UGST 497: Reflection #2

I chose my capstone topic after realizing that my passion lay in the Reproductive and Sexual Health field and I wanted to not only develop more skills in the field but be an active learner in that topic as well. I originally planned to create my own course, but was offered this project instead, which I happily took up. The theory guiding this project was pre-determined by the Department of Health and Kinesiology, as their goal is to adapt the course into the pedagogical perspective.

I am growing by learning leadership skills, utilizing resources via the internet databases or my advisor, and becoming more open-minded and inclusive to people of all backgrounds and perspectives. It is critical that I learn how to be able to lead effectively and lead a diverse group of people, whether characteristic- or thought-wise.

I plan to collaborate on this project by identifying members of the LGBTQ+ community at TAMU to lead a panel on gender and sexuality. For some students, their first exposure to the LGBTQ+ community is at TAMU and they have no idea that gender is beyond the binary and multiple sexualities exist. It is crucial they develop empathy skills and learned experiences by interacting with others and teaching themselves the values and beliefs they need to be culturally competent educators in the future.

I am so excited to be able to implement an expanded course where students can feel comfortable to discuss their ideas and come away with new perspectives and energy to empower future generations. Personally, I have loved re-designing a curriculum and I am very interested in pursuing a Teaching Assistantship during graduate school. Something discouraging has been how difficult it was to find BIPOC voices for the LGBTQ+ and other units, as I know how crucial it is for educators to be able to work with all races and ethnic groups, not just a homogeneous group of students.