Posted on October 15, 2018
Projects: Creation of a youth program that focuses on physical activity and mental development.
Inspiration: I have a niece who is 5 years old and a nephew who is 4 years old. My niece is a swimmer. Swimming is not just a sport it helped her gain trust in others, learn skills and persistence. She is tiny and yet she still pushes herself to swim everyday better. She has learned to be patient and to believe in herself. My nephew is a funny little guy. He is not very patient when learning his numbers or something involving his thinking, but when it comes to soccer or some sort of activity he will give you his complete attention. You tell him some rules and he will follow them.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: Create awareness of college opportunities and support for DACA students
Inspiration: Little kids, and how they should know about college since they are small.
Future Plans for Project: To let them know what college is about and give them an idea that college is important.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: My project concentrates on helping students specifically seniors navigating the financial aspect of college. Getting in is one step but anybody hardly talked about how to make it a financial reality which seems far out of reach for most students. This tends to be the case a majority of the time. Although the thing really preventing students from coming to a University is a lack of education on how to make college a financial reality.
Inspiration: Coming from a low-income neighborhood there was an immense need for post-secondary option transition coaches. I only knew of one from my district who was hard to get help from. Seeing this as well as my peers struggle joking but being serious on how much harder it is to pay to college not get that acceptance letter. Inspiration sparked in me to help make a change to this.
Future Plans for Project: My main goal is to help the seniors in my current school and I hope it’ll have a ripple affect on upcoming seniors so they can see college is an obtainable goal.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: I have been able to join a research lab through the Renee Crown Wellness Center through CU. As a team we were looking at feelings of trust or distrust between hispanic families and the school district. I worked on translating and transcribing interviews as well as coding them.
Inspiration: CU has a growing population of Undocumented students and must have a support system for them.
Future Plans for Project: I hope to gain Faculty/student/administrative support and get funds to retain undocumented students on campus.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: I decided to focus my project on working with high school students and their parents understand the college process which includes, financial aid, applications, GPA, SAT scores, and other resources necessary. My goal is to help underrepresented students. First generation or immigrant students are lacking support and are underrepresented students. Creating this project will allow me to show the importance and opportunity available for these students. After having guidance, I hope to see students feel prepared about the future. Volunteering with Adelante! at Boulder High School will allow me to use the activist intellectual tradition to give back to my community.
Inspiration: Due to the recent political debate on children being taken away from their families and lifestyle, I decided to choose this as my Puksta Project because this is a major problem happening in the United States that will affect globally. As a result, less immigrants will get the opportunity to have basic human rights.
Future Plans for Project: I hope that I accomplish change in my community that will spread to others who hear our voices. I think that anyone can create change and I hope to spread awareness in order to make change.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: In an attempt to create a community in which people can learn more about their roots, I will provide resources and a safe space which encourages both collective cultural and individual growth. I also hope to collaborate with other diaspora projects to emphasize the importance and beauty of being involved culturally.
Inspiration: Coming from a high school with a total minority enrollment of 76 percent has opened my mind to a variety of perspectives that have expanded my intellectual capabilities. Experiencing all of these different cultures took residence in my heart and helped me on my journey of cultural identity. Being an American born Ethiopian had proven to be difficult at times because I had yet to truly be immersed in all aspects of my culture. Eventually, I became quite comfortable within Ethiopian culture, but not without a struggle. Therefore, I want to help other diasporas along with their journey of cultural identity.
Future Plans for Project: I plan on show all individuals, especially diaspora, how important culture can be. I also hope that this acceptance of ones and others cultures can help break past barriers such as xenophobia and provide a safe place to present your culture proudly.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: My Puksta Project is working to increase access to arts education for low-income youth of color in Denver through providing access to culturally-competent spoken word poetry workshops and performance opportunities. This past summer, I applied and was accepted for a board position for the literary arts organization Sacred Voices, which hosts open mics for Black, Indigenous, and youth of color each month. I am currently helping them expand their board, host their open mics, and generate a long-term curriculum for BIPoC youth of color to be taught in middle/high schools.
Inspiration: My personal experience as an alumni of Denver’s youth slam poetry team, Minor Disturbance, inspired me to choose my Puksta project. Spoken word has greatly impacted my life, and I feel it is important that students of color are able to engage this art form.
Future Plans for Project: I hope to accomplish the following from my retreat: a more connected network of youth poets of color in Denver, a safe space for youth of color to articulate their experiences in the current political climate, and the opportunity for students to be connected to the community resources to hone their craft upon returning home.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Major: Economics and Political Science
Project: My Puksta Project has evolved from the more general desire to address mental health within African Communities to utilizing youth community engagement to bring awareness to mental health. Furthermore, I intend to use an artistic lens to discuss the topic of mental health by using it as a tool and mechanism for the youth within these African communities to better understand their needs and hopefully find a more meaningful way of meeting them. I hope to achieve this by first designing workshops that allow the members of these communities (with a particular focus on youth) to learn more about mental health as well as how to use art as an expressive outlet. My passion for art has intertwined with my passion for mental health and I hope to unite the two as one to offer my community and other African communities a new perspective on mental health and the power of art as an act of self-care and even self-discovery.
Inspiration: After having lost a friend and member of my community to suicide, I realized that the entire situation seemed almost foreign to a number of my friends and family. I want to create awareness within the African community of the reality and the seriousness of mental health as well as the services available that aid in preventing suicide.
Future Plans for Project: I would like to see more African communities open to conversations about mental health and utilizing the services provided that address it.
Posted on October 15, 2018
Project: Help high school seniors explore DU and guide them through the application process.
Inspiration: My own background as an immigrant and my struggles to get where I am today, have pushed me to want to make a difference in peoples lives.
Future Plans for Project: I would like for students and parents to feel more confident making a decision when it comes to their future.
Posted on October 6, 2018
Project: Publishing research to make sexual health curriculums more accessible to students with intellectual disabilities. Hoping to use this research to develop a tool/resource for caregivers and parents to use when engaging in conversations about sexual health with their student. All in all, my goal is to help eliminate the stigma attached to “sexuality and intellectual disability”.
Inspiration: I was inspired to pursue this project initially through my work with the Sexual Assault Victims Advocate (SAVA). In my time at SAVA, I was made aware of a disturbing statistic: Children with disabilities are four times more likely to experience sexual abuse than children without (Sullivan & Knutson, 2000). After more research, I discovered that this issue is not only disturbingly widespread but also devastatingly underreported and virtually unknown to the general public.
Once I became aware of this issue, I could not stop thinking about it. Since my own brother was born with Sotos Syndrome, I have an understanding of just how vulnerable people living with developmental disabilities can be. I continued to learn about this problem and came to the conclusion that people with disabilities are subject to abuse primarily because the majority of them have no sexual health education; if they were to experience sexual abuse, they couldn’t report it because they themselves are not sure what happened.
Future Plans for Project: I want to empower people living with both developmental and physical disabilities by providing them with an individualized sexual health education so that they are less vulnerable to sexual abuse.
