I think every college students knows that stress over both the present and future can be overwhelming at times. This week, however, I have been blessed with an enormous amount of inspiration and joy from a group of people that I wasn't even aware that I would ever know. This past Monday was the last class session of Divided Societies, a discussion-based class held through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. The classes were held once a week at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, OR and was composed of equal numbers of inmates (inside students) and University of Oregon students (outside students, such as myself). Inside-Out is a phenomenal program that seeks to break down the barriers separating insiders and outsiders from one another and to combat common stereotypes and social stigmas. The program is also meant to provide access to education where there otherwise would not be any, and to provide a very special sort of education that opens up new perspectives and opportunities for both inside and outside students.
I can honestly say that my participation in the program has changed me and my life course--I made 14 friends this term and had to say goodbye to them on Monday, which set a sad tone for the week. Finding and developing human connections with people who I never would have met otherwise was incredible and brought me equal measures of joy, humility, and change this term. Joy is a human experience that can only occur, at least for me, when the full spectrum of human emotion is combined. Joy is knowing the regret over the fleeting passage of time, but it is also knowing the happiness of being told 14 times in a row, one after another, that I have a friend that believes in me and my future success, that wishes me well, and is grateful for my presence in the classroom.
I have changed in the past three months--almost indescribably so. I have decided to bike across the country, I have been to a hospital twice weekly to shadow a cardiologist, and I have also made very unexpected yet cherished friendships. I am unsure how these changes will manifest themselves as effects on my future academic and career plans, but I will carry my new friends with me on this Ride, every pedal of the way and every town we stop at. I have yet another source of inspiration from which to draw strength. I feel confident that I am meant to accomplish the Ride and that there is a reason I felt called to apply for this opportunity. I look forward to this summer with everything in me.
As always, cheers!
Nina
I can honestly say that my participation in the program has changed me and my life course--I made 14 friends this term and had to say goodbye to them on Monday, which set a sad tone for the week. Finding and developing human connections with people who I never would have met otherwise was incredible and brought me equal measures of joy, humility, and change this term. Joy is a human experience that can only occur, at least for me, when the full spectrum of human emotion is combined. Joy is knowing the regret over the fleeting passage of time, but it is also knowing the happiness of being told 14 times in a row, one after another, that I have a friend that believes in me and my future success, that wishes me well, and is grateful for my presence in the classroom.
I have changed in the past three months--almost indescribably so. I have decided to bike across the country, I have been to a hospital twice weekly to shadow a cardiologist, and I have also made very unexpected yet cherished friendships. I am unsure how these changes will manifest themselves as effects on my future academic and career plans, but I will carry my new friends with me on this Ride, every pedal of the way and every town we stop at. I have yet another source of inspiration from which to draw strength. I feel confident that I am meant to accomplish the Ride and that there is a reason I felt called to apply for this opportunity. I look forward to this summer with everything in me.
As always, cheers!
Nina
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