My Engaged Learning Experience
Jaguar Leadership Network
Yewande Akinlosotu
Embedded Files
First-time attending Primerica's Wednesday's meeting and I was introduced to what Primerica goals are.
Purpose
Purpose
For my engaged learning, I decided to go with a company called primerica. One of Primerica's missions is to help families earn more income, become properly protected, debt free and financially independent. They are mainly wanting to help minorities in Indiana gain financial literacy and help them secure their future. Financial capability is one of the social determinants of health. My tasks within this engaged learning would be Reaching out to organizations, Communicating with organizations to set up financial literacy meetings and studying for life insurance licenses to gain skills to help the community. I chose this experience because a lot of minorities are said to not have financial literacy, a lot of minorities are poor and they don’t have plans for their retirement. I want to be educated in this field in order to help other minorities. “A big part of financial freedom is having your heart and mind free from worry about the what-ifs of life” suze orman.
Prior Experience
Prior Experience
One of the goals of being a JLN scholar is to network with not only people in your cohort but also with people who have experiences in their field. As a JLN scholar, we had people from different organizations come to talk to us and most times we are given an assignment to go around and network with them. My church usually hosts a food/clothing pantry drive for the needy every year; I am part of the committee in charge of coordinating the drive. My job is to find an area where there is a need and also what they need (either clothes, or food, or both) and also network with other nonprofit organizations such as our sister church who would like to participate in the project. For my engaging learning, I am working with my team with an end goal of eradicating financial instability which includes retirement plan, life insurance, and emergency savings amongst people in indiana. All three of these experiences have helped me develop networking skills. In one of my classes, we were taught how a community can suffer if they lack necessary information such as health related, financial related, physical related, mental related etc. While growing up, I have seen a lot of minorities who have little to no plans for their retirement or their current financial struggles. Throughout my stay at Primerica I see how financial illiteracy has eaten into the community especially amongst the minorities.
One of the goals of being a JLN scholar is to network with not only people in your cohort but also with people who have experiences in their field. As a JLN scholar, we had people from different organizations come to talk to us and most times we are given an assignment to go around and network with them. My church usually hosts a food/clothing pantry drive for the needy every year; I am part of the committee in charge of coordinating the drive. My job is to find an area where there is a need and also what they need (either clothes, or food, or both) and also network with other nonprofit organizations such as our sister church who would like to participate in the project. For my engaging learning, I am working with my team with an end goal of eradicating financial instability which includes retirement plan, life insurance, and emergency savings amongst people in indiana. All three of these experiences have helped me develop networking skills. In one of my classes, we were taught how a community can suffer if they lack necessary information such as health related, financial related, physical related, mental related etc. While growing up, I have seen a lot of minorities who have little to no plans for their retirement or their current financial struggles. Throughout my stay at Primerica I see how financial illiteracy has eaten into the community especially amongst the minorities.
One of the social problems Primerica is trying to eradicate.
I learned about the rule of 72 which is an important rule for people to know.
Community Connections
Community Connections
My engaged learning has provided me exposure to diverse perspectives that has broadened my understanding of the world, promoting cultural competence, and this has also led to increased empathy. Working with Primerica to help people gain financial literacy has opened gates for me to meet different people from different parts of the world. I was able to help answer any financial questions the people had. Last week I was able to speak to a woman from Africa and a man from South America. I talked to them about the importance of life insurance and Roth IRA. I see that their individual needs are different and some of their decisions were impacted by culture. This engaged learning has exposed me to different cultures and increased my awareness and appreciation for cultural diversity, this has strengthened my cultural awareness. People from different parts of the world have different exposure and experiences, this interaction has helped me find likeminded and also see from other people’s perspective and also taking one or two things from them.
Pensions can barely buy groceries and pay mortage now adays. It is good to get your own plan for retirement.
New Skills/ Lessons
New Skills/ Lessons
One situation from my engaged learning experience that has taught me something new was when one of our clients came into one of the Wednesday learning/training sections and gave her testimony on how emergency funds helped her family in time of need. She mentions that she has been taking out $100 every month for the past two years without touching it. She mentioned that there was a fire outbreak at her neighbor’s house which hit her house and they didn’t know where to go but she remembered she has an emergency fund saved up. She and her children were able to lodge a hotel for a whole week before they settled the situation. I learned that just because an emergency situation hasn’t happened, do not stop setting out money because you never can tell when it will happen. I see myself using this method of savings because it prepares you for the unknown. I learned that a lot of things can be fixed in our community through adequate provision of necessities and actively carrying the people of the community along. I also learned that culture plays a vital role in making decisions and I was surprised that it really had a great influence on people's finances. I also learned that you can't depend on pensions anymore, it is not enough.
One situation from my engaged learning experience that has taught me something new was when one of our clients came into one of the Wednesday learning/training sections and gave her testimony on how emergency funds helped her family in time of need. She mentions that she has been taking out $100 every month for the past two years without touching it. She mentioned that there was a fire outbreak at her neighbor’s house which hit her house and they didn’t know where to go but she remembered she has an emergency fund saved up. She and her children were able to lodge a hotel for a whole week before they settled the situation. I learned that just because an emergency situation hasn’t happened, do not stop setting out money because you never can tell when it will happen. I see myself using this method of savings because it prepares you for the unknown. I learned that a lot of things can be fixed in our community through adequate provision of necessities and actively carrying the people of the community along. I also learned that culture plays a vital role in making decisions and I was surprised that it really had a great influence on people's finances. I also learned that you can't depend on pensions anymore, it is not enough.
Impact Slides
My engaged learning experience with Primerica has provided me exposure to diverse perspectives that has broadened my understanding of the world, promoting cultural competence, and this has also led to increased empathy. Working with Primerica to help people gain financial literacy has opened gates for me to meet different people from different parts of the world. Primerica has helped me see how financial illiteracy has eaten deep into the society. During my engaged learning, I was trained to answer questions varying from how to start saving money for the future and what are the simple steps to take as a short-term goal towards financial literacy. People from different parts of the world have different exposure and experiences, this interaction has helped me find likeminded and also see from other people’s perspective and also taking one or two things from them. An experience that excites me was talking to people and seeing a smile on their faces after I attended to them.
I had the privilege to work with German because of my years of experience with Primerica. He has his own business, which is with Primerica, under German is Subomi who has been working with Primerica for 3 years now and has moved up from being a rep to working her way to becoming a divisional manager. German has successfully helped individuals through Primerica’s school of thought and also through collaboration with organizations that would provide beneficial information and help people in society. This has helped me realize that learning new things that will help me gain experience for my future career is crucial.
Career Connections
My learning experience will help me develop initiative skills and problem-solving skills for my future career. I am looking to venture into the community health aspect of public health, such as food pantries, community outreach and community awareness programs. Helping people to be financially free (currently) in the community is a major sector of a successful future. This experience has helped me gain the confidence and networking skills I need for my community-based career. This experience has helped me gain the confidence and networking skills I need for my community-based career. What I will do next is to add this experience to my resume and also use all the good things I have learned from this experience as a career guideline. For future internships, this experience has laid a foundation that will help me choose the right internships that will benefit me as a person, the community and my future career.
Summary
Finding an organization to complete my engage learning was one of the crucial steps for my engaged learning. Out of all the organizations I had on my list, I picked Primerica. My overall experience at Primerica was awesome. I found it dim to choose an area where my community is lacking the most, which is high financial illiteracy especially amongst minorities. I worked under German and his team to help combat this and also create awareness, and an active help to those who are struggling with this issue. Primerica helped me to give back to my community because I was able to help people set up their retirement accounts, emergency funds, short term funds and long-term funds. One of the biggest takeaways from my engaged learning is that a community will change for good if there are measures in place to help them get rid of the vices. I also learned that incorporating people as active participants will help create trust amongst people in the society and workers who are trying to carry out the change.
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