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Hello! My name is Sunny Smith. I'm a current senior at CU Boulder majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology. Learning about social behavior and social problems has sparked my interest in mental health, education, and outreach fields. I also enjoy exploring how art forms can help provoke social change and facilitate self-expression. I love learning, creating, and connecting with myself, the natural world, and the other people who inhabit that world. I'm looking to apply my creativity, my passion for helping others reach their potential, and my high-level of empathy in a position where I can help generate systematic change to increase opportunities for those who are disadvantaged or help people enhance their general wellbeing. 

On overcoming obstacles...

As students explored their definitions of success, some of the main facets of “success” that came up for this group were: (1) finding balance, (2) being a changemaker, (3) embracing life pivots, and (4) overcoming obstacles. In preparing for their final showcase, students reflected on one of these aspects and how they related to this aspect of success.

I’ve struggled with my mental health and financial burdens being a college student during the pandemic. I’ve had multiple jobs, and I’ve used counseling techniques with myself to find more balance in my emotions.

Time management has been crucial in addressing my financial concerns. Boundary setting has also really helped me to protect myself and ensure that I have enough energy to show up in my responsibilities. I’ve also used mindfulness in my daily life to regroup with myself. 

CHANGE Collective program reflections

Embarking on this program

I felt great about the first session. I particularly liked the mindfulness exercise that we did. I think that really helped me to be present. I usually am a little socially anxious in group settings, and that anxiety prevents me from fully appreciating the moment. But the minfulness exercise really helped me to do that. I think it would be really useful for everyone to do this at all meetings they have. I might help people be more centered, focused, and appreciative of the meeting.

I am very excited about diving into this program and getting to know the others in the collective. The little bits and pieces of information that I have gained about them so far have been so interesting and inspiring, so I'm really looking forward to working with them. I'm also very excited to see the museum and get to work on some visitor studies things.

I was uneasy about initally meeting people, but that uneasiness has been resolved. I'm a little nervous about balancing all of my responsibilties and showing up to work and our team sessions honestly and intentionally, but I think that I will be motivated to do this because the program is meant to help us achieve balance.

From this program, I am hoping to gain valuable insights and perspectives from my peers. I also want to give them something valuable in return. I hope to develop a mutually beneficial professional relationship with Sam, as I develop my ideas about my potential career path. I want to identify and explore my strengths and weaknessed and apply the discoveries I make in my life to achieve personal growth.

Mid-year reflection 

The first couple of months of this experience have been very valuable to me. I have enjoyed engaging with the different ideas that have come out of our bi-weekly meetings. I appreciate that I am required to reflect because I find that I struggle with being disciplined in my reflections in my personal life. I set goals to reflect regularly, but I don't set time to do it because I feel the need to dedicate time to all of my required responsibilities. 

I think that the reflection prompts are very intriguing. They truly inspire me to reflect and are not superficial at all which I think is helping me to get more from the reflection process. 

I'm having trouble completing reflections by the requested due date. This semester has been a difficult time for me because of all the things I'm juggling. I just want to remember that it doesn't take too long to respond to these prompts and that it is always rewarding. I'm also hoping to set up a better routine. 

The only thing I wish was different about this experience is my own accountability and discipline. I want to use these reflections to their fullest potential, and if I'm not honoring deadlines, this process becomes more of a stressor than a helpful tool. 

Final program reflection     

What are you most proud of?
I think that I am most proud of myself for adapting to the challenges I've faced this year. I was really struggling last semester with managing my time. My mental health was not very good, and it was difficult to do anything I cared about. But I was able to regroup with myself and realize that difficult times don't last forever. I was able to fulfill my responsibilities again. I've had a successful semester, and I've secured a job after college. So I am proud that I've been able to do that given the point I started at.

What was the best thing you gained from this program?
I think the community and relationships I gained are very valuable to me. I felt very supported by everyone in the program. It took us a while to warm up to each other, but I would say I have gained some solid friendships. It's been wonderful to be able to be associated with other college students dedicated to personal and professional development. The vulnerability we all showed helped us to grow and relate to each other. 

If you were to recommend changes to the program, what would you recommend? What didn't work so well for you? Feel free to consider the structure of your museum job, the bi-weekly sessions, the microcredential requirements, how you were hired.
I think we have already discussed some of these topics, but I would say that maybe the events we had could have been better advertised or planned so that more people could come. Weekdays are tough for college students to make, and many of them do not get up early on the weekends, so it might be beneficial to plan according to that. 

I thought that the bi-weekly sessions were great. I think they were originally planned to be 1.5 hours, but they often ran longer than that. It might be best to just plan for 2 hours so that people can accommodate that in their schedules at the beginning of the year and you'd be able to cover everything you wanted to. 

I also think that encouraging collaboration among collective members in their museum jobs might be beneficial.

What about this program would you recommend keeping the same? What worked really well for you?
I liked the reflections and microcredential assignments. It didn't ever feel like too much work. 

I think the topic of sustainable futures is very relevant and it would be worth investigating with other groups. 

I liked all of the biweekly sessions. I think there was a good mix of meetings where it was just the collective and where there were other invited guests. 

How do you hope to build upon what you've gained from this program (including any insights around the types of work or experiences that did not work for you)?
I think I will continue being vulnerable with people in my professional sphere whom I trust. I think vulnerability helped facilitate better relationships. I will also continue to consult my personal definition of success and my why to ensure that I am fulfilling my goals and upholding my values. I think I will also try to remember that everyone is still figuring themselves out as we learned in the career panel. 

How was your experience with the Sustainable Futures Fest? What felt successful? What would you have changed?
I really enjoyed being a part of that planning process and event. I think that if it had started at 12:00 or 1:00, the same if not more people would have come since college students tend to wake up later on Saturdays. 

I think that some of us were in the dark early on about your expectations for the event. And maybe there was some communication that was missing about that. I think getting that info out early on would have been helpful. 

I had some really meaningful conversations about the community at our table. It was really interesting and rewarding to relate with others about important topics. I think the terrariums were a hit as well and having some info about diatoms was great. People enjoyed making some art and I think it facilitated conversations well. 

How was your experience with the Showcase/Open House? What felt successful? What would you have changed?
The showcase was great. I loved hearing everybody's speeches. I wish we could have talked with more people and had some more individual conversations as we had originally planned. I feel like having a drop-in event like the sustainable futures fest might have encouraged more people to come. I think college students are intimidated by events that require them to stay and ask important questions. The drop-in format would have been less intimidating. Overall, I enjoyed the chance to reflect on what we had learned over the course of the program.