Week 8- Graduation!
Week 8 August 1st – August 7th
Since I had no class to prepare this week, it gave me more time to look over the evaluations and other data collection documents I got throughout the program. I was really happy to see that many of the participants wished the sessions had been longer and wished there were more classes. All the comments were positive. One participant did mention that I should have asked more people to participate during the sessions because the same people talked all the time. I think it would have been better if someone else had given them the evaluations because even though it said they were anonymous, I think their response could have been more truthful had I not collected them.
The graduation itself was really fun and really cute. I had made diplomas for all the participants that attended 3 or more of the sessions and we had 2 prizes for a raffle. Pr. Parra had a short focus group at the beginning of the “party” and, among other things, she asked all the participants to name one thing they learned. Everyone said something different, which was great. The entire congregation was there, so we got to interact with everyone. After the diploma “ceremony,” we put all the food out. The participants were asked to prepare something applying one concept from the classes. Some participants made food using the recipes from sessions and other altered dishes they usually make at home. It was great to see everyone together, but weird that it was my last time in Marion until the 3-month follow up in November.