i. Self Identifiers
I’m a Mom
I’m both a parent and a student
I am working virtually
I am working
I am participating in trainings and group meetings, staff meetings, groups supervisions,
I’m meeting a lot of my clients
I am an employee , I’m also an intern
I’m a Mom too
I’m meeting the deadline
I have family here
I’m an advanced standing student
I’m with the school based initiative
I really like learning about the past
I’ve always loved graduations
I’m probably going to get another cap and tassel in the mail again with a different year, it is disappointing
I’m still very understanding
ii. Hectic weeks
My classes on Tuesdays and Wednesday
Most of my classes on Tuesdays, on the computer for hours
Finish my last class, go back do some homework
One class Wednesday evening, work all morning
Intern duties, job duties
Twenty in our caseload
Meeting clients on Mondays on Wednesdays Thursdays
Friday is more of like administration day
Saturdays i’ll rest and then I’ll do the rest of my assignments on Sundays
My week gets pretty hectic
Stay in you know my little corner, I’m juggling so many different things
It’s like oh my god, how am I going to you know, focus?
iii. COVID-19
During COVID-19 I am working virtually, doing my placement virtually
They talk a lot about what’s going on with covid-19 the vaccinations, the case numbers that are rising in east Harlem
We join covid-19 conversations, they go more in depth about what’s going on like the people mental health, the barriers
throughout the pandemic, employment, housing
I hear people in the other room
I stay in my corner
Because of the pandemic we were working from home, I felt more at least more comfortable
I gave myself the opportunity to improve the way I was balancing my work
We transitioned to virtual learning, my professors were supportive, they were very prepared
They would allow us to talk more, to have that community through the virtual platform
My experience has been okay, I’ve had for the most part my professors have been supportive
I really like asynchronous, I can choose
Live classroom, worry about other people around them, do you not see I’m in class right now?
It does get a little hard, wow like I feel anti-social
If I had the choice to go in person I definitely would, it’s too much being home
It’s like oh my god there so much going on in this house right now!
I felt like I had no life, I didn’t see my friends, I didn’t see my family members, I didn’t see anybody
I didn’t want to put him (my grandfather) at risk, I didn’t want to put my son at risk
It was very depressing, we deserve that graduation
I can have my own celebration within myself.
This poem was written by Kaitlyn Tailbon as an interpretation/ representation of findings from an informal interview with a classmate.
