E-Portfolio Link

Charisma N. Ricksy's E-Portfolio

Introduction:
Hello! My name is Charisma Nia Ricksy and I would like to thank you for visiting my e-portfolio. This site is a collection of some of my best work during my career as an undergraduate student at The Pennsylvania State University. The pieces I have selected are meant to reflect my many abilities as a student as well as aspects of my charismatic personality.

Over the course of this year, I have been afforded the privilege of learning, not only academically but also socially. One element of my growth as a student has been through becoming civically engaged. I define an engaged citizen as one who volunteers, or joins clubs and organizations which aim to better their respective communities. Personally, I have developed a strong desire to be involved in my community in an effort to make a difference. The pieces of work included in this portfolio are meant to reflect some aspect of civic engagement. Some works, such as my blog entries, are narratives from my own experiences while other works focus on the impact others have made on their respective communities by becoming civically engaged.

Please browse around freely and should you have any questions or feedback on my work, please visit the "Contact Me" tab. Thank you for visiting my e-portfolio and I hope you find many of the pieces of interest to you.

Become a Servant Leader!

University of Oregon Mortar Board Website

This past weekend, I volunteered to participate in the Mortar Board Day of Service. Mortar Board is a national honor society for seniors with a chapter here at Penn State. The Day of Service included a presentation by Dr. Nicole Webster, a professor from the Agricultural and Extension Education Department at Penn State, and later ended with a community service effort. Although I was not necessarily thrilled to be returning to the Penn State Arboretum (remember the MLK Day of Service in January?), I thought the overall experience was really worthwhile. I was especially captivated by Dr. Webster's presentation. She discussed becoming a servant leader. When she started her presentation, I had no idea what a servant leader was. I knew what a leader was, but I didn't know what she meant by being a servant leader. By the end of her presentation, I had a clear understanding of what this term meant and I was inspired to work to become a servant leader myself!

What I found most compelling about Dr. Webster's presentation was how it nicely tied together the two subject matters of our class: rhetoric and civic life (or engagement). Dr. Webster began by discussing a video in which college students were asked what it meant to be a servant leader and like me, they were not entirely sure of what the phrase meant. She then began to explain what a servant leader was and capped off her presentation by providing the audience with 18 ways to become a servant leader. Some of these suggestions included: making a decisive decision and sticking by it, keeping company that are as hardworking as you are and being willing to challenge the majority (as long as you know your facts). Although these suggestions did not require that we go out an try to have a hands-on approach to changing the world (as the word "servant" might imply), Dr. Webster's speech made it clear that by exhibiting these characteristics of a servant leader, we are actually having a profound impact on the world, just one that is not necessarily visible. 

Her presentation itself was definitely rhetorical in every way possible. It was persuasive, motivating, and inspirational yet still light-hearted and easy to follow. Furthermore, the ways in which the speech actually tied in an element of becoming civically involved by becoming a leader was especially awesome to me. Once again, I am left realizing just how prevalent both rhetoric and civic life are. Even when we might not think of something as rhetorical or we might not think we are being civically engaged, we really are!

Here is a video clip of employees and associates talking about Bob McDonald, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, and the characteristics he possesses which make him a successful leader of his company and in turn, an effective servant leader:

The Rhetoric of Compliments

Typically, when we think of rhetoric, we think of someone who delivers a moving speech or just has a way with words that has some significant impact on their audience.  And while this interpretation of rhetoric is valid, I also realized that simply complimenting someone is also a form of rhetoric. Just as a speech may have a persuasive or impressive effect on the audience, so might a compliment.
I started thinking about this topic after I had a meeting with one of my professors. I knew I was doing well in his class, but I wanted to meet with him to see how I might improve my performance even more. During our meeting, he said some really nice things about both my work ethic as well as my personality. I don't know what it is, but there seems to be something different about being complimented by a professor or other authoritative figure than being complimented by a friend. In any case, these short phrases which praised either my performance in the class or my personality had a significant impact on me, the audience.
Generally, we tend to take compliments for granted. As a society, we have become so skeptical of others and their motives in doing or saying certain things to us, therefore preventing us from accepting a compliment at face value. However, by constantly reading into a compliment more deeply than what is actually being said, we tend to miss the most significant part of being complimented. Sometimes, when someone compliments me, I, too, begin to question their motives and such, but today, after hearing such kind words from my professor, I am led to think differently. His words encouraged me to keep the good work up. His compliments let me know that I am doing something right and to me, that is just as persuasive and motivating as any speech I could listen to for minutes on end. From now on, I hope to view compliments differently and learn to actually appreciate the significance behind them.

Civic Duties

Hey There!
Throughout the course of this blog, I have had some posts focused on civic engagement but for this entry, I really wanted to focus on where we get these civic duties from?
This semester, I am taking an Introduction to Contemporary Africa class and often times, we compare American culture with that of some countries in Africa. It has become crystal clear that our customs are completely different from theirs and therefore, our civic engagement vastly differs from theirs as well. In Africa, they have more of a collectivist society so their civic engagement involves helping, not only themselves and their families but also their neighbors. Everyone within society is expected to help others by sharing their crops or watching each other's children free of charge. Here in America, as we all know, society is completely different. But I wonder, where do these differences come from?
From our lectures, I have learned that in Africa their values greatly differ from ours, which might explain why their civic engagement is also different. In Africa, large percentages of the population are amongst the lower class of society. They face extreme poverty and must overcome a daily struggle for food, water and medicine. Since their way of living is different, so are their values and engagement in society. For many Africans, working together to support one another becomes their civic engagement, which is especially reflective of their societal norms and values. They are more concerned with getting their next meal, rather than exercising the right to vote or volunteering with organizations. I think we can safely say the same applies to our customs in America, in regards to our norms being reflective of our civic engagement. Those who are a part of the upper and middle classes tend to donate money to charities or we believe we are being civically engaged by voting for the next President. This greatly reflects the values of our society because we are all about maintaining a class system and often times, we do not take advantage of the opportunity to better our community by becoming involved and helping others.
I'm not exactly sure why this topic crossed my mind but I thought it was interesting. What is your take on where our civic engagement comes from?

Here is a video clip of Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) discussing what civic engagement is and how we can become more civically engaged:

Blessed and Highly Favored

So typically, I'm not one to openly talk about religion since I know it can become a very touchy subject. But after the church service I went to on this past Sunday, I don't think there is any way I can devote this blog to anything else.
A couple months into the first semester, a friend of mine invited me to join him at a church off campus that he recently went to and enjoyed. After my first visit, there was something I really liked about the church and I tried to make it a habit to go every Sunday. This past Sunday, however, something happened in church that never happened before. Nearly the entire congregation was propelled to a state of worship that involved mostly crying, but also some vocalized statements of faith in God. Growing up, these were the types of church services I had become accustomed to, so I felt right at home during this particular service. What captured me the most, however, was how this state of being "moved by the Spirit" (as we tend to say in church) came about. No, the pastor didn't deliver a stirring word that resonated with the congregation but in fact, it was through the gift of song. The praise and worship team (or the choir) sang all of two or three songs and from there, people began to "feel the Spirit moving in the church" or some message from the song began to resonate with their own lives, which brought about tears (at least that was definitely the case for me). I know I devoted a previous blog to the rhetoric found in a Whitney Houston song but I think this is a different type of example that has the ability to "touch" people in such a deeper way.
Sometimes when I'm going through things and school starts to feel overwhelming, I tend to look forward to going to church because it provides an escape from the stresses I'm experiencing as I remind myself of all of my blessings. Then, whatever I'm feeling just does not seem so bad because I begin to realize that even through my tough times, I am still being blessed. For me, gospel songs have always been able to speak to my soul far better than any other song and far better than some pastors in church. On Sunday, I found it absolutely amazing how the words of a few songs could resonate with an entire congregation to the point where nearly everyone was in tears. For me, it was absolutely amazing to experience something like that because for us Christians, it's a testament to God's grace and goodness in our lives. Furthermore, it was great to see how the words of the song managed to resonate with so many other people as well, which enabled many of us to release whatever we were bottling inside. Ultimately, it was just an amazing experience and what made it all the more astonishing was that the pastor did not even have to preach a word.

Justice for Trayvon Martin

Recently, a 17-year old boy by the name of Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida by a local neighborhood watchman who claimed the boy looked suspicious. The story has taken the news world by storm considering Martin was merely walking in the neighborhood wearing a hoodie and holding a bag of skittles and a bottle of Arizona iced tea. People have been left to question if wearing a hoodie is really so "suspicious" or if this was an act of racism. The shooter, George Zimmerman, has been identified by police as white although his family says he is Hispanic. To make matters worse, Zimmerman has not been arrested or indicted for this crime. Here on Penn State's campus, there will be a march held tomorrow at 1pm, entitled "Silent Voices: Silent Hoodie March," in an effort to take a stand against this injustice. For this blog, I just wanted to talk a bit about these methods of public awareness, such as marches and protests. I believe they are a vital part of our civic engagement as a people. Although we live in a very individualistic society, I believe it is still our responsibility to support one another. When an injustice occurs, especially one like this where an innocent person is left dead, it is our responsibility as fellow citizens to bring awareness to the issue and try to make a change. I think throughout history, we have also seen that when a situation like this occurs and it seems to involve race, people are even more compelled to protest, rally and march in an effort to make society better. I believe it is such a great part of being an engaged citizen in America. Yet, it is also rather sad that typically, we are most willing to partake in a protest or rally when it is under such sad circumstances. Nevertheless, while the situation is heartbreaking, I think it is great that people are willing to come together to try to make a change. After all, if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.

Kony 2012

Recently, there has been a huge viral movement involving Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan guerilla group. Kony is known throughout Uganda and now, throughout the world, thanks to a 30 minute video by the organization, Invisible Children, Inc. The video aims to spread awareness about Kony's vicious military tactics, namely, his treatment of children as sex-slaves and child soldiers. Since the video's release last week, there has been non-stop talk about the documentary and every one is trying to "make Kony famous". In other words, the ultimate goal of the video has been successfully met.
There are a number of things that I find especially interesting about this issue. First off, the viral sensation that this video has become reminds us just how central the internet has become in our lives. Without the internet, I'm more than certain that this issue probably would not have been able to spark the interest of the 75 million people it did. What's also really noteworthy is how one of the major foci of the video is how Kony treated children. While it is a huge issue that Kony is treating children as he is, I think it's also important to realize that it's largely due to the fact that this involves children that the video has become such a sensation. We've seen it so many times in society, when an issue is centered on the ill-treatment of children, everyone cares. And rightfully so, considering children are so innocent and should be protected. Yet, I do believe that if this video exposed Kony and how he treated adult-aged men, some people would still be interested, but I do not think there would be as much of an outpouring of support. By no means am I suggesting that the video is bad or anything of that nature, I am just taking notice of some of the elements of the video that caught my attention, besides the issue itself. Overall, however, I do believe that it is important that we are made aware of some of the serious issues of other countries because unlike many of the people in Uganda, Americans do have the resources to make some sort of contribution and we are better capable of aiding the Ugandans in making a change.