ISCORE

So apparently with Spring Break coming up at the time and me being rushed all of the time....I forgot to actually SAVE and publish my last entry... so feel free to punish me if you want.
ISCORE was actually pretty amazing. I remember the morning of I really wasn't looking forward to attending since I'd be leaving that afternoon for a Cyclone Aide Retreat. It was definitely worth it though. I went to Hannah's session over Hispanics in America. Hannah did an AMAZING job, and I was very impressed. Good job Hannah! It's important to realize that even though we as caucasians might think there is equality in America, there really isn't. We have come a long way but there is still much further to go.
The second session was over Multicultural Athlete's Experience here at Iowa State. This session really opened my eyes. To be honest, I didn't really think athletes here had as many stringent requirements, and I had no idea they had to work equally as hard in the classroom, as hard as they were working in the field. Unfortunately I see lots of student athletes not really taking advantage of there opportunities...many times in the Hixson center I see some of them just sitting around talking and not working. However, there are some I see who are working all of the time and I have great respect for all of their contributions. We shouldn't just assume that all of them are the same and don't do work (that would be outgroup homogeneity bias. Just throwing out some Psych terms for Heath and Chelsea!).
For lunch we had Native American food. It was actually pretty good, and it was good to get to sit with some of the other Hixsons and discuss the sessions...even though I'm lucky I haven't had nightmares yet about Kelly's headless emu story.
Unfortunately I had to leave ISCORE at that time to head to class and head to our overnight Cyclone Aide retreat. Once again, I really wasn't looking forward to the retreat that much, but it was AMAZING. Probably one of the best weekends I've had of this semester. We did lots of team building and get to know you activities, some of which I might try to implement with my mentees for next year. We also did some more in-depth personal activities...it was actually really good to get to hear what other people thought of me in the group, even though it was anonymous and we couldn't identify who said what about us, it was good to hear how I'm perceived by others. It definitely helps knowing how you come off to others so you can be more effective in communicating with them.
Overall, it was a very fun and enlightening weekend. I will definitely encourage my students next year to attend ISCORE. It is a very positive experience.