Assignments
Written Story #1
Culture Shock Overwhelms UNL Rwandese International Student
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UNL’s 24-year-old, Rwandese graduate international student, Schadrack Shumbusho, opens up about his experience with integrating into the UNL/American culture.
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From first applying for the CUSP scholarship program, then undergoing the process of elimination, to receiving the news of his acceptance and making the trip to America, Shumbusho says he wish he had known what awaited him.
“It was a long selection to come here, after waiting for the scholarship and doing my time, it was really a phenomenal achievement, especially hearing stories about the white-hood promise land,” says Shumbusho.
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He says that his challenges are coming from the culture shock. Most of his life has been spent in Rwanda, Africa, where the customs, attitude, and traditions are different from America. Though he is learning about the ways of America and trying to adapt, he still struggles.
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“As time goes by, you try to adjust yourself to the system, but sometimes you get rejection, you get denied, you are not accepted in some scenarios,” says Shumbusho.
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Shumbusho’s difficult transition into UNL is making him feel like an outsider. For the most part, his journey has been filled with hardships, but his mindset and determination to be someone his family can be proud of is keeping him on his feet.
“It was really hard coming here; you come to this country, you learn the language, try the food, learn the culture and make friends, but it was hard, the integration was really hard,” says Shumbusho.
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Shumbusho’s methods for adapting and integrating into the UNL culture is putting himself out there. He involves himself in some of the campus’s student organizations. Whenever there is an opportunity to interact with others, he is all for it.
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“One of the things I have been doing to make sure I adapt into the community here is understanding that I will never be an American and this just means I have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” says Shumbusho.
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With his knowledge of the American culture and walk of adversity in integrating, he wants to let the next generation of UNL’s Rwandese students know that the path is what they make of it.
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“Believe in yourself and believe that you deserve to be here, your voice deserves to be heard,” says Shumbusho.
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No matter where you are, conflict will appear. For Shumbusho, he finds himself in conflict with his image in the eyes of UNL’s students. Shumbusho feels like many UNL’s students do not realize how their roles in welcoming international students play a heavy part in their transitioning process.
“Maybe UNL students do not have a lot of experience studying with international students, but they do this thing where they confuse accents with IQs,” says Shumbusho. “We did not get here because UNL felt generous, we worked to be here, we were chosen among the top best scholars in our country.”
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Even though it has been socially difficult to integrate, he reminds himself that he is here for academics. “I think the university and professors need to teach American students the importance of understanding the differences between them and international students, and celebrate these differences, education is found there too,” says Shumbusho.
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WORD COUNT: 533
Guest Speaker Recap #1
Earlier this evening Quinn Lewandowski, a senior research specialist, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center and president, Nebraska State Suicide Prevention Coalition, moderated a Public Media screening event to discuss about mental health resources across Nebraska, current existing mental health resources challenges and ways Nebraskan communities can confront them with Sami Bradley, a LIMHP, Associate Vice President Early Childhood Mental Health at the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, Dr. Barbara Buttes (Yankton Sioux, Mdewankatowan Dakota), anthropologist, researcher and consultant, who’s currently working with the Nebraska Department of Education and school districts serving Native American youth to create stronger systems around mental health and suicide prevention and Dr. Catherine Jones-Hazledine, owner, Western Nebraska Behavioral Health and co-director, Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska Panhandle Division.
“In terms of trends, providers in all areas of mental health practices, in rural areas have seen a real increase in the need of, in these last couple years,” said Dr. Hazledine.
The guests went in depth on the shortage of mental health providers nationwide, especially in rural areas. Some of the existing challenges discussed were about services being too far for communities to access and looking into modifying some of the approaches in which these services are being provided.
“In the native American community, we have a little bit different culture, said Dr. Buttes. They have their own way of handling mental health and sometimes American Indians are reluctant to access services even if they are there,” said Dr. Buttes.
Dr. Buttes explains that the percentage in mental health issues have increased because there’s a lack of attraction and availability when it comes to access.
“Our kids between the ages 10-24 suicide rates have gone up 39% in the last two years,” said Dr. Buttes. “I think if we bring the services to these children where they are and work it out in a way that makes them see that what they do is fine and good, then we can work together.”
One of the issues discussed was finding providers who are trained to serve specific mental health disorders.
“The waiting lists are just that much harder when you are looking at someone who specializes and has some experiences in early childhood mental health,” said Bradley.
Not only did the screening bring awareness to the challenges mentioned, but it provided an opportunity to publicly inform these communities on accessible mental health resources.
Live-Tweet Assignment
Written Story #2
The reason WHY Marcey Yates had to create Culxr House
Marcey Yates, the founder of the nonprofit, Culxr House, is a hip-hop artist and producer, who once found himself in a building with six other artists brainstorming ideas on ways to create a sustainable space for creatives in north Omaha.
“I think it was just my journey as an artist, as a musician and having to build my own resources, having a recording studio to produce, or a place to rehearse, and a place to perform that made all the differences,” said Yates.
Yates’ mission is to feed creativity and grow the community of north Omaha. He works to accomplish his mission by welcoming artists to express themselves in an environment with a large variety of equipment and supplies to adequately allow their artistic talents to grow and be nourished. The idea of Culxr House was to provide free to affordable resources that Yates felt like he lacked in the beginning of his journey as a musician/artist and ones that the north Omaha lacks as well.
“I got into looking for funding after I realized I couldn’t afford to continue to pay for these things that I wanted to be at low cost or free for the community and for other creatives,” said Yates.
Once he acknowledged that there was a need for a safe space for the creatives in his community, he educated himself on nonprofits and learned what it meant to run a successful business.
“I decided to go on the nonprofit route after talking to some friends and directors of other organizations, said Yates. I felt like I could do it… the mission and the groundwork were already laid out.”
The start of Culxr House didn’t begin with a mission vision. It was just a man with a passion and love for his community, which he recognized it’s potential and was determined to foster the creativity his community held.
“I feel like we have definitely inspired a wave of leaders, said Yates. Like people want to take ownership of their community and want to have an impact through organizing, using their art as activism or as a way to tell a story.”
As far as the development of Culxr House, Yates looks forward to gaining more experiences and inspiring the creatives in his community to be unafraid to dream beyond any limitations through the posts on Culxr House’s social media and the interactions he has with the community at Culxr House’s location on North 24th street.
“Continue to follow us and when you see things coming up with certain events, see how you can be a part of it, said Yates. When people in your circle are looking for space to do things at or need support in areas that we can serve in, throw our names out there, the word of mouth is really important.”
Culxr House focuses on providing artists, creatives, and activists a safe space to grow their talents. The organization serves and supports the north Omaha community by their range of focus. Yates’ passion, hard work, and determination has brought more awareness to his platform through the support of the creatives he has impacted and helped.
“Since I started Culxr House, it’s been a blessing to be able to get support in the community, to build a foundation and to be able to sustain it,” said Yates.
Yates says that he cares for his community, which has helped him keep his intentions pure. His personal experiences alone have allowed him to relate to the creatives that he serves.
“We are building a huge collective of artists and creatives, leaders and entrepreneurs,” said Yates.
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WORD COUNT: 610
Guest Speaker Recap #2
Guest speaker Matthew Wayne Tompkins joined our Media Storytelling course to share his wisdom and knowledge about the art and science of communication: marketing, networking, and making first impressions.
He begins speaking to the class by sharing his background in radio and how was able to stop working in radio in 2020 to start his own company where he and his brother produces podcasts and video podcasts. Tompkins and his brother have a studio that they built and now produces all of their content out of. He says that content marketing is their primary focus along with producing podcasts and add video to create content for businesses and individuals.
His insight on marketing was really fascinating to me. Tompkins first described it as “just human nature.” He goes on to say that we are constantly marketing.
“Your friendship is all marketing; you’re marketing yourself every day; you’re trying to persuade; you’re trying to influence; you’re trying to create relationships,” said Tompkins.
At first, I couldn’t relate marketing as human nature to the kind of marketing I saw on TV or social media because it seemed more tactical than simply common human interactions. But Tompkins gave politics as an example, describing it as the most affective form of marketing. He says in politics, they “just basically speak to the lowest common denominator and finding the simplest possible thing to communicate to somebody and just grinding it into people’s minds.”
I learned that as humans, we do not make decisions based off what is in our best interest, rather, we make decisions based off of the things that persuades us and the emotional connections we have with certain things. Which sums up what marketing is really all about.
I believe that humans are emotional creatures and even logic comes from emotional instincts. So, I wasn’t too surprised to hear that we make decisions based off the things that persuades us and the emotional connections we have with certain things. But as far as marketing, to me it still feels like it is another form of manipulation and gaslighting. When it comes to marketing, the marketer has an agenda, and most of the time they are just trying to serve themselves. Marketing can come off as disingenuous.
Tompkins debunks my perspective on marketing by saying “…but when you look at marketing as what it really is, which is just how we act and how understanding how people really act and behave, then it becomes more about relationships, more about investing in relationships and relationship building.”
According to Tompkins, networking is in the same field as marketing. He describes networking as making connections and building relationships. The most affective networking is creating relationships without any sort of intentions or any sort of expectations. Which in the long run will be rewarding.
“The more you invest in these relationships genuinely and authentically for the other person and not even for yourself, they are going to be the ones that pays off the most for you,” said Tompkins.
Tompkins reminds the class that the events of your lives can seem negative at times, but with the right mindset, they can become positives.
“There are those moments that seem like tragedies, setbacks, and losses that are actually going to end up being the thing that you’re perhaps most grateful for, because had they not happened, they wouldn’t set in motion these things that will come to formation years later,” said Tompkins.
I knew that first impressions were important, however I wasn’t aware that you can’t change how someone views you. It almost feels like if someone meets you in an unfortunate situation, they’ll only see you in that situation. When in reality we are different people based on the environment we are in. Personally, I don’t think someone can grasp your wholesome in a matter of a minute or hours. Often, in this life of “business,” we are showing up in ways that’ll benefit us and not all of who we are.
Tompkins says that as one of the laws of marketing, “once you have entered someone brain, once you have made an impression and a person has a view of you, you can never change that.”
Something that resonated with me the most was the statement, “I don’t think you should check your feeling out of the door, I think you should tap into your emotions because they are what makes us.” My whole life I felt like I connected to people through our emotional experiences. Growing up, I was told to stop being so emotional because that’ll never help me in life.
It was refreshing hearing Tompkins say that tapping into your emotions “makes you understand the world a lot better, it makes you a lot less angry and frustrated at the world and it also helps you with achieving what you want to do.”