Reflection #2 Melanie Jimenez

 

How to be a Better World Citizen Presentations

By Melanie Jimenez

    After we successfully completed our first presentation as a class. Our professor decided that it would be an incredible idea to do a special collaborative project. Therefore, we all brainstormed as a class and came up with the idea to do an open presentation where other students can attend on how to be a better world citizen. Which in my opinion was a wonderful topic since it is a topic that is important and relatable to people of all ages, sexes, beliefs, and ethnic backgrounds. Especially since we are living in such a diverse world where we should all respect and admire each other’s differences and uniqueness. Therefore, Professor Sinkoff broke off the entire class into three groups. Each group would teach a different perspective on how to be a better world citizen. The three subtopics were Respect, Culture, and Contribution/ Spreading Awareness.

    I was part of group two which spoke on how being knowledgeable about all different cultures makes you a better world citizen and a better human overall. However, we all know that culture is an extremely broad topic therefore as a group we decided that it would be smart to speak about the most important foods of each culture. The main religions and practices of the different culture around the world. Plus, the importance of clothing and the main traditional clothing of each culture. By focusing on these three aspects of culture we believed that it would inform and teach the rest of the students the importance of knowing about culture but also expose them to foods or teachings that they have never heard of before. Which would allow them to be better world citizens since they could respect and recognize the differences.

    Compared to the last presentations we had; I believe that my group struggled with communication a bit this time around. At first there was lots of confusion about who was focusing on what aspect of culture and the specifics. Yet, as any productive group would do, we worked through the obstacles together and made an amazing presentation. It was very visually appealing, with not a lot of texts on the slides, and it was very cohesive and seamless. I was one of the individuals that spoke about the religious subtopic. I focused on information on the main religious and practices found in the continent of Africa and South America. To me the research for this assignment was fascinating since I love enhancing my knowledge of new topics. Overall, I think my entire group did an amazing job conducting the research of all the foods, religions, and clothing found in all the continents.

    Now when it came to the day of the presentation, I was excited yet scared since I knew that our class would be presenting to a bigger crowd since we had guests coming to the presentations. The first group to present was group one. This group spoke about the topic of respect. Their presentation was my favorite one of the night since the topic is so relatable and important, especially in the world we are living in currently. This group spoke about the importance of respecting all ideologies. The importance of teaching respect from a young age. Yet, they also taught everyone basic respect: how to practice politeness, kindness, courtesy, etc. The presentation overall was very educational, informational, and valuable.

    The second group to present was group two, my group. The presentation went very smoothly in my opinion. It began with speaking about all the tasty foods from around the world. To then speaking about the main religions of the world. Which that meant that it was my turn to present. I was extremely nervous because I wanted to make sure that I presented all the information clearly but easy to understand. In my opinion I think that I did a decent job; however, I did stutter a little bit and I fumbled over a couple of words. Right after I finished presenting, I was a bit mad at myself for letting my nerves get the best of me. Yet, I put myself together again and just took the opportunity as a learning experience for my following presentations. The rest of my group though did a really good job presenting all the information and teaching everyone why culture is so important to be a good world citizen. Sadly, after my group finished the guests had to leave so they couldn’t hear the last group present. But at least they left the presentation with more knowledge and a new perspective, hopefully.

The last group to present was group three. This group’s presentation was about raising awareness and contribution to all communities. They explained the stressors and obstacles found in children’s and young adults’ lives. Which that is a topic that I at least relate to being a full-time student and full-time care giver to my grandfather with Parkinson’s disease. This group also brought to light the challenges faced by our elderly citizens. Additionally, the stigmas and importance of mental health. Which that is a very important topic since our mental health is one of important things that every person should take care off. The struggle of special needs individuals was also explained in the presentation. Overall, this presentation was executed very well. All the presenters were very concise yet informative with their data. The PowerPoint was also visually appealing since it had images and not a lot of text.

In conclusion, these second presentations were all very good. It was noticeable that every student took the presentations very seriously. Also, I could notice improvements in the quality of the presentations and the quality of the speaking from the first speeches to this one. Collaborating with my group again was a pleasure. Additionally, I feel like these presentations made an impact on me. It really made me think of how safer and happier the world would be if every individual would just implement a bit of these teachings to their daily lives and dominant thoughts.