Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Hi there.
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My name is Katherine Washington, and I'm going to be
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presenting my multicultural event.
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So I chose this event because about a month ago
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my friend from my dorm invited me to attend his
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church group.
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Um, I was a little skeptical at first because I
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never grew up with any type of religious background.
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So I had no clue what I was going into.
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Um, throughout junior high in high school, I would sometimes
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go to a Christian church group with my friends, but,
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um, I don't know.
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I never really had a whole lot of experience with
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it, But he promised me it would be a good
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event, something fun just to do.
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And there would be free tacos.
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So I definitely was along for the ride.
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Um, the church I went to was called The Grove,
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and it's in Gilbert, Arizona.
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Um, I did feel a little bit more comfortable going
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here because it's from the area that I grew up
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in, so I was kind of excited to check it
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out. So before going into the event, um, like I
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said, I did not have a lot of expectations.
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I honestly was just going into it within open mind
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just to learn about everything.
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But I didn't have, like, I don't know.
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I wasn't expecting the worst or anything.
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I was just kind of excited to learn something new.
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Um, So when we got there, there were a lot
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of groups of college students.
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Since it was, um, like a college church group, everyone
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was gathered around and they were kind of like eating
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tacos, and everyone was very kind.
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Um, we talked to everyone, and my friend introduced me
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to all of his friends.
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And then we went into, like, um, the room where
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they do worship.
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And we sat down with chairs and there was like,
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an area with a stage.
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It was very trendy.
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I would say the atmosphere, it was very welcoming.
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And I really liked, like, the overall atmosphere in the
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vibe of the place.
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Um, there was a man who was leading the service.
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He was very polite.
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And the main message that he presented was persevering through
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life. No matter the obstacle.
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Um, I absolutely love this message.
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Just in general, even without like a religious tie, he
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did tie some of the message to the Bible which
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is like, totally normal because it's like a church group.
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But it was definitely more of a motivational speech, and
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it really did, um, kind of helped me that night.
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I was going through a lot just with school and
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stuff, and it was kind of a nice reminder that
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no matter what obstacles you're going through, you can totally
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get through them.
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Um, after it was over, I felt very calm.
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Um, I didn't feel left out at all when I
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was there, and I didn't feel overwhelmed.
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We said goodbye to everyone.
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We went back to Tempe overall.
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It was a really good experience.
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It was really nice, kind of changing up my schedule
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a little bit and going back to my house or
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the area that I'm from and attending this church group.
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Um, yeah, it was really good environment altogether.
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Um, what I took from this is that I absolutely
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support everyone, whatever their faith or religion is, and I
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can absolutely see why people choose to go to church.
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It's a wonderful thing.
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I personally I love the message, but I don't see
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myself going to something like this every week, but it
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really was just a cool experience to kind of get
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out of my comfort zone a little bit and try
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something new.
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Um, this question.
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I did have a little bit of an issue or
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not an issue, but I had a hard time kind
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of answering it.
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Um, I did not find a lot of examples of
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inequality or an equity or anything.
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Um, the church was really just a place of acceptance.
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Um, even though that I did not come from like
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a religious background, no one questioned me.
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They kind of just took me in as one of
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them, which I absolutely love, because I believe no matter
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what environment you're in, everyone there should be accepting.
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Um, I know in some churches they may not be
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as welcoming, or they may be judgmental, but that is
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definitely not something that I got from this experience.
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Luckily, um, this experience will definitely improve my future as
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a future educator in any classroom.
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Um, you will definitely have some students that come from
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many different religious backgrounds, if not any religious background.
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I think that it's so important to understand their religion
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in their background, who they come or where they come
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from and completely value it.
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Um, even this semester, I'm taking a religion course, and
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it's basically just an overall outline of every religion and
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what they believe.
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And I think that that is so important to learn.
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Even though I personally am not religious, I want to
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be able to understand what other people believe.
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So I'm able to, um, just value that and appreciate
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who they are.
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Um, although I started small, I think for this whole
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project, I definitely did not do anything too crazy and
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out of my comfort zone.
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But attending a Christian church is definitely something that I
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was not really comfortable doing before this project.
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But now it's something that I would not be opposed
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to at all.
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I think it was such a good experience, and it
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is definitely something that will help me understand my students
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in the future to the best of my ability.
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And that is my presentation.
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Thank you so much for listening