Week 2: 2/11/14

Submitted by: Dawson Nicholson (mnicholson3@elon.edu) and Megan Griffin (mgriffin10@elon.edu)

Absent:  Facilitators: Morgan Abate and Erin Lanzotti

II. Fake break trip with Hope for Honduran Children-Meredith, Christian and April

A. Treats from Honduras

B. What we did

– Visited Flor Azul farm and orphanage, visited new HFHC Transition home

– Took video footage and interviews for Sundance Film Festival Entry

– Isabel mentioned being interested in helping this project

-Interviewed some of the boys and recieved some really great insight from them

All of them are very appreciative of their situation and they want to make the best of it (go to college/go to the transitional home)

C. Observations about the organization

– Transition House = awesome way for Periclean to get involved and in a    sustainable way

– Many aspects such as delegation of tasks could be handled better and in a more sustainable way -> potential project: audit organization to improve sustainability

– CRHP model (Periclean: India) could be adopted and put into the works for HFHC

E. Question/Answer

– Where would we fit into this? -> so many options (Supporting a child financially, writing an external grant, building facilities, help out with sustainability of the organization, etc.), Will be on the report and discussed next class.

-More potential projects:

making a CD from audio and selling it

selling bracelets→ maybe having different departments order bracelets specific to their department

Setting up distributors for jewelry

Donate laptops

-Will there be a committee that focuses solely on this? → Thinking about having a committee of 4 or 5 people. Some ideas for the committee include, answering some of Karen’s daily emails about trip details, making the website better (with a promo), basically manage the projects with Karen

F. Discussion in small groups about findings on “Founderitis” and partnership with H4HC (Did not get this far)

G. Deadline timeline. Time to go home and process. Make a decision by next class.

Next Class: Meredith and Christian will have a report for the class to read and the class will bring questions; make a  timeline and establish a focus

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Periclean Scholars Class of 2016

Country of focus: Honduras

Mentor: Prof. April Post

Partnerships

• Hogares Sanos – since fall 2013
• Hope for Honduran Children – since fall 2013

Research

Books

[fall 2013]

• Reichman, Daniel R. The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration, and Globalization in Honduras. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2011. Print.
• Levine, Peter. We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.
• Gelderloos, Peter. Consensus: A New Handbook for Grassroots Political, Social and Environmental Groups.  Tucson: See Sharp Press, 2006. Print.

Articles

[fall 2013]

• Meyer, Peter J.  “Honduras-U.S. Relations Report.” 24 July, 2013. PDF file.
• “Honduras 2012 Human Rights Report. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012.” 2012. PDF file.

Book Chapters

[spring 2013]

• Donini, Antonio. “Humanitarianism, Perceptions, Power.” In the Eyes of Others. Ed. Caroline Abu-Sada. US: MSF-USA, 2012. 183-92. Print.

[fall 2013]

• Gold, Janet N. “Daily Living and Lifestyles.” Culture and Customs of Honduras. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2009. 69-77. Print.
• Leonard, Thomas M. “Honduras Today: The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same.” The History of Honduras. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press, 2011. 163-76. Print.
• Pine, Adrienne. “Violence.” Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2008. 25-35. Print.
• Wolseth, Jon. “Contesting Neighborhood Space in Colonia Belén.” Jesus and the Gang: Youth Violence and Christianity in Urban Honduras. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2011. 27-49. Print.

Films

[fall 2013]

• Inside El Porvenir. Dir. Erika Harzer. PS Film GmbH, 2011. DVD.

 Speakers

 [fall 2013]

• Barahona, Liliana, Melany Galeano, and Tesla Mellage. “¿Vos qué harás por Honduras?” Cargill. Elon University, NC , San Pedro Sula, Honduras. 18 Sept. 2013. Skype conversation.
• Godt, Karen. “Hope for Honduran Children.” Hope for Honduran Children. Elon University, NC, Cleveland, OH. 28 Oct. 2013. Skype conversation.
• Levine, Peter. “Strategies for Civic Renewal.” Turnage Foundation. Elon University, NC. 2 Oct. 2013. Workshop.
• Malburne-Wade, Meredith. “National and International Fellowship Opportunities.” National and International Fellowships. Elon University, NC. 21 Oct. 2013. Presentation.
• Mejilla, Suyapa. “Honduran Cooking Class.” Hogares Sanos. Elon University, NC. 11 Sept. 2013. Workshop.
• Springer, Jason. “MBTI Results.” Academic Advising. Elon University, NC. 15 Nov. 2013. Presentation.
• Sutherland, Lauren. “Lumen Prize.” Lumen Prize. Elon University, NC. 7 Oct. 2013. Presentation.
• Tennant, Shannon. “Periclean Scholars 2016 Library Research Guide.” Elon University Library. Elon University, NC. 23 Sept. 2013. Presentation.

Class Projects

[fall 2013]

• Abate, Morgan. “Growing Up Motherless.”
• Adams, Jennifer, Annie Goldberg, Erin Lanzotti and Bethany Stafford-Smith. “Honduran Food Fiesta.”
• Bacher, Libby, Renna Durham, Christine Harris, Amanda Lazarus, Dawson Nicholson, Isabel Sackner-Bernstein, and Abby Senseney. “Cookies to Go-Go Fundraiser.”
• Berk, Meredith, Christian Gilbert and Juliana Sierra. “Fall Fundraiser.”
• Best, Charlotte. “Spring Induction Ceremony Planning.”
• Brown, Arianna. “Raising Awareness about Honduras at the Speaker’s Corner in 2014.” ???
• Cianciara, Nicholas, Megan Griffin, Caley Mikesell and Erin Robertson. “Honduran University Outreach.”
• Davitt, Liam, Anna De Dufour, Erin Luther, and Casey Morrison. “Hogares Sanos.”
• Dimos, Drew. “Sticker for Periclean Class.”
• Dyer, Aidan. “Reaching Consensus and Class Organization.”
• Durkin, Kerianne. “2013 Honduran Presidential Elections.”
• Fischer, Lauryl. “Establishing an Online Presence through Social Media.”
• Harris, Sydney, Jenna Mason and Lexie Melanson. “Creating Awareness about Periclean through Multimedia Presentations.”
• James, Caroline and Savannah Peery. “Gauging Students´ Opinions on Foreign Aid.”

Fundraising

[fall 2013]

$322.37 through Cookies to Go-Go to support the class
$103.25 through a Honduran dinner to support Hogares Sanos and the class
$155 through discount cards to support the class

Media

[fall 2013]

• Class website. pericleans2016.weebly.com Created by Lauryl Fischer.
• “Cookies to Go-Go” video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipBOs_KGsgc#t=104. Edited by Isabel Sackner-Bernstein.
• “Education: A Human Right” video. By Nick Cianciara, Megan Griffin, Caley Mikesell and Erin Robertson.
• “Elevator Speech” video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kggQFDq46NQ. Edited by Lauryl Fischer. Periclean Scholars General Information Prezi. http://prezi.com/aifqo1zrtnc1/periclean-scholars/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy Created by Sydney Harris, Jenna Mason and Lexie Melanson.
• Tumblr page. http://pericleanscholars.tumblr.com/  Created by Lauryl Fischer.
• Twitter feed. https://twitter.com/Pericleans2016  Created by Lauryl Fischer.

Accomplishments

[fall 2013]

• 12 of 34 students discussed applying for fellowships with Meredith Malburne-Wade, Associate Director of National and International Fellowships at Elon University.
• 6 of 34 students submitted an entry to the Human Rights and Social Justice Writing Competition at Elon University.

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On Nov. 25, the Periclean class of 2016 received the results of the Myers Briggs test it took back in late October. Jason Springer came to our class to explain what the results meant and how we can use those results to our advantage. But there are some challenges that we as a class will have to overcome because of the different MBTI personalities that exist within our cohort of 34 students.

According to Springer, the overwhelming majority of our class is extroverted. Contrary to what many believe, extroversion vs. introversion has nothing to do with being outgoing or shy. It refers to where you draw your energy from. Extroverts gain their energy from large crowds and socializing. Introverts are the opposite. When they spend a lot of time with people, they feel exhausted and need to recharge by having some alone time.

What this means for our class: Since our class is overwhelmingly extroverted, the extroverts need to speak up less and encourage those who don’t contribute often to voice their thoughts. Introverts need to throw themselves into a conversation, with or without an invitation.

The second letter in the Myers Briggs personality stands for Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). This refers to how you gather information. Sensors follow a pattern. They enjoy following a step-by-step process. Intuitive personalities like finding unique, original ways to get to an answer.

What this means for our class: We are pretty split in this category. We will have to negotiate on how to do projects, find partners, fundraise, etc.

In the last two categories, Thinking  or Feeling and Judging and Perceiving, our class is also split. Thinkers follow logic while feelers follow their gut feeling. Those with judging personalities are organized. They like things in the right places and may lack spontaneity. Perceiving personalities do not like as much organization–they find it confining.

What this means for our class: We have a lot of negotiating to do between these two personalities. It is hard to get Ts and Fs on the same page. And Js and Ps will have to meet in the middle on organization, like duties and committees.

Out of all of these, Thinking and Feeling will affect our class the most. It involves decision making. Some of us use our hearts to decide what is right or wrong, or what we want. Others think through the consequences and possible successes of certain decisions. We have come to several conclusions as a class after learning our personalities:

1. We need to acknowledge the different personalities in our class. 

2. We need to spend more time discussing what we want to do, not the process to get there.

3. We need to become comfortable with a decision-making process or timeline. 

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During class on November 13, the main focus for our Class of 2016 Periclean Scholars was to present our findings concerning different organizations to develop potential partnerships with. Our class often has wonderful ideas, but we had to look into these ideas further to discover whether or not a partnership with them would be feasible. Today in class, the presentations included Hope for Honduran Children  (nicknamed by our class as H4HC) and youth development programs such as juvenile detention centers. H4HC, a favorite of many students in our class, seems to be a likely partnership. The organization includes two main projects, the Flor Azul Boys Community, a home to boys rescued from poverty, in addition to Nuevo Paraiso Village, a small village with a school system for impoverished children.

Boys playing futbol at Flor Azul, the school H4HC partners with.

Karen, the founder of this initiative, has been incredibly enthusiastic about working with our class, proving that the connections to this project already exist within our class. As long as our class could find a way to make this project sustainable in terms of working with Pericleans, H4HC seems to be a definite possibility for a strong Periclean partnership.

While the youth development presentation offered solid insight into the major issues with the prison system in Honduras, a partnership here does not seem as likely. One of the most interesting pieces of this presentation was the discussion of the integral role women play in gangs in Honduras. Women account for about 20% of gang membership in Honduras, and are forced to do many tasks for the gangs including stealing in public places and at times are raped by the entire gang as a form of initiation. Although partnership does not look quite as likely, our class suggested the possibility of partnering with H4HC and including a type of youth development program or creating a community center that gives out meals and houses mentors to help guide the youth away from joining gangs. Each of these presentations offered new ideas for partnership, but I think at this point our class has concluded that H4HC is the most feasible partnership option.

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By:  Erin Robertson, Juliana Sierra, and Liam Davitt

The Class of 2016 Periclean Scholars finished up our first semester on Friday with group project presentations.  Each group or individual was assigned the task of creating a sustainable final project that the class could use to its benefit.  Here are a few examples of what we’ve been working on this semester:

• Lauryl Fisher focused on creating social media for our class.  She created a Tumblr, Twitter, website, and forum.  All of these have information about our Periclean class and are updated by Lauryl in order to promote our work and reach potential partners.
• Kerianne Durkin formulated a research project and paper that she presented to us on Friday.  She did extensive research and reading on the recent Honduras election.  Through this she learned all about the political system of Honduras and helped keep our class as a whole updated on the situation.
• Aidan Dyer presented ways in which we can better our class organization.  He conducted research to find the best methods of collaborating and being efficient.  In the future, we will decide if we want to use this proposal or not in order to create more efficient meetings and set clear goals.
• Christian Gilbert, Meredith Berk, and Juliana Sierra spent the past few weeks trying to raise money to use for a trip to Honduras in January.  They will use this trip to gather important insight and experience for our class. We just found out today that this trip has been approved by the University, so the group will officially be going!!
• Caroline James and Savannah Peery presented a project that they will be working on during Winter Term.  They seek insight from our peer students on what they think the financial aid situation is like in the United States.  There will more information on this during Winter Term!
• Nick Cianciara, Erin Robertson, Megan Griffin, and Caley Mikesel worked on establishing relationships with University students in Honduras.  They presented interesting transcripts and insights from the students they talked to and created an important excel sheet containing contact information of everyone they talked to.

This is just a sneak peek of what we have been working so hard to accomplish. As the semester comes to a close our class says goodbye for the break, and wishes luck to those who are going abroad. We look forward to a new semester that awaits us with a bright and promising future. With some students continuing the planning to go to Honduras, and others working more on the development of our class project we anticipate coming back together in the Spring and continue on with the work we are doing.

Thanks for reading about our semester!  More to come in the Spring!

–Periclean Class of 2016

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Today in class the main focus was our class project/partner discussion. Our goal was to make this decision before Christmas Break, and this was our final class to do so. First, our class discussion focused on Casey Morrison’s video that she shared with us ”Awaken Honduras”. This film discussed an organization trying to help get groups of kids outside Tegucigalpa who work on a garbage dump (“Dumpster Children”) into schools. These children live in dangerous, horrific conditions (ex: fires, build houses out of trash, horrible breathing atmosphere). Life as dumpster children is all they know, all they have, but school and education can give them something to look forward to. This video was brought into discussion because it is another option for a focus and or partner in Honduras, and if we can pair it with another one of our partner’s that we have in mind.

After this discussion faded, we began discussing each of our opinions on what our focus should be. Discussion on education, water, and gangs is found below:

Education:

If we focus on education, could we sponsor a scholarship for a Honduran student to come to Elon or a Honduran University? “Periclean Scholar Scholarship”, is this possible? May be too expensive, however alumni will most likely help a lot.

Sustainable Farming:

We could potentially pair this issue/topic with education by combining Hope for Honduran Children/ Honduran Universities and Cargill. We could use education to teach about sustainable farming both in the classroom and hands on. The only concern is that we would need to choose a focus region if we were to implement this idea.

Gangs: 

Professor at Yale’s presentation about how cartels in Mexico is a giant business, the violence is due to the fact that it is a business and they’re protecting their results. There are people who are in support of Gang activities because they create business, so maybe if we provide an alternative, the gangs will lose this support.

Next we discussed/wrote on the board potential focus names. The names on the board included:

1. Youth Development and Education

2. Child Empowerment

3. Educating Impoverished Children

4. Water and microfinance

5. Improving Quality of Life

6. Community Development

Next to these potential names, we wrote our potential partners:

1. Dump/AFE

2. Hogares Sanos

3. For Azul

4. Hope for Honduran Children

5. Cargill

6. Honduran Universities

7. Students for Helping Honduras

After we had these two important factors organized and stated on the board, we went around and discussed each of our concerns about the process of choosing our partner/focus and whether or not all of these focuses/ partners are realistic within our 3 year time. A very common opinion about these focuses/partners is that we should try and combine all of our interests into education, just like we said we could with sustainable farming. Another idea was that we should first choose a community, and then choose our focus based on what that community needs. Other concerns included whether or not we could accomplish our goals if we didn’t travel to Honduras and how we could keep our education program sustainable (teacher’s salaries?)

After this discussion, we put wrote down what we wanted to cover next semester and filled out teacher evaluations.

Though we did not reach our goal in choosing our exact focus/partner, we made big progress. We also discussed that as of right now, we are comfortable supporting a few, such as Hope for Honduran Children, and therefore will continue selling their bracelets and supporting them.

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