Sharayne

I mean no one ever saw me cry like that but this is exactly what I’ve been feeling (inside) since I said my goodbyes to my friends, family, bomb Mexican food, and community. Gosh I miss the Mexican food. As I’m listening to Miguel’s Sure Thing,  I can’t help but miss home. This song reminds me of an ex-lover. Ahahaha Pfffft jk. It reminds me of my high school English teacher. Buuuuhh since I graduated from high school 4 years ago, I’ve been planning to move out to Washington. It wasn’t until last winter that I finalized the move. Today marks 2 weeks since I moved here to Tacoma, Washington and I can honestly say that I miss home and especially my parents. This is the longest I’ve ever been away from home but during my time here I’ve been able to reflect on this past summer, year, and just my whole life in general.

Don’t mind the “The Fault in Our Stars” sign on the GIF. Lol It was a cute GIF. The book was okay. Lol Okay, back to reflection time.

It’s been 7 weeks since LIA graduation and I can only remember everything that happened during the first half of the day. My cohort was the only cohort in LIA history that has done not only 1 but 2 community impact projects! I think. One project was a promotional video that LEAP can use for outreach for next year’s LIA program. Angie, Tony, and Dee did a really great job in putting together the video. Our second project was a zine. We named it Unnoted and it focuses on the narratives of people from the marginalized communities of the larger API community. We’ve had over 20 entries and Aian, Tony, and I submitted a piece too. The zine was created to uplift the voices of these marginalized communities, give a platform for these voices to express themselves, and show visibility of these communities to corporations, political leaders, and organizations who serve our communities so they can better serve us. All hands were on deck when we were putting together the zine hours before graduation. We weren’t able to have the actual product ready to make copies for all the attendees at the graduation, but we laid the pages of the original copy out on a table for our friends and families to look at. Graduation was bittersweet. I cried. Ew. I think I cried at graduation more than when I moved here. Feelings are annoying I guess. But I do miss my LIA family. There were times I wanted to yell at them or slap them, except for Danny, but now they know it’s all love. Now we’re all off doing big thangs!

Quick cohort update: Aian is now in Inland Empire and just started their first day of their senior year at UCR. Tony is back in LA putting in work both in the books at Cal State LA and at work. Ryan is up north in the Bay Area finishing up his senior year at Berkley and was elected the Executive Director of the REACH the Asian and Pacific Islander Recruitment and Retention Center on campus. Angie has been back home in some Midwest state (ahahahaha) for 6 weeks and helped organize a protest for Terence Crutcher on her campus. Danny was home in Fresno, CA for a few weeks before he got a job in Minnesota. Told him I’ll miss him the most and that still stands true. Everyone else can be annoying. Lol jk Dee was looking for jobs up until the end of August and landed a job with the Asian Pacific Islander Scholarship Fund (APISF) in DC. I’m here in Tacoma waiting for school to start in January but in the mean time looking for jobs that’ll keep me connected to the Pacific Islander community out here. We’re all scattered over the country doing big thangs now and I’m so proud of everyone! Peep my Google Maps skills, though! Made it so I can refer to it during a job interview so I can get hired. Lol

Yooooooo! Backstreet Boys just came on!

Okay I’m back! One of the biggest things I take away from this internship is basking in my glory and accepting that I’m the bee’s knees, yo! After looking back at all the work I’ve done and how much I’ve grown as a person in the short span of 8 weeks, I realized that I’m freaking amazeballs! The pre-LIA Ray-Ray wouldn’t have done half of the things I did this summer. It’s been drilled into me since I was a kid to be humble and work hard because it was mataga (ugly) to see someone boast, especially a womxn. But nah Gina, I did that this summer! Lol

Excuse me while I twerk my life away cuz Pop, Lock & Drop It just came on. Ahahaha

Okay I’m back and hella out of breath. Lol It went from Backstreet Boys to Huey real quick. Annywaaayyss! One of my goals I set on the first day of this internship was to heal. Shout out to the gods with healing powers for giving me opportunities to open up and receive love from all these Asians (ahahaha)―who at first had NOTHING in common with me but now they do―and for allowing me the blessing to go through the painful yet relieving process. Since my first experience of community work, I’ve slowly opened up about who I am. I was given the chance to be a part of a space where I didn’t have to divorce all my experiences both good and bad at the door. I’ve laid my cards out on the table so that my cohort knew who I am, where I come from, how I work, and how passionate I am about the work. I don’t think my cohort understands how much they’ve helped me this summer and continue to help me throughout this big change I’m experiencing. Only a few people can honestly say they know me and they’ve been granted the holy gift of knowing the real Ray-Ray. Consider yourselves lucky!

This summer was filled with laughter, tears, sweat, lots of food, and good company. Deciding to apply to this program was one of the best decisions I’ve made so far. Thank you to all the Pacific Islander leaders that were in LIA before me for leading the way. Special thanks to Lawrence Lan and Richard Chang aka my dad, for helping me out with the application process. I don’t think I would have even been considered if y’all didn’t tell LEAP how you think I’m awesome. Lol Thank you to the best mentor in the world, Alisi Tulua, for helping and shaping me into the person I am today. I’d be really stupid not to thank my parents for all the love, lectures, support, nagging, and full belief in me. I am nothing without the love and support of my family. I haven’t really grasped that concept until I moved here. Mom and Dad: Ou te alofa ma misia outou uma. Faafetai mo le tausiga o au i le tamaitai sa ou te i aso nei. Le mafai ona ou faia i ai e aunoa ma outou. Ou te faamoemoe o le a ou faia ia te oe uma e faamaualuluga ma e le mafai ona faatali e asiasi vave Na o outou. Ou te alofa tele ia oe! Thank you to my cohort who have now become family to me. Y’all will always have a special place in the heart you helped heal. Special love and appreciation to my best friends Val, Isa, and Deesh for grounding me and allowing me to be petty when I needed to. I love y’all!

Yo, Pandora’s 2000′s Hip Hop station is hella lit! These songs remind me of Danny, Ryan, and Tony. Lol

I was scared to finish this last blog entry because that just means #Summer2016 is officially over. But as I write these last few words, I can’t help but think of this Tongan proverb I learned through a Tongan culture-based program I participated in last year. The proverb goes like this: ‘Osiki a velenga. It means completing our duties. As people belonging to society, we each have duty to achieve our greater purpose. I have a duty to myself, my family (including my ancestors whose names I carry), and my community. I believe that this summer, I’ve completed my velenga of challenging myself to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. I’ve participated in an API program that was full of nothing but Asians. Thank God they were awesome Asians. Lol My projects for this internship served the youth of the Pilipinx community in Los Angeles even though all I knew about Pilipinx was that they made bomb lumpias and some identified as Pacific Islanders. But I still managed to do work and in the process learned to love the Pilipinx community. I also learned how closely connected our communities are which was a bonus! I shared some really private and personal things with my cohort and they turned around and surprised me with understanding. Lol This summer was just super amazing and I loved every single part of it. With that, I’m dedicating this post to my damn self because I deserve it. Lol Cheers to you being the baddest baddie this summer, boo boo! I’m proud of you! Hope y’all enjoy the video I put together because I’m too lazy to post all of them one at a time.

That’s basically how the week went. The Kapwa planning committee did hella work this week. We all had hella things to do and work so well with each other. With all the stress I experienced this week, I had to remind myself that all the hard work we put in was for the students and the community. Special shoutout to Alfred, Shelina, and Vanessa at SIPA for helping out with getting all the materials ready for the conference. Another special shoutout to our donors: Leaniva Tuala, Justin Kalolo, Shelly Chen, LEAP and everyone else who helped make this conference a success.

I got to hang out with my cohort some more before I headed over to UCLA for the conference. Got the chance to decompress and really just let my guard down and enjoy being in each other’s company. We bowled, had karaoke, and played in the arcade for a few hours. I sang my heart out. Steve and Mayta got pipes though.  After the whole summer, I really appreciated having time to just have fun. 

The Kapwa Leadership Conference was super awesome! Having been through the PILOT program and just having the chance to get to know myself in every way possible was the best thing that happened to me. Having a program similar to PILOT but outside the PI community was really dope. I’m all for anyone trying to find themselves so having this conference for these students was a really great experience. I got to see some of my hard work being paid off this past weekend and having my best friend there to experience it with me was so fun!

I truly believe that these group of young folx will create massive amounts of change. I’ve learned to love them and can’t wait to see them grow. 

#KLC2016 with guest leaders

  #KLC with Steve Lin from LEAP. Thanks Steve!

Once the conference was over I realized that meant my summer is over. I’m still not ready to move and a big part of it has to do with all the new people who stepped into my life these past 7 weeks. I hate goodbyes which is why I try not to get close to people. Lol 

Annnyywaaayyss! This week has been dedicated to #TonyTang! You’ve been there for me from the get and I really appreciate your optimism, dedication, loyalty, sense of humor, your car (ahahaha), and your love. Our cohort wouldn’t have been the same without you. Remember who you are and that you are enough. You’ve got a lot of good things brewing for you. Keep at it and I know you’ll be great at anything you want to!

Talofa lava! I can’t believe it’s already week 6! My week was pretty intense actually. I had Monday off since I went to SIPA on Saturday for the Open Mic event we had to close out the DELTA Summer Intensive Program. We had a great line up and everyone was super awesome and so talented!

So we’re 1 week away from the Kapwa Conference and we’re all super anxious, tired and excited! I did a lot of logistical things for the conference this week. Then I ended the week at the LEAP Gala and Breakfast. My team was looking hella spiffy at the gala.

I was assigned to sell opportunity drawing tickets with my 9 year old partner, Loren. She was the cutest thing ever! At first I was a little worried because 1. Kids drain me but I love them. I wasn’t sure if I would be comfortable being responsible for someone else’s child and 2. She was a girl. I usually get along with boys. But she hella proved me wrong! She was so awesome using her cute puppy dog face  to sell tickets.

The gala was pretty fun I guess. I didn’t really talk to the folx at my table. But they all bought tickets from me so that’s probably why they didn’t want to talk. Lol But SIPA is roll through and hella cheered me on! #SIPAAlwaysAndAlways! 

The breakfast the next day was cool. Ryan, Danny, and I were running late. Traffic was pretty bad. But I had bomb chicken sausages and got a $10 gift card. Lol

SO SO MAD I DON’T HAVE ANY PICS! Screw you Snapchat for your faulty memories feature! None of my snaps were saved. 

Annnyyywwwaaayyyss!

Wasss good y’all! It’s week 4 here at LEAP and week 3 with SIPA. During the past weekend, I took a short trip to Tacoma, Washington. I’m in the process of moving out my parents’ house so I had to go meet my counselor at my new school: Tacoma Community College. I stayed at my sister’s place in Parkland. My new school is pretty legit. Only difference between California colleges and Washington colleges is that they don’t have a Board of Governors (BOG) Fee Waiver to pay for all my classes. So I’ll have to pay for my classes out of pocket. While I was out there, I had a moment to really soak in all the growth I’ve experienced. I would’ve never thought that I would ever decide by myself to get up and move away from home. Of all my siblings, I’m the only one who hasn’t lived away from home. So being away from home longer than a week is something new and exciting for me. If I hadn’t gone through the Pacific Islander Leaders of Tomorrow (PILOT) program, I wouldn’t be as prepared to make this huge step. EPIC has done such a great job and building me up as a leader and supporting me along the way. I can honestly say that I am blessed to have such great leaders in my life. I got to see my adorable chunky monkey, Myra before I left to Seattle. Super adorbs!

So week 4 was the week of one of my projects:  the Dance Education Leadership Technology and Arts (DELTA) Summer Intensive Program which targets the youth of the FIlipino community. We had a great group of students there from ages 9 to 22. I missed the first two days because I was out in Washington. This year, the DELTA Summer Intensive’s theme was “You Are An Artist.” We had empowerment workshops on topics like how to set goals and achieve them, team building skills, and values. Then they had a class with guest artists who shared their story and their craft with the students. We had people who helped our students with creative writing, photography and film/video editing and music mixing. After those workshops, we had dance teachers from various styles of dancing come teach a class to the students. We had waacking, urban choreography, and Latin dance fusion. I took a few of the dance classes! So much fun and so outta shape! lol I don’t know why my pictures aren’t coming out right. -_-

I was able to facilitate two empowerment workshops throughout the week. One was on values and the other one was on social groupings. For the values workshop, I did an activity that gave the students a tangible idea of what it is like to identify. The main purpose of the activity was to give them an opportunity to analyze whether the choices they’ve made align with their values. One of the challenges in facilitating this workshop was making sure that I hit all the important points of the workshop so that every single student understood what I was trying to say. I had to be mindful of the non-profit lingo I used around the younger folx. But other than that, I think the workshop went well.

I co-facilitated the other workshop on social groupings with my supervisor, Steph. Steph was able to educate me on how problematic it would be to speak on political topics in spaces like DELTA Summer Intensive. But we knew that we wanted to expose our students to this so we used the Social Groupings activity from the Pacific Islander Leaders of Tomorrow (PILOT). This activity gave them a chance to analyze their different identities and privileges. Some of these groupings were age, religion, sexual orientation, race, and class. Then we asked questions like “Which one do you think about the most? Or “Which one hurts your more than helps you?” This activity was really great because we got more participation from the younger folx and they were able to speak on their piece. I seen so much of me in these students and realized that my mission to heal and help others heal does not stop at the Pacific Islander community. I found so much love and comfort from SIPA and their students these past few weeks and was reaffirmed that what I’m doing is so freaking worth it!

Week 4 was pretty great! I got to go to spoken word event with Nancy, Mayta, and some of the team. Freaking amazing. Got inspired to start piece. But then I remembered that I hate poetry. Lol

I went to PILOT this week. This week was the 7th cohort at Springfield College in Tustin, Ca. My little brother was able to part of this cohort and he loved every single part of it. I spent the last 3 years trying to bring my family into the PILOT program and he’s finally come to his senses. Lol Just seeing him going through the program that has changed my life was freaking amazeballs! I also got to reunite with my crew. Loved and missed these heffas!

I was also able to participate in my first ever, #BlackLivesMatter protest! It was so empowering a liberating at the same time. Just standing in solidarity with the Black community and giving myself the time to process how messed up our system is motivated me to do better in the upcoming weeks and to build really string bridges with other communities of color.

 Friday’s training was cool! Hella geeked out when we got a tour of the Southern California Edison facility. Our tour guide was throwing out so many science words at the group and I’m like hella loving it because I definitely understood what he was saying and everyone else was stuck. Lol We grabbed KBBQ and went shopping at Target afterwards. The guys ordered hella meat so we all were hella stuffed! Then we went to Newport Beach to decompress.

I got to help Alisi with a workshop at Summer Activist Training (SAT) at Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) before I left to Seattle.

 I love it at SIPA! Mainly because my supervisors and the students are so loving and inclusive of me!

Week 2 was really fun but when the weekend hit I was so burnt out that I whined (out loud) Monday morning when getting ready for work. But then I remembered I was going to the Santa Monica Pier with the kids of SIPA’s Summer Program and the program specialist, Eddie. But this field trip was so much fun!

We took the train to the pier and the kids loved it! Low key felt sorry for my LIA cohort because I was out having fun with the kids while they’re working on their projects at their CBO’s.

Steph and I were assigned a group of 5 (4 girls and 1 boy). Had to split them up because the younger ones didn’t want to go on the big rides. Here’s us on the Ferris Wheel. The girls were low key scaring me cuz they kept swinging our carriage back and forth. Totally forgot how extra kids can be. Lol

Jocelyn (blue shirt) called this the baby ride but wanted to be a good friend to Melanie (pink shirt) and rode it with her. Come to find out she liked it more than Melanie did. Lol

Andrew was the cutest thing ever! He thought he was so grown until he got on the frog ride!

I really enjoyed my time with the kids at the pier but man! I was so burnt out! On the ride back to SIPA on the train, I couldn’t stop myself from falling asleep. I forgot how draining it is to take care of kids. But everyone loves them some Ray-Ray! Lol

The rest of the week was actually pretty chill. Tuesday was my first day of going to staff meetings and programs meetings. Tuesdays are designated for meetings so I had back to back meetings and got in a few hours of work.   Since I did more hours than on any other day at the pier, I was able to take Thursday off and work from home. I was house sitting for my auntie and uncle so I invited the LIA fam to sleep over Thursday night so we can all mob out to training together.

So I caught up on work I didn’t get a chance to do on Tuesday and Wednesday and then headed to downtown LA to the Faith Advisory Board (FAB) program that APIOPA runs. It’s basically a program that uses the Tongan culture and language to promote healthier lives of the Tongan Community in the SoCal area. We talked about the importance of food and how the Tongan/Pacific Islander looks or uses food. If there’s anything I take away from this session it was being back in a space with my people. I’ve been busy with school and went straight into this internship and didn’t realize how much I missed being surrounded by people who look like me. So I had to step out and have a little moment to myself. Lol Super glad Danny and Ryan were able to be there with me and experience how we Pacific Islanders do community work. We had some people come in and conduct a research focus group thingy with us about how the Tongan community views EBT or CalFresh. Pretty cool experience, especially because we got $20 Target gift cards, yo!

After FAB we shot straight to my house and just chilled. We all got to check in with each other and spend some real quality time with each other. I can’t express how grateful I am for my cohort. To have a group of Asians support me the way they do is new to me and I love it! Totally something I’m not used to but definitely something I value. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t let them in my house. Ahahhaa! Love you fam! The guys and I stayed up late playing card games and everyone else had gone to sleep.

We ended up waking up hella late for training! I ran around the whole house waking everyone up! Whoever was ready left to head over to the LEAP office so not all 7 of us were missing when 8 o’clock rolled around. We eventually made it in time. The workshop we had for training wasn’t as effective for me. I didn’t like how it happened and felt like I didn’t learn something new.

Team meeting on our community project went okay. We’re all still trynna figure out how to work with each others leadership and communication styles. But I just know I love my team y’all! Lol

Hey y’all! Week two was crazy awesome even though I got lost on my way to SIPA, the weather was too damn hot, and my hair looked a hot mess. On day one I met one of my supervisors. Her name is Stephanie and she is the program coordinator for SIPA. We previously met at Filipino Culture School’s (FCS) Talent Show Fundraiser so we already got along pretty well. Stephanie’s personality and positivity reassured me that I will be taken care of at SIPA. She showed me around the facility (which is super huge), assigned me a computer, office, and desk, and then sat me down for orientation. Alvin, my other supervisor, joined us a little into the orientation. During that time we just went over our work plan and what we need from each other as a team so that this is the best experience for all of us.

I’m responsible for helping with the Kapwa Leadership Conference and DELTA Summer Intensive Program. During the program meetings of these two programs, I realized how similar these programs are compared to the Pacific Islander Leaders of Tomorrow (PILOT) program I participated in a few years back. I had no idea what to expect in terms of my responsibilities and I wasn’t exactly scared of not knowing, but I feel relieved that I’ll be doing work that I love and have confidence in doing. The PILOT program and Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) has helped and shaped me into who I am today and I realized how fortunate I am to have had the experiences and skills I have.

As the week went on, I found myself taking care of tasks that weren’t on this week’s list of tasks. I was so eager and anxious to finally get something to do after having three weeks of lounging around. Something I found a little funny was how hard it was to find restaurants that serve food for the Kapwa Leadership Conference participants, whose diets vary from someone who’s on a vegetarian/ gluten-free diet to a vegan to someone on a kosher/halal diet. But if I was in a Pacific Islander (PI) space, we’d have no problem finding a place that would serve food we all eat.

The rest of my responsibilities for the week were researching more for the Kapwa Leadership Conference, creating and sending out donation letters for the conference, plan energizers, prep for co-facilitating workshops at the DELTA Summer Intensive Program and the Kapwa Leadership Conference, and create post-Kapwa evaluations. As someone who loves organizing, all these tasks are fun for me lol.

I wasn’t able to join the LIA team at Tuesday Night Café (largest outdoor spoken word event) because I had to babysit but I did meet up with Aian, Sue (Aian’s cousin) and Angie at a coffee shop. I loved every moment of it because I missed everyone and meeting up with them made me realize I sorta felt kinda lonely. Even though Stephanie and Alvin check in with me, it’s not the same when my team checks in with me. When Friday came, I was tired but glad I was surrounded by them. It felt like we haven’t seen each other in years even though we texted each other every day. Our meeting for our community project went well. I was the first one to sign up for one-on-ones with Steve and really enjoyed processing with him. You can always tell when someone in genuinely interested in your story and well-being. Everyone came over to my place to cook dinner and just enjoy each other’s company. We got to know each other a little more. For the first time since we met, we didn’t talk about work. The week also went pretty well because I had my niece stay at my house for the week so it was good to spend some time with her. I get so caught up in the work that I sometimes neglect spending time with my family. But I’m glad we spent some time together. Low key miss having her around the house.

Tomorrow I get to chaperone SIPA’s youth while we go on a field trip to the Santa Monica Pier. Really looking forward to that and checking off all my assignments this week. The team is sleeping over on Thursday night so we can all mob to training on Friday morning. I love my team! Shout out to the LIA planning crew (Nancy, Mayta, and Steve) for bringing us together!

Yo wassup! The name is Sharayne Tuala but I go by Ray-Ray nowadays. I was born and raised in Compton and currently study Biology at Cerritos College. On my off days I enjoy sleeping, watching martial arts movies with my dad, spending hours on Pinterest pinning projects I know I'll never get to, and cleaning. I'm truly blessed and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this year's LIA program and have been placed at Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA). I hope that in the next 7 weeks, I would have a much more better understanding of the Pilipino community and how I can better use my talents and knowledge to move the API community forward.

Coming into LIA, I felt that I had to hella rep for the Pacific Islander community. But as the week went on, I started to realize how intentional the planning was. Before I go any further, I just want to give a huge shout out to our program manager, Steven Lin! Steve is an awesome facilitator! Had it not been for his positive energy, the first half of welcome week would not have as much impact on me as it did.

With that, the first two days were heavy on information about how to become a 21st century leader and how to work well with those who have different communication styles. Some take aways from these workshops were mostly personal reflections on how much I've grown. Steven introduced to us the LEAP Leadership framework and it includes: expand your self-awareness, lead and manage change, continuously learn, grown high performing teams, coalitions, and partnerships, and sustain energy and stamina. The two most important areas that stuck with me were sustain energy and stamina and continuously learn. It's been embedded in me since I was young to serve others before myself, even if it means bending over backwards to do so. But recently I've accepted the fact that I have to take care of myself so that those I serve get the best of my service. I've learned that though it may seem selfish to my family, it'll benefit them in the long run. I love the continuously learn frame because I believe as a leader, you must educate yourself in as many areas as possible so that we can grow and connect with others.

Steve also went over values and how we must align our values with our actions. In a way, I had to ponder on what my values were. I asked myself questions like: "Who or what shape my values?" or "Have my values changed?" or "Are my actions reflecting my values? If not, what must I do to change that?" It was a great way to check myself and remind myself of who I am.

There were other topics we covered like API history and professionalism. I experienced "information overload" on day one but I loved it! Day two was more interactive. I finally got to meet one of my awesome supervisors, Alvin! He's too freakin' amazeballs! We participated in an activity called the DiSC assessment. This assessment gave us a really good idea of where we are as a team. It was really cool how accurate the assessment was and how I had to practice patience with other's who don't have the same style as me. I made mental notes on where my supervisor was so that I understand how to best communicate with him and to understand how he functions. We also went over some team quick start workshops like the stages of group development (form, storm, norm, perform, and adjourn), group oriented behaviors, how to hold a successful meeting, how to handle conflict, and got a brief intro to our group project. Throughout this day, my team and I grew a little bit closer. I love how inclusive we are and very conscious we are of everything. Thanks to Nancy, Mayta, Steve, and all those who helped put #LIA2016 together, everything went smoothly. If my team and I didn't get along so well, welcome week wouldn't feel so welcoming.

The last 3 days of welcome week was a retreat. There were plenty of times we got to bond as a team or one-on-one. I felt that I got to know everyone a little more on a personal level. I tried to stay away from conversations that involved my peers from telling me about their experience in community work because that was something I already knew we had in common. We had a few team challenges that helped us work together after knowing each other's communication style. I can honestly say we did an awesome job completing the challenge. We had an awesome tour of Little Tokyo by Allison, Kristen, and Christen and another tour of the Japanese American National Museum by June. June made the tour much more realistic because she is a product of the unjust treatment of the Japanese community. She made me appreciate Japanese history much more because I could not imagine any of my family members going through something so traumatic.

My ultimate favorite activity was on day five when the team and I visited the Body and Brain Center in Burbank. I struggle with self-care and I felt that I got the most out of the session we had there. Fatima lead us in a discussion about to recognize our personal level of energy and how to get rid of it. I've never felt so much at peace. My brain was in sync with my body at one point and it felt so cool! One take away from that session was that I have to fit the exercises we learned that day into my schedule to release all this stagnant energy that's been building up in my body. That activity was a great way to end the retreat and welcome week altogether.

I'm not going to lie. I'm still trying to recover from such an intense week but I'm super excited to start my first day with SIPA tomorrow. I know that if I apply everything I learned throughout welcome week, I'll do well. I low key miss my team so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday at Tuesday Night Cafe to debrief about our first day at our CBO’s.

Sending all my thanks to those who have brought me to this point. I'm thankful for all the love and support you all give me. Shout out to the team for accepting all of me and for educating me. Looking forward to these next few weeks of collaboration. Thank you to Nancy, Mayta and Steve for such a great week!

I've just decided to dedicate every post to someone from my cohort. This post has been dedicated to #AngieTran! Thanks for being the first person to talk to me on day one and for breaking the ice. I appreciate all that you bring to our team. Know that you are beautiful in every way and that you are enough!