oy Session 3

Icebreaker: Check out this video to take a mindful moment and de-stress!

Today's Mission

This summer is all about bringing your superpowers to solve problems, create opportunities, and learn new skills to achieve your dreams and impact your community. Community - it’s a word we hear a lot, but what does it mean to you? We all belong to a community. Most of us belong to a few communities.

Today you’ll discover multiple definitions of the term and begin to explore the interaction between community and personal values using a Design Thinking strategy. Personal values are the core beliefs and principles that guide your decisions and choices - a little like a compass.

By defining community and reflecting on your values, skills, and career aspirations, you will create an action plan to get engaged in your community and achieve your future goals.

Making COMMUNITY Connections


GOALS

Today you will:

  • Understand the relationship between you, your community, and workforce opportunities

  • Understand the values and needs of your community

  • Imagine where you could take your career by setting short-term and long-term goals

Complete the Portfolio Steps below to learn more!


Portofolio Workbook Steps: Each step should take 1 hour.

Portfolio step 1

First, use your Workbook to discover different definitions for the word community and create your own. Using your definition of community, answer the following questions:

  • What communities am I part of?

  • How do I describe communities that I belong to?

  • What is my role in the community?

Next, create a K.W.L chart (what you Know, what you Wonder or want to learn, and what you have Learned) for one of your communities. It can be your neighborhood, your school community, your friends, your host site - you decide!

  • What do you know about the needs, challenges, or opportunities of that community?

  • What do you wonder or want to know?

  • Where might you be able to find more information on the health of your community? Check out this resource to get started.

This process will support the first stage of Design Thinking, Empathize - a critical step to understand the user experience.

While you’re doing this, consider how you might begin to answer questions about your community. What data do you want to gather? What story do you want to tell? Check out this video to inspire your reflection.

portfolio step 2

As a designer, you will need to understand the people you are designing for and the problem you want to solve.To begin to explore the Design Thinking process and discover community values, you first need to identify what matters most to you. Complete the values tree in your Workbook.

While you’re doing this, consider: What influences our values? How do your values guide your decisions?

Next, start to think about your community's values, strengths, and challenges. This all about practicing empathy. Miriam Webster dictionary defines empathy as the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.

It’s about putting yourself in someone else's shoes to better address a challenge. Empathize is a critical phase of Design Thinking, and an important workforce skill. Check out this link to learn more about this stage and complete the Empathy map in your Workbook.

This is an opportunity to begin thinking about your community's experience!

PORTFOLIO step 3

Finally, you’ve had the opportunity to explore which Hats (careers) align with your interests and skills in the Hats and Ladders App, and learn more about your host site. Now, take a moment to reflect on the things you know and want to know about the needs, challenges and opportunities of your chosen community. How might addressing these needs support your career goals?

Use the Career Plan in your Workbook to complete short-term and long-term goals for you and your community. Check out this video to jump start your work.

While you’re doing this, remember to list your personal goals and consider how these goals could support or align with the goals of your community.



When you're ready to move to Session 4, click below!



Check-in with your host site for directions for sharing your Portfolio Steps and continue use the Hats & Ladders App to complete Level 2!