Muhammad shares:
I am enrolled in college and don’t really have a specific project I’m working on at the moment but I do look forward to seeing what the campus has to offer in terms of being a researcher and youth activist. Some of the most important lessons I learned during the summer was teamwork. We were all extremely new to the process of being researchers, facilitators, note takers, and coders but we knew that we had a goal we had to reach so everyone tried their best and did was the in the best interest of our overall goal not personal preferences. My favorite part was in the morning walking in and seeing everybody energy each and every day to work harder and the willingness to improve it helped everyone get tasks done. The summer program strengthened me by making me a proper time manager and taught me how to get humongous acts done in short period of times which is extremely helpful in college. In the future I plan on working with the institute again to help our outreach get to as far as it possibly can and raise awareness everywhere we can. The advice I would give new researchers or new members of the team would be to work hard. They can do it or else they wouldn’t have been chosen. Sarah and team are really good at picking people for the job so if they picked you that mean you have what it takes so don’t undercut yourself and let them help you reach your true potential. And to end, I would just like to say Sarah is the best boss ever and the skills I learned from her, Jen, and Lisa are skills I can use in any aspect of my life at any time that will help me hopefully stand out when working.
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  The beginning of college was the beginning of a new stage in my life. All of a sudden, I didn’t have classes from 8-3 with homework due on a daily basis. College in comparison to high school was freedom. However, that mindset will not successful get you through college. The freedom college gives you is comes with responsibilities. The freedom of having a class one or twice a week requires you to remember assignments and deadlines because your teacher is not obligated to remind you- especially if you’re a working student.
In order to balance work and school, it is important to take on only as much as you physically and mentally can. College is a journey and work should aide you along that journey. Therefore, look for jobs or internships that relate directly or indirectly to your major and/or intended career path. Maintaining a schedule is also important, schedules allow you to keep track of your assignments, work shifts and social life. A well maintained schedule allows you to know when you are taking on too many responsibilities and keeps you and everything around you organized. As a college freshman, I am still learning how to balance school and my extracurricular, but as long as my goal is to graduate in four years with my bachelors and a high GPA, I believe everything will balance out in the end. - Monica M. Hi! My name is Heaven Fernandez and I was born & proudly raised in the big apple! Becoming a part of ICI was completely unexpected. Around the age of 18, when I still attended high school, one of my counselors introduced me to these focus groups based on how we, the people, can make the community a better place. Once I heard that I said "I’m interested!” with no hesitation. Helping our people, the youth , and our community is always something that I’ve been interested in doing.  During the last focus group I attended, I met a wonderful woman named Jennifer Tang. We had a great conversation. I wrote my name down on a piece of paper hoping to follow up on a job opportunity & Jennifer reached out to me. I was invited to join the Intergenerational Change Initiative. Once I joined ICI, we quickly started to prepare for an important meeting with representatives from ACS & the DOE. We were a bit nervous about it at first but we devised a plan. Our team split into groups & got straight to work!  This meeting meant a lot to us. This was our way of expressing the youth's perspective and how such agencies can improve. We know our research can help address some of the challenges.
The meeting went swell! The agency’s professionals took everything we spoke about into consideration. But our job doesn't stop now. Were still grinding! We’re still going to help our communities as much as we can! - Heaven F The Benefits of Reflection and Feedback in Research |
| | I was particularly honored to participate in a rally, which was organized through the conference. One of our young people, Nupol Kiazolu,, who is deeply connected to the Black Lives Matter movement in New York City, provided the opening speech. Her powerful voice cried for unity, and equity. She prompted the crowd to join hands, and to fight for justice. In that moment I felt truly inspired and hopeful that together, we can create a better, more just world. - Tyler M.  |
On Our Trip to the Free Minds Free People Conference
 | Our trip to the Free Minds Free People conference in Baltimore was an opportunity for our team to get to know each other better and have fun together while learning valuable skills. We started the day learning and practicing using the different types of research in preparation for the focus groups we would conduct later, but instead of going home at the end of the day, we gathered our things and took a nice walk to the train station. We boarded the bus to Baltimore. It was a long bus ride to Baltimore and we ate snacks and talked along the way. Once we arrived, we all took cabs to our hotel. It was very beautiful and extravagant! We all went to our respective hotel rooms to drop off our stuff and then explored the hotel in an attempt to find their pool. |
We boarded the bus to Baltimore. It was a long bus ride to Baltimore and we ate snacks and talked along the way. Once we arrived, we all took cabs to our hotel. It was very beautiful and extravagant! We all went to our respective hotel rooms to drop off our stuff and then explored the hotel in an attempt to find their pool.
 We found the pool and spent about an hour hanging out and swimming. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel clean up. Emily, Asha and Raiana fell asleep soon after while the rest of the group hung out in one of their hotel rooms and continued the group bonding! |  |
The next morning we all woke up extremely early to catch the bus to New York. We all had to take cabs to the bus station, but we couldn't find enough cabs for everyone! We almost missed the bus, but luckily the people who had gone in the first cab convinced the bus driver to wait another 5 minutes and we made it!
- Raiana K.
- Raiana K.
This is the official site for the Intergenerational Change Initiative and our projects.
Feel free to explore our site, comment on our posts, and check back for updates to stay connected to our journey!
Feel free to explore our site, comment on our posts, and check back for updates to stay connected to our journey!
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