{"id":11015,"date":"2020-10-20T11:55:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T15:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/?p=11015"},"modified":"2020-10-20T12:00:39","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T16:00:39","slug":"thought-into-action-how-a-gen-ed-requirement-led-courtney-hawes-to-her-dream-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/news\/thought-into-action-how-a-gen-ed-requirement-led-courtney-hawes-to-her-dream-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Thought Into Action: How a Gen Ed Requirement Led Courtney Hawes to Her Dream Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtney Hawes \u201919 signed up for GWS 320: Feminist Thought Into Action<\/em>, a Gender and Women\u2019s Studies course, to fulfill a general education requirement \u2013 and it led to the start of her career.<\/p>\n

In the class, taught by Professor Jody Lisberger,<\/a> students were asked to conduct a project where they could put knowledge into practice by working within the community. As Hawes was interested in sexual assault advocacy, she decided to work with Day One<\/a>, an organization in Providence, RI, focused on reducing sexual abuse and violence while supporting and advocating for those affected by it. \u201cI did a teddy bear drive for victims of child sexual abuse,\u201d Hawes says. \u201cThe Child Advocacy Center<\/a> within Day One conducts forensic interviews with child victims and afterwards they choose a teddy bear from a giant teddy bear wall. We were able to collect over 300 bears and it was an amazing experience.\u201d Inspired by her experience, Hawes then applied for an internship position with the Child Advocacy Center. She joined the organization\u2019s helpline,<\/a> undergoing 30 hours of training to be prepared to respond to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and hate crimes in hospitals and police departments. She and other staff members from Day One also went to different sororities and fraternities on campus and educated students on resources and sexual assault information.<\/p>\n

Fast forward, and Hawes has continued her work with Day One even after graduating in December 2019 by accepting a full-time position there \u2013 one she calls her dream job. \u201cI am now the Advocacy Coordinator at Day One,\u201d she says. \u201cI work within Adult Advocacy and the main part of my job is supporting survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and hate crimes. I take calls from people who need someone supportive to speak with, need help navigating the legal system, or who don\u2019t know their options. I connect them with resources throughout the state such as Law Enforcement Advocates, counseling, legal help, and more. We also work with hospitals and law enforcement to give training on trauma informed care and working with victims. I sit on a few councils throughout the state that work to bring about positive changes within the community regarding survivors, as well.\u201d She now helps run the organization\u2019s helpline and trains volunteers to respond to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and hate crimes \u2013 including providing advocacy over the phone during this pandemic.<\/p>\n

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Looking back on her time as a student at URI, Hawes says she recognizes the importance of the foundation her liberal arts education gave her. \u201cIt is becoming increasingly important to constantly evaluate ourselves and the world around us,\u201d she says, \u201cand liberal art classes assist in teaching students how to do that.\u201d And looking back on that fateful general education class, she says: \u201cGeneral education classes sometimes feel like hoops students have to jump through just to get them done, but GWS 320 was one that you left feeling as though you really accomplished and learned something important. The class bonded like a family and we all taught each other something about ourselves and the world we live in.\u201d Lastly, she adds: \u201cThere is a 24\/7 helpline for victims of ANY crime. The number is 1-800-494-8100 and people answer the phones 24\/7. If anyone is interested in volunteering for the helpline they can contact me at chawesdayoneri.org<\/u> or at (401) 421-4100, extension 146.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtney Hawes \u201919 signed up for GWS 320: Feminist Thought Into Action, a Gender and Women\u2019s Studies course, to fulfill a general education requirement \u2013 and it led her to her dream job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[70],"class_list":["post-11015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-gender-and-womens-studies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11015"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11042,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11015\/revisions\/11042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}