad teens are doing. We usually do not hear of the good things teens do for the world, but we quickly hear about the bad things they do. Another plan is to convince the school board to put sex education back in the public schools. I know when I grew up, I took it in elementary school and I think it helped me remain abstinent and aware of my body. By getting educated young, I was aware of the risks and facts about sex. If I had decided to do it, I would have known the precautions and probably would have avoided mistakes. The problem with today’s generation is that they are not aware of what could happen, but know that for the moment it feels good. Instead of all the preaching of safe sex, people should be preaching about abstinence as they did when I was younger. I guess everyone knows that sex is out here and kids are beginning to have it younger and younger, so why not preach safe sex. One last plan that I have for the future is to volunteer at Planned Parenthood once a week. I feel that it is important to volunteer at least once a year or whenever you get the opportunity. My mission is to educate teenagers about their bodies and what’s right and wrong. I want to stand as a big sister to these teenagers. I want to be a mentor and a friend not only there to preach. It is important to build relationships because by having one, it is easier for you to take advice from that person; rather than a complete stranger

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