Growing into the Role: Learning from Yazan
Yazan is a third year biology major and HMSA site coordinator, which is MAPS only high school site. Similarly to Kalina, his role entails creating detailed site plans and leading volunteers in mentoring students. On the other hand, as he is working with high school students, the material he needs to know and cover in his sites varies drastically from that of Kalina’s which requires a higher level of competency in high school level academics.
The first question I asked was “what is one habit that makes someone especially effective at this site?” As previously mentioned, Yazan is site coord for the only high school site MAPS serves, as such his site plans vary differently. In addition, it’s the only site that isn’t an Islamic school and many students aren’t Muslim. Through his experience and observation of volunteers, he realizes that people are more comfortable talking to students of the same gender (i.e. boy volunteers talking to boy students and same for the girls). As such, it’s incredibly important that volunteers are comfortable working with all students equally, regardless of their gender.
After being asked what something he wished he knew about when he started as HMSA site coord, Yazan once again mentioned that there is a notable difference between mentoring elementary students and high schoolers. His sites get an audience that ranges from freshmen to seniors who are all at different levels and steps in their high school career. To adapt, Yazan makes multiple site plans and sets them up as stations so every student benefits from attending sites.
My assignment this week is to intentionally apply the habit mentioned above. In my case, I feel that I am comfortable working with all students equally, especially since my site usually only has girl volunteers. On that note, I think I could work on making more personable connections with the students so they all feel comfortable reaching out to me when they need to. This week, I’ll do this by individually checking in with every student.
