My experience with the Crossroads Community Center’s “Practicing Inclusive Excellence”, or “PIE” workshop, was an extremely positive one. Paige Bolden, the facilitator, and coordinator of intercultural engagement and her intern Kelsey used a series of group activities to teach us not only about ourselves but also gain a better understanding of our class as a whole. The workshop encouraged us to be open-minded and to not make rash assumptions about others without knowing them.
The first day of the workshop we took all of the chairs in the room and made a large circle so everyone could see, and we didn’t feel like we were being “lectured” at. Paige Bolden and Kelsey introduced themselves and we got started on the first activity. During the first …show more content…
It was very interesting to see who chose the same category as me, and why they chose it as well. I learned a lot about how my classmates think about religion, socioeconomic status, gender and much more. I enjoyed learning about how they shaped their opinions into the ones they have today. The symbolism of the balloon exercise was my personal favorite, it showed that when you go through life only concerned with your own thoughts and opinions you can end up “running over” people who have their own opinions. Throughout the class, many students, and myself, found it hard to choose only one category for most of the questions. I wish there had been more categories to choose from, but overall I really enjoyed the first day of the …show more content…
In the future, I personally feel like the workshop would be better suited as a one-day workshop. I felt like the second day was a lot less than the first day, and the activity wasn’t as in depth as the first. My favorite activity, as I mentioned, was definitely the balloon exercise for its symbolism and impact on me personally. My least favorite activity was the spectrum, I enjoyed the activity and learned from it but the execution of it was a little odd to me. We never really asked in-depth questions during the spectrum activity, and nobody was very firm in strongly agree or disagree. All around I am thankful for the lessons Paige and Kelsey taught me and I strive to be more open-minded and see situations from a new
The first day of the workshop we took all of the chairs in the room and made a large circle so everyone could see, and we didn’t feel like we were being “lectured” at. Paige Bolden and Kelsey introduced themselves and we got started on the first activity. During the first …show more content…
It was very interesting to see who chose the same category as me, and why they chose it as well. I learned a lot about how my classmates think about religion, socioeconomic status, gender and much more. I enjoyed learning about how they shaped their opinions into the ones they have today. The symbolism of the balloon exercise was my personal favorite, it showed that when you go through life only concerned with your own thoughts and opinions you can end up “running over” people who have their own opinions. Throughout the class, many students, and myself, found it hard to choose only one category for most of the questions. I wish there had been more categories to choose from, but overall I really enjoyed the first day of the …show more content…
In the future, I personally feel like the workshop would be better suited as a one-day workshop. I felt like the second day was a lot less than the first day, and the activity wasn’t as in depth as the first. My favorite activity, as I mentioned, was definitely the balloon exercise for its symbolism and impact on me personally. My least favorite activity was the spectrum, I enjoyed the activity and learned from it but the execution of it was a little odd to me. We never really asked in-depth questions during the spectrum activity, and nobody was very firm in strongly agree or disagree. All around I am thankful for the lessons Paige and Kelsey taught me and I strive to be more open-minded and see situations from a new