"It is not a happy sight to see an individual struggling to stay alive on the same street one buys their coffee. It forces us to think, why does my government allow people in my city to live like this, could that be me? This is a challenging and emotional thought process, that requires a critique of our most embedded structural inequities, and it is one many people are not willing to explore."
Honors 231 felt like such a grown up honors class. A very discussion centric class working with one of the most astute professors in the honors department, I worked hard to break life long patterns and biases surrounding poverty and houselessness. Outside of class we worked with the organization Real Change to put on a panel about social housing. I really grew working with Real Change, and the panel was a success!
Winter Quarter I started my capstone project with the Washington State Department of Health. Myself and two other group members worked with our capstone leader, Alan from the WSDOH to create a presentation on fall prevention for elderly people. We spent all quarter preparing our presentation and would bring it to reality in the spring.
My Papou (grandfather) passed mid quarter and I flew home to be with everyone. It felt good to reconnect and be able to be with my family. This trip reminded me how much I had waiting for me next year.
Reflection
I returned to a sleepy Seattle in early January for the start of my last winter quarter. The city was quiet due to the widespread Omicron surge, keeping classes online and work as hectic as ever. Everything felt like a repeat of winter quarter 2021, endless days of rain and stuck inside for fear of Covid-19. For the first month or so of the quarter this was accurate, my classes were almost all virtual, and going into work was my only excuse to leave the house. Unfortunately due to the Omicron surge, work was incredibly busy, we were very understaffed, and as the surge increased, more coworkers got Covid, worsening the situation. But, as things usually go for me, school kept me afloat. I had just started my capstone course for Public Health and I was to be working with someone at the Department of Health to develop an educational workshop about fall prevention targeted towards elderly people. What sounded so incredibly boring and irrelevant to be presenting I ended up having so much fun with. Making sure language was exciting and appropriate, that the audience got the information they needed, and that we were presenting appropriately for the audience.