I joined Reclaim because I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the ACT Program, and I knew that I wanted to be more active in the Women’s Center. I had no idea that my experience with Reclaim would totally change my outlook on rape culture, inspire a research project, and, ultimately, help mold my career path.
When I went to the first Reclaim meeting, saying goodbye to the old members and inducting the new, the senior members let us ‘newbies’ know that the 40-hour training would be arduous and exhausting. I had no idea how right they would be. The training I went through last summer was so exhausting, not only emotionally, but physically, as well. I learned so much about sexual assault and rape culture that I became angry—so angry that I had horrible headaches at the end of every day. But it was worth it, because I learned so much, bonded with all the women in Reclaim, and the anger was ultimately the fuel to my fire, which inspired me to want to make a major change.
I chose to join the support team, taking calls on an on-call basis, so that I could aid victims of sexual assault more closely. The first time I was on- call, I was terrified, and ended up getting a call and meeting up with a victim. This experience was a wake-up call for me, as I finally realized how seriously sexual assault affects its victims. From then on, I wanted everyone to know about this problem, as I began to realize that people do not even know what sexual assault is, let alone how to prevent it. This led me to begin a research project about female sex offenders, and, as a result of this, I have become passionate about treating sex offenders as well as victims, and want to do this as part of my future career in the field of psychology.
The last Reclaim meeting of the year was an emotional one. I was sentimental about my first meeting in Reclaim, when I was new and was totally intimidated by the returning members. Now, I was an ‘old’ member, and I was ready to make the new ones feel welcome and help them succeed. For my final project that I presented to the group, I made a word cloud that represents Reclaim, and put it in a picture frame to keep in the Women’s Center. When I was told to work on a final project, I wanted to do everything, because Reclaim meant so much to me. But, I wondered, how could I include everything in one place? That is why I made a word cloud—to demonstrate everything that Reclaim does and means to me and all of us in Reclaim and the Women’s Center.
When I went to the first Reclaim meeting, saying goodbye to the old members and inducting the new, the senior members let us ‘newbies’ know that the 40-hour training would be arduous and exhausting. I had no idea how right they would be. The training I went through last summer was so exhausting, not only emotionally, but physically, as well. I learned so much about sexual assault and rape culture that I became angry—so angry that I had horrible headaches at the end of every day. But it was worth it, because I learned so much, bonded with all the women in Reclaim, and the anger was ultimately the fuel to my fire, which inspired me to want to make a major change.
I chose to join the support team, taking calls on an on-call basis, so that I could aid victims of sexual assault more closely. The first time I was on- call, I was terrified, and ended up getting a call and meeting up with a victim. This experience was a wake-up call for me, as I finally realized how seriously sexual assault affects its victims. From then on, I wanted everyone to know about this problem, as I began to realize that people do not even know what sexual assault is, let alone how to prevent it. This led me to begin a research project about female sex offenders, and, as a result of this, I have become passionate about treating sex offenders as well as victims, and want to do this as part of my future career in the field of psychology.
The last Reclaim meeting of the year was an emotional one. I was sentimental about my first meeting in Reclaim, when I was new and was totally intimidated by the returning members. Now, I was an ‘old’ member, and I was ready to make the new ones feel welcome and help them succeed. For my final project that I presented to the group, I made a word cloud that represents Reclaim, and put it in a picture frame to keep in the Women’s Center. When I was told to work on a final project, I wanted to do everything, because Reclaim meant so much to me. But, I wondered, how could I include everything in one place? That is why I made a word cloud—to demonstrate everything that Reclaim does and means to me and all of us in Reclaim and the Women’s Center.
I was completely changed by this experience and I am overjoyed that I have the opportunity to do it again next year. Thanks to my research about female sex offenders, I realized that I want to educate people about what they don’t know about sexual assault—what it means, who the offenders can be, and how victims cab be affected. I think that next year, I want to be on the education team, gaining another perspective about rape culture, and hopefully dispelling some myths.