Diversity Events

I went to two different diversity events that were recommended through our class.  I attended the roads to activism diversity event with Aldo Magazzeni as the speaker.  I also attended the NWC diversity event.  Both were interesting and a learning experience.  I enjoyed both of them because it really makes you think about the different things that were presented.

The first event I went to was called "Traveling Mercies is Afghanistan, Kenya, Haiti, and Mexico.  This event included a speaker named Aldo Magazzeni and his slide show of his pictures from the places he has traveled.  Aldo was the speaker for this event because he was the man who traveled to these countries to help villages get on their feet with a water system.  Aldo has a nonprofit organization called the Traveling Mercies that has set up wells and water systems in many countries.  He works with different groups such as the Rotary to help him work to create a way fro him to complete his plan of helping these countries.  Aldo had many stories to share with us about his experiences and pictures to go along which made it very interesting what he does.

The other event that I went to was the NWC diversity event.  This event was called the event with the name that no one wants to say.  This is an event where words people use in racist situations are thrown around the stage.  The actors do skits to make these hard things to talk about a little more humerous.  Most people got a laugh in at times because the actors were all over the stage.  Even though the act was fun to watch and made it interesting this is still a hard subject for a lot of people.  This is because most people from small towns haven't been exposed to diversity.

Both of these events were fun to attend because they were interesting and informational.  I enjoyed going to both of them because my town had no diversity in it so I have never been exposed to different.  I thought it was interesting listening to ALdo talk about how he has helped all these individuals.  These were the diversity events I attended.

At my best

I have always hoped to be able to lead a team like just as the great leaders of teams take the role of moving their team through hard times and good times.  I have always idolized players that could take control of the game and the tempo and slow it to the pace that they can win from.  I think the moment I was at my best was when I achieved this on our volleyball team in high school.  I felt like I knew how to handle everything that was thrown at us that night. 

We were playing in the third round of regionals on our way to state and there were only two games left stopping us from getting to state.  I was a senior in high school and standing on the floor looking out at the sea of maroon and gold.  I was ready to play and I was ready to lead our team on to the floor for the biggest game.  I felt like it was my role to be there on the team and lead them to a victory because of my age and position on the floor.

I feel like this was when I was my best because it was the hardest game physically and mentally that I had ever played.  I helped lead my team through the five games of the night, and we ended up losing  by two points in the last game, but I had never left more on the floor than I did that night.  I knew in the back of my mind that this was now or never and that everyone in the packed gym was waiting for us to finish the game.  It was an intense atmosphere that helped give me the courage to take control of our team.  I feel like I played my best the entire game, and that even though I can't change the outcome I have never been more proud to be standing with my teammates.

I feel like this is when I preformed my best during an athletic event because I knew what I had to do to get our team even to this event.  I knew how much struggle we had gone through to even get there so there was nothing going to get in our way.  I felt like stepping up to help the team made one of my dreams come true just because I never thought it would be possible to have people look up to me instead of me looking up to a leader of any other team.