Ja’Mia Hill

Week 1

June 17, 2019/in Jamia /by empadmin

I’m Jamia, and I think of myself as a relatively friendly person who’s extremely flexible in conversation and pretty confident in platonic relationships. Formalities out of the way, first day, even though I met and greeted one of the girls at the front door of the building, the silence in the cubical area of the department killed my confidence. Alright, that was mostly an exaggeration, but that silence really was extreme. It shut up any chances to give my introductions which I mentally repeated at least a dozen and one times on the walk from the building’s parking lot to the department on the second floor. I am getting to know the girls though, and I just love their quickness to pick up on a nickname for me since I’ve always wanted to be called Jay, but unfortunately the silence looks like it’s not going to be leaving anytime soon. Just insert ‘dread’ emoji right here, but I won’t really be saying anything else that I find bad–except the cold, I’m telling you I’m bringing a blanket next week–so as for everything else, I find it all alright. I’m curious and ready to learn new things, especially coding, so I find Treehouse alright, boring sometimes, but alright as long as Empowered continues to space out our time spent on it. For motivation purposes, I’ll just keep toying with the idea of building the website of a small business that my parents own, and for the purposes of keeping myself awake, I’ll continue to remember that I’m being paid to learn. Now, there’s this ‘best decorated cubicle’ contest next week, and I got both the beat and most cost efficient idea! I mean, I still don’t know about it being a “positive vibes only” theme, so I’ll keep working on it. Until next week.

Week 1

June 27, 2018/in Jamia /by eric

Though Treehouse breaks down instructions well, the most challenging part is actually learning the information instead of just copying it. It’s easy just to write whatever the instructor writes, but when you get tested it’s obvious that you don’t know as much as you thought you did. The best way I’ve found for me is to listen to the instructor and not look at his tutorial as a way to test your capabilities, as far as memorizing and learning the different HTML elements.

Though I wasn’t there for Eric’s presentation, I still gained a lot from the guest that I was able to meet—Brit Fitzpatrick. It’s inspirational to not only see a black woman as a successful entrepreneur, but especially a black woman for Louisville. Ms. Fitzpatrick was a wonderful, articulate who honestly helped put this program into focus for me. Her journey made entrepreneurship seem, not as an impossible feat, but more as one that requires great persistence and hard work.

This week was interesting for me because I didn’t have much time to prepare for it. Coming right back from a vacation, and having already missed two days, I expected my first day at work to be tiring. And though I had to wake up early, my first day with Empowered was ultimately enjoyable and made me excited for the next day.

Week 2

June 27, 2018/0 Comments/in Jamia /by eric

I struggled a little this week, as far as my concentration with Treehouse. My momentum is definitely not as high as it was last thursday, and I wish I could’ve worked a bit harder. I’m not sure if it’s because my sleep pattern has been off this week or if I was just really excited to start my website. Either way my progression was sort of a struggle these last few days.

Despite my struggles with Treehouse, my week was still really fun. The highlight was absolutely spending half the day decorating my cubicle, while everyone was already finished with theirs. Sometimes it feels like I’m a step behind everyone else, but regardless I’m glad I got it done. My cubicle finally feels like my own space and not just an area that was given to me. Everytime I look up and see my favorite musicians, or look to my left and see my family, my mood immediately improves.

I really enjoyed our last speaker of the week, Dr. Angelique Johnson. She was an highly accomplished, black CEO— much Ms. Fitzpatrick from last week. Her story inspired my, but her exercise when she told me to pitch my business idea motivated me. Her feedback and encouragement really made me feel like my goals are attainable. She was also really sweet in the fact she gave me a gift for participating.

Though this week wasn’t easy, it was really fun. It was Anjali ‘s last week with us, so it was nice to give her a going away party. And I’ll miss her, but I feel like I’m growing closer to the rest of the girls so my time here will still be amazing for the remaining five weeks.

Week 3

June 2, 2018/0 Comments/in Jamia /by eric

I knew my week was going to be short since I was missing the presentations of Saturday, so I tried to get as much work done as I could. At the beginning of the week, our main focus was completing our business website, so we could really start moving toward our Empowered sites. I think everyone was pretty excited to get a break from HTML.

We also broke into groups of 3-4 members, so we could get ready for our meeting with the entrepreneurs on Saturday. Aysha, Noriana, and I were given a business that was a resource for caretakers. The objective of each group was to redesign a website for the business owner, using the psychology between color and font choice.

And to wrap up my review of the week I’d like to take about my favorite speaker, Ms. Bishop. Her story was a complete inspiration. From her being a young immigrant and having to support her family, to earning a living by being a freelance photograph. Her drive and success shows that the sky’s the limit.

Week 4

June 1, 2018/0 Comments/in Jamia /by eric

This week has been a short one for me. Due to flight complications coming back from out of town, I unfortunately missed Monday. And then with Wednesday being Fourth of July, I am a disappointed that I didn’t have as much office time as I’d like. However, the two days that I was here was very productive.

My end goal of this week was to finish my html website, however I ran into a speed bump n can’t figure out what’s wrong with my code. Though it’s frustrating, I’m determined to fix my site and finish building it the way that I want. Besides the work side of Empowered, Alicia made some thought provoking comments about why we’re really here. The conclusion we came to is of course to get more involved in STEM, but also to form connections with each other that will hopefully last a lifetime.

Week 5

May 24, 2018/0 Comments/in Jamia /by eric

Week five overall was a really enriching and fun week for me. When Dr. Franklin came in I learned much more than i initially expected. She spoke a lot about balancing work and personal life. Due to our age, she also talked about time management skills in college, and emphasized the importance of staying focused on your classes. It’s easy to get caught up with partying or friends, but in the long run it’s the grades that really matter. Another fun thing about week five is that we all went to Captain’s Quarters as an office. It was a great bonding day out between enjoying the food as well as the view.

Ja’Mia Hill

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