This week at PAST I got to do many new things involving people! On Tuesday, I conducted my first programmatic observation.  For 1 hour, I went into one of the programs and documented everything I observed.  My main goals were noting areas where students seemed to be engaged, collaborating with one another, and showing problem solving skills.  This was a bit difficult since I had never done an observation before.  Everything noted should be taken within the context of the situations occurring. On Thursday, we revisited our observations and noted ways we can improve. I mainly struggled with writing down too many quotes and not enough actions.  This is something I am looking forward to improving as the summer continues.  But it was nice to witness students learning in a non-traditional setting.  There was a lot of peer-to-peer communication which warmed my heart! I don’t often enter the program spaces (other than administering surveys), so this was also really nice to be more involved in the programs the PAST Foundation offers. 

Friday was a huge shift in our regular schedule as research interns. This week, we have had high school students at PAST as part of leadership building sessions, kicking off their summer programs. I enjoyed seeing them around the facility and administering their pre-surveys earlier in the week.  What would normally be a day of post-survey administration and preparation for the next week became a day of interacting with the high school students and so many other PAST employees! I had the opportunity to be a “Mentor” for the student to practice speaking in a professional manner.  It was a speed mentoring session where we spoke to each student for 3 minutes before moving on.  It was so cool to hear about so many students and their passions.  One had a start up clothing brand and another hoped to become a pediatrician! This was such a welcome change to our typical Fridays! I even had lunch with some of the students and staff which made me feel like a true part of PAST. 

This was a super fun week. Sometimes, a bit of change is beneficial.

See you next week,

Danyelle Bumpus