Peace to me means bringing a community together where distance and miscommunication were once major hurdles. I believe peace consists of working through those problems towards the common good of the community. To be able to achieve peace, we as a society must start accepting and celebrating each other’s differences. Once we see past these differences, we can start creating a community of peace. I also think in teaching the next generation to celebrate those differences will help our community since they are the future.
I chose to intern at the PLC because I wanted to improve my skills at facilitating discussion among a group. I also had the opportunity got to work with kids of all ages which taught me how to adapt to any situation. While interning here, I was most surprised by the discussions we had as a group when talking about how to treat one another. I thought it would be too broad of a topic for younger kids to process, but they were the ones who contributed the most to our discussions. I was challenged when they would ask rather hard questions–making me think about my own choices in my personal life. This job really required me to reflect on my actions, and how I can change them to become a better role model to the younger generation.
After participating in a day at the PLC, I hope the groups will remember the lessons we gave on affirmation. As a young person, you are trying to find who you are, and there are so many outside influences affecting how you think about yourself. My hope is that they can take the time to reflect on what they bring to into the world and how their individuality is so important to our society.
Leah is going to be a senior at Indiana University Bloomington this fall. She is majoring in psychology and minoring in counseling. Leah would really want to work with youth, specifically teenagers, in finding their special place in this big, scary world. She wants to push them to become the best people they could possibly be. Being a big lover of dogs, she would love to work on incorporating puppies into youth work.
