Elvin Alicea Literacy History Blog #1

 Hey class, my name is Elvin Alicea and I’m a Psychology major with a minor in studio arts. I’m currently in my senior year. I was raised in Newark, New Jersey and being around a lot of poverty, criminal activity, and the fact that mental Health was one of those things puerto rican households just didn’t believe in tied in to my decision to pursue the field of psychology. I want to be a solid community member and therapist/ counselor that is able to connect, teach, and serve those who need it most regardless of income status. As a mental health advocate and I want my community to feel as though someone cares and understands the struggle. I have a position as a youth development lead at the boys and girls club and I love it because I am able to hone in and support the children who have disabilities they aren’t even aware of. I teach them how to release energy in constructive ways like painting, singing, and dancing as well as mechanisms for communicating their feelings while they are young. I use poetry, reading and music as a way for the kids to broaden their vocabulary and I’ve been able to track their progress/ regression over time by being present during the summer programs and throughout their development.

  Being raised in a latino household I learned Spanish as my first language and interacting with English speaking children at church coupled with school helped me learn English. I fell in love with reading and writing at a young age through comic books and attempting to create my own. But it wasn’t until high school where I truly became a reader because of my English teachers they really put an emphasis on vocabulary and the way we communicated gave my mind a breath of knowledge that I continue to carry with me. It truly was not until my freshman year of college that I became 100% confident in myself and a lot of that was due to being forced to have my mind on external things such as poverty and gang violence, I had to fight a lot as a kid so I felt “ stupid”  it made me anxious and highly uncomfortable talking as a freshman-sophomore in highschool.

Once I got to college I was pushing myself to speak more and placing myself in the hot seat in every course. Since then I’ve managed to do exceptionally well in my academics and even in my public speaking there’s confidence in knowing the words that I use and I love the adventure of learning new things through reading being literate is highly important. Because so much of life requires competency in reading and writing. And in order to share our personal stories and raw emotions through our writing and word play we need to be able to read and understand.