Open House

One of the events that I attended this semester was the Open House at Rhode Island College. At first, I was a bit curious as I did not know what an open house was like at a college. My only experience before this was open houses at elementary or middle schools. However, while a bit different, I realized that in many ways they were similar. The only real difference was that instead of talking about certain students, we talked about RIC and the major of Youth Development. At first, this made me a bit nervous as I am introverted at times and sometimes still have a hard time in explaining what Youth Development is to others. During the event, some of my classmates decided that instead of sitting at the table and waiting for people to come, they decided to walk around and interact with potential RIC students and educate them on the YDEV degree. Myself and another classmate however, decided to stay at the table and wait for people to come to us. When the first people showed up, I was a bit nervous and didn't talk too much. However, as things were going, my classmate was having a tough time explaining what YDEV was, so I jumped in and helped in explaining about the YDEV and what it was like. Being a former Phys. Ed and Health Ed major, I was able to explain how different YDEV was (in a good way) when compared to my former major. I was able to explain to them how YDEV was a much closer knit group than my former major and how there were a much wider range of job possibilities than you would have as a Phys. Ed/Health Ed major. Doing this, I felt that this was a great way of practicing my elevator speech to not only family and friends, but also in potential job interviews. All in all, I felt that this was a great experience for me to not only be comfortable in being in unfamiliar situations, but also helped enforce in me of how making the transition from PE/Health Ed to YDEV was the right decision.