MY YASI ’21 EXPERIENCE – BY GENESIS RODRIGUEZ

I went into YASI without much knowledge on what the program was about and I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that we were learning about social justice issues and advocacy. I actually thought the six-weeks were going to be long and it turned out that time went by so quickly. The reason I initially felt that way was due to my past experience with zoom and virtual classes. My virtual experience was always a lack of participation from the students which created a very uncomfortable space. But that was not the case during my time at YASI. As days passed, we all got comfortable I went into YASI without much knowledge on what the program was about and I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that we were learning about social justice issues and advocacy. I actually thought the six-weeks were going to be long and it turned out that time went by so quickly. The reason I initially felt that way was due to my past experience with zoom and virtual classes. In my virtual classes, there was always a lack of participation from the students which created a very uncomfortable space. But that was not the case during my time at YASI. As days passed, we all got comfortable with each other which encouraged all of us to participate. The group’s engagement made it enjoyable to come to everyday.

During the summer, I had to work on a social campaign of our choice with other group members. As for my campaign experience, I feel like my teammates and I worked really well together. At first we started with many ideas without meeting a common ground. We were able to compromise and launched our campaign about the criminal justice system with hard work and dedication. I feel that my group got along very well due to the fact that we are very passionate about the topic we chose. I also felt confident in presenting to our peers (https://youtu.be/HLOUQA6XQLw) and hoped everyone did well. As for my overall experience in YASI, my expectations were definitely exceeded.

Check out Genesis’s YASI Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9-RtVGrr4s