Miles Bowman, April 28, 2015

Professor Reem Abou, PS 1010 (Tuesday)

My Interactive Freshman Experience

During my time in Honors PS1010, groups were to assign themselves a problem within
Detroit that was realistically solvable by a team of undergraduate students. In my group, the
problem of urban blight was chosen for our topic, and we quickly realized that the extensive and
reoccurring nature of blight was much more severe than the superficial layer that people often
associate with blight. Using our historical information obtained in Honors 1000, we found it
quite interesting (and angering) that the deep-rooted nature of blight is directly connected to the
systematic nature of racism. From the formation of slums due to the segregation of minority
groups, to the white flight movement and relocation of jobs, a common sense of frustration
directed towards suburbanites who use Detroit as the brunt end of poverty jokes and who claim
its the people of Detroits fault for the condition of their blighted city; when in reality, the very
location of these people is a historical and current reflection of the downfall of the once
economic giant.
Beyond petty debates and social frustrations, we found it interesting that blight has a
tendency to multiply itself like an infection. In these findings, we sought to look for a civic
sphere solution so that we may act as the leukocytes of the Detroit immune system of Blight,
so that we may participate in the end of the cyclic nature of blight. As a group, we volunteered
with Blight Busters, and found the experience to be extremely satisfying. The first time we
volunteered, we shoveled extremes amount of snow and cleared out an entire warehouse. The
next, we cleaned up an entire lot and laid out woodchips so that a park could be built nearby. By
participating in this service, we put a bit of ourselves in this project and thus felt more tied to the
local community and were able to put a face to the blight, so that when we thought about even

Miles Bowman, April 28, 2015

Professor Reem Abou, PS 1010 (Tuesday)
the most plagued portions of Detroit, we instead think about the time and effort we put in as well
as the people we met along the way. Additionally, a portion of our group (including myself) has
agreed to continue to volunteer at blight busters in an attempt to get more involved in our local
community while simultaneously sculpting a new name for the city.
In terms of our group, I found that Im more than capable of working with others, and
managed to receive great pleasure from it. My role in our group was to effectively lead the seven
of us to the best of my abilities so that we may have taken part in tackling this very large and
costly issue. By taking the reins of the groups leader, I found that my organizational abilities are
an incredibly strong attribute towards my position. Additionally, I found that through my
communication skills combined with said organizational skills, I received only positive feedback
in my ability to lead by making compromises for all the group members. I was able to motivate
the group enough to organize and initiate a day in which we would collectively organize as a
group and spend time volunteering to truly understand the firsthand effects of blight and to feel
we were not merely researchers behind a desk, rather, active participants for the remedy of the
city.
Through all of this, I found that the time and energy I spent trying to overcome these
obstacles of communication, organization, and so on, was only a satisfaction in the fact I was
able to lessen the burden of this class amongst my group mates. Additionally, through the
extensive assignments and communication Ive endured with this group, I can say that I feel that
as a group, we are more than just academic peers. In being part of the Wayne State Honors
college I was able to build these relationships on a foundation of hard work and charitable deeds
relationships that I plan to keep with me for a very long time, with skills and a volunteering
capacity to match.