So, I was
only able to attend one ISCORE event because I had classes from 8-9:30 and from
11-5. Anyways, the one event I made it to was very interesting and made me
think more about how every individual student may be affected by their own
different background but should be able to feel at home here at Iowa State
University due to our great diversity. The presentation was about how student’s
different socio economic status and their social class can affect a student’s
ability to attend college as well as feel accepted at the college. They started
off by talking about the different human races and how that can affect their
chances of attending college. Next they discussed how it is very difficult for
the lower economic class families to support their students through higher
education. The last part of the presentation was a discussion about various
topics and points that individuals in the crowd wanted to talk about. This
discussion was pretty interesting especially when some lady from Alabama talked
about how they have various programs specifically aimed towards Hispanics or
other racial groups to help them continue through college and feel more at
home. I know that ISU also has specific programs for these situations; however
the discussion brought new ideas to the table to help our different racial
groups coming to ISU. The main thing that I got from this presentation was that
we as peer mentors must realize that our mentees can come from many different
socio economic statuses and social classes but must be able to understand as well as accommodate for these differences.
I am glad you attended this event because it sounded really interested and I wanted to hear what it was about! I agree that the socio economic status of students can affect their ability in school as well as if they are even able to attend. If it wasn't for scholarships, grants and loans many students wouldn't even be here at ISU today. I think it is great that they made it discussion based and let everyone give there opinions!
ReplyDeleteI love when speakers allow others to tell past experiences because it gives me insight into people's lives who are different from me. The event you attended sounds very interesting! Iowa State feels like home to me and I would want other people, no matter their differences, to feel the same. Realizing your mentees come from different backgrounds will allow you to help them and better understand where they are coming from.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I also went to this speaker! I found it very interesting as well. I didn't think about how hard it could be for students coming to ISU if they are from a very different place than Iowa before. It's crazy that even just another part of the same country can feel so different. I agree with your statement that we need to understand that our students could come from different backgrounds and we need to be able to understand where they are coming from because it could be very different from our own.
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