Example Reflection – Storytelling 

 Challenge & Selection 

 Storytelling is a great method of communication and I believe you gain a great understanding about   people and their needs just by listening to them talk about themselves and their personal situations .   I am the group leader of a nonprofit , recreation center that supports people in the inner - city , which   are in need . We offer various resources including but not limited to , food , clothes , financial support   and volunteered labor . 

 We have monthly meetings and we have about 10 - 15 attendees , on average for each meeting .   During the meetings , it ’s encouraged for the attendees to tell us about themselves and discuss   things they are in need of . Once the family members became comfortable enough to open up during   our meetings , they give brief introductions about themselves and a short description of what they   need at the time , i.e. financial loans , groceries , new job , opportunity to go back to school . 

 We encourage members to be comfortable asking for whatever they need even though our financial   resources are limited . For the most part , our offerings consisted of donating groceries , clothing ,   providing information about going back to school and financial advice . We are n’t always able to help   the families as much as we would like to and because of this , the attendance for our meetings has   started to dwindle . I realized that we are losing too many attendees to our meetings because we   do n’t have enough resources to help our members .   I spent time thinking about ways to better assist   our members , with the limited resources that we have . 

 Application 

 I was thinking about the descriptions of the families that attend my meetings , I appreciate that they   were comfortable enough to open up to me and my team . This is why I value open discussions ; it is   a great way to learn about people and to get an insight to what their circumstances are . It also helps   you connect in a more intimate way . We are not just some organization providing a service , we are a   group of people they are comfortable with , a bond is being made . 

 One day a question occurred to me , could I help visitors more if they told me stories about   themselves ? Instead of brief descriptions , what if I could hear actual stories about them and their   day - to - day lives ? For instance , I spoke to a lady that shared information about herself , like where   she went to school , where she ’s from , what she does for a living and her highest level of education .   She also mentioned to me that she is a registered nurse and has been looking for a new job .   However during her next meeting I wanted her to tell me a story about herself , so I asked her to 

 simply tell me about a typical day for her . After hearing her story , I learned that she works a 10 - hour   shift and then she has to pick up her son from her parents . It occurred to me that between her job   and raising her kids , that she did n’t have a lot of time to search for jobs nor to interview . I asked her   if it would help if my group searched for jobs for her and e - mail her job listings that match what she   is looking for . I offered to e - mail her job postings from job - networking sites . I also offered to reach   out to recruiting agencies and connected her with them . She agreed to the offer and allowed us to   search for jobs for her . This saved her a lot of time and gave her convenience to search for and   review jobs . 

 Another instance involved a gentleman that expressed to my team that he wanted to go back to   school . He has a B.A. in Communications and wants to pursue an MBA however he could n’t afford to   enroll in business school . The next meeting , I asked him to talk more about his background and why   he wants to pursue a business degree . In this scenario our team would normally offer to research   scholarships or financial aid options but my first response was to ask him to tell me about where he   went to school , his past career and why he now wants to pursue a master ’s in business .    I learned   that he worked in communications but the wages were n’t great so he started to work in sales . Now   his goal is to be a sales manager and in a few years , a Project manager .    After some thought , I   advised him that a cheaper option might be to earn a Project Management Certificate . A Project   management course is more affordable than a business degree and it ’s more related to your career   choice . He never considered that option , he said he would give it some thought and I offered to e- mail him some info about Project Management certificates . I could have just addressed his needs as   he stated them , by helping him find ways to afford to go to business school however by getting him   to open up more I learned what he wanted to do for a career and was able to offer him a solution   that may work even better for him . 

 Insights and Approach 

 So I learned that by getting our attendees to speak out and tell stories , we were able to learn more   about their situations in detail and connect with them more intimately . The more information they   shared , the easier it was to help them . The more info we had , the more my group and I could   brainstorm solutions for helping them . Going forward , I will have our members tell story about their   day - to day lives during our meetings and find other exercises we can use for my group and I to get   to know our members . Of course , if they do n’t feel comfortable telling these stories , to the group , I   will arrange to talk with them in private . 

 Having them tell stories gave us greater insights about how we could help them than we would get   from just digging , asking specific questions . It also helps to connect with people and makes them   feel more comfortable interacting with your organization . By getting members to tell stories about   themselves and open up , they felt more at home and people who feel like they are at home , tend to   come back . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Example Reflection – Storytelling 

 Challenge & Selection 

 Storytelling is a great method of communication and I believe you gain a great understanding about   people and their needs just by listening to them talk about themselves and their personal situations .   I am the group leader of a nonprofit , recreation center that supports people in the inner - city , which   are in need . We offer various resources including but not limited to , food , clothes , financial support   and volunteered labor . 

 We have monthly meetings and we have about 10 - 15 attendees , on average for each meeting .   During the meetings , it ’s encouraged for the attendees to tell us about themselves and discuss   things they are in need of . Once the family members became comfortable enough to open up during   our meetings , they give brief introductions about themselves and a short description of what they   need at the time , i.e. financial loans , groceries , new job , opportunity to go back to school . 

 We encourage members to be comfortable asking for whatever they need even though our financial   resources are limited . For the most part , our offerings consisted of donating groceries , clothing ,   providing information about going back to school and financial advice . We are n’t always able to help   the families as much as we would like to and because of this , the attendance for our meetings has   started to dwindle . I realized that we are losing too many attendees to our meetings because we   do n’t have enough resources to help our members .   I spent time thinking about ways to better assist   our members , with the limited resources that we have . 

 Application 

 I was thinking about the descriptions of the families that attend my meetings , I appreciate that they   were comfortable enough to open up to me and my team . This is why I value open discussions ; it is   a great way to learn about people and to get an insight to what their circumstances are . It also helps   you connect in a more intimate way . We are not just some organization providing a service , we are a   group of people they are comfortable with , a bond is being made . 

 One day a question occurred to me , could I help visitors more if they told me stories about   themselves ? Instead of brief descriptions , what if I could hear actual stories about them and their   day - to - day lives ? For instance , I spoke to a lady that shared information about herself , like where   she went to school , where she ’s from , what she does for a living and her highest level of education .   She also mentioned to me that she is a registered nurse and has been looking for a new job .   However during her next meeting I wanted her to tell me a story about herself , so I asked her to 

 simply tell me about a typical day for her . After hearing her story , I learned that she works a 10 - hour   shift and then she has to pick up her son from her parents . It occurred to me that between her job   and raising her kids , that she did n’t have a lot of time to search for jobs nor to interview . I asked her   if it would help if my group searched for jobs for her and e - mail her job listings that match what she   is looking for . I offered to e - mail her job postings from job - networking sites . I also offered to reach   out to recruiting agencies and connected her with them . She agreed to the offer and allowed us to   search for jobs for her . This saved her a lot of time and gave her convenience to search for and   review jobs . 

 Another instance involved a gentleman that expressed to my team that he wanted to go back to   school . He has a B.A. in Communications and wants to pursue an MBA however he could n’t afford to   enroll in business school . The next meeting , I asked him to talk more about his background and why   he wants to pursue a business degree . In this scenario our team would normally offer to research   scholarships or financial aid options but my first response was to ask him to tell me about where he   went to school , his past career and why he now wants to pursue a master ’s in business .    I learned   that he worked in communications but the wages were n’t great so he started to work in sales . Now   his goal is to be a sales manager and in a few years , a Project manager .    After some thought , I   advised him that a cheaper option might be to earn a Project Management Certificate . A Project   management course is more affordable than a business degree and it ’s more related to your career   choice . He never considered that option , he said he would give it some thought and I offered to e- mail him some info about Project Management certificates . I could have just addressed his needs as   he stated them , by helping him find ways to afford to go to business school however by getting him   to open up more I learned what he wanted to do for a career and was able to offer him a solution   that may work even better for him . 

 Insights and Approach 

 So I learned that by getting our attendees to speak out and tell stories , we were able to learn more   about their situations in detail and connect with them more intimately . The more information they   shared , the easier it was to help them . The more info we had , the more my group and I could   brainstorm solutions for helping them . Going forward , I will have our members tell story about their   day - to day lives during our meetings and find other exercises we can use for my group and I to get   to know our members . Of course , if they do n’t feel comfortable telling these stories , to the group , I   will arrange to talk with them in private . 

 Having them tell stories gave us greater insights about how we could help them than we would get   from just digging , asking specific questions . It also helps to connect with people and makes them   feel more comfortable interacting with your organization . By getting members to tell stories about   themselves and open up , they felt more at home and people who feel like they are at home , tend to   come back .
### Output: 