On Saturday, February 18th Upward Bound Classic hosted UBC Scholars on the UD campus from 10am-1pm for a workshop focusing on “Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals” and “Social Media Reputations”. Dr. France, Director of the Upward Bound Classic program, welcomed scholars to the workshop and spoke about students often fearing the unknown. He captivated the audience with a metaphor of students taking a trip overseas on an airplane to the unknown (College). The pilots are often the parents who help navigate their passengers (scholar) to their destinations. Co-pilots are those people committed to helping the pilot (Parents) navigate their passengers (Scholars) through the unknown; these are often Upward Bound Staff, school counselors, community members, and additional family. We all have fear of the unknown, but we cannot always control what we do not know, this is where we need to communicate and lean on the pilot and co-pilots in our lives so that ultimately we can arrive at our destinations. For all of our UBC Scholars, that destination is a College/University. Scholars then learned about Setting S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Specific) Goals in order to get to our destination. Many times we see students setting goals with very little thought put into them. “My goal is to get a 3.5GPA by the end of the year.” This is a great goal, however, students sometime forget to map a plan on how they will achieve such goals, which ultimately defeats the purpose of setting the goal. By learning and utilizing the SMART Goals strategy students are better able to understand how their actions, motivation, and follow through will lead them to achieving their set goal. Students were giving a SMART goal setting sheet in which they set a goal to achieve by the end of the school year. In June, the UBC staff will reconnect with the students to see if they have reached the SMART goal they set. If not achieved, a plan of action will be worked out with the student so that they can continue to work toward their SMART goal.
The second workshop was presented by Ms. Brittany Rigdon, program coordinator for UBC, on Social Media Reputations. The workshop opened with a dynamic youtube video called, “The Social Media Revolution” created by Social Media guru Erik Qualman. Ms. Brittany was upfront that this workshop is not intended to scold students for their use of social media but instead to awaken students understanding that the their Digital Reputations and their Real Life Reputations are now ONE. To prove this, students were given a blank note card and asked to write down a Social Media @handle that they use most often on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc. This would now serve as their business card in which they are no longer known as the name given by their parents, but as the @handle they have chosen for themselves. Students were then tasked to get up and network with others in the room that they did not know as well, presenting themselves as their @handle. From there, students exchanged business cards and continued networking with “a friend of a friend”, circulating their business cards amongst the group. After this activity the question of, “How many of you feel your @handle is viewed as a positive or a negative first impression?” The world used to work in that first impressions were first established during face to face contact, however, now in the year 2017 most people will Google search your name prior to meeting you in person. This search usually directs people to our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Vimeo, and LinkedIn Accounts which now gives people the first impression of who you are, who you associate with, what you enjoy posting about, and ultimately gives the viewer an overview of your Digital Reputation. With that in mind, Scholars reflected on the last thing they posted prior to the start of our workshop. The reflection included; What did you post, Why did you feel you needed to post this, and do you view this as a positive or negative if someone who didn’t know saw it. Many shared that their post were “Selfies” they shared because they liked how they looked and wanted to share that. Others in the room said that they mostly post “humorous videos of themselves” or “Memes” (a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users) that dictate something they find humorous themselves. Over the course of the workshop students took note of their use of social media and how they can develop a better Digital Reputation. “If you like, share, or re-tweet something on a social media platform you are now taking ownership of that post. It says to the audience that I approve and my ideals align with what was posted.” We see many post out on Social Media platforms that bully, shame, and often discriminate against others based on race, sex, and gender. By sharing these tweets/post, liking them, and sharing them we tell our audience that we too are okay with bullying, shaming, and discriminating against others. We are now seeing Scholarship and University committees denying students based often on a student’s Digital Reputations not aligning with their mission or the values.
The workshop concluded with a final Team Challenge used on the Kahoot.it Scholars broke into teams of 3 to complete for a $15 iTunes gift card in a College Knowledge trivia game. Our winners were Team JAM – Jania, Akeiba, and Monay winning by 500pts over the second runners up RBC – Reney, Bri, and Conner!
We challenge you to take part in College Knowledge Trivia – Click This Link to see how well you know basic College information!
Both Presentations can be viewed at these links: Social Media or Setting Smart Goals
