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Grad School Essay

The document describes the author's experiences leading diverse groups in various contexts. These include leading a therapeutic recreation program for students with disabilities during a study abroad trip to South Korea, leading a service trip assisting elderly community members through an Alternative Breaks program, facilitating disability simulation activities as part of the David Garcia Project, and serving as a leader and caregiver to residents from various backgrounds in her roles as a CNA and behavioral technician. The author emphasizes skills in communication, program implementation, advocacy, and providing care in a respectful, empathetic manner to all individuals regardless of differences.

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16 views4 pages

Grad School Essay

The document describes the author's experiences leading diverse groups in various contexts. These include leading a therapeutic recreation program for students with disabilities during a study abroad trip to South Korea, leading a service trip assisting elderly community members through an Alternative Breaks program, facilitating disability simulation activities as part of the David Garcia Project, and serving as a leader and caregiver to residents from various backgrounds in her roles as a CNA and behavioral technician. The author emphasizes skills in communication, program implementation, advocacy, and providing care in a respectful, empathetic manner to all individuals regardless of differences.

Uploaded by

gabriellemathes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Gabrielle Mathes

Experiential Essay

There are multiple experiences where I have assumed a leadership position in a diverse group.

My most recent experience was my study abroad in South Korea. This was a two week study

abroad trip and the sole purpose of the course was to implement a therapeutic recreation

program for middle school and high school students at the Daegu Namyang School for Special

Education. Throughout the two weeks I helped students work on their fine motor & gross motor

skills, motor planning, identification skills and social skills. I was chosen by my professor to be a

leader for my therapeutic recreation group and I implemented a program that was focused on

the distinguishing which animal is which from an image, hearing the noise, and from the actions.

The sole purpose was to create a fun, interactive way to learn about animals, enhance creativity,

and allow the children to feel more confident in themselves and interact with others. I had to

communicate this idea with the principle of the school and I did so by professionally speaking to

my professor so that he could translate my words from English to Korean. We can learn a lot

about children and the kindness in their hearts. This trip made me feel so full of love with each

and every child that has impacted me. Everyone that I came across in Korea was very warm

and welcoming to me as a foreigner and I hope to make people feel the same while in America.

As a leader of a diverse group of individuals I have become more open, more loving, and more

caring for individuals with all type of abilities. I will forever remember this study abroad not only

for the programs that I have facilitated and helped, but also the general interactions with every

person. This will greatly impact my future career as an occupational therapist because it

teaches me the importance of helping out everyone no matter the language barrier. Even

though at the beginning the language barrier was hard for the students and us, at the end of the

day we never failed to make each other smile with laughs, hearts, and smiles. As a student
leader I can apply this to everyday life, that no matter who you are or where you come from

everyone has a sole purpose on this earth and showing that positivity through every personal

interaction. I feel as though I learned that every child expresses themselves different socially,

intellectually, and physically. Not one child is the same as the other. For example, I was holding

this high school student’s hand on our field trip to the temple and he make me press my hand

on his hand and smile to let me know that he liked physical touch and that comforted him.

Another child around the same age was not so keen with touch because when I would try to

hold his hand when we were switching stations during another group’s program he would pull

away and frown. I have learned that there are different ways to approach a child and to make

them feel more secure when you’re in their presence. Patience really is key when it comes to

caring for with those that have special needs and this is seen through any culture, race,

ethnicity, gender, age, etc. Every single person wants to be loved and cared for, just in different

ways, and that is perfectly okay.

Another experience I have had the opportunity to be a leader to a diverse group was through a

program called Alternative Breaks at Central Michigan University. Through Central Michigan

Alternative Breaks I had the opportunity to develop myself into a lifelong active citizen in local,

national, and global communities through diverse, direct-service experiences dedicated to social

justice. I have been on several breaks with different social justice issues (animal endangerment,

criminal justice, affordable housing, and the elderly). The one break that I actually lead was the

elderly break. In order to become a leader I had to go to leadership training and went through

activities to help me become a better leader for the participants in my group as well as in the

community. As a leader, I had to keep in touch with the community partners and spoke to them
about housing, our volunteer work, and how we can best suit their needs. On this service trip we

made Christmas boxes filled with food and other personal care necessities. We delivered these

boxes personally to the family’s homes as well as delivered fire wood. I worked and

communicated directly to the elderly community home and made sure that what we were doing

was safe for my group as well as for the people receiving the gift baskets.

I have been a facilitator for the program, David Garcia Project (DGP) at Central Michigan

Unversity the past couple of years. DGP is a living memorial to David Garcia, a computer

programmer who perished in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. David lived

with an incurable degenerative eye disorder and was a lifelong supporter of the Foundation

Fighting Blindness. This project is dedicated in his memory and as a facilitator I had the honor to

advocate for people with disabilities by educating CMU students through activities and

reflection. This series of "Challenge By Choice" activities aimed to demonstrate what difficulties

a person could encounter if they had a disability. I expressed that it is not the intention of DGP to

make students feel sympathetic for individuals with disabilities; rather is to provide empathy so

that they have a better understanding of what it is like to have a disability. At each session there

would be three or four facilitators and we had to all collectively agree on the simulations we

were doing that day and made sure they all tied together. I was an active leader, listening to

everyone’s idea and implementing those ideas into our weekly sessions. Also as a leader I was

able to run simulations on my own. For example, one session I had the honor to educate

students on was a simulation to resemble… After each session I would make sure that

everyone understood the purpose of the simulation and related it to real world scenarios such

as: how could someone with a disability such as this be included in different situations. Then

explain how I hoped the program has accomplished for them to gain a deeper understanding
how diverse our society is and this it is important to be empathetic of others than sympathetic

for those who have disabilities.

Lastly, my job have allowed me to become an influential and empathetic leader on diverse

individuals that I cared for. I have been a CNA for two years and recently a behavioral

technician. Through my experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant, I am trained to fulfill multiple roles.

I am adept in assessing vitals; managing supplies; monitoring symptoms; patient charting;

communication with nurses, PTs, OTs, etc. and providing complete care for residents in a long term care

facility. I have faced many individuals with different ethnicities, religions, races, etc. I was a

team-member and leader along with my coworkers to be helping hand and friend to my residents. I

worked hard and long hours to make these wonderful people as happy as I can whether it be holding

their hand, singing a prayer, talking about the army, and simply listening to their stories.

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