Reagan Stone

SOC 2000
Professor Brewster
Entry 1 9/13/16

My volunteer hours are being done at Student Leadership Services Inc., also known as
Students Leading Students. They are a state-wide recognized non-profit organization that focuses
on teaching middle and high school students the strategies to say no to harmful substances and
promoting healthy life-style choices.
The beginning of my first day of volunteering was mostly greetings and catching up with
the ladies in the office. Back in my senior year of high school I worked in the Student Leadership
Services office as a co-op. When I got there I was greeted by my old bosses, Dawn and Pam.
They started by asking me how Ive been, since I havent seen them in over a year. Then we
talked about school and how my freshman year at Wayne went for me. Dawn was especially
interested in this because she completed her masters program at Wayne State. We talked like this
for about half an hour. After that I was introduced to the two new prevention specialists that were
hired in earlier this year.
One of the of new prevention specialists was hired in to work on her dissertation project
to finish her masters degree from Michigan State, her name is Jacki. The other prevention
specialist just moved from Zimbabwe about a year ago, her name is Kudzai but she tells
everyone to just call her Kay. I talked with her for about fifteen minutes asking her what made
her decide to the United States and then Michigan specifically. Basically her answer was that she
wanted better employment opportunities and her husband had visited Michigan before so he was
already familiar with this area. I found her story really interesting to listen to.

Entry 2 9/13/16
For work on my first day all I had to do was proofread some brochures and help with the
mailing of their newsletter. Their office is a little bit of small quarters so the table I was working
at was set up next to Kays desk. For a while I just worked on the things Dawn left for me, but
eventually Kay and I struck up a conversation. She had just been on her phone browsing
Facebook when she came across a picture a friend had posted back in Zimbabwe. It was a picture
of a lion pride casually hanging out in the middle of a busy street. I asked if that was something
everyone there was used to and she said it was. Living there you see all kinds of wild animals
wandering into the middle of civilized areas. She also added that theres different ways to handle
yourself if you find yourself in the path of a wild animal. For example, she said with the lion
pride you have to stand your ground without turning your back. Once you turn your back and
attempt to flee, theyll see you as their prey and chase you.
This talk gave me a sense of culture shock without even traveling to a different
place. I was literally shocked at how different that was for me but so normal for Kay. I
expressed to her how I wouldnt even know what to do or think if I found myself in a situation
like that. It is almost hard to imagine even happening since the wildest of an animal I encounter
is a squirrel or a rabbit in my front yard. After my initial surprise went away I asked how she
came to learn about handling ones self in front of such a dangerous animal. Kays response was
that it is so common in some areas and described the knowledge as being common to those that
live there. She didnt remember learning anything specifically, she only remembers just knowing
certain things as she grew up and from watching others as the instances occurred.

Entry 3 9/16/16
Since Dawn was out for the day, she didnt leave much for me to do except for more
proofreading and finish packing the newsletters into envelopes. For about half the time I was
there I was with Kay and Jacki. I noticed that Jacki didnt talk much, but Kay loved to keep a
conversation going. At one point all three of us had gotten on the topic of the holiday season and
how it is such a big thing in the United States that the season really starts in October because of
stores putting out all the decorations and what not. In the midst of the conversation Kay told us
about how she had no idea how seriously we took Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the time in
between. The concept of Black Friday was especially surprising. Of course she had heard of it
and knew of it, but until she experienced all of the chaos first hand did she get the full effect.
This could be another example of culture shock. When Kay told her story of her
first experience of Black Friday, she described it as a whole other level of crazy. Back home
she had never seen so many people eager to spend so much money on gifts. She also said that it
was hard for her to relax in any store she went in, making for a very uncomfortable experience. I
then asked Kay if she would ever go out and do it again, her response was absolutely not. Her
reasoning wasnt because it wasnt something she was used to; it was because her overall
experience with it wasnt enjoyable. I can see why Kay would think that, theres tons of people
from the United States that still refuse to go out on Black Friday.

Entry 4 9/16/16
The second half of the time I spent there, the office co-op had come in. I actually went to
high school with him for a year until I graduated. Benji (short for Benjamin) had come into the
office to finish working on a workshop he was going to present at the Student Leadership
Services annual conference. This conference is held one weekend every November and is open to
anybody that participates in Student Leadership Services. This is going to be Benjis second time
going and this year Dawn offered him the opportunity to create then present his own workshop.
When he sat down at the table to do with his work, I asked him about his workshop and how he
came up with it. He explained to me that his workshop focused on self-esteem for males and
females, his inspiration came from his own troubling experiences at home and at school. Benji
briefly explained to me that it took him a long time to find a social group where he felt accepted
because he was never into sports, video games, or going out to public places to hang out. He also
told me how he used to feel out casted at home because he is the only boy with six sisters.
This relates to the subject of gender roles in sociology. The male gender role means
that all males are supposed to follow a set of rules, or norms, that help to dictate the type of
behavior that is normally expected from a male. For example, a male is expected to manly
activities such as yard work or sports and is expected to act a specific way emotionally, such as
being more callus or not being sensitive. Benji said that he thinks living with six sisters has
effected how he turned out as an older teenager. This means that he isnt into all the same things
a typical boy might be in to and he even admitted to being more sensitive. To some people this
may seem weird, which explains the lack of acceptance, but to others it isnt a big deal.

Entry 5 9/16/16
The last half hour of the day or so it was just me, Benji, and Kay. We had run out of
things to talk about for a few minutes when Benji asked Kay what it was like for her when she
got to the United States for the first time since he had never heard the story before. Kay started
telling her story, she came to America about a year and a half ago for the first time. When her
and her husband got here, they wanted to do some travelling before officially settling in
Michigan. This included a few states in the south and a couple destination spots up the east coast.
Kay talked about a bunch of the fun things they did and went to see which was really fun to hear
about. The worst part of the story was when Kay talked about her and her husbands run in with
some prejudice citizens in the south, I believe I remember her saying it was South Carolina.
Their incident didnt include anything crude being said verbally or anything physical, it was
actually the opposite. The workers of the restaurant they were planning to dine in were giving
Kay and her husband the cold shoulder and making known they werent the most welcome.
Instead of making something big out of it, they just decided to leave and go somewhere else. Kay
told Benji and I how disappointed she was to find out that people still reacted that way to people
with differently colored skin, especially so soon into her arrival of the United States.
The people from this incident can be thought of as being ethnocentric, meaning that
they believe their culture is more superior. In her story Kay didnt actually specify that they
were Caucasian individuals, but I think it can be easily assumed that they were. Their prejudice
can also be a result of values and beliefs that they learned growing up. This would just depend on
their familys values and beliefs; it would also depend on the location of where they grew up.
Either way, it is still sad that Kay had to endure that so shortly after moving to the United States.

Entry 6 9/20/16
For the first time since starting my hours everybody was in the office together. Benji and
I were hanging out at the table talking waiting for Dawn to give us our projects for the day.
When Dawn came over to talk to us, she started asking questions about social media and then
eventually asked us to make a list of all the social media sites and apps that we could think of. So
we did and we ended up with a list of over 20, social media and dating sites combined. When we
went to go give Dawn our list she had us explain the ones she wasnt as familiar with and asked,
in our opinions, how prevalent bullying is on each site. She wanted all this information because
she was getting ready to start creating a new study and presentation on bullying through social
media. As far as she explained, this was a study and presentation geared towards middle school
students.
Bullying through social media, or cyber-bullying, is similar to the example of
children playing dodgeball in masks or costumes. Because the children can hide their
identity or arent interacting face to face, consequently they are willing to be harsher
towards others. Within the past couple years this problem has grown and has gotten serious to
the point of resulting in young suicides. On social media users dont always have to post a profile
picture, and if they do it can literally be anything they want, and it can go as anonymous as not
using your real name. This all contributes to children being able to hide behind their computer
screens and keyboards while being as horrible as theyd like to other students, peers, or basically
anybody they are able to connect with on the internet. I can see why Dawns next study and
project will be focusing on this issue, because it is serious and more needs to be done to prevent
it.

Entry 7 9/20/16
While Benji and I were at the table working on the things Dawn gave us to do, I
overheard Dawn talking more about this new study she was starting. I overheard her talking
about what she was thinking about doing as far as her method goes. Most of the conversation she
was having was with Jacki, Im assuming because Jacki was in the middle of doing her own
study project for her masters program. Dawn decided that before she could make a presentation
to teach kids what they need to know, she would have to find out what they already know, what
they dont know, and some of their other thoughts. This is when she came back over to me and
Benji and asked us what types of questions she should include in a survey on the topic of social
media and bullying. For the rest of the time I was there, we brainstormed a list different
questions Dawn could ask. Eventually, Dawn would edit the questions and narrow her survey
down to 15-20 questions.
Dawns choosing of a research method had to be decided with the students in mind
and what her end goal was. Using a survey is the best option because it is the cheapest way
to conduct research. This is important because SLS is a nonprofit and a majority of their money
needs to be used on bigger, more important things. Also, a survey is the best option because if
Dawn uses mostly neutral questions, it allows for the kids to answer using their own opinions.
This way, Dawn can find out what each kid has knowledge of and she can simplify her teaching
and presentation down to what needs to be known the most, instead of repeating things that most
of the kids already know or are aware of.

Entry 8 9/30/16
Its been about a week and a half since I last came to the office due to appointments and
other things. When I got to the office, Dawn wasnt there but Kay and Jacki were. Dawn didnt
leave anything for me to do, so I asked them what my little assignments were. Jacki said she
asked Dawn for my help so she didnt leave anything else for me to work on. Since the beginning
of the school year, Jacki has been working on a prevention study. At the start of school, she went
into a couple dozen middle school classrooms, 7th grade I believe, and gave the students a pretest. This test was meant to record each students level of knowledge on alcohol and smoking
related topics. Over the past couple months, she has gone in the same classrooms and taught the
students prevention skills and taught them how harmful substances these substances can be. The
catch was that Jacki would use different teaching strategies in different classrooms so that when
she recorded the results of the post-test, she could see if there were any learning differences with
the different teaching strategies.
The pre-tests and post-tests themselves are examples of questionnaires, specifically
self-administered questionnaires. Jacki can use these to collect data and compare results
from before and after. The study as a whole is a type of research method, but Im not sure what
the specific name would be for it. One class, or maybe a few, would be considered the control
group. Theyll receive the normal prevention lessons that have been set for the past couple years.
All the other classrooms are the experimental groups, where they are being exposed to new
teaching techniques. The experimental group can be split up into smaller sub-experimental
groups because there are multiple teaching techniques being tests to see which works better, if
any do at all.

Entry 9 10/11/16
Most of the day was uneventful. My buddy, Benji, wasnt coming into the office and Kay
was out doing presentations in elementary schools. It was me, Dawn, and Jacki most of the time.
Since their annual conference was less than a month away, Dawn had me working on things she
needed for the conference. For right now that only included making copies, cutting things, and
stuffing envelopes. About halfway through my time there, a guy a little younger than me walked
in with who I assumed was his mother. They went into Dawns office for a bit and Id say about
20 minutes later the guy and his mother left. Of course I was curious so I went and asked Dawn
about it. She explained to me he was a sophomore at the high school I went to and has been
having a lot of consistent truancy problems. As sort of a punishment, he was required to do a
required amount of community service hours.
In this situation there is an example of a norm and folkway being violated. The
norm is good attendance at school. Being at school every day, excluding certain
circumstances, and coming to class on time is a behavior that is normally expected of
students at school of any level. This type of behavior is considered right or good and going
against these expectations are frowned upon. Good attendance at school is also an example of a
folkway. This is because attendance at school may not always be strictly enforced. The folkway
example of attendance would vary from school district and even across different states.
There could also be variation in the harshness of enforcement. It would depend on how severe
the situation is and at what point the school finds it necessary to get involved, if they decide to at
all. Also, not all schools or school districts will have punishments in place for when a students
truancy becomes such a problem.

Entry 10 10/21/16
Today, Dawn had tons of stuff for me and Benji to work on since the conference weekend
was getting closer. I was working on name card stuff, which got boring after a couple hours of
repetitive tasks. In the meantime, to pass the time, we talked about all kinds of things, mostly
school related. One of the topics that came up was how we felt about the other high school in
Waterford, Waterford Kettering. Something that we talked about that we thought of as being
weird was that for three years straight, one student committed suicide each school year. After the
third time, it was almost like a pattern, because they would be around the same time in the school
year and for similar reasons, so people have said anyways. From what Ive heard from other
people and talking to people from Kettering myself, the overall atmosphere at Kettering is a lot
more different than at Mott. Nobody really knows why this is or what has started it.
These occurrences relate a lot to the class reading Teenage Wasteland. Within the
reading, Gaines stated how the teen suicides in Bergenfield symbolized a tragic defeat in
the young people. I think this same statement can apply to the teen suicides that occurred in
Waterford. Furthermore, there is something bigger occurring in the community that was causing
this reoccurring, devastating event. It had to of been more than just a coincidence that for three
years straight, around the same time of the year, a high school student committed suicide.
Especially in the area it was occurring, Waterford wouldnt be classified as a rich city, but at
the same time there isnt an abundance of individuals living in poverty. It is very much so a
middle class to upper middle class type of area, with the exception of the wealthier people who
live on certain lakes. Unlike the teens in Teenage Wasteland, I dont believe any of the teens who
committed suicide in Waterford were considered part of the burnout group or classified as
being at the bottom economically or academically.

Entry 11 10/21/16
When I got to the office, I was told that I would be by myself on and off for the next
couple hours due to everyone being so busy and needing to get things done for their conference. I
didnt really have anyone to talk to so there werent any remarkable conversations being had
while I was there. In the midst of doing my work, I was reading the different posters and such
that were hung up around the office. I noticed that a lot of them had to do with drug prevention
of the different kinds of drugs. Just yesterday in lecture, we had the discussion of Culture of Fear.
The very first example that we talked about was drugs and the unfounded fear people have,
specifically adults, of drug usage with kids. I started thinking about the discussion in lecture and
comparing it with the emphasis SLS puts on drug prevention in middle and high schools. The
next time Dawn came into the office long enough for a conversation I mentioned it to her and
wanted to see what she thought. The long and short of what she responded with was that drugs
arent actually a problem in every school or school district, they just make that a general area of
focus as with alcohol use prevention. Basically its easier for them to have one general goal for
the dozens of schools theyre in instead of becoming more specialized for what the school can
benefit from.
I think that this can play into the concept of culture of unfounded fears. In my
opinion, SLS is almost advertising drug use is a problem across all schools and by having SLS in
the school, it will help to deter that problem. This can be the case even if a school doesnt have
problems with drugs. In the case of the Waterford schools, I have not heard of or known of a
problem so large that the whole student body knew about it. I dont mean for this to sound
disrespectful towards SLS and what they do, but I couldnt help but think about how it related to
our class topic.

Entry 12 10/25/16
Everything was back to its usual, everyone was in the office today doing all of their
normal work. My assigned work was to bundle together these mini booklets they just had printed
and tie them together with some ribbon to make them all pretty, as Dawn put it. Benji and I
were having our usual random conversations, just talking about whatever came to our minds.
Then I remembered how I just recently I noticed that Waterford has a trailer park when I drove
past it one day. I told Benji about this and he was more surprised about the fact that I had just
now found out about it. After that part of the conversation ended I brought up how it was kind of
weird and funny at the same time to see a decently nice and newer car being parked outside one
of the trailer homes. The best way we found to describe it was the car being out of place given
the surroundings. Obviously we couldnt know for sure that the car parked outside wasnt
someone elses that was just visiting, but it was the only car in the outside area of the trailer so
most likely it was the owner of the trailers car.
This has potential to be an example of status inconsistency. Having a nice car while
living in a trailer park doesnt seem like it would always go together. So maybe this individual
has a higher social ranking in their occupation that allows them to afford a nice car. But it
wouldnt make sense to buy a nice car before maybe looking to move out of the trailer park. So
part of this example could be deferred gratification, putting off getting new home in the present
in hopes of saving more money for something greater in the future. This now leaves the person
being ranked lower on the social scale of their peer group, depending on their age. This would be
especially true if they were more middle aged.

Entry 13 10/25/16
The last part of my time there I was working by myself because Benji was in Dawns
office for a while. I didnt know why until he came out after maybe half an hour. I asked him
what was up and he started telling me about Dawn is helping him set up some guest speaker type
events on behalf of SLS at schools in the surrounding area. Shes helping him out with this
because eventually he wants to be an inspirational speaker and is planning to go to college to do
social work like Dawn does. Benji also told me about he was practicing his first big speech with
Dawn while he was sitting in there. At their conference in November he is giving his first speech
to an audience of more than 30 people. At the conference there will be upwards of over 100
people, students and adults. From here we finished up our work and talked about public speaking
for the rest of the time. I told him how I wouldnt be able to do what he is going to do and that I
give him a lot of credit for being willing to do that.
This is an example of anticipatory socialization. Benji is anticipating the role of
eventually being a speaker and social worker. Dawn is helping him get some practice of these
roles, mainly being a speaker, so that when Benji is actually assuming the role he will have an
idea of what some of the expectations of that role are. Technically he would be assuming the role
already by speaking to groups of people for a purpose, but it can still be anticipatory since this is
not his full-time role yet. Benji is also learning the standards and valuable tools that can be used
once he joins that social group in his years to come.

Entry 14 10/28/16
Not much was planned work wise because it was my last day of volunteering. When I got
into the office I was a little confused because there were birthday presents on the table, balloons,
and a little cake. I asked Dawn was it was all for and she said that everyone in the office decided
they should have a little surprise birthday party for Benji, since his birthday was that following
Sunday. I thought it was a really nice gesture for them to do and I would have even participated
but nobody mentioned it a couple days ago. Dawn was talking about how they discussed it a few
times before finally deciding to have something for him. Jacki was the one who chimed in and
said she didnt know if it was appropriate and that is what made Dawn second guess herself
before their final decision. From my perspective I didnt really see why there would be anything
wrong with having a little party with food, cake, and presents. But when I considered from
Dawns position I could kind of see why there may be an issue, or why some people could have
an issue.
After some thought, it sounded like it was more of a role conflict situation than
anything else. On one hand, Dawn and the other ladies in the office are Benjis superiors or
employers. While they can be friendly and joke around with each other, everything else should
be kept to a more work-related tone. But then on the other side, everyone in the office and Benji
have become super close and turned into people he would come into the office and look to for
guidance. There was a conflict between the work only relationship and the friend-like, personal
level bond. Evidently we know which one won out over the other, which is the one I would have
chosen myself, though I occupy different roles in relationship to Benji.

Entry 15 10/28/16
The party was really nice and fun. When Benji got to the office he was really surprised
and he even got emotional over it. We had pizza, cake, and watched Benji open up his gifts. I
could tell that he was really grateful for what Dawn and everyone else in the office did for him. I
even had a sense of admiration for what they did for him. I would say that we all hung out for an
hour or a little more. A couple people left and Benji was packing up his stuff. He started talking
about how this was his first real birthday party. I was really surprised hearing this, Ive never
heard of anybody close to my age never having a birthday party or anything that could be close
to a birthday celebration. Towards the end of my time there, I went up to Dawn and asked if it
was really true that hes never had a birthday party. She confirmed it and started telling me about
how he doesnt have the best home life and his parents never celebrated his birthday, though they
have celebrated his sisters birthdays in the past. The only explanation Dawn had for it was that
his family just didnt see the need for that type of celebration.
Rituals are ways in which people or families are able to share common ground or
share the same values. Birthdays, especially in north America, come with multiple rituals such
as having a cake or balloons. Obviously not everybody will take part in all rituals and this shows
with Benji and his family. Their reasoning, that we knew of, was that they didnt see the need to
have a celebration for turning another year older. In this case there is also an example of gender
inequality. Benji has never been able to experience a birthday party per his parents, but his sisters
have been able to. This is opposite of the type of inequality that our society is used to seeing,
males over females, but it is still gender inequality nonetheless.
In the end, I am grateful for my volunteer experience with SLS and the sociological
events I was able to witness, be a part of, and analyze for this project.