Blog 2

Welcome back to my blog for my speech class. Today I want to take a deep dive into our big group project for SPC 2608. If you have ever taken a college class you already know that group projects can be a massive rollercoaster. You have different personalities and different schedules trying to mesh together to create one cohesive presentation. But I have to say I am honestly really proud of what Group 3 pulled off. Our overarching theme was Elections Matter and our specific focus as a group was the economy.

When we decided our topic was going to be Economy I was intimidated but excited because economy is such a vast topic. Usually when people talk about the economy they use all these confusing terms and numbers that feel completely disconnected from everyday life. But as an LPN who works as a one to one school nurse and does PRN shifts in hospice care while also tackling a nursing bridge program at Miami Dade College I quickly realized the economy is literally everything and that we can make this topic relatable to us. It is the price of gas when I am driving my Kia across Miami. It is the cost of tuition for my classes. It is the rent prices that have everyone in South Florida completely stressed out. So making this project relatable for college students and working youth was our main goal from the very beginning.

Our group split the work into four main sections so we could cover all our bases without overwhelming the audience. My partner Kassandra and I were in charge of researching local and national organizations that provide financial support and education. I put a ton of time and energy into this section because I wanted our classmates to walk away with actual resources they could use right now. At the national level we looked into the United Way and the National Urban League which are amazing for workforce development and crisis relief. We also highlighted the National Foundation for Credit Counseling because so many college students are drowning in student loans and credit card debt and they offer free financial coaching to help get you on track.

But the part I was most proud of was our focus on local South Florida resources and our very own campus departments. We highlighted CareerSource South Florida and Catalyst Miami which help with job placement and tax preparation. Then we brought it right home to Miami Dade College by showcasing the Single Stop office and the Institute for Civic Engagement and Democracy. Single Stop is literally a lifeline for students who need emergency funds or food assistance. I’ve used single stop my said earlier this year for free bus passes because I didn’t have a car and it made life so much easier. And the Institute for Civic Engagement and Democracy helps students register to vote and track their civic action scorecards. Putting these slides together took a lot of late nights and careful planning because I wanted the flow to be absolutely perfect. Even though group dynamics can be frustrating sometimes especially when you feel like you are carrying a lot of the weight it was incredibly validating to see our presentation look so professional. The professor even gave a special shout out to the idea of focusing heavily on student resources which felt really good after all the hard work I put into helping my partner bring that section together. 

Watching the rest of my group present their sections was also a huge learning experience for me. Katherine and Kierra handled the history and overview of the economy. They took us all the way back to the Great Depression and walked us through major economic shifts up to the inflation we are dealing with right now after the pandemic. I learned so much from their slides. It is crazy to see how government policies from decades ago laid the foundation for the financial struggles and the safety nets we have today. They made a really strong point about how every time the economy crashes or booms it directly influences public opinion and shapes the outcome of presidential and local elections. It made me realize that the financial aid programs and labor laws we rely on today were literally voted into existence by people who came before us.

Then Jonathan and Joshua presented their section which compared American economic perspectives to the rest of the world. This part honestly blew my mind. They broke down the differences in wages and the cost of living and education costs between the United States and peer nations. Hearing about countries where higher education is publicly funded and where healthcare does not bankrupt families really put our American struggles into perspective. As a nursing student I see the flaws in our healthcare system every single day at work. But seeing it compared on a global scale regarding how much more debt young adults take on in America just to get a degree was eye opening. It drove home their main point which is that the policies we vote for dictate our financial reality. If we want better systems we have to elect people who support those systems.

Finally Karely and Krysten wrapped up our project with community perspectives and field interviews. I am not going to lie there was a moment where we were all sweating because the interview portion was coming down to the wire. But they managed to pull it together and the result was so impactful. They gathered opinions from real people in our community about how the economy affects their everyday lives. Hearing actual quotes from local professionals and students made the entire project feel incredibly real. It was no longer just a history lesson or a global comparison. It was our neighbors and classmates talking about how hard it is to afford groceries and rent right now. Their interviews proved exactly why economic issues matter in elections. Local commissioners and state legislators determine things like transit funding and rent relief programs. Voting is not just a national sport it is a local survival tool.

Looking back on the project as a whole I can confidently say it was a massive success despite the usual group project stress. We created a beautiful digital brochure and a really engaging slide deck that flowed perfectly from history to global comparisons to local resources and finally to community voices. I learned that you cannot just complain about the state of the economy without understanding how it got this way and more importantly what you can do to fix it.

If there is one major takeaway I want my blog readers to get from my experience it is this. Elections matter because your money matters. The people we elect are the ones who decide the minimum wage the interest rates on our student loans and the funding for programs like Single Stop that keep vulnerable students from dropping out of school. As a young woman balancing a career a seven year relationship and nursing school I do not have time to sit on the sidelines and hope the economy magically fixes itself. We have to be proactive. We have to use the community resources available to us to stay stable and then we have to take that stability straight to the ballot box. I am so glad I got to research this topic and share it with my class. Group 3 definitely left a mark and I am walking away from this assignment feeling way more informed and empowered as a voter and a student.