Summer this year feels different.
By: Noraly Paul
My 3
Summer this year feels different. I can’t place the blame on me being older, personal relationships ending, finding what I want as a career, and just the compounding changes I’ve experienced this year. This summer is me taking the time to learn more about who I am and who I want to be. With Global Scholars, I have the opportunity to research a topic of interest to me. This interest is one that has a global impact. I am happy that I get to have the privilege to research a topic of such importance.
This brings me to the first thing I want to do during my summer experience: incorporate research into a fun daily activity. When I think of research, I think of sitting at my computer for long hours, scrolling through peer-reviewed articles. While that is part of the research process. This appeals to me because I want to make research for my project into a daily habit. This will help me form a deeper understanding of my project. But it also allows me to let my curiosity run wild to explore the research papers, topics, and evidence that help my project without the academic pressure.
The second thing I want to try is to try the local Mom & Pop shops in the local Miami area. This is interesting to me because Miami is made up of ever-revolving restaurants, cafes, sweet shops, etc. But behind are all the shops that have been here for generations. Exploring and supporting the Mom & Pop shops is one of the ways I plan to immerse myself in the history of Miami. This covers both my personal wishes and my project. Doing this allows me to see Miami through a different lens than before learning about its history. Along with helping my project, I can see with my own eyes the environmental stressors and the marginalized communities being affected.
The third thing I want to do is document my summer research experience. Though my forms of documentation include journaling, audio recording, and photos. I want to document and edit photos/videos for my personal use. This is appealing to me because it’s a way for me to track what I am doing, along with sharing this rich Miami culture with those on social media. Bringing attention to a hidden gem in Miami, such as a Mom & Pop shop that I supported or a cool hack many may not know. This is much more personal in nature because I love using my camera to capture certain moments. Along with sharing things I love. This would be a way for me to add my creative touch and personal keepings to my research over the summer.
My 2
The first skill I will work on during my summer experience will be improving my communication skills. This is important to me and my project because working with a large non-profit means ensuring my voice is heard. Understanding how I need to conduct myself and who to talk to ensures I achieve what is needed for my project to be a success. These are both personal and professional skills. Improving my communication skills allows me to properly express myself and my thoughts to those close to me for a shared understanding. I communicate with peers and professors and foster a collaborative work environment. I can practice my communication skills when I send out emails to workers in the CLEO Institute, when I conduct my interviews, and when I go out to local events as a volunteer. All of these will require me to have effective communication skills to conduct myself well and foster relationships for my project. I can apply these later down the road when I am presenting my project on campus to those who come and ask about my project, and I will be able to effectively communicate.
The second skill I will work on is project management. This is extremely important because my project’s success relies on it. I must be able to plan, execute, and present my project in the end successfully. This is a mixture of my personal and professional skills. I personally must have the ability to plan out my goals and tasks each week to ensure I meet them. Understanding that I need help in this process, I may have to reach out to certain individuals and/or collaborate to complete the many tasks of my project. Having the ability to pivot in the presence of an obstacle or issue will allow me to adapt to changing situations. Being able to manage my project will allow me to achieve my goals and complete my project over the summer. The opportunities that I can practice these skills would be these blog posts, where I must have completed certain tasks to document them on my Substack. When I must head somewhere in Miami and may need someone to tag along, drop me off, or help me document something is where my collaborative skills come into play. Also, if I or the person I’m interviewing needs to reschedule and even cancel, I must be prepared and understand the steps to take moving forward. I can use these project management skills with future projects, as being a student at FSU will require of me. This is a great lifelong skill to have because there will always be deadlines, collaboration, and projects to complete.
My 1
This holds significance to me because I do have moments of feeling discouraged and stressed. But I always find a way to get through it, and life truly does move on. So, I give myself time to stress about it, but then I get up and do something about it : )
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