This is to get people to think about how they respond to others in a variety of situations. Jennifer, a senior majoring in management and a Project ACT peer counselor said she respond to whoever and whatever everyone says. Jennifer said the experience has opened her eyes to different cultures and helped in her field of study. Project ACT is headed by Okazaki but carried out by CSUN students who get up to six academic credits for their work. It's a year-long commitment and any CSUN student in good academic standing can apply, Okazaki said.
Peers meet once a week to coordinate exercises and to discuss their work.
Okazaki said to prepare for their presentations, the counselors undergo four intense days of diversity training. Peer counselor Sony Smith, a senior Family Environmental Science major, said she discovered, through Project ACT, that many of her experiences as an Asian of Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry, were similar to Mexican-American youth she worked with at Vaughn Street Elementary School in Pacoima. Smith said children and many parents she worked with were often confronted with racist remarks but didn't know how to handle it. In educating others, Jennifer said she has been educated herself. In reality that's not true.