My name is Kiarelys Ortega I am currently attending Millersville University for my bachelor’s in Social Work. I originally chose Millersville because of the close proximity to where I live. I help out my parents with translating (their primary language is Spanish), so being able to be close to them was a priority for me. I was born in Puerto Rico and my parents moved us here when I was 6 years old so I would have more opportunities. Because of past experiences, I have always wanted to be a social worker and it led to me being passionate about helping people in my community. Even though classes take up a lot of my time, some of my hobbies include painting, organizing my bedroom, doing crossword puzzles, listening to podcasts, and reading occasionally, (when I discover a good book).
Advoz initially caught my attention because of the restorative justice aspect they use to solve conflicts. I did not have a lot of previous knowledge on restorative justice, but after learning about it, I found it very interesting and wanted to build knowledge on it. After interviewing for the intern position in November, I searched what restorative justice was and found out that it went hand in hand with a lot of things that I personally valued like preventing future crime, instead of just persecuting and letting the cycle continue. I would like to continue building my knowledge on how restorative justice can be used in everyday situations.
I also did not know much about the circle process and learned a lot from participating in Advoz’s recent 3-day training. I learned about the steps that facilitators take to ask questions, and even play games, to build relationships before addressing the problem. I was not prepared for the sensitive topics that would be discussed, but I also think that is part of building relationships. The circle structure creates a safe space for this sensitive sharing. Somethings that stood out to me were the backstories that everyone had for their talking pieces and the background on the actual process. I would have never guessed it originated from indigenous models and can be adapted to work for pretty much any population. The training made me feel more confident that I could run my own circle one day and showed the steps that I need to take for it to be successful.
