Sangha Education Center is a non-profit organization on Long Island whose mission is to create “A Place of Wonder” where all those involved enjoy hands-on, project-based learning experiences together during mentoring and stewardship programs.
Introduction:
Hi. My name is Christian. Christian is a gender neutral name of Latin, Greek & English origin. It’s meaning is “follower of Christ.” This is an example of “Onomastics.” Onomastics is, “The study of the history and the origin of proper names, specifically, the study of personal names.” I have been participating in Sangha Education Center’s Civic Mentoring program where I had the opportunity to explore names from around the world, a topic of interest to me. I will tell you more about my experience.
About Mentoring and My Onomastics Project:
At Sangha, in 2022, I began researching names with Catherine, who was my mentor at the time. Names have always been and interest of mine and I always wondered where the names came from. My favorite name for a girl is Daisy. This is because Daisy is very unique and I love flower names, which is why Iris is my second favorite name for a girl. For boys, I have two favorites, Stanley and Benjamin. These are my favorites because they are people I know from my life. For my project, I looked into other names from Mexico, Ireland, the United States and these included some gender-neutral names such as, Cameron, Spencer and Kelly.
In 2023, I made a presentation about different names and their origins, gender tendencies and meanings. I gave my presentation to the people at Sangha and even created a Kahoot quiz about the names we discussed in the presentation. This helped everyone there to interact with one another and learn together. The presentation went well. I felt very good about it, too.
Interview Q&A:
Even though we are now doing different projects and activities during mentoring this year, Max and I decided to use the Onomastics project as part of an interview with interns at Sangha. We asked them about what they like about Sangha and other things about their background as well as asking them to guess the origins of their names.
Here is our interview:
Elizabeth
Name Guess: German
Actual Origin: Hebrew Background, from biblical origins “God’s Promise”
What town are you from?: Plainview
What is your favorite color?: Blue
What are you in school for?: BA Psychology, then grad school for Social Work
How did you find Sangha?: Through the internship program at Old Westbury
Why did you choose Sangha for your internship?: Meeting with Christine and hitting it off.
What is your favorite thing about Sangha?: The collaborative process, meeting new people, and talking with the others about different ideas and skills to work on. I like hearing others’ points of view.
How long have you been at Sangha?: Since February 2024
Do you enjoy it?: Yes
What’s your favorite library: Farmingdale
Dominique
Name Guess: French
Actual Origin: French “of the lord”
What town are you from?: Elmont but live in Freeport
What is your favorite color?: Green
What are you in school for?: Psychology; want to go on for a masters in Occupational Therapy
How did you find Sangha?: From a school internship program. I researched it and thought it was interesting.
Why did you choose Sangha for your internship?: I really liked the activities scheduled and opportunities offered to young people
What is your favorite thing about Sangha?: Everyone is open and friendly. They are all comfortable at Sangha. We can be ourselves and get to know each other without judgement.
How long have you been at Sangha?: 2 Months
Do you enjoy it?: I do and want to stay after the internship.
What’s your favorite library: Baldwin Library. It’s big and they have movie nights and shows at night.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Max interviewed me about my experience:
Q: Besides what you learned about names from around the world, what else did you learn from the Onomastics project?
A: I learned that I enjoyed doing the research for the project. I learned about the countries the names came from and how to give a presentation.
Q: What do you like best about the Civic Mentoring program?
A: Learning about the I’m interested in. I liked working with my mentor Max and interacting with the interns and asking them questions. I liked making the emotions color wheel I worked on and this interview project for the blog. And, the gummy bears!
Q: What is the best about interacting with mentors and interns?
A: I get to learn new and different things from different people including about their favorite colors and what towns they live in. But there is always more to learn.
Q: Did you feel like you met some of your goals in the program?
A: Yes I did. I worked towards learning more about emotions and what people like to talk about versus what I like to talk about. I learned what’s appropriate to talk about with people that are strangers and also friends and family. I had many people to learn from in the mentoring program.
I look forward to seeing Max again this summer or in the fall.