Cultural Competency Public Health Response

Cultural Competency Project for Public Health: by Dyeato Paye

For the Public health course I am currently taking I had to team up with a couple of classmates and develop real life examples of cultural competency and why it is important in our society. Our Public Health class had watched a 30 minute video on the different cultures that make up the United States
and why everyone should learn about the essence of cultural competency in all of our lives. The challenge for me and my group mates was to construct a video that displays the positive impact of having cultural competency in any setting in life because everyone is a part of a culture that makes them stand out.

Additionally, my group mates and I had to include creativity and clarity with our product from our projects to ensure that we effectively share the message of cultural competency in a fun way. Our group decided to briefly describe the personal experiences of all of us as black women and define what cultural competency means to us. We wanted to share the concept of not allowing stereotypes dictate the perspective with cultural competency. Our main message was that even though we are all from the same race we have had different upbringings that give each of us a different definition of what cultural competency means.

To conclude, the project went really well and the message was positively portrayed to give people an open message on the uniqueness within one culture.

Campus Life at NIU

My Campus Activities Life  by: Dyeato Paye 

    Along with college parties, involving myself in extracurricular activities was something I wanted to refrain from for my first semester at NIU. The reason why I didn't want to do any extracurricular activities in college was because I had done so many while I was in high school that I was afraid that I going to burn myself out like they way I did when I was in high school. When I went to my high school I had always made sure that I was doing something every season in the school year and getting involved is fun, but when it feels like you don't have time in your life just to breathe then it almost starts to feel like a burden. Even though I had had such a good time being involved in the after school activities that I did back in high school, I still wanted to force myself to not do anything in college because I didn't want to put myself in that position of feeling burnt out all over again. 

    Knowing how much it would hurt me if I didn't at least try, I had realized that if I just focus on my academic studies in college and nothing else, that ultimately I would feel depressed and unhappy. Feeling a tad bit conflicted and also frustrated, I decided to make a mental note on interests that I have that I could possibly build more on while I am in college. The mental note I had of all of my interests weren't just all the interests that I had but were the ones that I personally believed could help me grow more as a person the fastest. I had to really think of the interests that I had and that I knew I would actually carve out time to make in practicing and building on the skills that are required for such activities. Another factor that also helped me narrow down what activities I could potentially join without making me feel like I was simultaneously helping and hurting my self by just being involved, was the student activities fair. Since there are a lot more activities and organizations in college than in high school, I figured if I could get some sort of idea of how many activities I would be choosing from it would be a lot easier for me to not trap myself in getting involved in way too many. 

   Furthermore, for my freshman year of college I decided to take part in activities that would build me more in my faith and my ethnic identity. So far, I am only in three activities/organizations. The first one I joined was the Northern Black Choir or also known as NBC. I joined this organization because I have always had a love for singing and I wanted to explore more in all things choir, particularly gospel music. From the moment I have stepped inside the music building at NIU till now singing and practicing the songs in choir, I have this indescribable, and positive feeling when I go sing with the Northern Black Choir. The next club that I knew I definitely would want to join would be ASA or African Student Association. This particular organization was a must for me because as someone who identifies as African, besides my family, I never really grew up around other African people, let alone ones who come from different African countries. Joining ASA was more of a personal odyssey for me to experience learning more about one portion of my ethnic identity.  BSU or Black Student Union was also a must for me too because I also identify as a an African American and I wanted to learn more about black culture and being a part of an organization that promotes ethnic diversity and unity. So far I don't feel as overwhelmed as I did when I was in high school regarding to joining after school activities, and I plan to keep it that way. 

  

IT Chapter 2

IT Chapter 2 Movie Review

    "IT Chapter Two" is the sequel to Stephen King's novel turned into a horror film known as "IT".

The film is about a group of friends who have gone their separate ways 27 years after believing they defeated the evil clown known as "IT". As murders begin to increase inside the town of Derry, Maine where the group of friends are from, one of the characters named Mike who was the only person in their friend group formally known as "the Losers' Club", that stayed in town, he rallies up the group together to share his insight on how "IT" the evil clown has returned to the town of Derry, Maine. The clown "IT" returns after 27 years since torturing the group of friends from Derry, Maine and with the help from each other and cooperation they do their best to find a way to defeat "IT" once and for all after years of not seeing the treacherous clown. 

As the plot of the movie progresses, the group of friends from "the Losers' Club" join together after years of going their separate ways to take down the clown "IT". The evil clown "IT" uses the trauma and the fears of all the characters in "the Losers' Club" as a ploy to attack each individual and make them ultimately realize who and what they are running against. The movie really scared me in a way that made me want to cover my eyes every five seconds inside the movie theater but also see what was next to come. Even though there was mostly horror and guts and blood throughout the movie "IT", it still portrayed a lot of emotion and humanistic values with the interactions within the characters thoughts with themselves and their interactions with each other. The movie ended up being a film that I would never forget because I loved the ending on how they finally defeated that clown after almost over 20 years of not knowing the clown "IT" still existed.

To summarize, at first I thought "IT" was going to be just another horror movie that I would completely dismiss, this time I was wrong. After watching the movie I saw how much emotion and struggle that I could internally relate to inside the movie "IT". The way humans have the ability to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to reach a common goal or motive with others or to try to prove something for themselves hit home with me since I see myself doing that all the time with other people and myself without realizing it. My cultural horizons expanded within the canon of film by taking a leap of faith and trying to build a better understanding of the horror genre and for the first time ever showing real appreciation for it.

College Party

My first college party experience by: Dyeato Paye 

As I began the new chapter in my life as a college student, at first I decided that I was never going to attend any parties. However, after having the friends I made at school encourage me to go and me trying to convince myself that just going to one or a couple wouldn't hurt, I figured that I would be fine. The first college party that I went to was a party at a frat house. I couldn't help but think about all the stereotypes that are made about frat parties, but I reminded myself of how long it took for me to say yes to my friends on going to my first college party so I wasn't going to let petty stereotypes draw me away from something that is so normal in college. 

The expectations that I had before going to my first college party were mostly met. Everything that I would imagine for it to be was confirmed. The music, drinks, and dancing. I love going to parties just to dance because I think that dancing is fun. When I went to first college party, even though my expectations were made, I was kinda disappointed at my first party. It was held in the frat house inside TWO BEDROOMS. I was so shocked to see how many people can actually fit inside a bedroom, let alone party inside one, and I know that me personally, I would never give up my room for a party.  Overall, there were moments where I had lots of fun, but also where I felt really bored.

In conclusion, I didn't let my first college party dictate my perception of all of them since after the first college party I went to, I decided I still wanted to explore more of them. Some of the parties still ended up being just like the frat party I went to for the first time. Others were a lot more fun and gave me hope that I could still have fun at some college parties. After going to the different kinds of college parties that I have gone to so far since the beginning of the school year, I have realized that college parties are a hit or miss; you will either find yourself in one where you're having a good time or you'll just feel like you wasted an outfit over nothing.