Month: February 2020

Nathan Alleyne

02/15/20

ENG 1121

Word Count: 1022

Discourse Community of Nathan Alleyne

Imagine working with and for teenagers your age, dressed in suits, serving and bussing tables, stacking chairs, and snacking on calamari during your break time. Seems like a waiter’s typical shift at the Westbury Manor to me. The Westbury Manor is an event/catering hall on Long Island that hosts weddings, business parties, sweet 16’s and much more. I started working there in December of 2019 as a waiter, and surely gained many friends through my coworkers and supervisors. Initially, I felt I wouldn’t be able to adapt and fit in, or make my way into the friendships that had already been established. For the most part, I thought of this community as a group of people who although do play around often, still respect one another, work well together, and genuinely like each other a lot.

The Westbury Manor wait staff are a racially diverse group of individuals, women dominating men in terms of numbers, but are friends all the same. Also ranging in age, my now inner circle includes those closer to my age, from 16 (my age) to about 19. This “teenage Westbury Manor waiter” discourse community has about 13 people. This group is mainly made up of Hispanic people, but also includes people from African-American, like yours truly, and Caucasian backgrounds.

This group’s usual goal is to basically survive the shift, as they can sometimes be long, stressful, painful, and dreadful. We might not all work the same event, but clocking out afterwards is always a dream whilst working the shifts we do. A second goal that might be a little more delightful for our boss to hear, would be to make sure our customers, who are usually partygoers, brides and their family and friends, or a sweet 16 princess and her ‘squad’ enjoy their night, as it is basically our job to do so. We make sure everything is perfect with our guests throughout the night, or day, no matter the kind of event. Our goals may slightly shift from day to day, but generally remain the same, at least when we are suited up and ready to work.

This ragtag group of waiters communicates with each other in a variety of ways, the first and most relevant actually being not in person, but through text messages. We spend the most amount of time talking to each other via texts about miscellaneous topics, some of them not always being appropriate for the workplace, while some are, such as switching shifts, covering shifts, or confirming who might be working with you. While we are at work, some words may be exchanged passing through the large kitchen, or in the bus stations but unless we are working the same event, we might not get much time to verbally communicate during our shifts. This group of people is slowly becoming my closest group of friends since now that I work, I have less time during the week to go out with other groups of friends I may have met elsewhere. That may sound unfortunate, but this group at least for me, is slowly turning into family, which is a great thing. When we aren’t working, or joking around in our text message group chat, we’re either out living our individual lives or partying together, which only brings us closer.

When in this profession, one is usually expected to properly conduct themselves sophisticatedly, courteously, mannerly, and diligently. Us waiters when dealing with customers, or guests, are always meant to be time-efficient, politeful and be ready to aid them in any way we can. To maintain the status of the institution, we are trained to move quickly, work rigorously and to simply just be nice to anyone who may not work there, whether it be shoppers, those that come in to view the venue before making a decision, or guests that come for the events that are held there. We are to be on our best behavior when interacting with and when in the sight of anyone that is not employed at the Westbury Manor. This group, for the most part, is also very much polite and friendly toward other employees, such as older waiters, captains, chefs, maitre’ds, hostesses, receptionists, and other forms of administration.

Before someone can join this group, they would need to first be around our ages in order to really be a “full” member, but really, they must just be willing to be comfortable around us in and outside of work, since Westbury Manor is not the only place we see each other. Granted having had already got the job, training, and experience to be up to par with us who have been working for a longer period of time, that person would already have as much as they need to be a member of this discourse community as we do. Our community also shares a lot of beliefs, likes and dislikes. These may include our tastes in music, television, and pop culture. We also, and you must swear not to tell, all secretly despise some of our supervisors and coworkers, shh!!!

After speaking to a fellow coworker and member of this community, I was made sure of the dynamic of this group. Elizabeth Gilbert, a 19 year old waitress at Westbury Manor called our friend group “a big dysfunctional functional family.” Through her words, she made it clear that although we might not always get along, the love is still there and and we always manage to get the work done.

In the end, I was able to realize that I was pretty much right about my guesses about this community. Being teenagers, it was slightly obvious how they would act around each other, swearing and play-fighting, but always managing to literally get the job done, no matter the intensity of the situation or the severity of the change over, which is the reset for the next event that would be coming up after ours. Discourse communities are all around you, just look around!

Work Cited

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Personal interview. Feb 2020.

Jose Camacho

English Composition 2

February 24, 2020

Word Count: 1053

Discourse Community: High School Program (P-Tech)

The American education system is one of the most important tools in our society, yet it is one of the most flawed systems in the country. The education system does not teach younger generations how to gain and use real world skills such as analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills. If you were in charge of this flawed system, do you think there is a solution to the problem? One of the solutions to the problem was to make a school that focused on the skills that were not being taught to help students. One of the first high schools that addressed the problem is called Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-Tech) which is the discourse community I am apart of. My initial assumption about the school was that it would be an amazing school, especially for students like me who are first-generation college students who did not think going to college was even an option post-high school.

The goal for P-Tech’s discourse community is to help minorities branch out of an ideal occupation and allow students to discover and pursue careers in the STEM field as stated by current P-Tech student Kenneth Louis. In addition, the school helps minority students by allowing them to acquire an associate degree and high school diploma simultaneously at a cost of zero dollars. Students who attend a traditional high school take four years to graduate and an additional two years to complete an associate’s degree. The benefit of being a part of P-Tech’s program is that students are able to go at their own pace which means that if they are able to complete the program as early as four years! Due to the problems that the current education system has, P-Tech also offers first in line jobs to their students at IBM to acquire skills that would be used in the real world. Former P-Tech graduate, Emily Gonzales, stated that throughout the internship, students gain experience and have the opportunity to network with experts in the field that they are trying to pursue.

Once someone is part of this discourse community, there are various methods used for communications. One of the prime forms of communication with teachers and mentors is through email. Both P-Tech students stated that another form of communication is through text messages. This could be through having a phone number or through different websites such as LinkedIn and Mentorplace. The forms of communication that were stated above are most useful if students are not able to speak in person due to classes overlapping with their mentors or teachers schedule. The primary form of communication is speaking with members in-person to help students with any questions that they might have.

P-Tech is a unique program amongst all the high schools in America. Due to the school having a unique program, it has many visitors around the world. As a result, there are schools around the world that are implementing the P-Tech program. The prime example of the discourse community communicating with the outside world was when former president, Barack Obama, visited the school and mentioned the program in his speech. As a result, there were articles made about the program and news reporters such as CBC News discussed the program with the outside world. The last way that the members of the school communicate with the outside world is through IBM, where commercials are made and shown on television.

Once people join the discourse community, there is no particular “language” that is used for the members that are within the group. The members speak casually to one another to make sure everyone feels comfortable as stated by Kenneth. There are different ways for a person to be part of the discourse community. The first method to be a member is to be accepted and attend the school. Another way to be a member is to work for the school or work for other groups that are connected to the high school. For example, a person could be a teacher at the school. Another example would be to become a guidance counselor to help students in their academic and personal life.Thirdly, a person can become a college professor at City Tech which are one of the most important members in the community since professors open the eyes of high school students to see what they will expect to do once they make the transition from high school to college. Lastly, a person can work at IBM because the company is one of the many partnerships that the school has.

After interviewing current and former students, what surprised me is that students are not the only people that are part of the discourse community. There are more people that help lay the foundation of the program and those that help motivate students and support them academically and personally. Everyone in the community is like family, helping one another from student to student, teacher to student, and alumni to student. What also surprised me is the different answers I received for the same questions which show that students have different views on the school even though they go through almost the same experience. What made me rethink the way I looked at the group initially is being part of it. The program has its flaws, however, I do think the discourse community did accomplish the goals that they intended to fulfill. Many members agree on the discourse community having problems that need to be resolved. However, members within the community are unsure as to how to resolve the problems. Current members want students that will go into the program to not face the same problems so the discourse community can get better. Another thing that confused me while doing this project was that I interviewed two students, one that finished the program and another that is currently in it. I wondered if the answers were different because of how far they got within the program. This project was an eye-opening experience because I did not realize how vast and important P-Tech’s discourse community is. It is important to be in a welcoming discourse community as students are learning and maturing as humans, transitioning from teens to young adults.

Works Cited

Gonzales, Emily. Personal interview. 14 February 2020.

Louis, Kenneth. Personal interview. 14 February 2020.

 

Petagaye Copeland

2/10/2020

ENG 1121

Word Count:1008

My Discourse Community

When I first started working at Salvation Army Gains Sunset park, I noticed that there were children of different cultures mainly Hispanics and Mexicans so I did not really think that we would get along. I was more on the shy side when I first started the job but I realized all the children were nice to me and got to know me within my first week. Before I started to work at this after school I did not know where Sunset park was located or even how to get there. But I’m glad that I got the job because working at this after school has opened my eyes to learn about a lot of different cultures and having to work with people older than me. Not to mention, being the youngest staff member is my biggest obstacle that I face every day when I was introduced to my group (4^th-5^th graders) I realized this was not going to be an easy job in other words 4^th and 5^th graders are not easy to handle eventually the children got used to me which made my job much easier.

Salvation Army Gains is in Bush wick, Bed ford, Brownsville, Sunset Park, and Harlem each site runs its program different but under the same rules and regulations some after school sites even go up to middle school but at Sunset Park site goes from K-5. Our program is the smallest site but still, we have one of the best staff and get the best ratings when we get visits from DYCD (Department of Youth Community Development), which is great because that looks good for our site and we get more supplies and funding for our program I’ve learned a lot of things from working in this program for one is how to write a lesson plan, as a group leader each group has to write four in total Culture arts, STEM, Literacy, and Gym the groups are K-1st, 2nd-3rd, and 4^th-5^th its two group leaders per group and we have to write a lesson plan once a week so we can teach it to the children after they have completed their homework. Making the lesson plans can be difficult because there are guidelines that you have to follow also when I speak with the children they open up to me and they teach me how to be a better group leader because when I see them intrigued in the lesson that tells me I did a good job with the lesson.

My team and I communicate by meetings or we text in our workgroup chat, in meetings we talk about how the week went and what we have to look forward to for the upcoming weeks and for our group chat we discussion which child isn’t going to be picked up, when we have to work on holidays and when lesson plans are due and what group is missing what lesson. During work, we use a walkie talkie to ask each other for supplies when we need it when snacks have arrived and one person from each group has to pick it up, we let each other know when dinner is ready for the children when it is dismissal and a child is going home we just say their name on the walkie. In addition to, the way we communicate it is plenty of steps to become a group leader with Salvation Army Gains; you have to apply, get an interview, the director should call you back after your interview telling you got the job, need to get fingerprinted to see if your background check is clear, wait to be put on the payroll, lastly, you need to get clearance to start the job. Our main goal at my job is to make sure each child is well-taken care for each day also see to it that they are getting their homework done and correct every day, we value each child’s well being because some of the children have many obstacles to face at home but have to put on a brave face in school and in after school despite how it makes them feel they always have to stay positive. After schools are an impact to the community because kids need a place so that they can be themselves; with my after school program it’s free we provide pick up from the schools and bring the kids to the building where our after school program is being held and have the kids do their homework make sure they are feed and have a place where they are most comfortable. My staff and I also put our own money into providing for these kids just to make sure they had a good day that what matters to my community to know that my kids in my program are always safe for example, when we decide to throw parties for the kids the money comes out our pocket and not the funding from Salvation Army or when we need supplies for our lesson plans, so that makes us so close to the kids and make them want to be with us all the time and tell us what happens in their day which makes me feel good as a person and group leader.

As a final point, Salvation Army Gains program can be rough at times but if you work with the right people have a good relationship with the children the job will get better, being in an after school job with kids will prepare you for the teaching field and get used to being around kids and learning different traits and actions about each child you encounter to find that every child isn’t always happy the way they portrait it to be it is always something deeper I learned that from working with the children in my after school.

Work Cited

Cabral Estrella, Aleysha. Personal Interview. Feb 2020

Reyes. Bethany. Personal Interview. Feb 2020

Deoki. Catty Ann. Personal Interview. Feb 2020

Garcia. Nahomi. Personal Interview. Feb 2020

 

 

 

 

Harold Rojas February 19 2020
English 1121
Word Count: 1039

Discourse Community
When I first got into College I noticed that there was a program to help students in college called “SEEK”. I didn’t know much about it until I asked my college counselor and he said that SEEK helps students academically, financially and socially. My initial assumption about the SEEK program was that it was a program to help students enter college that otherwise wouldn’t because of their SAT or GPA.
SEEK stands for “Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge”. It is a program designed for students who have the potential, but would benefit from enhanced academic support and financial assistance. I have researched the SEEK community by interviewing my counselor (Kisha Swaby), observing how the SEEK community works by going to the SEEK office and telling everyone there that I was doing a project for my English class, and that I need to ask them a few questions about the SEEK program. The people in the office were really nice to let me interview them.

The goal of the SEEK community is to help students in college succeed. They do this by providing free tutoring for courses like English, Math and Science, where students can do a Walk-in tutoring or they can schedule one with a tutor from the SEEK program. They also have a Computer Center which is a computer lab dedicated for SEEK students only, so that students can get unlimited access to iMac’s, PC’s and up-to-date software. SEEK students can also have access to Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and more. Students can use the computers in case they need to use a special software like “Autocad”, “Solidworks” or “Mastercam” to do their homework or if they need to do something quickly, the office is open Monday-Wednesday 9-6pm and Thursdays 9-5:30pm. Additionally, they have academic coaching which is one-on-one assistance to SEEK students who wish to become better in their study skills by learning successful strategies for tackling the challenges students may face during college. Lastly, SEEK students have access to one hour workshops covering a variety of topics to help the students be more efficient during their college career.

The way this group communicates is by email, so that when there are workshops or to remind students of a special event they need to attend. Also, we communicate by meetings so that we can let our counselors know how we’re doing in college and life in general. It’s a magnificent way to express how we feel academically and analyze important aspects of our life to see the correlation of how we do in class. Another method we use to communicate is by one on one appointment. This group primarily communicates via email by sending important information about events, workshops or meetings. This group communicates with the outside world by students talking to their families about the program they are in when they get home from school. The language we use in our group is English, since it is the most spoken.
A person needs to know what benefits the SEEK program offers and also they need to know that they are only accepted if they are a first time freshman or previously enrolled in an HEOP or EOP program which are equivalent to the SEEK program (HEOP at private colleges) and (EOP at SUNY colleges). Also, they need to check and see the requirements for their family income to see if they qualify for it as a student.
When I interviewed my SEEK counselor about the SEEK program I asked her to describe SEEK at New York City College of Technology, to tell me why students should join the program and how SEEK is a community to the students. Her response was the following; “SEEK at City Tech is a program that helps students who are financially needed with academic and financial support. Students should join the SEEK program because it gives them the help they need to succeed in college, and SEEK is a community to the students because it has the common goal of helping students succeed by helping them with academic support such as tutoring and notetaking skills. It also helps us with counseling when students have a problem with the college or life in general we can always talk it out with the student so that we may arrive to the best solution possible to the problem. Lastly it gives them financial support with books, fees and transportation.”

Something that I learned about the group that surprised me was that the SEEK program came out of struggle in the 60’s when people fought for more colored people to be included in higher education and so people decided to set up a program under which they would have criteria that would enable the people to be admitted to the City University and it first started at the City College of New York. What confused me about the program was that initially I thought that the SEEK program was a special type of college at different CUNY schools but then I realized that it’s just a program inside the schools. I also learned that Percy Ellis Sutton was the man who founded the SEEK program in 1965, who was an activist in the civil Rights Movement and was also the legal representative for Malcolm X.

Works Cited Page
Harold Rojas, Re: Interview Questions Received by Kisha Swaby “SEEK at City Tech is a program that helps students who are financially needed with academic and financial support.Students should join the SEEK program because it gives them the help they need to succeed in college, and SEEK is a community to the students because it has the common goal of helping students succeed by helping us with academic support such as tutoring and notetaking skills, it also helps us with counseling when we have a problem with the college or life in general we can always talk it out with a counselor so that we may arrive to the best solution possible to the problem and lastly it gives us financial support with books, fees and transportation.”  Feb 10,2020

www.citytech.cuny.edu/seek/history.aspx by the City University of New York , February 15,2020

Michael Militano

2/16/20

ENG1121

Word Count: 721

My Discourse Community

A discourse community is a group of people that are a part of a group, and talk about a specific topic. One of the discourse community’s that I am apart of is a basketball discourse community with my friends. In this community we talk about all things basketball from the NBA which is professional basketball to us playing in the park outside in real life. All of us in this community are involved and interested about the sport of basketball and that is what makes us a discourse community. I believe that this is a really cool community to be a part of because it is something that me and my friends can all connect on and relate to, and it makes us happy.

I researched the group by looking at old text messages in our group chats, and talking about it with one of my friends who is also in the chat. When I was researching this discourse community I noticed that we all mostly communicate through text messaging in our group chat. When messaging each other in the group chat I notice that the things that we mainly talk about are when we are going to play? , where are we going to play? , how good or bad we did that day, NBA player trades, and NBA news. We also communicate through calls or in party chat on our PlayStation 4s. Another thing that I notice when I was looking through our old messages is that we used to go play basketball almost every day, especially in the summer time. But now that we are all in College and have different schedules we play probably once or twice every two weeks, unless if we are on a break or something like that.

This discourse community is very unique in its own way, the reason why is because all of us in the community are very different. We all like different NBA players; different NBA teams, and we have different play styles in real life. Some of us share similarities outside of basketball but the one main thing that we all love and can connect to is basketball. The things that matter to this community are having basketball knowledge, the love for the sport, and friendship. I believe that all of us value our friendships with one another, our loyalty and the game of basketball.

In order to become a member of this group you would have to be one of our friends and connect with us, enjoy the sport of basketball as much as we do, and you would have to know how to play basketball. There is not really any type of process to joining this community, all you really would have to do is connect with us and become one of our friends. The type of language that we use in this community is informal language because we are all friends just joking with each other and having fun.

Throughout all of the research on this community the one thing I learned that I never noticed until now is how much all of my friends in this community love the sport of basketball. An example of this would be when a crazy NBA trade happens, we all go rush to message each other and start talking about if we think it was a good trade or not and if they fit their new team that they are on. Also when one of their favorite players has a bad game our competitive nature kicks in and we all make fun of them for it. Also when we go to the park to play and we have a bad game we all talk about what we could have done better to win, and when we do good and have a good game we all start bragging about the things that we did and how cool we were. All of these things are what made me rethink the way that I looked at the group and they showed me how much fun me and my friends have by just talking and connecting over the sport we all love called basketball.

 

Work Cited

 

Rodriguez, Xavier. Personal Interview. Febuary 2020

Zamir, Sheryar. Personal Interview. Febuary, 2020

 

Ivania Esteban

English 1121 ( Mon-Wed 10am-11:15am)

February 15, 2020

Professor Penner 

Word Count : 1057

Discourse Community of the Emergency Management 

Let’s go back in time before 9/11,  such things as FEMA and Emergency Management did not exist in America or were not taken seriously at all. FEMA and Emergency Management didn’t exist until post 9/11. That is when the city decided to take action and take Emergency Management seriously. What Emergency Management is where everything is controlled by in any incident. If there’s a fire in your building, emergency management is there notifying the fire department, police department, red cross, and the ambulance. They are the one behind the scenes, making plans to help solve any emergencies. It is crazy because if we had this way before there could have been a high possibility that 9/11 could have been prevented or there could have been a better plan to save more people and it could have been taken care of in an efficient way that could have saved more lives. 

Majority of us in NYC have been in a DOE public school before in their lives. In the DOE offices there are many people in charge of things such as transportation, food, books, etc… Somehow we forget about an important role in the DOE and that is the Emergency Management Unit. 

Being in the Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management, I had noticed that emergency management is not really acknowledged as much and it should be… people should know what to do when their life could be at risk or when unexpected events happen they need to take action. In highschool I had gained the opportunity to be an intern in the summer  at the Department Of Education, Emergency Management Unit. I gained this opportunity by a recommendation from a friend that was already an intern at the time and my well written cover letter. Being apart of this internship has taught me so much and helped me acknowledge and care more about the emergency management system. 

Being in the internship we focused primarily on making every school ADA (American Disability Act) accessible. My friend  and I had created floor plans , created and organized spreadsheets for each school and filed reports on what the school needed to work on to make their school ADA accessible. We focused on where we should apply a ramp, bathrooms and elevators for people with disabilities to make their life easier in school. When we were done with a school we would write on a huge white board in the office the schools we have completed and that was a way to notify the people in the office which schools are done. Doing this job had to be done very carefully because not only was the reports and spreadsheets are seen by our boss but also seen by the contractors and other units working along with them to make sure that every school in every borough was accessible to people with disabilities

When we were not in the office we would go to different places. We were given a schedule every week on the locations we would need to meet up at, and also communicated through a group chat to know where to meet and keep in contact. We would go visit schools that were on our list to give us a better vision of how we can make it accessible. We were also taken to an Emergency Management warehouse where they keep emergency equipment such as boats, and other vehicles in case of any city emergency. We also had a couple of meetings in the OEM ( Office of Emergency Management)  building which is actually a block away from City tech. We would have meetings with people from different operations such as FEMA and red cross and we would discuss different ways to mitigate a certain disaster or incident that can happen in NYC. Throughout this internship we communicated over text messages with our boss and other co-workers in the office with us.

In this internship I was paired with my friend and we shared this experience together. I asked my friend Natalie some questions about the internship. Before taking this internship she was kind of doubting this internship. Natalie said being in the Emergency Management Unit internship at the DOE was an experience that was out of her comfort zone. She claims “As a student that didn’t excel in the class that correlated with this internship, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be much help. Working in an office space was also something I was in fear of when I applied to this internship because I felt as though I’d have to be in a professional state at all times and not get comfortable with anyone there” but as soon as she started working there her attitude towards this internship changed. This internship helped her realize that communication and asking for help when needed is very important. Our supervisors were not just boring and professional all the time they were actually fun to be around with and very helpful.

From my personal experience doing this made me feel good to help out people and to help them get their education too. This internship taught me as well that I should ask for help when needed. Any time a problem would rise at a meeting that my bosses would be in and we’d hear about it, they’d always communicate amongst each other to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Even while working with Natalie on the reports, anytime one of us did not understand something we would always help each other. When we both didn’t understand something, our supervisors were always willing to clarify anything at any time which was something I’ve appreciated because usually i’m someone who will just figure it out on my own instead of bothering someone for help. Natalie and I appreciate  Keith Grossman, our main boss who hired us, not only did he take us by the hand in this job, he treated us with high respect and made us feel at home even though we were just interns. By the end of this internship I think we can both say the saddest part of it all is that it was just seasonal and it didn’t last longer. 

 

Work Cited 

Ahorrio, Natalie. Personal Interview. 16 February 2020.

Joseph Rodriguez

February 20, 2020

Eng 1121

Word Count: 1006

My FIRST DC

My discourse community is FIRST robotics, basically it’s a high school club that consists of 30 students (female and male) and 10 mentors who work together to create a functioning robot starting the first Saturday of January. On that day, the game is revealed by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) which shows what this year’s game consists of, how the game is played and what type of robot you need to create to play the game at its fullest potential. Each participating team is given 6 weeks to create and finalize their robot. After the 6 weeks, over 100+ competitions take place around the United States. This is the time when you take your robot that you’ve worked on the 6 weeks prior, to compete against another club’s robot. The winners of the competitions get a spot to participate in the FIRST Robotics Championship at Detroit, Michigan where you play against other winning robots on the first week of May. This makes it a discourse community because everyone in the club has to work together to build a robot to compete with. My initial assumptions about robotics were a bunch of nerds building on a robot and people who are the smartest in the school can only join.

I researched this group by going through my text messages and remembering previous conversations with other members in the robotics room. Through the process of gathering information, I learned that the conversation that has occurred was mostly through text messages about helping each other out with our class so we can keep up with the rest of our class when we leave for competition. More specifically I remember a text message from my friend Edison (personal communication, March 24, 2019) saying that he would send me photos of important notes for the upcoming exam that he already took earlier in the day. Which I realize now that we as a club did everything as a team not just in robotics but also in our classes. We helped each other out to get the best grade possible and if we had no chance at getting the best grade, we would take the hit on our grades together, and laugh about because we know that once competition ends we would help each other boost the grades back up to high 90%. This community changes your lifestyle in a good way. The people in the club make it feel like a second home; you always have someone to talk to; about anything like personal issues and school struggles. You created unbreakable bounds with people because you get to see them everyday of the week in the robotics classroom. It goes further than just hanging out with friends in the classroom, you start to hang out with them in your free time when you are not at the robotics classroom. You go through many hardships, happiness with each other and sometimes you can meet the person you love in the robotics club. This community is more than a club; it’s a family. In robotics, we love engaging with our community by doing free science fairs where we show kids and parents the things our robots can do. We guide kids on how to control the robots and answer any question the kids or parents have and we educate the people what FIRST Robotics is, how the skills you learn while being in the club can be useful to the real world. We also do services like feeding the less fortunate and  cleaning parks. Our community values having a good reputation, being responsible, reliable, respectable, and trustworthy. If you want to become a member, you have to be interested in the robotics club and have the ability to make friends and work with others. There is a small formal process. Basically you just have to apply on a google form which is displayed around the school then you attend an informative session. Then you get interviewed, after that’s done. You’ll be emailed back if you got in the team, from there you’r an official member. Then you undergo basic tool guidance, which you are taught by a mentor on how to use a drill, sewing machine, and how to locate the common tools used in the robotics classroom. Then you will be tested on those things, if you pass; you are allowed to use the tools in the robotics classroom, if you don’t pass; you will not be allowed to use any of the tools in the room until you pass the test. So the members communicate by talking in person in the robotics room. When the members aren’t at the room working, they communicate through an app called GroupMe where we have a group chat with all the members and mentors so any member can get in contact with anybody in the club to talk about anything at any time.

In conclusion, from doing this project I learned that the robotics club welcomed me with open arms by always having my back in any way possible, they never left me on my own to go through multiple school struggles like keeping up to date with my homework and helping with my exams while we were traveling for competition. Also the way people cared for each other within the club was surprisingly confusing to me because I would never think the people that I  build a robot with knowing nothing about the other people would care about my life in general or my school life. The people’s selflessness is what made me rethink the way I initially saw the robotics club which was a bunch of nerds working on a robot but it’s much more than that. Most importantly, the people in the robotics club are the most selfless human beings I have ever met, they would sacrifice anything for me and I would do the same. They have made me a more selfless person than I will ever be and I wouldn’t change it, thanks to FIRST robotics.

Temi Akinfeleye                                                                                                   2/24/2020
English Composition 2

My “Discourse Community” is my first job as a counselor at a camp called “Merrick Woods Daycamp”. It was a summer camp for kids 3-17 year old’s. This camp goal was to make sure that the kids attending the camp enjoy their summer and will make their camp experiences memorable. This summer camp makes it a discourse community because everyone who was working there as a camp counselor had a goal. And their goal was to make sure the kids were taken care of, have a great time at the camp, and also make money as soon as summer is over

During the time while I was at the summer camp,I had a few initial assumptions about the discourse community which is the summer camp.My initial assumptions about the discourse community was that the counselors who were working at the camp were stuck up, rich, and also rude. I assumed that the camp and the managers of the camp were very strict and perfect. My last assumption was that I thought the babies(Since I worked with the nursery) were not going to like me. However, the assumptions I made were wrong.The camp counselors were friendly and welcoming,the camp managers and the co workers were cool and very relaxed about everything while the camp was still going on. While you are working on schedule with the camp and the children, the counselors will get a different format of the schedule for the day. They wont have the same activities on their schedule everyday. Also every morning the camp starts at 10a.m. and before the children get into their groups and their own classrooms they will first say “The Pledge of Elegance”.  The camp provides the kids lunch, however, the counselors cannot eat the camps lunch only because its only for the kids. The counselors would have to buy or bring their own lunch. Sometimes the counselors can take the kids lunch only if there are leftovers. Most of the times the kids can also bring their own lunch.

Throughout the day the kids will do fun outdoor actives and at the end of the day the kids will receive ice cream and would be packed up and ready to go home. Every Friday the camp arranges shows for the kids. Such as Magic shows, talent shows, and sometimes skits. Most of the time the counselors would have to join the kids during their activities only to show them how to play the games or to sometimes keep the counselors active and not lazy.

I researched this group by looking online and researched “Ratings on Merrick woods counselors’ ‘ and I also looked up merrick woods social media so I can see what their counselors looked like. I also even asked my sister and her friend how the counselors are and old were they. I asked my sister and her friend because they used to work at the summer camp themselves. While I was working with the kids at camp I was also observing the other counselors and how they acted with the kids and also how they acted with other counselors. What I learned about the counselors is that all they talk about is college and what they are doing after the summer camp is over.After i realized they have conversations about things i can relate to that’s when i started talking to the counselors who were my age and also maybe even a little older than me.

What makes this community is that the counselors are very welcoming and so are the other co-workers. They will always check up on you when you’re not in the best mood. And sometimes will even bring you gifts and buy you food without even asking. The camp itself is also unique because they provide entertainment for both kids and counselors such as: magic shows, talent shows,zoos, bouncy houses, and sometimes indoor amusement parks. The camp also has separate pools for different ages. One thing that this Discourse community .values the most is the kids and their enjoyable times while attending the camp. The managers care about how the kids feel and if they are having a fun time everyday.There is a process to become a member. First you’ll have to apply online on the Merrick Woods website, then they will email you a reference sheet, then after you will be interviewed by the owner of the camp. One way the members communicate is by talking after the kids go home and they sometimes have walkie talkies for the older or head counselor of the group. Most of the times the counselors would also communicate on social media which is easier because they use social media almost every day.

Therefore the discourse community that I discovered and experienced taught me many lessons and surprised me in many ways. For instance, they taught to always have patience especially with kids. They also taught me that not every counselor or co worker will get along with you and that you should always make sure you have a good relationship with your own counselor that you were paired up with. I also learned that everyone had different goals after they graduate high school. For example, most of my co workers wanted to be a nurse and most of them wanted to travel after high school and not even go to college so instead they wanted to get a good paying job. What made me rethink the way I initially looked at the group was the people there and how they took me in with open arms and opened hearts. While I was working at the camp nothing seemed confusing to me at all. I knew what was going on and how to handle things at the camp. I truly enjoyed this discourse community because it was a very great learning experience and it was also sometimes fun with the kids. I would definitely recommend this discourse community to someone who enjoys children or who is looking for a job over the summer.

Viman Gunawardana

ENG1121

Word Count: 909

2/17/20

My Discourse Community

In my discourse community we use Morse code; It’s a type of code where we use signals or show signs of communicating with one another. This is a discourse community because only my co-worker and I know about. It is our mini language. Not only do we use this language for fun, it is important that we use this language because that is the only way we can have a conversation with each other at work for work-related purposes. This is mainly important because while I speak English, my co-worker only speaks Spanish and doesn’t speak English at all, hence why this language is important to us. I really thought this wouldn’t work at first, but few months later, here we are, communicating perfectly in our own language. This way of communication couldn’t have worked any way better than we would have thought it was going to be.

My discourse community is unique because my co-worker and I are the only ones that knows about this language. In fact, this is the way we communicate for most of the time. The only things that matter in my discourse community is if we are there at work. When we are at work, we bang on objects that make loud noises. This is crucial that we have this is because our workplace is extremely large and most of the time, we tend to work a good distance away from each other. For example, I will be working near the main entrance while my co-worker works in the corner that is approximately seven cars away from me. Another crucial item to our discourse community are our ears. You must listen carefully to the other persons beat. If you don’t completely pay attention to the beat, you will most likely end up in getting the wrong tool or part. You will also waste time if this happens because the other person must go run back to the other side of the building and get the right part or tool. We can’t have this happen in our workplace because time is a key factor in our job, and it is something we don’t have. In fact, we value time the most in our job, we work at a busy motorsports shop where we modify customers cars, or their motorcycles and they give us a deadline to complete their project. It is an extremely fast paced environment. We also value each other’s presence because most of the time, there are customer projects that are big, and we need both hands-on decks. There really isn’t much room for another member in our discourse community because not only did it take us a few weeks to create a code for communication, we also had to practice getting the hang of it. It took me nearly a month in order to execute the signals perfectly, however, my co-worker took two-and-a-half months just to get the hang of it. As you can see, this is time-consuming and for the most parts, time is never on our side. My co-worker and I communicate with the everyday objects that we have around us, like car horns and motorcycle horns, toolboxes, trashcans, claps, stomps and more. I learned that there is always a way to communicate with another person, even if you don’t speak the same language. When me and my co-worker are out of work, I use google translate in order to communicate with him for fun or what we are going to do the next day. Google translate is also important because my co-worker usually goes to therapy at unexpected times, so he texts me on what needs to get done in the shop for the following day. My co-worker also uses google transalate because he would always let me know when he will come to work, if he is going to be running late, if he is going to make it on time, or even if he is not going to make it at all. My co-worker lives in the Bronx, so he always texts me with details about his trip. Same goes for me as well. It works both ways. I am the only one out of both of us that uses google translate because my co-worker doesn’t know how to read English either. Before creating the code with my co-worker, I literally had no way of communicating with him in any way. Luckily, my manager spoke Spanish and helped me speak with him translating for me. We somehow managed to communicate with each other into our way of creating the code that we use today.

All in all, I learned from my discourse community that we didn’t need to speak the same language to understand or have a full conversation with each other. Even though it was hard at first, we came up with a resolution to use the Morse code in our discourse community. The thing that surprised me the most was that me and my co-worker eventually understands each other, even though it took us months to create the code and for us to execute it properly. I initially thought that I would never find a way to work or communicate with my new co-worker, but it eventually worked out.

Works Cited

Ramirez, Flaco (co-worker), text via Google Translate, 19^th of November 2019 – 21^st of February 2020

Hernandez, George (Manager), In-Person, 19^th of November 2019