ACC hosted a virtual Ascender Posada event on Friday, December 4th. The event’s hostesses, Alejandra Polick. Manager of Hispanic Outreach Projects, and Megan Diaz, the Outreach Specialist for the Ascender Program, both welcomed the Ascender students and mentors to the end of the semester by explaining the meaning and symbolism of the Posada. Alejandra described how religiously important the Posadas are to families who celebrate Christmas every year, and the symbolism it applies to the Ascender program’s students. “The Posada describes our students being able to knock door to door in search of opportunities,” Alejandra explained.
The Posada event began with Megan going over the agenda, starting with this semester’s program overview. During this part of the presentation, she highlighted the main courses that Ascender students completed, including ENGL Comp 1301, INRW, and EDUC 1300 Learning Frameworks. She explained in detail the main events that they also attended, such as the Mentor/Mentee Matching Event, and Noche de Familia.
For the second part of our event, Alejandra and Megan provided the students with a list of tips and advice for the upcoming spring semester. They included main points on how to overcome procrastination, planning agendas and classes in the best ways to help students grow, how to use available resources, and most importantly, students rewarding themselves when achieving goals, no matter how big or small.
Next Megan gave the students a reflection activity, to concentrate on the things they liked the most about this semester as well as the things they thought they could improve on. Approximately four students and four mentors shared the ups and downs they experienced throughout the semester, including how they stayed motivated even during challenging times, individually as well as a group.
During the end of the Posada event, Megan went over important event dates for the Spring Semester of 2021 and finished off the presentation with a game of Kahoot and an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest, which Ascender Student, Samantha, along with her adorable, dressed up pit bull, won.