RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

Relationships and partnerships are an important factor in everybody’s life. Humans need reinforcement, support, and acknowledgement to assure they are worthy. Some people might argue that they can do it on their own but I find it very hard to believe. Maybe they are able to excel but their journey alone I am sure is much more difficult than if they had someone’s help. My most important relationship in my journey has been my husband. I am not going to say my children, sisters, or parents because, although they are very important in my life; I did not choose them and they did not choose me, even though they are the best family the Lord could have given me. On the other hand, I did choose my husband and he did choose me amongst millions of other humans in this world. My husband has always been very supportive in all my volunteerism, school, and work activities. I believe the partnership we have formed is built with a very good and stable foundation.

The positive relationship with my husband allowed me to pursue professional and academic growth. Before I met him I was a single mother who had dropped out of high school earning minimum wage. The thought of college was just a dream too far away to reach. With his financial and moral support, I received my GED, obtained my Bachelors, and now I am in the process of pursuing my Masters.

I have been fortunate enough to hold many important and positive relationships in my life. All of these relationships have somehow shaped and formed my experiences, integrity and values. Whenever I can afford it, I try to be generous with my time and volunteer it to different organizations. One such organization is CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate.  The CASA’S advocate for abused and neglected children who have been removed from home by Child Protective Services (CPS) by standing before a judge and reporting observations made while conducting home visits.

These observations are then taken into consideration when doing a final placing of each child. By being the Child's Guardian Ad Litem, my task was to always look for out for the best benefit of the child. Through this partnership, I gained valuable hands on experience working with children and implementing crisis intervention techniques. The partnership also helped me work with children from diverse ethnic groups allowing me to peek into their home environments and enriching cultural awareness. Furthermore, this experience becomes very valuable when it comes to working in the Early Childhood profession.

The challenges I faced were that at first I had many biases which I had to set aside. I had to learn to see beyond the parents mistakes and don’t view them as monsters but just as inexperienced parents lacking knowledge or parenting skills. For obvious reasons I am not allowed to share any photos of the children in the cases I had, therefore all I am attaching is the CASA logo.

 Another important partnership I formed is with AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps refers to a group of volunteers who in exchange for national service to the community the person is granted a  scholarship to go to school. I can proudly say that I served 2 full years and in those two years I was able to network and interconnect with many nonprofit agencies which I still serve on my free time. This partnership helped build my citizenship skills and yielded lifetime friendships. As an AmeriCorps member I participated in many projects like Habitat for Humanity, Make a Difference Day, Recycles Day, and way too many more to go on. This is a very valuable partnership for me because it allows me to be an active participant in helping my community. It has also been very beneficial in my personal life. Although it has ben five years and all of the members went on to different fields, we all still keep in touch and continue to be actively involved with our respective communities.

I am the one with the hat, planting donated trees at a community park

I am the one sitting in the bottom far right,after collecting cans for the Annual MLK Food Drive

I am the one in the middle sitting inside the truck, in front of a house we helped build for a homeless family







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