Week 9 is a very stressful time because we are approaching the end of the quarter and finals week altogether, however, our class during week 9 was very inspiring and an amazing experience altogether. On Wednesday I woke up in an OK mood, not the happiest but also I was not feeling completely down, but after meeting with Professor Lewis and my peers, my mood was so much better and my positivity for the rest of week 9 was higher than I expected. On Wednesday we visited Casa de Mañana in La Jolla. Seeing the ocean and feeling the breeze was… a breath of fresh air literally, and figuratively. Even though I live in San Diego I do not see the ocean that often because my life is very busy, so seeing that first thing Wednesday morning was very relaxing, and special. I will admit I felt a little jealous that the seniors get to wake up to that view every single day. The tour of Casa de Mañana was very eye opening. It is clear that the residents there live in a very nice community. During the tour, I thought about the Gary & Mary West Senior Wellness Center. I understand that there are no units at the Gary & Marcy Senior Wellness Center which is why they may not have that many activities for seniors to do but I did notice a clear difference between both centers. Firstly, the environment at Casa de Mañana was so much nicer and healthier than the Mary & Gary Center. The Mary & Gary Center is in the city and surrounded by busy polluted streets and the only open area they have is the parking lot compared to the ocean and open streets and sidewalks and grass areas that Casa de Mañana has. It is also important to note that I saw a much greater diversity among people at the Mary & Gary center compared to the Casa de Mañana center. In our class we discuss healthy aging and how our environment plays a huge role in that process. I think it's important we start to bring awareness to health inequities like these and make a change. Every aging person, including ourselves, deserves the same opportunities for healthy aging. I had the privilege of meeting Alice Yee, she was born in 1919 and she is from the state of Washington. We talked about women's rights and how difficult it was for her to grow in her career because she was a woman. She talked about all the times she fought for her rights as a woman working in the education field but she explained that as she grew older and wiser she understood that sometimes it was not worth it and that one must “choose their battles”. She asked me about my plans after graduation and she asked me about my personal life. I shared many personal details about struggles I face and she gave me very encouraging and inspiring advice. She explained how she was very proud of us and how we have to try our hardest to fix the world because it's “so messed up”, she said her generation ruined it and unfortunately it's now in our hands to fix it. She talked about the struggles in her life but overall how privileged she has been up to now, and how privileged she is to live in Casa de Mañana. She said she feels very fortunate to have lived so long. I was sad to see her go when our time was up but it definitely was an experience that I was not expecting and also an experience that I didn't know I needed to get me through the rest of this quarter and basically until graduation in June. Life Course Scholars has been the greatest experience of my 4 years at UC San Diego, the pandemic robbed me of my university years unfortunately but I feel very lucky that I was chosen for this year's cohort. I have learned so much and I have made connections with my peers and people in the community which is priceless. I am very sad that the quarter is basically over and that this experience is coming to an end but this has made me more open and interested in pursuing different fields within Public Health. Professor Lewis does an amazing job, and I am very grateful that I was given this opportunity to learn and grow as an individual.
Week 9 is a very stressful time because we are approaching the end of the quarter and finals week altogether, however, our class during week 9 was very inspiring and an amazing experience altogether. On Wednesday I woke up in an OK mood, not the happiest but also I was not feeling completely down, but after meeting with Professor Lewis and my peers, my mood was so much better and my positivity for the rest of week 9 was higher than I expected. On Wednesday we visited Casa de Mañana in La Jolla. Seeing the ocean and feeling the breeze was… a breath of fresh air literally, and figuratively. Even though I live in San Diego I do not see the ocean that often because my life is very busy, so seeing that first thing Wednesday morning was very relaxing, and special. I will admit I felt a little jealous that the seniors get to wake up to that view every single day. The tour of Casa de Mañana was very eye opening. It is clear that the residents there live in a very nice community. During the tour, I thought about the Gary & Mary West Senior Wellness Center. I understand that there are no units at the Gary & Marcy Senior Wellness Center which is why they may not have that many activities for seniors to do but I did notice a clear difference between both centers. Firstly, the environment at Casa de Mañana was so much nicer and healthier than the Mary & Gary Center. The Mary & Gary Center is in the city and surrounded by busy polluted streets and the only open area they have is the parking lot compared to the ocean and open streets and sidewalks and grass areas that Casa de Mañana has. It is also important to note that I saw a much greater diversity among people at the Mary & Gary center compared to the Casa de Mañana center. In our class we discuss healthy aging and how our environment plays a huge role in that process. I think it's important we start to bring awareness to health inequities like these and make a change. Every aging person, including ourselves, deserves the same opportunities for healthy aging. I had the privilege of meeting Alice Yee, she was born in 1919 and she is from the state of Washington. We talked about women's rights and how difficult it was for her to grow in her career because she was a woman. She talked about all the times she fought for her rights as a woman working in the education field but she explained that as she grew older and wiser she understood that sometimes it was not worth it and that one must “choose their battles”. She asked me about my plans after graduation and she asked me about my personal life. I shared many personal details about struggles I face and she gave me very encouraging and inspiring advice. She explained how she was very proud of us and how we have to try our hardest to fix the world because it's “so messed up”, she said her generation ruined it and unfortunately it's now in our hands to fix it. She talked about the struggles in her life but overall how privileged she has been up to now, and how privileged she is to live in Casa de Mañana. She said she feels very fortunate to have lived so long. I was sad to see her go when our time was up but it definitely was an experience that I was not expecting and also an experience that I didn't know I needed to get me through the rest of this quarter and basically until graduation in June. Life Course Scholars has been the greatest experience of my 4 years at UC San Diego, the pandemic robbed me of my university years unfortunately but I feel very lucky that I was chosen for this year's cohort. I have learned so much and I have made connections with my peers and people in the community which is priceless. I am very sad that the quarter is basically over and that this experience is coming to an end but this has made me more open and interested in pursuing different fields within Public Health. Professor Lewis does an amazing job, and I am very grateful that I was given this opportunity to learn and grow as an individual.
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Jimena Carolina SalazarJimena Salazar is a Public Health major with a concentration in Community Health Sciences. She is from Archives
March 2022
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