Hi everyone! Please create an account and post a greeting to everyone. This will ensure that everyone has access. Come here to post your journal entries for each CAS activity.
Hello I am Alex La Pierre and I have recently recieved my CAS papers. I have created an account on blogger, but I am still a little weary of the way these things are supposed to flow. I'll be back on in a few days to update anything that needs changes.
As far as my community service, that has already begun. I will be volunteering at my local library by working with children and hopefully making an impact on their lives. I hope everyone has an idea of what they are going to do this summer! It's hot out there!
Hi Mrs. Dillard! This is De'Shera Benton! I am saying hello and also trying to understand something else. I have created my account but what is this blogger account going to be used for exactly?
Hello Mrs. Dillard and my other fellow peers! As instructed in the letter you have recently sent us, I have created my account on blogger. I am very excited to start my CAS activities/projects! I actually have some offerings at my family's church so I am sure you will be seeing a blog from me soon!
P.S. I am in the Elite Scholars Program and we get to do a lot of activities throughout the county. Since these services are being done within another program could we still submit them?
Hi Mrs.Dillard, I received the letters and I created an account on blogger, but I am not sure how to use it and do we suppose to write the blog everyday that we do the CAS or do we just write the summary for each activity we do? And when will the CAS log record due?
Hey y'all!! :-) Sorry for the delay in responding. I just got back into town. You need to record all CAS activities on your log sheet. You also need to give a summary/reflection of your experience on this blog site. To see some examples, you can check out North Clayton's site. http://northclaytoncas.blogspot.com. Your completed hours are not due until your senior year so don't think that you have to rush to get all of these hours. However, I will periodically check to make sure that you are working towards completeing the hours. Until next time....
Hey everyone! I'm Cecili Reid and I also just received the infomation about CAS and created my own account. I am extremely excited about my first year in IB and slowly but surely working on my community hours in various places. Talk to y'all later!
I was wondering whether an activity, which is an all day event that occurs once a year, can be counted towards CAS even when I plan to participate in it next year.
Well Clayton State just added dorms to their campus and I spent most of my day helping move in students, answer questions about the area and school, and basically help the new students and family anyway I could.
Hi everyone it's Jazmine Wilcox dropping by to say hello! I recently did some community service (today) and I wanted to know exactly what am I supposed to blog about?
Here is my first blog from my frist CAS activity of the year: Clayton State University "Operation: Move In" Saturday August 15, 2008. This activity began at 9am and ended at 2 in the afternoon. The work I would be doing throughout the day was greeting students moving on to campus, guiding them and their parents in the right direction, asking any questions about the campus, and assist the students and parents move luggage into the dorms. I worked with a team consisting of 4 other people all of whom were of college age and eventually treated me like a peer. To be honest, I thought this would be a completely easy project and that I would learn nothing from it. Instead I learn one valuable concept: Be committed and work with others. I was about half an hour late for work and soon realized how the rest of my team were depending on my help; however, my tardiness made the work harder for them and forced them to not take a break until I arrived. From this I learned how once I made a commitment I am taken responsible and expected to be on time and prepared. I also learned that I working with others instead of being a loner made work easier on others as well as myself. Once we resolved problems with who should do what task and when to switch, my team and I worked well and actually began having fun. I definitely plan on helping with the dorm move in this year.
Mrs. Dillard my name is Quincy Little. I am a Rising 11th Grader. This is my first CAS Activity. I volunteered to help the Georgia Games 7v7 Soccer Tournament June 13, 2009. I never really liked soccer, but after seeing the teams play I had a change of heart. They all played their hardest and in my book they all were winners. The volunteers were to be at the soccer complex at 8:00am. I was on time of course, but everyone else was already working. I met the project leader, Marissa Orr, and she gave me my shirt. It was like as soon as I put that shirt on I was already running. You would think that all you would need for a soccer game was two nets and a ball. I learned you needed much more. The fields needed signs and sun tents. For every field you needed at least four tents, two tents for the teams and two for the crowd. The fields needed signs so that you would know which field you are on. There were three fields. There was never a lack of things to be done. We had to make Power-aid in 10 gal coolers. The teams needed to be registered. The snack stand needed to be set up. This all had to happen before 10:00am. Somehow we did it; we finished before 10:30am. We were a little late, but not too late. All that was left was to watch and record the games. I had fun. The best part was watching the teams. Everyone was nice and helpful. I will probably volunteer for their Lacrosse Games. Who knows what I will do there?
Hello everyone! Well, it took me a a while to figure out that I actually have to post my blogs as comments, rather than specifically blogs within my own account, so here is my first one!
Saturday, June 21, 2008 Alex La Pierre Journal 2 (CAS)
Today was my second day volunteering at the local library. It really is so inspiring to see the children run through the door with excitement and not even start towards the computers but scatter to the shelves of wordly knowledge. I don't honestly remember children being so eager to read when I was younger. I recall thinking of the library as something similiar to a ghost town. Now I am proviledged to say that the reading bug has caught quite a few of our youngsters.
So this past tuesday as well as earlier today I was allowed to be included in the experience of encouraging good reading habits in children. Their smiles were completely intoxicating and I truly cannot wait until the next time I get to have with them. This Wednesday and Thursday should prove interesting also as the Morrow Branch will offer a two-day celebration of America's birthday that will be open to many children of all ages.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Alex La Pierre Journal 3: Celebrating America's Birthday at the Library
So, it has taken me a little while to return to the blogspot. But, now that I'm here, I can recollect on the memories of brightfaced children.
The Morrow library hosted it's annual celebration of America's 'birthday' on June 25th and 26th. Both days were spent teaching children about the history of our nation and letting them do crafts with our nation's most precious colors. Several of the volunteers, including myself, ran around with purpose putting smiles on little faces and gave much of our time to glueing crafts and fastening sequence pieces onto red, white and blue mats. With numbers of children reaching around 75, the serenity of the library was at best a whispering outside voice.
Working with the children has caused me to begin research on a possible major in child psychology. It was most interesting to me how the children seemed to pick up easily on my name and how contagious my own smile was to their visible countenance. One little boy came almost halfway across the library to ask me to help him, by-passing all of the other volunteers and adults. Nothing seems more fulfilling and intriguing making a child's day. In working with the children I have been inspired to research fields of study that will encourage children to become positive adults. This has been a most honorable experience and it is one that I hope to be apart of again in the future.
Alex La Pierre Journal 4: Graduation performance for 2008 Seniors It is a bit late to be documenting this community service project but, as I see it, every hour counts. Why should I exclude this experience?
On May 31, 2008 over 100 of Lovejoy's Senior class walked across the stage to accept their diplomas to the beat of our entire group of stinged instrumentalists. I myself added to the music by playing along on the violin to the tune of the very popular "Pomp and Circumstance." It was wonderful to see the faces of young people who have come such a long way in their twelve or so years of rigorous education. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of their transition into the next stages of their young lives. This performance provided me the chance to act as a musical encouragement of future success and prosperity.
The time for this project spanned over a period of seven hours that involved set up, sound checks, and encouragement to younger players as well as graduating seniors. I'll never forget the relief on the faces of those who perambulated quicly off the stage to reach the final end of their hardwork and dedication to education.
Sunday, September 14, 2008 Alex La Pierre Journal 5: Summer Library Volunteering My summer volunteering consisted mostly of roaming around the shelves of our local library, helping children with thir needs and signing them up for the summer reading program. Encouraging young children to further their education through reading put a smile on my face and the bright faces of a few constant readers really put a spark in the light of my days. I hoped to be an encouragement to children to read but it seems as though my smile brought about even more in the children than just a need to obtain information from books. They seemed to really enjoy flipping each page to find a new adventure written upon it.
Patience is something I definately had to keep as every child is different and, with so many of them around, patience can trickle away quickly like water falling from a cliff. I have learned through my volunteering with children that the future of our brightest most encouraged children looks bright and that one person truly can make a difference in the life of a child. It was quite entertaining to even listen to the stories of the experienced librarians and hear their episodes of life.
I hope to once again volunteer at the library and bring smiles to children's faces once again next summer. There is more light in a happy child's eyes than there ever will be in the entire solar system.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 Teacher Assitance June 3, 2008 My service completed for my seventh grade life science teacher on June 3, 2008 was definately a fulfilling experience. I never realized how much effort goes into preparing the classroom for the eager eyes of ready listeners, and for those few know- it- all kids with sly smiles and a reputation of disrupting lectures. I found myself immersed in cutting and pasting, cleaning, running errands, and being snatched up by other teachers who needed assitance as well. Jonesboro middle school is not where I personally completed my middle school years, but as this is the school that my previous educator moved to, I chose to take the chance to meet and greet new faces, to broaden my spectrum of connections while earning knowledge from unknown, but reputable sources. I think a few of the teachers were astonished to see a rising high school junior back in the confines of a junior high classroom, eagerly waiting for the next task to be completed. I worked from 12:30pm until 4:00 pm without breaking.
Journal 7 :Clayton County Honor Orchestra Performance
November 17, 2008 was the day of the Clayton County Honor Orchestra, Band and Chorus concert. The actual performance did not take place until 6:00 pm, but the preparation that was put into it during the day was a life changing experience, to say the least. I found myself confronted by all sorts of talent. Musicians of my age range were brought to the Performing Arts center to rehearse for this motivating event. I found myself intruiged by the different musical learning styles of others, and challenged by not only their own talent, but the talent of many different directors.
The performance was directed by three different directors, and I found myself adjusting to their own styles quickly, yet maybe not without flaw. I hoped to achieve a broader musical knowledge through this experience, and can safely say that I accomplished the feat, but I know now that music is something that truly sets us apart from one another, even though it brings us together all the same. Music is something that everyone has in common, and yet finding two people with the exact, note for note, same tastes is nearly impossible.
Through this experience I found in myself more talent than I expected. My audition into the program allowed me a seat right up at the directors hands, which happened to be a lot closer than I expeced to find myself. And yet, all the same I found that the competition was strong, and that evenb though there were many people behind me that may not have auditioned as well, every person in the ensemble had something about them that made them shine. The performance with other great musicians furthered my ability to appreciate people for their own hidden talents.
This is the first blog I have been able to post pictures for. On November 18th, the day after the Clayton County Honor Orchestra, I was also called to volunteer for a Christmas time performace at Publix in Lovejoy. We played from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 and actively encouraged the shopping audiences to sing along with the carols we played. It is clearly visible in the second picture that Santa was also a part of the evening celebration, so with spirit we decided to take a quick orchestra picture with him after our performance.
Through this activity I hoped to aid in giving off insiration for a wonderful holiday. I was perfectly delighted when some of the customers and even employees throughout the store came to sing with us and smiled as we played. In completing this activity, I have learned that celebrating the power of the holidays is not to be restricted mainly to sit down dinners and specific holiday parties, but it can be celebrated anywhere, anytime, and anyway. I must say, I was originally a bit disoriented when I found out our holiday performance would be in the produce department of Publix, but it turned out to be a fantastic night. 11/18/2008 Total number of hours: 2
+ (Unfortunately it appears as though I could not attach the pictures I posted in the actual blog to this comment. If anyone is interested in seeing the two photos, they are welcome to click the link on my name and go to the actual blog itself.)
December 12, 2008 was yet another of Lovejoy High School's Orchestra volunteer opportunities. This time we were invited by exclusive invitation to perform Christmas tunes for the Governor himself, Sonny Perdue. When we got there we set up quickly in a room a short way from the front door and dove right into our playing. People touring the house walked by and very often stopped to remark on our playing ability, or to ask for a special selection. We were only too happy to oblige. We played from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm and then were forced to resign for another group had also been invited.
Unfortunately, we were not able to speak with the Govenor himself, but after our performance we were allowed to tour the house and get our own bird's eye view of the Mansion's magnificiance for ourselves. We all were complemented highly on our playing abilities.
Above all I learned from this experience that even rich people can be humble enough to reach out to the children, and that is a wonderful thing. Considering the bad publicity that has gone on and on about Clayton County, it made me feel very honored to be able to help in bringing light to our school system, even if it be through a few simple music carols. We can certainly say we made an impression because we were invited back to a special event later! That blog will come later.
From this experience I have gotten more confidence in my playing abilities and better at interacting with others.
12/12/2009 Total number of hours: 6
+ Once again Photos did not post on here, but on the actual blog.
Well Mrs. Dillard, that isn't the half of it. I still have many more blogs to write and many more things I want to do. I just happened to open up the binder I have for my CAS hours and started writing. Many more to come! Thank you for the compliment!
Annie was a musical performed soley, and completely by students. Many rehearsals were conducted in the anticipation of the three show weekend, but all of the dedication and time put into preparing for the final product definately paid off.
Our first performance was on January 15, 2009. Children from within the county were allowed to attend and recieve a bried glimpse of the the entire play. All of the performances were held at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center. The pit Orchestra was required to play the music for only the specific scenes given at this particular performance, as compared to running the entire program from begining to end. We played for two seperate audiences from 8:30am until 11:30 am.
The actual debue of the musical occured on January 16th, from 7:00pm until 9:00pm, but I was unfortunately not able to perform that night. I am able to testify that Annie was succesfully executed from 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm on Saturday, January 17th and from 2:30 pm until 4:30 pm on Sunday January 18th.
As a violinist I was able to significantly broaden my musical knowlege and experience. The music from the score for Annie was so much harder and more challenging than anything I had ever played, that I find myself chuckling now when something that would have appeared difficult before is placed in front of me. When originally presented with the challenge of playing in the pit orchestra for Annie, I was very quick to deny the opportunity for many reasons, including that it required me to take much time away from my studies and school itself at times, and the music was just so challenging to prepare in a few short months. However, I am happy to say that I have learned a great deal about playing with other musicians in a new atmosphere and I would eagerly play in another pit orchestra if given the chance. I must say that it was most rewarding also to look up to the eager faces of audience members after the show as they looked down at us with awe and admiration when they realized that the music was live. If only they know how hard it was!
Back At the Govenor's Mansion Once again Lovejoy's chamber orchestra found itself within the confines of the Govenor's Mansion. This time, however, it was by very, ver personal invitation from the Govenor himself for a more secluded affair than the annual Christmas celebration. We were not informed of what the actual event was held for or, for whom, but we were asked to play greeting music!
On this particular occasion we were put in a room right off of the main door and were to play as respectable men and women walked through the front of the house and greeted each other. Unfortunately, one of the highlights of the night, before our performance, including realizing that my stand partner had grabbed the wrong folder before we left the school. Luckily, because Lovejoy is constantly called to play for events and has a general music program for such, we happened to have a few of the pieces that we were going to play in the folder we had grabbed, but not all. Apart from a few seating changes, according to the music, and a piece that the second violinists played straight from memory for everyone else's sakes, the night went spactacularly well.
After our performance, Govenor Perdue himself strode in to acknowledge our musical presense and joyfully posed to take pictures with us. Performing with the most talented kids at Lovejoy High is something I will sure not forget.
Hardwork, dedication, a great sense of humor, and a wole lot of patience went into making the 2009 session of RFKC camp a tremendous success. Never have I been to camp myself, but even though this camp was not geared toward my enjoyment but for very deserving young children, and the work certainly wasn't always easy, I had the time of my life! Even the training session before hand on June 6th was informative but definately enjoyable. I can say that it was certainly more rewarding than the soothing, full-body massage I missed to attend, and man was that a hard choice! Grandparents, singers, camp councelors and teen helpers including myself, along with a few others there to help, all arrived at the camp grounds on Sunday, June 28th. That was our day to prepare the camp for the next day arrival of the most deserving kids I now know. We teen helpers got our schedules and found out that our main tasks would be in providing assistance during meals. As we later found out, camp activities that were hosted for the campers, but fun for all, were a good part of our responsibilites as well. Three guys and myself ran one of the water rides at the carnival and had an absolute blast taking turns sliding down it and watching the kids to make sure they were safe too. Night-time relief for the councelors was also something we had to fill in for as the church who normally steps in to cover it decided not to this year. That simply included getting the kids in bed while the councelors got a 2 hour break from their long days with the children.
Throughout the week teen helpers, including myself, assisted with many things. We sang carols for the kids when Santa came to town, we dressed up with the girls and passed around tea and crumpettes during the tea party, we helped the young boys with archery lessons and even entertained the kids by dancing around and getting in conga lines while the adults were planning the next activity. There was never a dull moment. One teen helper even volunteered to dress up in the heavy easter bunny outfit during the easter egg hunt. We banned together to set-up and dismantle the shaving cream fight, and I even found myself in the swimming pool after being begged by one of the girl campers to swim with them. Despite the long hours, and my less connected role with the children, I grew very fond of their energetic presense over the week. I made a critical effort to sport the widest smile possible everyday and treat them like kings and queens as well as I could. These children, most having come out of foster care, were most deserving and I was sure to make them realize how important their lives were. Their tender ages of innocent childhood pushed me even more so to be a good role model. And, even though there were times when one child just would not go to bed or do as I ask, I can proudly say that I never waivered, although I came very close. Through this activity I hoped to become a more humble person, and to grow a fonder sense of blessing and spirit. But, I shall say that my gains have proved much larger. Faces still linger in my head of the children , and even camp workers who tried so hard to conceal tears on the day of departure. I can still hear their joyful laughs as they splashed and slid down the rides at the carnival. I can still feel the pitchers of cool punch that I walked around with to make sure the kids and councelors had all they wanted to drink, way before I would sit down and accept my own meal.
The week I spent at RFKC has to have been the most rewarding volunteer experience I have completed so far. Positively certain am I that I shall return next year to put more smiles on more faces and lend a helping hand to this great camp. I really do believe that it takes a village to raise a child and I'm so fortunate that I could be a part of this village. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the camp and it's purpose in reaching out to abused children, I have had to exclude names of the people and children I encountered. Anyone wishing to recieve additional information about the camp may ask Mr. Tony Geasley. He has been a participant of the camp for many years now and recruited me.
Total Number of Hours : 93 (yes 93) 6/ 6/ 2009 6/ 28/ 2009- 7/3/ 2009
My last blog wouldn't post in it's entirety, so I had to break it up into three comments. Don't have pictures up on my actual blog yet, but I have a few I'll scan and put up later.
Hi, Mrs. Dillard, I volunteered to help the Georgia Games 7v7 Lacrosse Tournament July 18, 2009. This was my first time seeing lacrosse. I did not know what to expect. My project leader asked if I had seen lacrosse before. I said no, so before I started to work he let me sit in on a game. I was amazed. The lacrosse is very hard to describe. The goal of the game is to get a small rubber ball into the net of the opposing team. The net is set up like a soccer goal but it is much smaller. It is in the shape of a triangle. In the opening of it is a goalie. In a typical game there are 7 players, one ball, two goals, 7 lacrosse sticks, and a referee. The game would last for 44minutes. At 22minutes they have a 5 minute break. The job I had with lack of a better term was ball and water boy. To keep a lacrosse game going you need balls and when playing it outside you are going to lose balls, so you must keep balls on the side line. I learned that you must stay on top of your job or you will fall behind. The thing about lacrosse is that you can hit the other team with the lacrosse stick. We had three medical volunteers on site, but it was not enough. In at least every two games some was hurt. They play rough. When someone is injured the game is put into pause all players are to get on to one knee and that signals the medical volunteer that someone needs help. At a point all three medical volunteers were on different fields, thankfully no one was hurt too badly some even managed to come back to cheer their team on. Volunteering for the Georgia Games this summer was fun. It opened my eyes to new sports, and it gave me some valuable experiences. The GA Games really need volunteers and we can help. If you want to help go to their website, gagames.kennesaw.edu, and volunteer they need it and thank you for reading.
Mrs. Dillard, I am going to band camp for a week Iwas wondering if I could count as CAS Hours. We will be inproving ourselves in musicanship and physical fitness. We will aslo be developing skills to help use in life. At the end of the camp we will be performing a fundraiser show to help us raise money to suport our trips and our school's band efforts. I would like for it to be counted separarte from my the hours I get from concert band, because it is for Marching Band. Thank you for your time and answer.
Journal Entry #2 Creativity Activity: Emory Pre-College Prog. Magic of Photography Class/Field Photography Experience Dates: July 1,2,7, 2009 Hours: 7
The class was apart of Emory’s two week non-credit Pre-College course that took place June 29th through July 10th. This class was designed to be a sample of a college entry level photography class. We learned skills with basic methods of photography like pinhole cameras and Holga/Diana toy cameras. While learning these skills, our professor who was a former professor of Emory for 17 years had no problems with helping her 3 students with college advice, references, digital work, portfolios, and advice. We visited the Michael C. Carlos Museum on campus which exhibited Harry Burton photographs of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. We also visited the High Museum of Art to see the Claude Monet’s works Water Lilies and Richard Misrach’s photography exhibit On the Beach. All exhibits we visited as a class were very informative on the scope of photography from documentaries to aesthetic artwork and were also useful in getting us more interested in photography and formulating our on ideas for out work. One of the main days of field photography was the day we visited Krog Bridge and the Briarcliff campus of Emory. The fieldtrip to Krog Bridge was a chance to photograph different styles of graffiti that has been documented and admired. At the Briarcliff campus, we photographed a mansion and greenhouse that had been present since the 1970s before the close by mental institute became apart of the Emory campus. On these particular trips we used the Holga which is a type of simple film camera that has been used by various photographers to produce a particular type of photograph. Such artists include Nancy Rexroth. We had a full day to experiment with the Holga and try its different features such as its two types of exposure, two shutter speeds, and five aperture settings. On two other occasions I gained experience using various sizes of pinhole cameras. In simple terms, a pinhole camera is any kind of sealed container with a pinhole in its side that will allow light to travel and hit film or light sensitive paper inside the container. This type of camera requires stability, bright lighting and a lot of exposure time. I took shots of various plants, a long winding road, other students, and a creek. Challenges that I faced in both activities include accepting criticism of any kind from both my classmates and my professor, asking for help with working the cameras, tolerating my mistakes, gaining more patience, and stepping out of my comfort zone into a campus and highly social environment. In the end it was all worth it. I learned about myself and how do handle various situations. I experienced a “taste” of college life and learned a great deal from two other students from South Carolina and Texas with differing views and approaches to life, photography and college life.
Hi I’m Davis Nguyen and I’m overdue to submit my journals. So here they are.
Journal Entry: 1 Date: 8/20/09 and 8/25/09 Event: How to run a Better Club Meeting: Learning Parliamentary Procedures Location: After school after Lovejoy High School in room 404. Hours: 4 Reflection: TSA, FBLA, FCCLA, HOSA, DECA, Kappa, NHS, Beta…Lovejoy High School is home to many clubs and organizations. One day I was thinking what if I there was a way for me to be involved in all of these organizations even if it is indirectly. Over the last week, I’ve held took Mr. Minix’s advice and held a 2-part 4 hour seminar on How to run a Better Club Meeting by teaching anyone who was interested about Parliamentary Procedures. On Day One, I went over the basics of Parliamentary Procedure. I began with the Order of Business (Robert’s Rules) and “The Rules of the Gavel.” My plan was to keep Day One as basic and interesting as possible so that I would have an audience left for Day Two. As an exercise I had everyone practice obtaining the floor and making a motion. Day Two, I focused more on the specifics of Parliamentary Procedures. We worked on types of motions, their priorities, and if they could be interrupted. I also went into greater detail such how to use a “rise to order” and “amendments.” There was more I could have covered but it was 5:30 by the time we finished. Looking back over the course of the two day seminars, I had fun. I even learned some aspects Parliamentary Procedures that I didn’t know before holding the seminar when I was researching for material and examples. I’m glad I was able to hold this seminar, because by doing so I’m able to indirectly help the clubs around the school that was represented at the seminar. I plan to do another one if enough people are interested.
Journal Entry: 2 Date: 8/29/09 Event: Clayton Youth Leadership Interview/Selection Location: Clayton County Water Authority Community Room Hours: 4 Reflection: During the summer while I was attending the Governor’s Honor Program, I received an email from Mrs. Tamika McLester, the chairwomen for Clayton Youth Leader. CYL was a program I participated in my sophomore year. Mrs. McLester wanted to ask me to come back and assist her as an Alumni representative to the CYL Advisory Board. I gladly accepted. My task was to sit down last Saturday to interview over 65 candidates for this year CYL Class of 2010. Between the Board and me, each member interviewed 6 candidates over a period of 3 hours from 8 to 11. At 11 we each sat down and made our selections. The selection process took about an hour and was hard because the program only had enough funding for 35 students and we thought that a majority of the candidates would have been a great fit. Out of the six people I had to choose from I based my selection on based not only on academics, but also about potential. CYL is a great program to break out and meet new people. I know that was the case for me. Last year I was able to meet 34 people with different backgrounds and circumstances from around the county that I otherwise might not have had the chance to meet. I feel honored to help this year. I will come back in two weeks for to give the orientation speech from an alumni’s point of view.
Journal Entry: 3 Date: 9/12/09 Event: Clayton Youth Leadership Orientation Location: Clayton County Water Authority Community Room Hours: 4 Reflection: As an alumni member of Clayton Youth Leadership, I was invited to speak in front of parents and students last Saturday. While people might hate public speaking, I love any opportunity to speak in front of people. My speech was done extemporaneously as I took the floor, I wish I could have prepared something but at the least I meant every word I said Saturday. When I saw all the students in the room, I remember how it was with me; I could see each student sat with their parents and schools. I remember sitting with Lovejoy people 12 months ago as well. I told them that in 10 months they will break off and feel more like a family around each other. I know this will happen because it happened to my class last year. I had a number of parents come up to me and praised me for my speech afterwards. I stayed for the entire meeting answering questions from parents and students. After the meeting ended at noon, I stayed to speak with more parents and students who had questions about the program. I will continue to work with Clayton Youth Leadership for the next eight months.
Eight learning outcomes for the Emory Photography in the Field activity -Develop new skills in photography -challenge myself -become aware of my weaknesses and strengths
Journal #3 Creative Activity: Emory Pre-College Photography Darkroom Experience Hours: 10 Schedule: Two weeks 9am-12pm Learning outcomes -become more aware of areas of growth, strengths and weaknesses -develop and inhance skills -tackle new challenges and opportunites
This is the second part of the Photography class I attended over the summer. Overall, this was my FAVORITE part of the class. I learned something all together new and foreign to me. I was taught exactly how to mix the chemicals necessary to develop photos, the unofficial "Do's and Don'ts" of a darkroom. When I first stepped into the darkroom, I felt way behind and I found the need to know how to do everything as soon as possible. It was challenging to remember every single detail related to developing film or making prints. My impatience became even more noticeable when having to deal with the darkroom. I would spend 3 hours on just making ONE final print. But at the end of the day it was all worth it because I knew and understood how I took a simple photograph of a mansion on campus and turned it into something spectacular. This is extremely different from digital photography where effects can be added with in a touch of a button. In this situation, I had to cooperate with other students from across the U.S. This resulted in all of us inspiring one another and coming up with great ideas.
Summary: I shared my CYL alumni experience with new CYL recruits at their orientation.
Reference of Targeted Outcomes: I aimed to 1.increase my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, 2.undertake new challenges, 4.worked collaboratively with others, and 8.developed new skills. I achieved learning outcome 1 by actually doing the community service. I achieved the second one by doing well at talking about my alumni experience which I had never done before. I achieved the fourth one by working with the other alumni at the event to give the CYL recruits a whole picture of what their CYL experience would turn out to be. I achieved the eighth one by being comfortable about talking about alumni experiences.
Hello. This is Maya Stewart, an 11th grader. I just made my account a second ago, so I'm a newcomer. I'm going to do my first CAS activity today at Trees Atlanta.
Today I went to Shadow Rock elementary and i helped with there fall festival. I was there for 5 hours. I helped sign in all the students and passed out their wrist bands. That took two hours. I then went over to one of the attractions and supervised that for two hours. For the last hour i broke down tables picked up trash and transported the chairs back inside the building.
The festival makes me respect teachers even more. It was a requirement for the teachers to be there. They had to spend their saturday at the schools fall festival where it was very hot, and they didnt just sit around they were over most of the attractions.
Watching "October Sky" It is 9:34 pm on October 11 and I just finished watching the movie "October Sky" for the second time. The movie was so inspirational that I decided it would make a good reflection for CAS hours. Targeted Learning outcomes: 1. Increased awareness of own strengths and areas for growth 2. Engaged with issues of global importance
Now, I'll be honest and say that this is the ultimate nerd's drama, but the story behind the success of this story is truly amazing. Four young men from the city of Coalwood in West Virginia found themselves intruiged by the limitlessness of outer space. So, they decided to learn how to build rockets. Their inspiration was partly derived from the launch of Sputnick in the 1950's. Their perseverance despite constant doubt from the town people really helped to increase the awareness of my own potential. It helped me to truly realize the amount of support I have behind me. Being it that Sputnick was not launched from the United States proves that this movie also had a global element to it. Overall I feel truly inspired by this movie to achieve success. In the story, the men actually go on to win the national science fair that no one believes they can win until the last minute, and all four of them recieve scholarships to go on to college. Should they have not won those scholarships their lives would have become focused in mining within the community which is something that eventually lead to the near death of the community. Eventually the mine ran dry and people moved elsewhere to find work. However, the story of the four men being brought to literature and the big screen has offered new hope for the community.
Journal Entry #4 Service Activity: Tutoring Middle School Band Students Hours: 8 June 20th-23rd 10am-12pm Learning Outcomes: -Show perseverance and commitment -work collaboratively -undertake new challenges -increase aware of strengths and weaknesses
Marching band section leaders, including myself, assisted band directors at a local middle school for a week. During this time I assisted in distributing lunches to the middle school band students, ask any questions pertaining to band or a specific instrument. I worked with other saxophone section leaders during the sectionals with the saxophone section. This portion of the event I found distressing particularly because there were three section leaders and only three students to tutor. As you can imagine each of us wanted to be the prevailing leader who was always right and every one listen but of course that never happened. Instead I eventually decided to circulate between sections and other band directors to see if they needed any of my help. I even sat in on some sectionals and learned to play a new instrument like the middle school students. I like to believe that this helped them see that they should feel too bad about there mistakes and to see how far they have come in their skills and where they could be. I would often return to my respective sectional when they needed my help to play a piece of music for the students or to hold rehearsal. During this sectional I gained experience with tutoring younger students, something I have never done before. All the students I have assisted in the past already knew how to play their instrument and needed help with minor problems. With middle schools students I had to remember when I learned how to play my instrument and attempt to introduce them to simple methods to remember notes or rhythms. Overall the experience was fun (despite waking up so early in the morning) and it gave me more experience into how to tutor musicians in various age groups.
hello this is yuri finally im on it:). During the summer i volunteered at many places. so far i have 31 hrs, im guessing thats alot for a junior:) im hoping i can find more volunteer spots for more opprotunities...... If we do something for more than one week would we get credit for both weeks or just the first one??
Journal Entry: 5 Date: 10/14/09 Event: Preparing PSAT Materials Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 1 Reflection: I guess you would say this was one of those community service that I was at the right place at the right time. It was the morning before the PSAT testing and teachers were being distributed the writing materials for their students. I was on the 900 hall at the time at 7 and Ms. Barr asked me to help her prepare the materials. She gave me the materials and Patrick (person doing it with me) went through the material counted, sorted, made sure everything was ready for tomorrow (the day of the test). We finished distributing and handing the material back to Ms. Barr just in time before 8:15, didn't want to miss homeroom!
Journal Entry: 6 Date: 10/24/09 Event: Atlanta 3 Mile Breast Cancer Walk Location: Atlantic Station Hours: 6 Reflection:
Every year 200,000 women and 2000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer thats 550 a day or 23 people an hour! As part of North Clayton High School's Ambassadors International I was asked to join by the IB students to walk with them. The opening ceremonies began at 7 and the final closing was at 3. The walk was in between. We walked for 3 miles around the Atlantic Station. We were joined by over 15,000 other participates. The numbers were overwhelming. I was so glad to have been a part of something of this scale. Individually our IA raised over 150 dollars together all 15,000 of the walkers rasied 1.7 million dollars! It was one of the best Saturdays of my life. It felt some great to walk across that finish line and have people cheer you on from all sides.
Journal Entry: 7 Date: 10/31/09 Event: FAFSA Location: Perry Learning Center Hours: 10 Reflection:
FAFSA, the most important financial form you will ever have to fill out before college can be a painful step in a senior's life if there is no one to guide him/her. Luckily, the Perry Center hosted a seminar on the financial aid part of the college enrollment process. I was asked to participate in the seminar prior to leaving for GHP this summer. At GHP I read up on FAFSA and the financial aid process. It was fun to know that people left with information that will help them out later. Maybe next time I'll talk less. (I think I talked as much as if not more than the organizer who asked me to join!)
Although FAFSA does not apply to me just yet I'm always one step ahead. I plan to continue to seminar later for Clayton Youth Leader on May 19th and again next year at the Perry Learning Center for the Juniors that will be Seniors next year to help prepare them for college.
Journal Entry: 8 Date: October 9th -November 10th Event: Creating an Elite Scholars Club (Class of 2012) Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Reflection:
One of my side project this year with some of the other 11th grade IB students. Together we held a month long recruitment process for 10th and 11th graders interested in joining Elite Scholars.
Individually, I took the first step and talked with Ms. Hardee to establish a list of students who met the 3.6 GPA requirement. When all the inviations were passed out we held an interest meeting where I prepared a powerpoint highlighting what Elite Scholar is and what we do. Overall a success with 64 of the original 89 potential new members showing up.
After the interest meeting, we had a two week process with applications. After the applications came in there were 49 applicants. My pile that I judged though included the 10th grade girls.
The last step was the interview process, along with the rest of the officer team we interviewed 39 applicants we felt had a chance of making it in. After the interview we narrowed our list down to 21 people. They will be sent to the county level to be interviewed by the County Committee board (1 rep. from each high school and our founder) which I am apart of.
This process gave me a lot of self-confidence knowing I can start with a goal in mind and achieve it. And i realized I didn't have to do it alone.
Journal Entry: 9 Date: Late October Event: Red Ribbon Week/Drug Free Awareness Week Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Reflection:
Red Ribbon Week was another side project I've been invloved with since 9th grade under the late Ms. Clay. This year was special because Mrs. Lukiri knew I had been a member for 3 years and allowed me to spearhead the event. Together with PTSA, we organized the week of activites ending with the Balloon Ceremony for those who purchased a necklace from our week long fundraiser to increase drug awareness. The Balloon Ceremony was joined by Mr. Colbert who led us in the LHS Drug Free Pledge. It was an amazing endeavor. Although I have been proud the last 2 years doing this, this year was special because I was even more involved.
Hello, My name is Tsion Behailu. I have already completed a few CAS activities and plan to record them soon.
This is my first reflection:
Activity: 1 Date: October 23-31 Event: Red Ribbon Week/Drug-Free Week Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Reflection:
During the week of October 23-31, I helped Ms. Lukiri organize Red Ribbon Week. PTSA had creted 75 necklaces for my group, SADD, to sell. Each lunch period, the other members of the group and myself would use our lunch period to make our peers aware of Red Ribbon Week. By the third day, it was obvious we needed more necklaces, so a few of us made more bracelets and necklaces. We exceeded expectations this year and sold about 160 ribbons. On the day of the Balloon Ceremony (Friday), Perla (another member) and I blew up extra balloons because we had sold much more than expected. The students that bought a ribbon were called out at the end of the day and proceeded outside. With Ms. Lukiri and Mr. Colbert present, the balloons were released. I was very proud of myself by the end of Red Ribbon Week. I had been successful in managing an important aspect of the event. This was my first year with SADD and I plan to continue doing the activities we have later on this year.
Activity: 2 Date: From Beginning of Year to Present Event: Creation of Elite Scholars Club Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Reflection:
I have been a part of the Elite Scholars Club for almost a year and a half now and my group and I have undertaken the task of recruiting qualified members into the organization. Students with a 3.6 GPA or above were invited to apply and from those applications, we chose the ones we would like to interview. The interview process was recently completed and our finalists have been chosen. The final candidates will be interviewed by Dr. Walles, the creator of the organization, and those who pass that process will be a part of the Elite Scholars Club at Lovejoy High School. This activity helped me learn the inner process involved with choosing a candidate using an interview and I also learned more about my fellow Elite Scholars as I worked with them. At times the process seemed difficult, but we had to finish what we started and we had to finish it well.
Hello, I'm Lisa Phommaseng and I have just created my blogger account, I myself have done a few CAS activities, in which I should have blogged a long while ago.
I was a part of Elite Scholars when I entered my Sophomore year having been accepted in my freshman. During my sophomore year we didn't really do much of things to contribute to our school nor community, although we did attempt to. This year our sponsor Mr. Thomas left us having to go towards his goals in life, and were able to get in touch with Ms. William to be the Elite Scholars sponsor once more. After having decided our officials for the remainder of the LHS ES, we came to an agreement of how we would manage our chapter as well as recruiting new members. There was an application and interview processes for those sophomores and junior that wanted to join. We could only accept 20 out of the 40+ that were eligible to join and applied. On the 13th of November we did an interview process and decided on the 20. In the end, we were able to accomplish our goal of recruiting members and now all we have to do is work with the county member to make out member officially in ES and decide on community projects and events.
During this event, I worked with SADD to promote Red Ribbon Week to the student body to stay drug-free. SADD spent each lunch period fundraising and promoting drug-free awareness, by selling bead necklaces or bracelets that were handcrafted by SADD members and Drug-free stickers. The class that bought the most necklaces/bracelets would receive a pizza/wing party in the end of the week. There was also a ballon ceremony for those students that participated in the event. It was a great success.
Hi, My name is Elizabeth Cooper and I'm just now starting to blog for my CACS Hours hopefully I'll remember to do this more often.
Activity 1 Brown Elementary Rainbow House fair. At this event I was required to run a booth that the profits would go to the Rainbow House a shelter for kids. During this time I believed I learned alot. I had to work collaboratively with others, engaged with issues of global importance, and considered ethical implications of my actions. Because Rainbow House is a non-profit organization that helps protect and take care of the children in the community. Whether they were not at home because of abuse or poverty. Either way this is a global issue and my community is just lucky that they have an organization like this. Also the school where this was held had several kids that are in this program. So having them come to the fair and be able to enjoy a care free moment like kids should be able to do is very uplifting and inspirational.
Activity 2 Formation of Elite Scholars I have been in Elite Scholars since 10th grade and for the most part I wasn't to happy with the way the club was run as far as how it was at Lovejoy high school. At the beginning of this year the Junior Elite Scholars all got together and we chose officers and since then we have been building the club up from there. Elite Scholars is a program that is designed to better yourself as a person, but being an officer in this club it is my responsibility to help everyone get the best they can out of the club. This involves planning and cooperation with my peers. Also a global understanding because Elite Scholars is a group that wishes to pull from different backgrounds and that is exactly what it does. So I have to keep a open mind to be able to work with other people. In the beginning we went through several bumps in the beginning but now the officer team is working hard together to make this club enjoyable for all the new comers.
Activity 3 I know this is really late but Ms.Dillard said it is never to late to blog. This summer I spent my time in rural Sumter, South Carolina working as a lifeguard. When I wasn't sitting out in the hot heat I spent a lot of time traveling around with my grandma. So I was able to visit many senior citizen functions. Luckily I was able to get the opportunity to assist at one. For everyone who knows me on a personal level understands that I'm not to fond of wrinkly old people who drool due to a bad experience I had on a mission trip. So when I get this opportunity I was a little hesitant. However once I got to working it wasn't so bad. The older people acted much younger then I expected and I wasn't watching waiting for one to fall over. While I was there I work along another young lady and we set up activities, prepared meals, clean up after the meals and provided conversation and entertainment for all the guest there. I would like to say that I developed here because I came closer to overcoming one of my fears and I also better helped our community. Because I gave back to people who have given to me all my life. The senior citizens of the world are a vital part because the hold information and history that can only make us better. By taking care of them we preserve a piece of this country.
Activity 4 For my last CACS hours event, I volunteered at Brown Elementary Barnes and Noble night. My job was to socialize and read to the kids and help them explore Barnes and Noble. With Barnes and Noble being one of my favorite stores this was really fun and easy. Also me being able to give back to the school that helped me discover my love for reading was another plus. While at this event I read to several kids and I also helped assist them in finding books on their own. I believe this helped globally because knowledge is power and what is a better way to get knowledge then reading. I was also giving back to community because in our county reading is not especially a strong point by helping others expand their want to read by showing them my love to read can only help better the young minds today which are our future.
Hi, this is Lucy Pham! I got the letter for CAS in the mail, and my mother yelled at me for not doing this earlier. Sorry, I've been very busy; it totally slipped my mind.
Activity: 1 Date: November 30 Event: Brown Elementary Rainbow House fair/dance. Location: Brown Elementary School Hours: 3.5
At this even I helped run a booth that collected profits for a shelter for kids known as the Rainbow House. During this event, I worked collaboratively with others, engaged with issues of global importance, and considered ethical implications of my actions. The Rainbow House is a non-profit organization that helps give children a place they can call home and take care of them like family. This organization helps homeless children or those who suffered from abuse or other unfortunate situations. There were a number of kids who attend Brown Elementary that have benefited from this organization. This event allowed the children to relax and enjoy the Halloween holiday safely with their families and friends. This event was fun and easy to do that not only benefits me but many other people as well.
Activity: 2 Date: Month of November Event: Creation of Elite Scholars Club Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10
As a member and vice-president of the Elite Scholars Club along with my fellow peers, we wanted to re-establish the name of the Elite Scholars at Lovejoy High School. In this event, we planned and initiated activities, worked collaboratively with others showed perseverance and commitment. We informed the potential applicants that had a 3.6 GPA and higher of their eligibility and held several meetings about the club and how they can join. We collected applications and reviewed each one and also held interviews for the 20 spots that were available. With this, we successfully completed our task to expand this club. I learned about the many different people there are in our community and how to work well with my peers. Although this task was rather long and needed much work, we strive to complete it and ended successfully.
Activity: 3 Date: December 9th Event: Grading/Scoring Middle School Science Fair Projects Location: Lovejoy Middle School Hours: 3
Its been over five years since I began doing science fairs for school. Since I have much experience in doing them, I, along with my classmates, took a trip to the middle school and helped the head Science Department at Lovejoy Middle School to grade/score the submitted science fair projects. Based on a rubric, I scored the projects to the best of my ability and was able to leave critics on what I would have done or what they could have done to make it much better. In this event, I increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth, undertook new challenges, worked collaboratively with others, and showed perseverance and commitment. Although the student who submitted project are much younger then me, it also gave me some ideas to incorporate into my future projects such as the Group 4 project that we are currently working on. I had a hard time determining what grade to give them that was considered fair or reasonable, but I was able to continue at it and accomplish the task I began.
Activity: 4 Date: December 14th Event: Cleaning and Organizing Chemistry Storage and Classroom Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3
As I have a lot of work and a busy schedule, I know that teachers also have a hard job grading it all. Each day I witness my teacher Mrs. Etheridge struggling to find things she needs or work in her environment. So in order to help her job become much more easier, I, along with a few of my peers, decided to stay after school in order to help clean and organize the area in which she works in most; the classroom and storage room. During this event, I planned and initiated activities, worked collaboratively with others, showed perseverance and commitment, and engaged with issues of global importance. Due to the mess left by kids or lack of time to clean, it was hard to stay committed since it's like another chore to do, but because we knew that it will not only help our teacher but also ourselves, we strived to get the rooms as clean as possible. With the newly cleaned room, we were able to learn better in order to prepare for the finals and Mrs. Etheridge was able to rest comfortably in a clean room!
Hey! My name is Andre Jairam and I recently got a letter in the mail that told me i wasnt fufilling my obligations toward cas hours so here I am. Now lets just hope my mom isnt to mad at me.
Activity: 2 Date: December Event: Lovejoy middle school science fair project judging Location: lovejoy middle school Hours: 3
My self and a few of my pairs, during a school day went to lovejoy middle school to grade science fair projects. We helped many middle scholars by giving them contrutive critism on their projects to better them selfves once they go to high school.
Activity: 2 Date: December 14th 2009 Event: Cleaning Chemistry Storage and Classroom Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3
Since we have been in IB, not only are we the student receiveing alot of work but the IB teachers them selves have a hand full. So to help my chemistry teacher Ms. Etheridge, me and a few of my peers have decided to clean the Chemistry storage room and the classroom. Lets just say before we started to clean the backroom was a mess with all the boxes filled with old chemistry books that were going to be destroyed and recycled. However after we were done the backroom's floor actually became visible again. After that we cleaned the classroom it self and organized her many many folders and binders. Hopefully we made her day a little bit better now that she is in a clean classroom.
Finally Semester Break, so time to update my CAS Hours.
Journal Entry: 10 Date: 11/14/09 Event: Mercer University Math Competition Location: Mercer University Hours: 6 Reflection: Last Saturday, I had the honor of participating at the Mercer University Math Competition. This is a great accomplishment for me, because I never thought we would be able to make it. Months prior to this event Lovejoy High School lacked a formal math team. After attending GHP I was inspired to establish one. I spent the first two months looking for a sponsor before Mrs. Pennebaker and Ms. Lweis offered. I am thankful for them. In preparation for this event I helped Mrs. Pennebaker register us, recruited members for the Junior Varsity and Varsity Math Teams, and held meetings. As for the competition itself, LHS finished in 11th out of 24 teams. I had a team best on both the written test and ciphering portion of the competition. Overall this event was a great, I’m glad I took the initiative to spearhead a math team!
Journal Entry: 11 Date: 11/21/09 Event: Vision Board Location: Perry Learning Center Hours: 10 Reflection:
Just came back from the Perry Learning Center. Spend the entire day today at the Perry Learning Center helping Dr. Walles’s vision board project and with his tutoring program. A vision board is a representation of your goals and dreams for your life. Dr. Walles asked me to create one to be used a model for his K-8 students. My vision board was a scrapbook of my personal goals, education plans, career dreams, financial strives, community service projects, my health aims, and my love life. I stayed 2 hours extra to help clean up and plan for the next event which is going to be in January.
Journal Entry: 12 Date: Nov-Dec Event: Governor’s Honors Program Scrapbook Location: Valdosta State University/Clayton County Public School Central Office Hours: 6 Reflection: Came back from the CCPS central office to hand off my scrapbook I made of my memories at the Governor’s Honors Program. Last month, the county awarded with the Certificate of Achievement for being one of 700 students from across the state of GA to participate in GHP. I thought the scrapbook would be a great way to show the county how much I wanted to give back. I designated Mrs. Rhonda Burnough, who works in the Central Office, as my project advisor because I knew her from Clayton Youth Leadership. When I gave her the book she said it was a first class piece of work. One of the best works she has seen from a student. I was very happy to hear that. Dr. Edmund Heatley, also thanked me for my work. The book is going to be on open display at the Central Office.
Journal Entry: 13 Date: 12/11/09 Event: Administrative Support at Scholars Academy Location: Scholars Academy Hours: 2 Reflection:
I helped out at Scholars Academy in the front office last Friday. Dr. Walles wanted me to come to help him sort though some Elite Scholar applications with a select committee. I brought Lisa with me to help. Over 2 hours we went through about 120 applications from around the county picking only the “best of the best” to join our organization at the County level. I also met with some of the students that are part of the tutoring program that Dr. Walles and I have been talking about.
Journal Entry: 14 Date: 12/14/09 Event: Organized and Participated in Science Dept. Clean-Up Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3 Reflection:
Up to this point I had about passed the half way mark with my CAS requirements, but I noticed that a lot of IB students didn’t start or have less than 10. I noticed a lot didn’t have transportation, so to help out I talked with Mrs. Etheridge, my CAS advisor, about setting up a project we could all do at the school as an IB class. The result was a clean-up session of the Chemistry portion of the Science Dept. I got about 10 people to volunteer which was a relief because more hands equals less work per person. For the 3 hours, we clean-up the storage room, organized the materials, and moved boxes science books being sent to the central office. As for me personally, I spent most of my time moving the boxes and getting them ready to be sent off. Between the four of us that moved boxes we moved about 200 books! My arms were so tried afterward.
Summary: My activity was grading science fair projects at Lovejoy Middle School.
My learning outcomes were 1, 2, 4, and 6. I achieved 1 and 2 by judging a science fair project for the first time. I achieved 3 by working with a classmate to help grade the science fair projects. I achieved 6 because science fair projects are global issues of importance that can start at the local level.
Regarding the Sports Team section for CAS Hours, it states that you have to take the number of games/matches and multiply by 2....can you further explain what you mean to clarify your definition?
Activity: 3 Date: December 19th 2009 Event: festival of trees and lights Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 4
Today, me and a few peers went to the festival of trees and lights. We helped out by making and selling ginger bread men with marshmellow pasting and candy bits on them. Also we helped make smores and refil the ice that was used to make the sodas cold. After the day was over (9:30ish); I realised even the littlest things like helping a kid make a ginger breadman could bring so much happenness to that person
I haven't blogged at all, but I have plenty of CAS hours, is it okay if I just post them on my actual blog instead of posting them here....that would make everything so much easier :D
Journal Entry: 1 Date: October 2009 Event: Creation of LHS Elite Scholars Chapter Hours: 10
Targeted Learning Outcomes: -Increased awareness of strengths -undertaken new challenges -worked collaboratively with others -shown perseverance and commitment -developed new skills
Reflection: I have been a part of Elite Scholars for almost two years. When I joined last year, the chapter was very unorganized. The members showed no interest and eventually dropped out of the program. This year, we received a new sponsor and had about 10 members. We formed an officer team and set to forming a strong club that would gain a different reputation than that of one that does nothing. We recruited almost 90 potential sophomores and juniors and held an interest meeting. Applications were filled out and reviewed by officers. Interviews were set and our 20 slots were filled. I learned a lot from this experience. I became secretary of this club and received a position of responsibility and leadership which I though I wouldn't be able to hold. The officers and I were able to set a foundation for those this club by working together and setting differences aside.
Journal Entry: 3 Date: December 19th Event: Rainbow House Festival of Trees and Lights Location: Clayton County International Beach Hours: 4
Targeted Learning Outcomes: -worked collaboratively with others -shown perseverance and commitment
Reflection: Rainbow House sponsored its annual Festival of Trees of Lights in which families can get together for a night of fun with entertainment and fun. I volunteered at the Gingerbread Man and Smores table. Here I worked along other peers to put together the cookies and give a candy bag to kids to decorate the gingerbread man. I also helped by making bags with marshmallows and chocolate for the Smores. Kids would form them and I would go to melt them. My partners and I were able to make the station organized and function as families came to make treats.
Location: Lovejoy High School - Ms. Etheridge's Room
Hours: 3
Reflection:
I am excited to say that I have completed my first activity - helping to organize Ms. Etheridge's storage room. I know that Ms. Etheridge, especially as an IB teacher, is constantly working and educating her students in the best way possible. Unfortunately, because of her hard work and dedication, she has been unable to find the time to organize and clean the storage room filled with materials needed for labs and a better learning experience. Many times, students hurry to their next class leaving beakers out of place, test tubes filled with substances, and aprons on tables waiting to be cleaned by Ms. Etheridge who is already pressed for time.
In order to alleviate this problem, I ,and other students, had organized a time in which we would work together to clean and organize the chemical storage room which was in total disarray. While doing this, I undertook new challenges, worked collaboratively with others, and showed perseverance and commitment. I helped wash the beakers thoroughly and dry them out, wipe tables, organize lab materials so that they could be easily identified, and place materials away so that they would not be hazardous to other students. While doing so, I worked with other students to get the job done efficiently and safely.
I really did enjoy myself while engaging in this activity, and I felt accomplished after helping a teacher who deserves assistance. I am looking forward to participating in more rewarding activities such as this.
Activity: 3 Date: December 9, 2009 Event: Scoring Middle School Science Fair Projects Location: Lovejoy Middle School Hours: 3 Reflection:
I had the pleasure of traveling to Lovejoy Middle School to grade science fair projects. I must admit that the numerous tri-fold boards brought back memories of my days staying up all-night to finish up my paper/board. The quality of the projects varied, but it was a great experience to look at the projects from an outside point of view.
Activity: 4 Date: December 14, 2009 Event: Organizing Science Storeroom Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3 Reflection:
On Dec. 14, I was part of a group of students that volunteered to help Ms. Etheridge, a Chemistry teacher at Lovejoy, organize her storeroom. The task required physical and mental ability. We were required to organize a number of boxes and reshelf in an organized manner, numerous supplies often used during labs. I gained knowledge on a vast amount of solutions and learned how to properly store scientific items.
Activity: 5 Date: December 20 Event: Assist at Festival of Trees and Lights Location: Clayton County International Park Hours: 4 Reflection:
On Sunday, Dec. 20, I traveled to Clayton County International Parks to volunteer on the last day of the Festival of Trees and Lights. The event is for families and children to come out during the holidays and enjoy an evening of games and food. The activities my fellow Elite Scholars and I helped with were gingerbread making, arts & crafts, and the raffle. I was part of the art & crafts group. I was in charge of selling plain, Christmas-oriented ornaments for "Santa bucks" where they would be painted at the arts & crafts table. I have to admit this was the most fun Ive had at volunteering. I've found an activity I will surely do again next year.
Hi! I'm Toiya Williams. I am in the eleventh grade and will fianlly begin blogging on my activities.
Activity 1 Date: October, 2009 Event: Fall Festival Location: James A. Jackson Elementary School Hours: 3
In October, Jackson Elementary School held a fall festival that I participated in. I helped to run one of the Moon Bounces that the children played on. I worked collaboratively with others because, not only did I help the teachers, but I helped the kids to get along with one another while they were playing the Moon Bounce. There was an incident in the middle of the festival during which the Moon Bounce deflated but the issue was quickly resolved. After the fair was over, I spent time cleaning up the gym and cafeteria areas in which the event was held. Working at this festival helped me to realize how much time and effort went into these events.
Activity 2 Date: December 9, 2009 Event: Grading Science Fair Projects Location: Lovejoy Middle School Hours: 3
I spent three hours at Lovejoy Middle School grading the science fair projects of students. While participating in this activity, I was able to work collaboratively with others and undertake new challenges. Based on the rubric that was prepared by the head of the science department at the school, my classmates and I helped to grade and critique the projects of the students. The projects were judged on creativity, neatness, and other categories. By learning the grading scale by which science projects are graded, I learned new methods that would help to improve my own grades.
Journal Entry: 1 Date: September 5th 2009 Event: Petsmart Adoption Center Location: Petsmart in Fayetteville, Georgia Hours: 5 (Noon - 5pm) Catergory: Service Reflection: This is technically my first recorded volunteer service but I digress. I first arrived at Petsmart to help out with managing the animals after getting a good word from one of my friend. I met a couple of nice matronly women who were seasoned in this type of work. Their warm personality made it all the easier to get right into work. My first impression was that I would only have to stand by cages and play with kittens and puppies but I was mistaken. It was more rigorous than I had imagined. I was moving all throughout the store, cleaning cages, feeding and watering them, walking dogs, letting kids play with the cats without letting them steal them. Of course, I wasn't by myself, I met and got to work with a couple of other volunteers who needed community service or just liked helping which made me ponder why they didn't make community service a requirement at my school. To be honest though, I felt like I could stay there all day. There were Pug, dachshunds, chihuahuas and lots of mutts. I felt quite moved while hearing about some of the animals stories. Most abandoned and abused with no where to go. I wanted to help them all the more. Well thats the end of day one of the service.
Journal Entry: 2 Date: September 6th 2009 Event: Petsmart Adoption Center Location: Petsmart in Fayetteville, Georgia Hours: 4 (Noon-4pm) Category: Service Reflection: This is the second part of my volunteer hours at Petsmart. I came back to Petsmart the next day to finish up my hours. Now that I had already had an afternoon's worth of work under my belt I could now work more diligently. This day there were a few less dogs here and a couple of new ones. One of them, however caught my attention, as the supervisors carried it in a towel. It was a small short haired dog whose breed was unbeknown to me. One of its back paws had looked as if the skin had been torn off, exposing its bone. Even with the severity of the wound, the dog didn't make a sound it sat in silence with submissive eyes. Its situations like this that motivated me to volunteer at Petsmart. Animal cruelty and abuse is silent epidemic that most people fail to recognize the severity of this issue. In my opinion a person shouldn't keep an pet if they're not capable of taking care of it. Child protection laws should apply to pets in some respects.
In the end as I left Petsmart I felt good about myself knowing I gave my time and effort to a noble cause
Hello everyone!! Glad to see that more of you are finally on board. ;-)
A few notes: *It is a MUST that you meet the 8 learning outcomes. With that being said, you must discuss how you met a particular learning from an activity in the reflections
*You MUST put your reflections on this page (not your own). If the powers that be decide to do an audit, we have to be able to access these reflections right then and there.
Hey, this is Katrina J. I figured since I am practically done with CAS I would finally blog my reflections =). I’m not really sure if some of these will count as CAS, if not I’ll just do some more. Learning Outcomes to be reached: 1) Increased awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth 2) Undertaking new challenges 3) Planning and initiating activities 4) Working collaboratively with others 5) Showing perseverance and commitment in my activities 6) Engaging in issues of global importance 7) Considering the ethical implications of my actions 8) Developing new skills
Reflection 1
Activity: Catch the Reading Bug Dates: Mondays & Fridays; June 13 – June 30, 2008 Location: Clayton County Pines Library System: Riverdale Branch Hours: 10 Learning Outcomes: 1 & 4
After receiving my CAS papers in early June I decided to volunteer at my local library during the summer leading to my junior year. My advisor, Ramona Clark, informed me that I would be working with four other volunteers in order to promote and encourage reading amongst the children in our community during the summer break. My tasks included: registering children for the reading program, helping the children find books to read based on their current reading level, awarding the children with prizes based on their reading achievements and entertaining the children by reading story books while their parents used other services available in the library. I truly enjoyed interacting with the children that entered the library. At the end of my experience many of them knew me by name and they were excited to tell me about the books they were reading and how many hours they had read that week. I always saw myself as a pretty good people person but my time at the library enabled me to improve the way I interacted with and inspired children.
Outcomes met: 1) As I mentioned before, I have always been a people person but I have never been that great with children. Maybe it was because I have always been a little impatient and had a low tolerance for screeching, whining and hyper children. Working at the Riverdale Library showed me how much joy the little people can bring into your life and even lower your stress level. There were times that I really did not want to spent hours in the draft cold library but the children always seemed to look up to me and by doing so, they made my days a little brighter. 4) As a library volunteer I had to work with other teen volunteers, most of which had already established their own personal relationships with one another from school and from previous volunteer work. Despite how awkward our relationship was, I was able to work with them on a professional level to get each task done.
Reflection 2
Activity: Bulletin Board for Reading Champions Dates: June 16 & June 20, 2008 Location: Clayton County Pines Library System: Riverdale Branch Hours: 8hr. 30min. Learning Outcomes: 1, 4 & 8
Aside from my regular tasks at the library, my advisor asked me to design and create a bulletin board so that we may recognize the children enrolled in the Catch the Reading Bug Program and their success. With the help of one of the other volunteers, I was able to produce a board that would be used to recognize all of our accomplished readers. Outcomes met: 1) I have always been good at organizing and designing. Being given the opportunity to create the reading champs board allowed me to expand and display my talent with the library. 4) In order to create the board I had to work with another volunteer at the library. 8) Even though my designing eye has always been good, my actual artistic ability was never that great. Creating this board allow me to develop my artistic skill and showed me that when I take my time and have patience I can produce good art.
Every summer the library holds a Neighborhood Awareness Fair to teach and warn younger children about the dangers they may encounter. During the fair everyone helps to teach about safety through a variety of activities such as: demonstrations, videos, interactive plays and of course stories. In between each activity the volunteers aid in entertainment for the kids with face painting, ring toss, soccer, food and a host of other fun activities.
Outcomes met: 1) I improved my entertainment, artistic and children skills through interaction, storytelling and face painting. 2) I tested out my acting skills in two of the interactive plays/ puppet shows. 3) I assisted in the planning and advertising of the neighborhood awareness fair by handing out flyers and calendars. 4) I work collaboratively with the other volunteers, my advisor and parents and teachers of schools that came to the fair. 5) Even though I was tired half way through the fair from giving all of my energy to the children I did not once give up until the fair was over. Whenever anyone needed my assistance I made sure to help to the best of my ability. 8) During the puppet show there was no script so my co-volunteers and I had to think quick on our feet, using our improvisational skills to teach the kids about safety and awareness. The children seemed to enjoy our comedic show.
Reflection 4
Activity: Dazz with Jazz 2nd Annual Battle of the Dancelines Competition Dates: November 16, 2008 Location: Clayton County Performing Arts Center Hours: 4hr. 15min. Learning Outcomes: 1, 4 & 5
On this day I performed with the Lovejoy High School Dancing Diamonds as the team Captain in the annual Dazz with Jazz competition. This competition was designed to showcase the dancelines of the metro-Atlanta through competition in the areas of stands and field routines. I lead my team through each performance and collaborated with my sponsor and choreographer to ensure a great show.
Outcomes met: 1) I further showed and developed my leadership capabilities by uplifting my team to give a powerful performance and to receive complements from complete strangers about my leadership abilities. 2) I worked collaboratively with my sponsor, choreographer, and volunteers backstage through communication. 3) Through all of the stress and physical ailments I encountered in preparing for this competition, I stuck through it a delivered and so did my team. It paid off.
Activity: Marching Band Dates: August – November 2008 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 & 8
As a Dancing Diamond at Lovejoy High School I perform with the Marching Wildcat Band every Friday of the football season under the direction of Ryan Lincey and LaToya Lee. During this season I held the position of Captain on my team. Throughout the season, I helped to improve and inspire my team as a whole as well as each individual by instilling confidence and pride in their art and school.
Outcomes met: 1) I increased my leadership ability by taking on a new roll in the team as captain 2) I have undertaking new challenges many of which came from dealing with a plethora or personalities from the girls to their parents and band members. 4) I worked collaboratively with my sponsor, choreographer, drum majors, and band directors at every practice and performance to make sure that we were all on one accord. 5) I attended every practice and performance and dealt with difficulties during the activity, whether it is a disagreement within the team or concerns arising from parents, at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner. 7) Often times I had to make decisions that may not have pleased everyone involved but it was done for the better of the team. 8) I developed new skills including: inspiring, leading, comforting, improving and challenging my teammates.
Reflection 6
Activity: Cleaning a Preparing Chemistry Lab for Chemistry Classes Dates: January 15, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 1 Learning Outcomes: 1 & 4
On this day I offered to take on the task of cleaning the chemistry lab and backroom. I rid the mess that had been accumulating for quite some time so that other chemistry classes would have a clean station to work from. I was able to put the things I had learned in the classroom to use with regard to the proper and safe discarding of materials. I broke down lab equipment, diluted solutions for discard, washed and stored glassware, cleaned safety goggles with alcohol and irradiated the goggles.
Outcomes met: 1) I as able to put to use the skill I had learned in chemistry class and apply them to cleaning the lab without harming myself or other. 4) I worked with one other classmate that stayed after to get the task done.
Activity: English Book Room Dates: February 27 & March 2, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 4
As a member of the Lovejoy High School Beta Club I participate in a number of community service projects; many of which are held in LHS. One of the projects we did my junior year was cleaning and reorganizing the English department book room so that teachers could use it more efficiently. We boxed books that were no longer on the curriculum, we took inventory on the books that were shelved and we organized the books my number.
Outcomes met: 4) working collaboratively with my fellow beta club members to achieve our goal.
Reflection 8
Activity: Diva in a Day Dance Dates: March 7, 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Hours: 8 Learning Outcomes: 1 & 5
As a member of the Dancing Diamonds, I was invited to the quarterly held Diva in a Day Dance Camp. This camp was created to improve the skill and technique of developing dancers to the status of “diva.” The camp is hosted by some of the hottest Historically Black Colleges and Universities choreographers. At the end of a hard working day, campers put on a performance for the parents to show what they have learned.
Outcomes met: 1) I further developed my performing art skills through instruction. 5) Even through a knee injury, my teammates can attest to it, I continued on through the camp and performance.
Reflection 9
Activity: SADD Health Fair Dates: March 18, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Learning Outcomes: 3, 4 & 6
Every year at LHS, Students Against Destructive Decisions holds a health fair. In this fair several vendors come to stress the importance of caution and preventative measures when it comes to teens and health risks such as obesity, cancer, HIV/ AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. As a member of SADD I too participated in the health fair by making sure everything ran smoothly and assisting each vendor with whatever he or she needed. I also held the task of calling every health department within a 15 mile radius and that LHS SADD had developed a relationship with to invite them to come out to our health fair and speak.
Outcomes met: 3) I assisted in planning the health fair my contacting vendors. 4) I worked collaboratively with the vendors, my club members and my club sponsor, Dr. Brenda Adkins. 6) The health fair concerned global issues such at the HIV/ AIDS epidemic, cancer, HPV and obesity.
Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Shirts Dates: April 22, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 4
As a Junior Marshal we signed a contract volunteering our time to all senior events with regard to planning and overseeing. We were expected to do each assignment given in a way that met the high expectations on the senior advisors with little instruction. We were often times called “senior slaves,” but even in the most frustrating moments we realized that we decided to volunteer our time and that we had to follow through. After all we would want the up and coming junior to do the same for our graduating class. On this day we were responsible to setting up the LHS cafeteria in a way that would allow for the t-shirt distribution to be swift and easy. We were bombarded by 300+ seniors demanding their shirts all the while we got the job done. First task down, about a trillion more to go!
Outcomes met: 4) I worked with my fellow Junior Marshals to complete each tasks given to us.
Reflection 11
Activity: NMBC Health Fair Dates: April 25, 2009 Location: New Macedonia Baptist Church Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 4 & 6
New Macedonia Baptist Church hosted its annual health fair. The health fair provided free services for all who entered such as blood testing, vision screening, massages, scoliosis screenings and more. I aided each vendor at the fair and I even decided to donate blood to the Red Cross Association. Giving blood was truly a new a rewarding experience for me. It was my first time donating and I was a little nervous. I asked several question and wondered how much blood they were going to take, I must say that when I was how full that “pint” sized bag was, I had to wonder if they had left enough blood on my system for me to survive. Needless to say my mom was scared to, but we knew that it was for a good cause and that some other individual needed m blood more than I did.
Outcomes met: 1) I further acted upon my need to help others. 2) I faced my fears and donated of myself for the benefit of others. 4) I worked collaboratively with Church leaders and vendors. 6) The Health fair addressed issued of global importance such as cancer, scoliosis, vision, AIDS, high blood pressure etc.
CAS Activity: Volunteering for Rainbow House's Festival of Trees and Lights
Summary: I worked at stations in Rainbow House's Festival of Trees and Lights to help Rainbow House fundraise money. I achieved outcomes 4,5,6, and 8. I achieved outcome 4 by working with other volunteers and my classmates at Rainbow House's Festival of Trees and Lights. I achieved outcome 5 by coming both Saturday and Sunday to Rainbow House Festival of Trees and Lights. Outcome 6 was achieved because Rainbow House's goal is to help abused children and that is a global concern. I achieved outcome 8 by learning how to make smores.
Summary: I prepared and cooked food, waited and served people, and helped clean up the kitchen at Cafe 458. I achieved outcomes 1,2,4, and 8. I achieved outcome 1 by improving my cooking strength. I achieved outcomes 2 and 8 by learning how to fry french fries. I achieved outcome 4 by working with other volunteers to complete the work I did in Cafe 458.
Hi this is Kyandria Smith. I just recently got the letter about blogging each time that I recieve CAS hours. I guess it all just slipped my mind but better late than never so..
CAS activity: Competitive Cheerleading
Well this summer my cheerleading squad and I rode to Clemson Unversity for the week in order to compete with other cheeerleading squads for mutiple types of trophies. During this experience I learned alot such as increasing my awareness of my strengths & also my weaker areas, I undertook new challenges with my squad mates with certain routines & stunts, I helped plan & initiate activites in order for better performance & skills, I worked collaboratively with my team mates to create new ideas for the rountines, I showed perservance & commitment by waking up every morning at 6 a.m in order to practice with my squad & remained committed throughout the day's work, and I also developed new skills with my team such as full liberties, round offs, & even attempted backhand springs.
CAS activity: Judging Middle School Science Fair Projects
Date:Wednesday, December 9, 2009
In this activity I recieved a rubric which I used in order to grade science fair projects at Lovejoy Middle School. In doing this activity it helped to work collaboratively with others in order to get the activity done & it also planned & initiated activities with others.
CAS activity:Judging High School Science Fair Projects Date: January 22,2010 Hours:1 Place:lovejoy high school
Just like at the middle school I recieved a rubric which I used in order to grade science fair projects at Lovejoy High School. In doing this activity it helped to work collaboratively with others in order to get the activity done & it also planned & initiated activities with others.
Journal Entry: 4 Date: Year Long Event: TIFAD Book Drive Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Reflection:
TIFAD (The Institute for Anambra Development) is a non-profit organization that promotes the advancement of education in the most poverty-stricken regions of Anambra, a state in South-eastern Nigeria. I first became involved with the book drive in 10th grade. With Dr. Onukwuli, I collected, packed, and shipped textbooks throughout the school year. Overall, TIFAD collected and donated over 25,000 books. During a recent science department cleanup I noticed there were boxes of science books being discarded. I asked my 10th grade chemistry teacher about them. She knew where I was going with it and said, “You take them to Dr. O.” I will always remember the expression on his face when I said, “I think these will make a nice Christmas gift for some students in Nigeria.” To know that I am helping another student halfway across the world get a better education gives me a feeling of accomplishment more than any amount of medals, trophies, or recognitions will ever equal.
Journal Entry: 15 Date: January 12th -19th Event: Pennies for Haiti Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Reflection: When Haiti experiences its worst natural disaster in over 200 years, a few students and I were moved by what we heard on the news. We wanted to be part of the relief. I talked to Mrs. Williams (Elite Scholars Sponsor) and Mr. Minix (TSA Sponsor) about doing a joint effort. I was able to get the idea approved by Dr. Colbert (he donated our first 5 dollars). In addition, for a week I made announcements about our donation drive. I walked around asking for donation. Together Elite Scholars and TSA took turns working the Pennies for Haiti’s stand. Together we collected $192.96. A lot of people made this project a success and I hope that will post their efforts to all to read as well.
Journal Entry: 16 Date: Jan. 21st 2010 Event: Hear Our Voices Contest Location: Performing Arts Center Hours: 6 Reflection: The Hear our Voice contest is an annual competition for writers, poets, and orators. I have been a part of the Hear our Voices contest at the high school level for the last two years. My event of choice has been speech writing and delivering. Each contestant submits a speech and a day is set out for each contestant to perform his/her speech. I delivered my speech at the PAC on the 21st. The results came back last week, and I won 1st place overall for the High School level. I have held this honor for the last two years. I love being able to speak publicly. Being a politician is one choice on my short list of careers.
Journal Entry: 17 Date: Jan. 30th 2010 Event: Titan’s Invitational Math Competition. Location: Northview High School Hours: 6 Reflection: The Northview Math Competition is a state wide math competition where the top two finishers are given an invitation to complete in the State Competition in April. This was our third major math competition of the year. The competition was divided into two rounds, individual written test and team ciphering. During the individual written test, each participant is given 1.5 hours to complete a 30 question test. This included 24 multiple choice questions and 6 free responses. The difficulty of the questions varied but wasn’t anything a High School Math Class honors or regular would encounter. George and I led the team with 25 and 20 points respectively. The team ciphering round was divided into a regular ciphering round and a team relay. In the regular ciphering, we were given 15 mins to solve 15 math problems. The team relay with like ciphering but done in teams. The “baton” here was the answer to the previous question. George was first so his answer was used to find my answer since I was second in the relay. I had fun at the math competition. I made a few new friends and reconnected with a few math majors from GHP. Overall Lovejoy High School’s Varsity Team came in 7th place.
Hello Mrs. Dillard! Hey guys! Sorry I'm so late on these! I am not a tech savvy person. But I finally figured it out, thanks to Alex and Thanh Thanh. I will be sending in all my reflections of my CAS projects up until now. Wish me luck! See you later.
Event: Kaleidoscope Summer Arts Camp Location: Lee Street Elementary Date: June 9th- 20th, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, I, along with a teacher, taught elementary school children the basics of drawing and art. During the activity, I exposed them to many types of art and opportunities that are available in the field of art. By the end of the 2 week camp, the children displayed their artwork in a gallery. They also participated in the play, “The Big Bad Musical”, which they prepared for during camp. During this period, I treated the teachers, camp directors, and children with respect and, in turn, became friends with many of the adults, teens, and children. I hoped to take on a new challenge and in doing so, accomplished the required outcomes 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8. I believe I was very successful in achieving my goals and learned more about myself and my abilities. I also learned the abilities I need to improve. I faced cases of small injuries (paper cuts, etc.) and one of two issues with the children’s behavior. I handled these responsibly, in the way we had been taught by the camp directors. There was one difficulty I encountered that I learned a great deal from, although it broke my heart. I cannot detail the problem but a child said some insulting things to me. It ended up with the student expelled from the program, which hurt me because the kid was so sweet and well behaved before the incident. I learned from this problem that all incidents, even those some would not consider serious, should be reported. Not only for the sake of the one hurt but also for the sake of the child, so as to catch a problem and try to fix it before it can develop into something even worse. I learned that each person could contribute something fun and useful to inspire new generations of artistic young people. I have a new found appreciation of the arts. I learned the importance of different people and their views. The directors of the program, Mrs. Franklin, Mrs. Felicia, Mrs. Kirchner, and Mrs. Summerlin were my supervisors during these 2 weeks. They helped me think of my learning during this activity by helping me realize what I was contributing to these children’s lives and how that was positively affecting them. Through this activity, the kids benefited by learning self-expression and boosting their self-esteem. If I get to work with the art camp again, I would like to improve by being more responsible and more interactive with the children and with the people who work there. I can apply what I learned through these experiences with children when I baby-sit or even when I have children of my own someday.
Event: East Clayton County Community Day Location: Carl Rhodenizer Rec Center Date: June 21st, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, my team members and I volunteered for this community event. The event leaders assigned us to different jobs, but also called us to help them as needed. I participated by setting up the different vendors stations, planning and setting up the picnic area, helping the vendors and performers, advising the people who attended the event, and operating and keeping watch over the kids playing in the balloon jumper play area. My goal was to work with everyone to make this a fun and smooth running event. I feel I accomplished that and along with outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I was successful in achieving my goals, and the event was a great success. One difficulty I had was remembering and making sure that everyone’s requests fulfilled, especially when I had multiple requests at once. I overcame them by requesting a fellow volunteer help me. I learned that I need a little work on my memory skills, but that I also love helping others. I have developed an attitude that community is important and much can be done if people work together as a community. Dr. Grayson Walles, the leader of my Elite Scholars group, helped me to think about my learning during this activity by discussing what we did and what this experience has taught us. This event benefited others by informing them of important issues, entertaining them and introducing new local entertainers. Next time, I plan to improve by listening better and remembering better. I can apply my experiences in life situations such as running an event or leading and working with a team at school or at work.
Event: Welcome Back Teachers Program Location: Clayton County Performing Arts Center Date: August 1st, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, I served the performers and supervised the young performers before they went onstage. I also ushered the teachers before the event. In the final act of the event, the other volunteers and I danced onstage with the other dancers and choir. I hoped to fulfill the orders of the superintendent (who was running the program) and please the teachers that attended the event. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 2, 4, and 5. The only difficulty I faced was entertaining and keeping the kids quiet in a small room before they went onstage. I overcame this by teaching and playing some games that I learned at Arts Clayton. I learned that I didn’t like being onstage, but the teachers really appreciated this event because they can and are usually under-appreciated. I now value teachers more and all the hard work they do. No one helped me to think about my learning during this activity; I discovered this by observing the people around me. This activity benefited the teachers by showing them that they are important and deserve to be appreciated. Next time, I would like to have some plans to entertain and help performers as they wait backstage. It made me aware of hard work and good morale and that I should appreciate others for the work they do, especially teachers.
Event: Festival of Trees and Lights Location: Clayton County International Park Date: December 20th, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, I helped children pick out ornaments to decorate, “sold” the ornaments to them via Santa Bucks, and helped the children in the arts and crafts area. I hoped to make the children and parents happy while they were at the festival. I was successful and achieved outcome 1 and 3. I didn’t face any difficulties, unless you count indecisive children as a difficulty. I learned the importance for kids to learn financial responsibility because many kids wanted a lot of crafts, but they didn’t have enough Santa Bucks to “pay” for them. I also learned that I need to practice this kind of responsibility, in terms of real money. My mother and another volunteer helped me think about this when I told them about the event and they helped me to realize how this practice was teaching the children ideas about money they would need to know later in life. This event benefited the children by, in a child’s sense, teaching financial responsibility, and the fun of arts and crafts. Next time I would like to be more interactive with the children and teach this lesson myself. I can apply what I learned to my life when I will soon have to take over my own finances.
Journal #5 Event: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade Location: City of Jonesboro Date: January 19th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Dr. Grayson Walles, the leader of the Elite Scholars program, and State Representative Michael Glanton. I marched in the parade and passed out candy to the children along the route. I hoped to urge everyone to celebrate MLK day and show how important he was, and his contributions during the Civil Rights Movement. I was successful in my goals and accomplished outcomes 3, 4, 5, and 8. The difficulties I faced were the freezing cold weather and running behind in the parade occasionally. We were required to wear our uniforms for Elite Scholars, and being in a skirt and tights was not fun in 20°F weather! The other girls and I resolved this by grouping together before the parade to build up warmth and by keeping on the move during the parade. We also resolved the running behind problem by using quick thinking and splitting into groups that would run out to the children then return behind the previous group. I learned that even small events like this need planning, but also require flexibility to change strategies quickly. Through what I learned, I value Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to society even more. With my discussions with Dr. Walles, he helped me to understand the importance of this holiday. This activity benefited the parade-goers by informing them and helping them celebrate the importance of MLK day. Next time, I would like to improve by thinking of these factors ahead of time and creating plans before I do an event. I can apply what I learned in other life situations by studying and creating plans before major events to help them run more smoothly.
Journal #6 Event: Spring Break Mission Trip Location: Locust Grove Date: April 4th -9th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with one of my church leaders and with other volunteers at a food pantry. We organized, stored, and packed and distributed food to the people that drove up to redeem their orders. I interacted well with the other local volunteers, but I will admit it took me a day or two to be comfortable working around inmates. I hoped to help the people in the local community and to work well with others. I was successful with helping others in need and working well with my team members. I accomplished outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8. I had a difficulty with one girl on my team but we talked and resolved it quickly. I learned how the economy and the disappearance of some industries can severely affect an entire community. I have learned to value what I have and that I should help those in need. My church leaders and the other people who worked at the food pantry helped me think about my learning during this project. They helped me notice the connections between what they were teaching us and what we were practicing. We benefited others by giving them the food they needed and showing them how helpful some people can be when others have pushed them away. Next time, I would like to improve by doing my tasks better and more efficiently and talking more with my group members so we can better achieve our tasks. I can apply what I learned by keeping my eyes open for people in need and helping them as much as I can.
Journal #7 Event: Graduation Setup and Organization Location: Lovejoy High School Date: April 30th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked along with other Junior Marshals to create and sort cards and posters for graduation and rehearsals. We also organized items for graduation. We worked well together and performed tasks quickly. I hoped to get our tasks done efficiently and in a proper matter. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 3 and 4. I did not encounter any difficulties. I learned that for a goal to be achieved efficiently and run smoothly, it is important to have good communication skills. I have developed an ability to communicate well and understand my teammates when we strive for a common goal. I also learned the importance of being flexible, since things may not always go as planned. We had a fire drill in the middle of our work, so we left everything in an orderly manner and departed the area. When we came back, we resumed the work quickly. Mr. Dawson and my friends helped me to think about my learning in this activity with the discussions we had after the event. This activity benefited the Lovejoy High faculty and staff because it saved them time and effort that had to be done as preparation for graduation. Next time, I would improve the process by splitting us up into more teams so that we could handle the workload better. I can apply what I learned when I work in teams in the future, whether it be school, other service projects, or at work.
1) Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
The Science Olympiad competition allowed me to gain awareness of my strengths and weakness in the field of science. I placed 4th in Experimental Design, an event where you are given a problem (can be from any field of science), a set of material (basic lab set-up and chemicals), and one hour to complete a lab report with the answer to the problem. My strength in this area was being able to design labs with limited time and an abundance of material. I developed this skill from our IAs in Biology. My range of Chemistry is an area for improvement; my partner and I did not place in top 10 in Chemistry Lab.
2) Undertaken new challenges
This was my first year participating in Science Olympiad. I did not know what to expect, but in the end I had fun. I will definitely do this again next year.
3) Planned and initiated activities
Each event was self-planned. While Mrs. Etheridge provided the materials, we were the ones responsible for carrying out our events. I spearheaded my four events in addition to assisting in 2 other events with Andre Jairam and George Keohavong for “What time is it?” and Kyla Stewart and Peter Buckshot in “Environmental Chemistry”
4) Worked collaboratively with others
I worked with others in my events. Each Science Olympiad event is done in pairs. In my 4 events, I worked with each of my partners in a way that was productive and humorous. After all you can still have fun in science.
5) Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
Our Science Olympiad club met once-twice weekly for the months leading up to the event. I was present at all meetings and helped others with their events in addition to preparing for my own.
6) Engaged with issues of global importance
The need for science has been an issue of global importance since the beginning of education. You do not need to look further than the last 40 years (the Cold War) when nations wanted to produce the greatest amounts of educated scientist.
7) Considered the ethical implications of their actions
Throughout the day, there were ethical implication in our actions, the rules of Science Olympiad at regional event is very vague. It was possible to cheat or gain an advantage; however we kept our self to fair play.
8) Developed new skills
Throughout the day, I made a lot of new friends and developed new skills. Looking back my notes for Ecology could have been a lot better. And my presentation of raw data for the Experimental Design could have been better also. After the competition I worked with Mrs. Lowman in these areas for my IB IA and for next year’s competition.
Hello my name is Diana Valdovinos. So I'm finally gonna start blogging. Better late than never. Well i'm kinda lost with this. I have been doing my community service hours i just hadn't got the chance to come try to figure this out. I will be adding all my reflections soon. Hope I do this right..
Journal Entry: 19 Date: 3/10-13/2010 Event: GATSA 48th State Conference Location: Athens, GA (Classic Convention Center) Hours: 10 1) Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
The annual Georgia Technology Student Association State Conference is an opportunity for GA’s 20,000 members from the across the state to test their abilities at events in the technological field ranging from programming robots to designing 3D Architectures to building CO2 powered Dragsters. At the 48th Annual GATSA state conference I undertook 6 events: Prepared Presentation, Extemporaneous Presentation, Essays on Technology, Outstanding Student, Career Comparison and Chapter Team. I placed first in Prepared Presentation and Career Comparison and Second in Outstanding Student. This identifies my strengths with public speaking and interviewing. I placed 4th in Essay and Extemporaneous which means there is room for improvement in both fields.
2) Undertaken new challenges
I ran for State President this year at the State Competition. With a huge amount of support from my friends, I ran against the then State Treasurer. It was said that the Presidential election as the highlight of the conference. I never ran for President before but being part of TSA means to undertake new challenges. I lost in the election, but due to our “general pool” system, I had enough votes and support to join become a state officer for 2010-11. (I was elected State Treasurer).
3) Planned and initiated activities
As Chapter President, I planned and organized our activities. I promoted TSA within Lovejoy. Individually, I planned and initiated my six events at the state level.
4) Worked collaboratively with others
Throughout the months leading up to State Conference, I worked with my officer team as well as other members in getting projects started, turning in registration and money, and preparing for the actual competitions.
5) Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
As President, I stayed after school with members as late as seven on some Wednesdays as we worked on our projects. I helped to lead a chapter who only placed in one event in October to a chapter who finished 7th overall in the state of Georgia.
6) Engaged with issues of global importance
The need for technology is always growing. Technology is an everyday part of life. Technology has given us a bridge to connect the world into one global society.
7) Considered the ethical implications of their actions
TSA as with any sports involves competitions. It would have been possible to cheat at any of the events at State. However we chose to play fair and had a great time.
8) Developed new skills
At the state conference I gained new skills in all my events. From participating in Chapter Team, I gained a greater knowledge of parliamentary procedures that I didn’t not have at the beginning of the year. Lovejoy placed 6th in the event. I plan to use my new knowledge to help Lovejoy break into the top three next year in Chapter Team.
Journal #8 Event: Senior Breakfast Location: Lovejoy High School Cafeteria Date: May 12th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with other Junior Marshals to set up the Senior Breakfast, decorate the venue, assist the caterers, usher the seniors into the event, and serve breakfast to the seniors. We worked well together and the event went smoothly. I hoped to make the event fun for the seniors, while keeping the event running smoothly without interruption. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 3 and 4. The difficulties we encountered during the event was keeping the underclassmen out of the event, and some scheduling problems when it came time to changing jobs. We overcame the first difficulty by being very strict on who may enter the event. If a student had a problem with the rules, they could talk to an administrator. We overcame the second problem by reflection on what worked and what didn’t work during the event and made plans in hopes that this mistake will not happen again. I learned that good communication is vital to making a team work (this is what led to the scheduling problem) and that small events take just as much planning and thought as big events. I developed the ability to think about different aspects of an event and make plans to cover those aspects, and how to work with others. I came to value the importance of communication and teamwork. Mr. Dawson helped me to think about my learning during this activity by having us reflect on our actions during the event in our meeting after the Senior Breakfast. This benefited the Lovejoy High School seniors in celebration of their hard work and ability to graduate. Next time, I think we will assign one group to office duty and then equally spread out responsibilities to the other people. Also the group should agree on scheduling times together as a group rather than having a few persons agree on the schedule and not clearly communication the plan to everyone else. I can apply what I’ve learned in other life situations by utilizing these skills when I work in the future teams, either at school, other volunteer projects, or at future jobs.
Journal #9 Event: Honor Graduates Picnic Location: Lovejoy High School Senior Courtyard Date: May 13, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with the Junior Marshals. We prepared for the Honor Graduates Picnic by decorating the Senior Courtyard, creating banners, setting up the serving tables, and either cooking or setting out the food. During the event, we served the Honor Graduates food and drinks and a few Junior Marshals and I did a small sing and dance show for the Honor Graduates. I hoped to make the seniors happy and comfortable while we congratulated them on becoming Honor Graduates. I was successful in making them happy (and embarrassing myself too) and achieved outcomes 2, 3, 4, and 5. The difficulties we encountered was that the banners would not stick to the walls at first and the seniors kept demanding us to do silly things for them because we were their “senior slaves”, (a playful tradition at Lovejoy) We overcame the banner problem by finding duct tape and using a large quantity of it but finally decided to decorate the windows and let the banners fall after the picnic started. We overcame the seniors silly demands by playing along with them, despite some playful embarrassment. I learned that I still do not like performing, but its OK as long as I’m being playful and performing with my friends, I can do it. I also developed the attitude of service. Service is not only a good thing to do for others, but it is fun too, if you have the right attitude. I thought about this learning mostly on my own, but Mr. Dawson helped me by bringing this to my attention in our meeting. This event benefited the Honor Graduates and the faculty. Next time, I would like to plan more events for the Honor Graduate picnic and probably host the event in someplace bigger. I can apply what I learned in other service projects, at work, or when I interact with other people.
Journal #10 Event: Senior/Faculty Basketball Game Location: Lovejoy High School Gymnasium Date: May 14, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with other Junior Marshals to host and manage the Senior/Faculty Basketball game. We ushered the seniors into the gym and made sure they were content and behaving. We also assisted the student and faculty basketball players. I hoped to host a fun event and I also hoped it would be an exciting event without becoming a rowdy event. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 2, 3, and 4. We faced n difficulties and the crowd of seniors behaved well. I learned how effective good communication is since we, the Junior Marshals, began practicing this skill. I value good communication skills and plan to keep practicing this skill. My friends and I discussed our learning during this activity and we came to this conclusion. This project benefited the seniors and faculty by inspiring playful competitiveness between the two teams. Next time, I would like to been of more help, since there was more that could have been done by myself and the other Junior Marshals, but instead was done by a faculty member or teacher. I can apply what I’ve learned about communication in the future when I apply for college, interview for a job, or when I’m working in or leading a team.
Journal #11 Event: Senior Picnic Location: Lovejoy High School Date: May 15, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with other Junior Marshals to work in the Senior Picnic. We set up the picnic, the activities and helped set up the blow up games. We also began setting out the food for the picnic and making popcorn and cotton candy. We supervised the seniors to make sure no problems arose and afterwards, picked up litter. We also served food to the teachers that attended the picnic and to the teachers who were working in the office. We attended to teachers’ orders when they needed assistance. We also took turns doing the jobs the seniors left behind so that that they could attend the picnic. When the picnic was over, we cleared up the field thoroughly and helped the people who brought the blow up games and rock climbing wall break down and put away their things. We were successful in achieving our goals and the picnic was an outstanding success. I achieved goals 3, 4, and 5. A difficulty we faced was scheduling problems not because the lack of communication, but because some people did not leave their jobs when they were supposed to. We overcame these problems by talking with them, compromising or letting them continue doing their job because we wanted to let the seniors have a good time, in spite of problem. I learned that in some cases you may have some people on a team willing to do things their own way, but you have to know what’s right to do to reach your team’s goals. The event is to benefit others and you need to do so to the best of your ability. I have developed an attitude of perseverance, and continue serving others despite obstacles, big or small. Mrs. Isom and Mrs. Gordon helped me to think about our learning during this activity in our meeting, when we discussed the importance of service and teamwork. This event benefited the seniors, faculty, and staff by giving them a fun time and letting them relax and celebrate the end of the year festivities. Next time, I would like to talk to our teacher leaders, and see if we can make rules about being a Junior Marshal and create penalties for breaking those rules. Therefore, I hope things would run more smoothly next time and for future Junior Marshals. I can apply my learning in this event to when I have a job in the future.
Journal #12 Event: Baccalaureate Graduation Ceremony Location: Divine Faith Ministries Church Date: May 16, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, some of the Junior Marshals and I attended the Baccalaureate Graduation Ceremony at a nearby church. We ushered the friends and family of the seniors into the church and organized the seniors into the line they would be in during graduation. The Baccalaureate Ceremony is like graduation, but done in a church for religious reasons. While the ceremony was going on, the attending Junior Marshals and I set up the reception area, decorated the reception area, set up the food tables and the food, and served the food to the seniors and their families. I hoped that the event would be a success for everyone. We were successful in our goals and outcomes 3, 4, and 5 were achieved. The difficulty we faced was the rain. We set up tents before the event to keep the reception area dry and did our best to keep the food dry and away from the rain and let the seniors in the reception area first then the family members. I learned that it’s good to be flexible and prepared for anything. I learned these abilities in this event. Mrs. Isom and Mrs. Gordon helped me think about my learning in this activity in the meeting we had after the event. This project benefited the seniors, the faculty, and the families of the seniors by getting them through this program in a neat and orderly manner. Next time, I would like to improve by being more prepared for future events. I can apply these skills to future events and in my personal life.
Journal #13 Event: Graduation Rehearsal Day 1 Location: Lovejoy High School Date: May 27, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with the Junior Marshals and our teacher leaders to help the seniors rehearse for the graduation ceremony. We ushered them into the gym, organized them by letter groups, then alphabetically by last name. We tended to their needs, since they weren’t allowed to leave the lines. After the initial line-up, we checked the line again and put seniors in place if they were late. We did a run through of the ceremony and went through the graduation lists and took out the names of people who were not graduating and checked our lists again. We also took people out of the line that were stated as not graduating and took them to an administrator to discuss the problem. I hoped to accomplish this task as efficiently as possible and to the best of my ability. I was mostly successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. The difficulty I faced was controlling the rowdy seniors and keeping them in line. I overcame this problem by asserting myself and explaining to them what the rules were and what had to be done. If they were still disrespectful, I gave their names to an administrator or our teacher leaders and let them solve the problem. I learned that I need to be more vocal when I’m trying to lead a group and ask for help if necessary. I have developed my leadership ability, but I need to continue developing it. My friends helped me to think about my learning by advising me on what I could do better and listening to the advice of previous Junior Marshals. This activity benefited the faculty by adding extra help in controlling the seniors and trying to get them ready for the graduation ceremony. Next time, I would like to improve by being more vocal in my instructions and more open to accepting help. I can use this learning in future life situations, like when I am leading a group or working with children.
Journal #14 Event: Graduation Rehearsal Day 2 Location: Lovejoy High School Date: May 28, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with the Junior Marshals and our teacher leaders to help the seniors rehearse for the graduation ceremony. Again, we ushered them into the gym, organized them by letter groups, then alphabetically by last name. We tended to their needs, and everything was going better than yesterday. After we lined them up again, we checked the line again and put seniors in place if they were late. We did a run through of the ceremony and went through the graduation lists one last time and took out the names of people who were not graduating or attending the graduation. We also did a final check through the graduation lists. I hoped to accomplish this task better than I did the previous day and practiced what I learned. I also wanted to have the seniors prepared for the real graduation ceremony. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8. With the help of what I learned yesterday, I faced no difficulties today in rehearsals. I learned that practice makes perfect and that leadership is important to getting things done. I have developed my leadership ability more, but I need to continue developing this skill. Mr. Dawson helped me to think about my learning in the meeting we had after the rehearsals. This activity benefited the faculty by adding extra help in controlling the seniors and getting them ready for the graduation ceremony. Next time, I would like to improve by practicing the skills I’ve learned so that I may do a better job. I can use this learning in future life situations, like when I am leading a group, working with children or working on other big volunteer projects.
Journal #15 Event: Kaleidoscope Summer Arts Camp, Young Teen Art Camp Location: Swint Elementary School Date: June 8th – 12th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I returned to work at the Kaleidoscope Summer Arts Camp and took on a new responsibility, the Young Teen Art Camp. The teacher and I taught elementary school children the basics of drawing. During the activity, I also exposed them to my style of art and other types of art. In the teen camp, I helped the teacher for the teen class teach acrylic painting. I also took care of their supplies, such as canvases, paints, and paint brushes. I supervised and played with the children during lunch. I also taught the children how to make balloon dog animals when we had a group of clowns come as snack time entertainment one day. During this activity, I treated everyone with respect and diligently attended to the teachers, directors, and performers, many of whom I knew from the year before. I hoped to improve my skills from the last time I was at camp and take on new responsibilities if possible. In doing so, I accomplished outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. I did not encounter any difficulties during this activity. I handled small problems between children the way we were told to by the camp directors. I discovered I have a passion for art and working with children. I have developed better communication skills, improved on my service ability, and learned and practiced responsibility. Mrs. Kirchner, Mrs. Summerlin, and Mrs. Felicia, the camp directors, helped me think about my learning when we talked during snack time breaks and lunch. This event benefited the children by learning art, boosting their self esteem, and promoting self expression. Next time, I would like to continue improving my skills and taking on more and new responsibilities. I can apply what I’ve learned when I work with children or when I possibly have my own in the future.
Journal #16 Event: Creation of the 100 Hallway Bulletin Board Location: Lovejoy High School Date: November 18, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Thanh-Thanh Tran and Lianna Fierroz to design and decorate the bulletin board on the 100 hallway. We interacted well with one another, even though there were some disagreements with the layout of the design. I hoped to work well with Thanh-Thanh and Lianna and create an interesting, creative and informative board. We were successful in creating a great board. The only difficulty we faced was disagreements with design, but those were solved quickly by talking with one another. I learned how well things can go if you have good communication and teamwork in a group. I have come to value good communication skills and good teamwork skills. My mom helped me think about my learning when I discussed the activity with her after she picked me up from school. This activity benefited the school and the English teachers because we displayed the books that were being read in the classes that month and a few vocabulary words. Next time, I would like to come up with more creative ideas and make it better. I can apply the lessons I learned in future life situations when I work in teams, in school or at work.
Journal #17 Event: Lovejoy Soccer Field Fundraising Event Location: Lovejoy Soccer fields Date: April 4, 2010
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Jazmine Wilcox and Karen Varela at the face painting table to fundraise money for the soccer fields. We painted the faces of children (and some adults) for $1. We even go to paint some of the soccer players faces. We painted various little illustrations, such as butterflies, stars, eagles, kitten nose and whiskers, Spidermans, and a Spongebob Squarepants. We even painted our own faces to promote people to come and get their faces painted. I hoped to raise a significant amount of money for the soccer fields and make the children and their parents happy. I was successful in my goals and accomplished outcomes 1, 2 and 8. The only difficulty we faced was that most of the paint we were given was dried up. We resolved this problem by buying more face paint and sharing what we had with each other. I have developed an ability to face paint and entertain children while they waited for me to finish painting their face. I also learned quick thinking and creativity, which helped when the kids wanted something we did not know what to paint, such as the team that wanted eagles on their faces to represent their team name. I thought about what I learned during this activity and came to the conclusion myself. This event benefited the soccer fields and the children soccer players by raising money so that they can hold future events there. Next time, I would like to improve by buying more face paint ahead of time and make a list of what we can paint, even though it was fun to create new illustrations on the whim. I can apply what I learned when I work with kids in the future and possibly with my students if I become a teacher.
Journal #18 Event: Clayton County Cultural Celebration Location: Performing Arts Center Date: March 21, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Elite Scholars and State Representative Michael Glanton. The purpose of the Clayton County Cultural Celebration is to promote cultural differences and tolerance of cultural and ethical differences by showcasing acts done by different cultures. Some of the performers represented there were Indian dancers, Asian dancers, African dancers, rappers, step team dancers, Latino dancers, Irish musicians and much more. During this event, we ushered the people into the performing arts center. After everyone was seated, all the Elite Scholars ran down the stairs and started the program by dancing onstage to Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” song. After the program, we continued to spread the message of the program and talked to the people who attended. I hoped to fulfill the purpose of the program, and help the program run smoothly. I was successful in achieving my goals and achieved outcomes 1, 4, 5, and 6. I did not face any difficulties. I learned the importance of diversity and tolerance for cultural differences, and I value global differences in our society. I’ve also learned how important it is to spread this message to other areas of the world, so that we may become a global society. Dr. Walles and Mr. Glanton helped me to think about my learning during this activity by stressing to us the purpose and importance of this program. This activity benefited the people of Clayton County by exposing them to different cultures. Next time, I would like to be more a part of the program and more active in promoting cultural diversity. I can apply what I have learned in the future when I interact with people of another culture or country, and when I visit another country as well.
Journal entry #5 Creativity/Action Activity: Marching band Hours: 10 Aug-Nov 2008 Performance Schedule: Home vs. Mt. Zion Home vs. Riverdale Away vs. Newnan Home vs. Pebblebrook Away vs. Mundy’s Mill Away vs. East Coweta Home vs. Creekside Away vs. Westlake TSU Homecoming Parade
Learning Outcomes: -increase awareness of their strengths and areas of growth -work collaboratively with others -show perseverance and commitment -develop new skills
During the first semester of my 11th grade year, I was the section leader of the Saxophone section during the band season. As the only section leader of 6-12 boys was difficult. I had to be a leader, a teacher, motivator, and disciplinarian to my section. I had to learn how to be a fair leader. To do this I occasionally gave the section leadership roles and taught them how to be leaders as well. I gave them the opportunities to lead and make various decisions without being constantly what to do. I tried to teach them the skills necessary for marching band such as dancing, marching, and playing music and often allowed them to teach each other. As a section leader of a section I usually asked to step in for other section leaders as well as assist the drum majors and band directors with various projects like organizing sheet music and cleaning up the band room. Through this activity, I developed new skills as a leader and methods to lead and teach others, I stayed committed and persevered through a demanding activity, and I became aware that my weakness are my leadership and my strengths including teaching. This activity helped me become a better leader and use my teaching skills.
Journal #9 Service Activity: St. Jude’s Give Thanks 5K Walk Date: 11-21-09 Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: Increased awareness of strengths and weaknesses, undertaken new challenges, planned and initiated activities, collaboration with others, commitment to activities and considered issues of global importance.
This activity I felt was extremely fun and beneficial to myself, others involved and the children who would be treated. I learned of this opportunity to volunteer or to walk from emails I received from St. Jude’s after past donations. I decided to walk instead of volunteer because I wanted to be a part of fundraising for the non-profit St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. The activity consisted of walking around the Atlanta Zoo five times and raising money from family and friends to support a walker or a team. I opened the opportunity to any of my peers who wouldn’t mind waking up early on a Saturday morning to walk around a Zoo. Two other friends of mine volunteered and we created the team WildcatGeniuses. We created our own website via St. Jude’s promotional site and sent out emails to anyone and everyone that could donate money. Each of us also donated money towards the event. The day of the event, we dragged ourselves out of bed around 6am and carpooled to the Atlanta Zoo. It was a chilly day but a great day to walk. The turnout of volunteers and walkers was monumental according to the director of the activity. It was definitely a moving scene when we saw people of all ages and even little children who dedicated their Saturday morning for the hospital. There was live music, donated Dunkin Donuts, and various vendors available to the walkers. We all naively thought the walk would be easy but none of us had been to the Zoo in the past years and forgot about how big the Zoo actually was. Along the route we saw various signs of all the companies and teams that donated, encouraged other walkers, and read their signs that were tacked to them stating why and/or who they walked for. We were given the opportunity to see the animals and meet other high school students like ourselves. Overall this was a great experience and it was very rewarding to have raised $350 dollars as a team and be a part of the millions that were raised around the nation for the St. Jude’s hospital who will continue to promote research that will save lives of children all around the world. With St. Jude’s tremendous advancements in cancer in children and with the donations and help of the people, many children would be affected globally. Through this activity I learned that fundraising is my strength and I hope to continue to do so in the future but I could work on communication skills.
Journal#8 Service Activity: Southern Regional Hospital VolunTeen Dates: 2008-2009 Nov. 15th, 22th, and 29th; Dec. 13th and 27th; Jan. 10th and 24th; Feb. 7th and 21st Hours: 36 Learning Outcomes: Show perseverance, undertake new challenges, increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, consider ethical implications of my actions and develop new skills
Every Saturday from 9am-1pm I worked with the nurses of the surgery ward, answered phones, filed paperwork, ran errands, greeted guests, and helped patients in any way that I can. I rarely set foot in a hospital and never worked in any type of medical field so this was a new challenge for me to conquer. Through the course of my time volunteering there I gained more knowledge about working in the medical field and honed my administrative and communication skills. In this activity my strongest asset was my willingness to assist nurses, doctors, patients and families in any way that I could and responded efficiently. Each action, however, had to be considered. In some cases certain matters required me to reflect on the consequences of my actions such as leaving personal files out of their place where visitors could see them or whether to divulge information of patient who was possibly abused or at danger. This activity helped me learn a lot about a possible future in the medical field and in other situations requiring confidentiality.
Activity: Junior Marshal- Graduation Cards Date: April 30, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 7 Learning Outcomes: 1 & 4
As mentioned in Reflection 8, as a Junior Marshal I agreed, by contract, to volunteer my time to the planning, organizing and overseeing of all Class of 2009 senior events. On this day, I and my fellow Junior Marshals were asked to create and organize three complete sets of name cards of Lovejoy High School’s Class of 2009 seniors. I remember being trapped in the English book room with about 12 other Junior Marshals fighting over which was the most efficient and effective way to attack out task. Too many Indians and not enough chiefs! At the end of the day, we did manage to accomplish our tasks and produce 3 lovely stacks of blue, white, and pink name cards.
Outcomes Met: 1) I increased my knowledge of my personal strength in leadership and organization. 4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow Junior Marshals.
Reflection 13
Activity: Clayton County Jamboree Date: May 10, 2009 Location: Tara Stadium Hours: 4 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
As part of the Lovejoy High School Dancing Diamonds, I have a number of performances a year. One of the main attractions is the Clayton County Jamboree which is, essentially, a battle between all Clayton County Public School bands. This year, Lovejoy High was matched up against our rival, Mundy’s Mill and the rest is history!
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with my Co-Captains and band director to ensure a great routine and performance from the 2008-2009 team! 5) I have shown perseverance throughout the 2008-2009 season by attending ALL practices and performances.
Reflection 14
Activity: Rising 11th Grade IB Meeting Date: May 6, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 1 Learning Outcomes: 2, 4 & 8
As a rising senior of the IB Program, I thought it might be helpful to inform the rising juniors and their parents about what the IB Program actually consists of. Having completed my first year in the program, I’ve observed many things that I myself was not informed of before entering the program as the IB Program was still relatively new to Lovejoy High. My fellow classmate Caitlin and I spoke to the parents about what we have endured throughout the program thus far as well as answered any questions they may have had.
Outcomes Met: 2) Public speaking has always been a weakness of my. I tend to get nervous. My hands sweat, I speak fast, and a my voice shakes. Having to speak at a podium in front these parents a students was definitely a new personal challenge. 4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow classmate to ensure a well informative session for the risings IB Juniors. 8) While undertaking my personal challenge of public speaking, I discovered that I was quite the people person and that I am able to communicate without falter to a group of complete strangers. This is a skill I will definitely need in college and in my pursuit if a business career.
Activity: Junior Marshal- Breakfast Set-Up and Organization Date: May 11, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 1, 3, 4, 5 & 8
Yet another day filled with Junior Marshal duties! This day we were tasked with creating place settings and all other decorations for the senior breakfast.
1) I saw an increase in my creative abilities. 3, 4) I planned out and collaborated with my fellow Junior Marshal to transform our school’s cafeteria into a great dining center for the seniors. 5) Perseverance is a necessary skill of a Junior Marshal despite the bickering, torment for seniors and frustration I pushed through all situations coming out on top. 8) I developed some new skills of creativity and display.
Reflection 17
Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Breakfast Date: May 12, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 4 Learning Outcomes: 5
When Senior Breakfast began, we were bombarded by the host of seniors wanting pancakes, grits, bacon and everything else. Of course the Marshals had to serve the seniors. That was quite the day.
5) Perseverance. Through all of the hectic scene of the senior breakfast and not receiving one thank you from the seniors, the Junior Marshals did not quit.
Journal Entry #6 Service/Creativity Activity: Tri-M Music Honor Society Valentine’s Day Ball Planning Hours: 10 Feb. 13, 2009 -work collaboratively with others -show perseverance and commitment -develop new skills -increase awareness in strengths and weaknesses -plan and initiate activities -undertake new challenges Planning this event was extremely difficult. At first I thought planning this Valentine’s Day party would be easy just needed to find a DJ, a caterer, and a decorator. But the task became easier when I delegated jobs to other members in the club. Each person was responsible for finding a caterer or DJ, for creating flyers, giving announcements and for decorating the party. This was my first time officially planning a party for an organization and I discovered that I needed to work on my organization and persistence but I was strong in handling the various obstacles we encountered. I believe that in the end we broke even. It was still a fun experience but many things could have made it more productive.
Journal #9 Service Activity: Senior Breakfast Hours: 6 Learning Outcomes: work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment
This activity was fairly easy and not that challenging. The main obstacle of this activity was working well with others and delegating our jobs and surviving through the all of the events and chaos. With communication, we figured things out and we were able to persevere through the temporary disorder of the senior breakfast and handle all of the obstacles we faced. Our duties were to set up and decorate the cafeteria organize the seniors, admit them to the cafeteria, serve the seniors and clean up afterwards.
Hi, I redo this since I have to put on my learning outcomes.
1) Increased awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth 2) Undertaking new challenges 3) Planning and initiating activities 4) Working collaboratively with others 5) Showing perseverance and commitment in my activities 6) Engaging in issues of global importance 7) Considering the ethical implications of my actions 8) Developing new skills Name of activity/project: Manager of Tennis team Approximate hours: 20 hours Category: Action Summary: During my junior year, I participated as a manager in the tennis team. As a manager, I had to come to practice with the team and watch them improve. At first, this was very new to me since I have not involve with any kind of sports since middle school, and on top of that, I have not had any experience with being a manager. However, I took it slow, one step at the time. I came to practice with everyone and I also learn how to play tennis. Tennis is a very hard sport for me since the tennis racket is heavy and hitting a tennis ball is even harder; however, I enjoyed playing it. Since everyone was busy working on their skill, my job was that to provide my support during the practice and encourage them and cheer for them in the match. Being part of the team, I could observe my team-mates as they grew and even though I knew that I could not do anything for them, I could always support them and encourage them to do their best. My strength was that I could support the team just by encouraging them and cheer for them. Even though sometimes, just watch them play gave me the feeling of emptiness however; I soon recovered and realized that they were trying their hardest and my presence could be their mental support. I learned how to interact with different kind of people and to see the differences in each individuality is unique and that all different kind of people can come together to make a great team. Outcomes met: 1) I noticed my strengths and increased them by providing the team my helping hands and supports. 2) Even though it was my first time on the sport team, I learned to adapt and blend in with people around me. 4) I learned how to work collaboratively with others on the team to make a best team out of Lovejoy Tennis Team. 5) I had to show up almost in every practice to get use to the way my teammates play tennis; and I also went with them to compete. 8) Through this activity, it broaden my knowledge of sporting and how important it is for manager to support the team and be there for everyone.
Journal entry # 2 Name of Activity/project: Golf Approximate hours: + 20 hours. Category: Action Summary: Last school year, I started to play golf, a sport that I had never played before. Because it was my first time playing this sport, I had to learn the basic first which I found very challenging because I was not good with handling the clubs. However, I started to have some passion for this sport because after a long hour school day, I could release my stress and enjoyed myself. Even though sometimes I had to face challenges such as swinging, aiming, and many more, I realized that I had the ability to improve, I had perseverance and I wanted to play. I practiced almost everyday after school and learned new skills. Thanks to my coach who showed patience with me and guided me through, I could improve slowly. I started to compete with other golfers; before competing with golfers that had experiences and better than a new golfer like me, I thought that this would be very difficult to keep up with them and they would be bored playing with me; however, different from my thoughts, they were actually very patient with me; they showed me how to swing and stand in order for the ball to go far; they were very nice and open to me. Through this experience, I finally understand that playing sport is actually very enjoyable and interact with others through competitions is another way to learn new things and improve myself. Outcomes met: 1) For this sport, perseverance was a good factor to use in order to play golf. With this strength in me, I slowly but strongly began to play proper golf. 2) This was very challenging since golf requires a great deal of balance and I personally do not have a good physical balance. So I had to learn how to stand and use my muscle throughout my body in order to play golf efficiency. 4) I worked cooperatively with other members on the team and with my coach. We discussed golf together and played together when we had a chance. 5) I came to practice about 4 days a week to improve my weakness and perfect my strength in golf. Even though there were times when it was hard for me to concentrate on golf because it was difficult but soon the feelings of want to hit the ball into the hole sparkle up my spirits. 8) I developed how to play golf for the first time: a sport that is viewed as boring, but to me, it requires a great amount of concentration and hard work to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.
Journal Entry # 3 Name of activity/project: Graduation setup and organization Approximate hours: 7 hours Summary: During my junior year, I had a chance to help the seniors set-up and organize for the graduation. We, junior marshals, had to work together to put the soon-to-be-graduates' names in alphabetical order on the cards and also to sort them out in specific order. During the process, we encountered many obstacles such as who should do what and how things should be done in order to achieve the high quality of results without any problems. Because we all had different ways and methods to deal with things and all methods did not seem to be ineffective; however, we only need one method to do this, so many of us were disappointed. However, we understood that working together means that we somehow have to sacrifice; at the end, we all did what we supposed to do and everything turned out great. Through this activity, I learned that working together to achieve something is difficult, but once we have some kind of organization and we focus on our jobs and sacrifice our selfishness, we can move forward and have great working time together. Outcomes met: 1) In this activity, my strength was to organize the name fast and orderly to reduce the time it took to finish the job. I’ve learned that I could increase my strength and allow it to be useful if I concentrated enough. 3) We initially took actions of how to come up with the best method of how to organize the information together to have the best result. 4) I worked well with other and understood that we had to be unselfish to accomplish something in a group. 8) Through this activity, I developed a sense of selfless to put the merits of the group first in order to finish the job on time and efficiently.
Journal entry # 4 Name of Activity/project: Graduation Rehearsal (2 days) Approximate hours: 14 hours. Summary: Last year, I as a Junior Marshal, had to help the seniors to rehears for their graduation in May. We had to line up them in alphabetical orders and honors/non-honors. Because of the great quantity of seniors and they were too excited to listen, we had some troubles of moving them into the right direction. As the result, the process did not go well. Many of us could not deal with the fact that we had to listen to problems that we were not the cause. However, because we learned how difficult it was on the first day, we fixed it on the second day. We came up with organization and we did our jobs so the second day went better than the first day. I learned how responsibility can be the key to make things work. I also learned that not all people care or pay attention to trivial things that may damage the whole activity/project. Through this activity, it opened my mind to the whole different level of how to deal with people who does not care about the activity/project. Outcomes met: 1) In this activity, patience helped me to do my job right without causing havoc about how irresponsible people did not act accordingly. I was glad to control my temper well and acted professionally in this activity. 2) Because we had to lead the senior, who were older than us, to follow direction and move quickly and orderly, we took on a new challenge. Most of the seniors did not listen to us since we were their underclassmen; so we had to put up with them accordingly without being disrespectful. 4) I worked well with the teachers and most of the seniors since I always put work first and give feedback later. 5) For this activity, I had to be persevered because I know that conflicts can start with a small disagreement and can cause the whole project to fail. I also put all things aside to focus on this activity and we did this all morning. 6) For this particular activity, I see that nowadays, the youth is kind of do their own things in their own ways regardless of the consequences and violence in teens starts because of the exact reasons. So through this activity, I’ve learned to deal with things professionally to reduce the conflicts and to bring harmony in the workplace to accomplish great things. 7) In this activity, I also brought my work ethics in my actions. I calmly deal with the people who did not want to listen. I put myself into their position to know them better so we could work it out more efficiently. At the end, I’ve learned that they were just excited to graduate and cannot hide their emotions so they were kind of disrespectful to us. I slowly understood them and we worked together just fine.
journal Entry # 5 Name of activity/project: Senior Picnic Approximate hours: 8 hours. Summary: Last year to appreciate and to congratulate the seniors for their efforts and hard-work, we organized a picnic for them. Because it was outside and the weather is extremely warm, it was difficult on concentrate on the jobs. We, the juniors marshals, each took turn to stay indoors and outside to serve the seniors food or what they needed. It was fun overall, however, because it took place outside the whole day and many of us did not feel comfortable being outside and work, the event for us was tiring and extremely difficult to carry on. I personally helped to organize the event and served the seniors food at the beginning then I had to come inside since I had to take turn and let others to come out to serve food and have fun outside. Then at the end, I came out and cleaned up. This event overall was fun for the seniors, however, for us it was a challenge because to serve many seniors at once time demanded a great stamina and I personally do not have much. To experience and overcame my physical weakness was challenging for me since I'm not used to labor work; but I did my best and I'm proud of my determination to finish what I had started. Outcomes met: 1) In this activity, I noticed that my strength was to organize the picnic and help the teachers to set up the food and everything. However, I also noticed that I did not have physical strength to do any heavy work and I am planning to work on my weakness. 2) Because I knew that my physical strength was not excellent, I tried to help out as much as possible. My challenge was to be able to work physically under the hot sun which I had not have any experience before, so I tried to stay hydrated and help out as hard as I could. 4) I worked real well together with other students and teachers. Since this was a service based event, we put our head together to serve the seniors as best as we could so they could have an unforgettable picnic in their high school career. 5) I devoted my commitment to this activity by trying hard to serve the seniors and help others; my perseverance was to putting up with the high temperature of the day to do my duties.
ClaireTran said... My #5 entry concluded all the hours I need to do for Action. Now let me start on other two.
VITA is a volunteer based organization that does free taxes for underprivileged people. The bank that my mother works for, discovered VITA, and volunteered to help the organization. I volunteered as well. So on Saturday January 24, 2009, my mother, some of her co-workers, and myself went to train for VITA. Training started at 8:00am and lasted until 4:00pm. We each sat at a computer with a stack of books next to it, which we were to use during and after training. Once everyone was settled, the man training us began basic introductions to the program we would be using during training. He went over some of the rules for the volunteers, and some of the requirements for the people having their taxes done. We then proceeded to complete some mock tax cases, in order to familiarize ourselves with the system. The first case we did was just a single person with only a few deductions. It was pretty simple because all we had to do was to input the information into the system; however, as the day progressed we moved onto more difficult cases involving married couples with dependents and many deductions. I approached these cases the same way I approached the last one, just by inputting the information into its respective places; however, the format soon came to be confusing, and myself and my fellow volunteers were having problems. Since there was only one person holding the training, and there were over thirty people in the room, it is safe to say that we did not get sufficient help. So I proceeded to befriend the people sitting around me, something that was difficult for me because I am a very quiet person, and offered them my help on the parts I understood, and they, in return, helped me with the parts I was struggling with. This interaction with complete strangers was new to me and really helped to get me out of my comfort zone, which is something I have been able to apply in many other aspects of life. So through this activity I met learning outcomes: 2,4, and 8. I met learning outcome 2, by participating in a new activity and learning something new, which also goes with learning outcome 8. I met outcome 4 by working with my fellow volunteers to figure out the system.
This was my first day actually implementing the skills I developed at VITA Training. We arrived at the library at about 7:45 in the morning because they were opening the doors to the public at 8:30. While we were waiting to open the doors, I thought that there would be a lot of setting up to do. I was under the impression that we were going to set up a table at the entrance of the library so that the people could sign in and we could make sure that they had the proper papers for us to complete their taxes. However, I was sadly mistaken. I was told to have the people sign in on a clipboard, while standing outside the library in the cold. I was also told not to take their names myself, to make it go faster; however, I was hesitant to do so because if I was going to be calling off the names, it would have been easier for myself if I wrote the names, that way I would be able to read them; however, I did what I was told and had them sign themselves in. I then directed them to the back of the library where tables were set up for them. I was then told to call the people up to the main table and make sure that they had all their paperwork in order; however, this was difficult to do because many of the people had signed the sheet like a signature and I was unable to read what they had written. So I then proceeded to go around the room and make another list, one which I could read and then use to call the people up to have their taxes done. This took up more time than if I had just taken the names myself at the beginning. After I had gotten everything situated, I began calling the people up one by one, to look over their paperwork. I had to make sure that they had certain forms filled out and if not, I was to supply them with the form to fill out. I would then direct them to a station to have their taxes done. This went well for the first couple people; however, after all the stations had filled, the rest of the people had to wait to get their taxes done. At this point many of them began to become impatient and even rude. I just had to learn to be patient with them and I began talking to some of them to help the time pass faster. Despite the setbacks, I enjoyed this activity because it allowed me to not only help people less fortunate, but to also learn how to interact with people better, which I can apply to any other activity involving working with people. In this activity, I met learning outcomes: 1 and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I am a strong person, but I could work more on my patience. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to doing VITA and continued doing it after training.
March 21, 2009
VITA Day Two: Paperwork Service: 8 Hours
This VITA experience was much different from the last experience I had at VITA because we went to a different VITA location. This location was at a church in McDonough. This VITA location was set up in the way I had envisioned the last VITA location. There was a sign in table, where the clients would sign in and the volunteers would ensure that they had their paperwork in order. The clients were then sent to stations in another room, where they would have their taxes done. Except this time, not only did I go over client’s paperwork, but I helped the tax preparers put together each clients finished product. So at this location I was more involved in preparing the taxes rather than at the last location where I just helped the clients sign in and go over their paperwork. In this activity I met learning outcomes: 4 and 5. I met outcome 4 because I was working with the tax preparers and the clients, so this really helped on my teamwork abilities. I met outcome 5 because despite the problems I faced at the last VITA location, I stayed committed and returned to help the people again.
I had always had a love for soccer; however, an injury to my right knee made me unable to play, so I decided to do the next best thing. I helped coach younger children’s soccer teams. I worked with Coach Grant with a 4 year olds team from about 6:30pm to about 7:30pm. We would begin practice by having the children do simple warm ups such as jumping jacks and stretches. We would then set up cones and play games that not only taught the children some of the techniques of soccer, but also allowed them to have fun, because that is the most important thing; that the children have fun. We would play sharks and minnows, where the children had to run from us while dribbling the ball. We would also have them pass the ball back and forth to their parents. We would always end practice with a short scrimmage. We would break the children up into two teams, set up two small goals, and let the children play. They did not always play accurately because they were four year olds and cannot be expected to play professionally, but they were pretty good for four year olds. They knew to shoot in the goal, although they didn’t always shoot in the right one. And they knew to run and kick the ball; even though they would kick the ball out of bounds and instead of stopping, would continue to run after it halfway down the field. I really enjoyed working with the children. It not only allowed me to work with children, which I love to do, but it also helped me further develop my skills as a leader and a role model. In this activity, I met learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I am a good leader and a good role model; however, it also helped me to learn to become more patient, especially when working with children. I met outcome 2 because working with children was new for me, because I had never done anything like it before. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan the activities that we would do at practice. I met outcome 4 because I worked with the children, Coach Grant, the other volunteers, and the children’s parents. I met outcome 5 because I showed commitment by helping at practice every Tuesday and Thursday for almost two months. I met outcome 8 because this activity helped me improve my leadership skills and also helped me improve my soccer skills.
February 2009 - April 2009
Soccer Games with 4 year olds Action: 10 Hours
Not only did I work with the four year olds during practice, but I also worked with them at their games. Game days were much different from practice days because on game days we worked with the children more on how to play the game properly, rather than just playing learning games that taught them to kick the ball. On game days, I would sit on the sidelines with the children that were not currently playing. I would call for substitutes so that all the children got equal playing time, and nobody was sitting on the sidelines for the entire game. I also would go out on the field during play to keep them from running out of bounds, because if you didn’t stop the children, they would run out of bounds, and just keep running across the soccer field and into other fields. I really liked working with the four year olds because they were a lot of fun. They were a lot of responsibility, and I really had to step up and be a good leader and role model, but that only benefitted me in the end. I think I learned as much from them, as they learned from me. Through this activity I met learning outcomes: 1, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I was a good leader and role model, and that I can do more to be a leader. I met outcome 4 because I worked collaboratively with Coach Grant, the coaches on the opposing team, the children, and their parents. I met outcome 5 because I showed dedication to working with the children by going to their games and not just working with them at practice.
Royal Family Kids Camp Total Number of Hours: 56 hours 15 minutes
Over the summer, I volunteered as a teen helper at a camp for abused/neglected children. As a teen helper, we set up a lot of the activities for the children. We decorated for their dress up, tea party, birthday party, Christmas celebration, shaving cream fight, talent show, Easter egg hunt, and many other activities. We also set up, served, and cleaned up breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the children. We put on a play for the children, and we even had a carnival day, where the kids could just run around and have fun on the various rides. Here is an in depth look at the activities of camp: Breakfast: 5 Hours. In this activity, I worked with the other teen helpers to help set up, serve, and clean up breakfast every morning of camp. Although it was early in the morning, I liked this activity because I got to be around the children and the people I was working with made it fun. We would set out silverware and cups, serve drinks, help the kids with their trays, get them re-fills and second helpings, take up their trays, clean off the tables, and finally wipe down the tables and sanitize them. It was not the most fun activity, but it was something we had to do, and I was glad to do it because it made things easier on the kids and the counselors.
Play: 5 Hours. In this activity I worked with some of the other volunteers to put on a play for the children. There were actually two plays for the children. There was one play that we would do in segments and we would perform a little bit every day. Then we would do a short skit for the kids every day, but the skit changed every day so we were rehearsing every day for the skit and the play. I really liked this activity because it was a lot of fun and I got to be creative. We had to create the costumes and decide on what the stage would look like and what we could use for props. It was a lot of fun, and the children loved it.
Dress Up: 2 Hours. In this activity I worked with a couple of the other teen helpers to set up a dress up activity for the children. We decorated the walls with ribbons, lights, and posters for the girls to get their pictures taken by. We then laid out all the clothes for the kids to try on and play dress up in. We organized everything based on themes. There were clothes to dress up like cheerleaders, prom, tea party, wedding, and a bunch of other kinds. When the children got there they loved it, they almost destroyed it the way they attacked the clothing, but they loved it. It was fun and kind of scary to watch. After the girls dress up, I went with some of the other teen helpers to help set up the boys dress up activity (except we didn’t call it “dress up” we called it “boys fantasy forum”). We set up all kinds of costumes: superheroes, Star Wars characters, pirates, athlete’s jerseys, the works. There were even props like swords and masks that came with the costumes, which they had a lot of fun with. We laid out all the clothes and then when the kids were done playing we had to clean everything up and box it all back up.
Lunch: 5 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other teen helpers to help set up, serve, and clean up lunch. This activity was fun because we got to be around the children. Some of us would serve drinks, others would help the kids carry their trays, but I usually worked whatever was on the bar. The bar was usually a salad bar, a toppings bar, or a fruit bar. So I would work at the bar and help the children get their food. After we finished serving the children, we would all get our food, quickly eat, then proceed to take up the children’s trays, clear the tables, wipe down the tables, and then sanitize them.
Gave out Shoes: 1 Hour. In this activity I worked with a couple other teen helpers to pass out shoes to the children. We organized the shoes on a table and when the kids came in, we helped them find their size and make sure that they fit properly. We did this for both the boys and the girls and it was really fun. I really liked this activity because these kids really didn’t have much and I was glad to help them and give them something they needed.
Sheep Fold: 5 Hours. In this activity all the teen helpers worked to keep the kids entertained. This was when we would actually put on our plays and do other things to keep the children entertained. It was called sheep fold because every year the camp has a theme that the decorations and the big play are based on, and this year the theme was sheep. Sheep fold was really fun because we got to put on our plays and teach the children something about morals and what’s right and wrong.
Dinner: 5 Hours. In this activity all the teen helpers would work together to serve the children dinner. We would set the tables, set out cups, pour drinks, and just make getting dinner easier on the children and their counselors. At dinner I would usually help the children get their trays and take the trays to the table for the children. This activity was really nice because I liked spending time with the children, and this activity allowed me to be around them.
Christmas: 1 Hour. In this activity I worked with the other teen helpers to set up a Christmas display for the children. We set up a chair, fake fireplace, stockings, and tons of toys. One of the older men working at the camp dressed up as Santa and the kids came in and got toys. Some of the teen helper girls hung out and sang carols for the children, which was really fun. We also in a way acted as Santa’s elves, giving the children the toys, which was really nice.
Night Relief: 4 Hours. Every night for 2 hours, the counselors were given a break. Other than night relief and the break they got at breakfast club, the counselors were with the children all the time. So for 2 hours at night, a teen helper would step in and watch after the children. I did night relief twice while I was at camp because the teen helpers would take shifts and a different person would do it every night. We would get there at 9:00, put the children to bed, read them a story or do something to get them to fall asleep, and then after they fell asleep we would just watch over them to make sure that they were actually sleeping. We would stay until 11:00; that was when the counselors would return and the teen helpers were free to leave and go back to their rooms. I really liked night relief. I had the same room both nights I did night relief so I got to know the children in the room a little bit. I read to them both nights and soon after they would fall right to sleep.
Breakfast Club: 3 Hours. We had breakfast club every morning right after breakfast. This was another time where the teen helpers really had to look after the children because the counselors were given a break. Breakfast club was really fun because we just got to play and have fun with the children. We would sing and dance and just keep the children entertained. The whole purpose of camp was to make sure that the kids were having a good time and were learning something, and breakfast club really helped us achieve that.
Easter Egg Hunt: 4 Hours. In this activity I worked with some of the other girl teen helpers to set up an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. We went out to the huge field in the back of camp and got huge buckets of Easter eggs. We took them out onto the field and threw them everywhere. We covered the field with Easter eggs. One of the teen helpers even dressed up as the Easter Bunny and took pictures with the children. When the children got there, they ran out onto the field and in almost the blink of an eye, all the Easter eggs had been picked up. Then when they were done, we prepared for the boys Easter Egg Hunt (the boys and girls went separately). When we were setting up the girls Easter Egg Hunt, we had set aside half the buckets of eggs for the boys, so after the girls left, we went and got the other buckets and did it all over again.
Carnival: 4 Hours and 30 minutes. This was by far the most fun day of camp; this was the day that we set up a carnival for the children to go to. There was cotton candy, snow cones, sprinklers, a climbing tower, and numerous water slides. I worked one of the water slides with another one of the teen helpers and it was lots of fun. By the end of the day, everyone at camp was soaking wet and exhausted.
Talent Show: 2 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other teen helpers to decorate signs and help clean up the talent show that the children put on. The talent show was so much fun. It allowed the children to get up on stage and showcase some of their talents and interests. We cheered on the kids as they went onstage and then after the show was over, we cleaned up all the decorations: the lights, the plants, the ribbons, and all the other decorations. We took the stage from its beautiful talent show setup, to the normal stage that we used for breakfast club and sheep fold every morning.
Shaving Cream Fight: 2 Hours and 15 minutes. In this activity myself and the other teen helpers set up a shaving cream fight for the children. We went out to the same field that hosted the Easter Egg Hunt and lined up hundreds of containers of shaving cream all the way down the field. When the children and their counselors arrived, we had the counselors on one side and the children down the other, then the fight began. We ran around with the kids spraying them and each other, and after the shaving cream was all used up (it only took a matter of minutes), we all got hosed down and went and jumped in the pool. After we had rinsed off and the children had left, we returned to the field and picked up every single shaving cream container and piled them in a bucket to be disposed of.
Tea Party: 2 Hours. In this activity, I worked with some of the girl teen helpers to set up a tea party for the girls. We covered the tables in fancy tablecloths and tea sets. We then set the tables with multiple fancy plates, napkins, and silverware. We even set up trays with little cakes and made lemonade for them. The girls went and got dressed up in nice dresses and hats and then came in for the tea party. It was chaos, and after it was over, the teen helpers cleaned it all up and returned the dining hall to its original state.
Archery: 2 Hours: While the girls had their tea party, the boys got to do some archery. We watched and cheered them on whether they hit the target or not. After the kids were done, we cleaned up all the archery stuff and went on to our next activity.
Birthday Party: 30 minutes. In this activity we threw a huge birthday party for all the kids at camp. We called them up by the month of their birthday and they all got presents and cake. The party itself was really fun because the kids loved it. After the party was over, we cleaned everything up, cleared the tables, wiped everything down and the dining hall was spotless once more.
Swimming: 5 Hours. The kids would go swimming at camp every day for a certain amount of time. Some days, if we weren’t too busy, the teen helpers would join them. I joined them on many occasions and the kids loved it. They would constantly come over to you and show you tricks they could do in the water or ask you to play a game with them, it was so much fun.
This entire camp was just about giving the children a chance to have fun, something they might not get too much of. We managed in one week, to do so much for the children, and hopefully make a difference in their lives. As a teen helper, we did not get to spend as much time with the children as their counselors, because we were too busy with our “teen helper duties,” but we still managed to see the children as much as we could. We would find places in our schedule where we could go swimming with the children, and spend time with them at their various activities. This was my favorite community service activity, and was the activity that impacted me the most. It opened my eyes to child abuse/neglect in America, something that before this camp, unfortunately, I did not pay too much attention to. This camp changed me in so many ways. It has made me a better leader, a better team worker, and most importantly, a better role model. Also, before this camp, I was debating on whether I wanted to work in pediatrics in the future but, this camp also assured me that I want to work with children as a career in the future. I really enjoyed working with the children, and I am returning next this year as a teen helper to work with the children again. There is so much to say about camp, and I am just barely breaking the surface of how much this meant to me and how much it has changed me as a person. In this activity, I met learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, Yes, I met every single learning outcome through the various activities we did at camp. I also met every CAS criteria, creativity, action, and service, through these activities. I met outcome 1 in every activity listed above because I was working with the children and the children helped me become aware of my strengths when working with children and showed me that I need to be more patient when working with children. Also working with the children showed me how to be a good leader and a good role model. I met outcome 2 because camp was a new experience for me. Everything I did at camp was new for me, and honestly, before camp I was nervous about going because it was such a different experience for me. I am very glad that I went though because it got me out of my comfort zone and exposed me to something new. I met outcome 3 because I worked with the other teen helpers to plan and do all the activities for the children. I met outcome 4 because I worked with the other teen helpers on every activity. I also worked well with the children, the counselors, and the adults at camp. So we were always working together to help the children. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to working at camp and achieved all the things I wanted to achieve for the children. I met outcome 6 because just being at camp made me more aware of child abuse all over the world. I met outcome 7 because throughout this entire camp I had to consider ethically how to treat the children because they have been through a lot in their lives, so we constantly had to watch what we did or said to make sure that nothing bad happened. I met outcome 8 because this camp caused me to get outside my comfort zone and do new things.
Earlier in the year I had helped coach a 4 year olds soccer team, so when soccer season picked back up in the fall, I decided to volunteer again, except this time I wanted to work with the 10 year olds. So I practiced with the 10 year olds from about 7:15pm to about 8:00pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Practice with the 10 year olds was much different from working with the 4 year olds because with the 10 year olds, we were able to focus more on properly playing the game and technique, rather than just having fun with the 4 year olds. With the 10 year olds, we would begin practice with a short running drill, a few sit-ups, and a few push-ups. We would then set up cones, and do a few drills. These drills would include: sprints, jumps, dribbling, and passing. I really liked working with the 10 year olds because I really had to step up and be a leader and a role model. In this activity I met learning outcomes: 1,2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity helped me grow as a leader. I met outcome 2 because, although I had worked with kids at soccer practice before, I had never worked with the 10 year olds, so it was a new experience. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan the activities and drills that we would do at practice. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the children, their parents, Coach Grant, and the other volunteers. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to going to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays for almost 2 months.
August 2009- September 2009
Soccer Games with 10 year olds Action: 10 Hours
During this soccer season, I did not just work with the 10 year olds at practice; I also attended their games and worked with them there as well. Games with the 10 year olds were both easier and more difficult than the games with the 4 year olds. It was easier to coach the children because they had a better understanding of the game; however, it was more difficult because they didn’t listen. They were kids and they all wanted to get in the game and have fun, so I had to be a more assertive leader with them to get them to listen to me. Through this activity I have met learning outcomes: 1, 2, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity increased my awareness of my leadership abilities and forced me to work on those skills. I met outcome 2 because although I had coached the 4 year olds games, this was a new experience and very different from coaching the 4 year olds. I met outcome 4 because I worked collaboratively with Coach Grant, the coaches on the other team, the parents, and of course, the children. I met outcome 5 because I showed perseverance by continuing to coach the kids, even at their games.
In November, myself and some friends were looking for something we could do for children for the holiday season. We decided that since there were so many of us, that we could perform a play for the children. I went home and looked online at different children’s plays, and decided on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. I thought this would be a good play because it had a lot of characters and we could modernize the language a bit to appeal to the children. So I found a play adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” online that was available to be used for plays. I took that play, which was eighty-seven pages long, and condensed it, modernized it, and added a few funny parts so that it would appeal to the children. After days of work, and after reading Dickens’ work for myself, the final version of the play was 19 pages, with 23 different parts, including extras. I had asked some of my peers, to read it and offer their opinion about it. They wanted me to change it more and modernize it even more, but I did not want to do that because I did not want to lose Dickens’ original story. So I left it how it was and proceeded to begin casting. I assigned parts based on who wanted larger parts, and who wanted to just be an extra, and everyone was happy with their parts. We agreed to have rehearsals on Mondays after school, and everyone agreed; however, problems arose when only myself, my assistant director, and a couple member of the cast showed up at rehearsal. This happened twice. At that point, with much frustration, I was forced to cancel the play. Although the play was canceled, this activity helped improve my creativity and writing skills, and also taught me a lot about working with others and being a leader. So through this activity, I met outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I need to be more aggressive as a leader, especially when working with people my own age because they rarely listen. I met outcome 2 because this was a new challenge. I had never written a play before this, and now I am very glad that I have. I met outcome 3 because I planned everything having to do with the play along with my assistant director, and the rest of the cast. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the cast when casting parts for the play. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to writing and performing the play, although everyone else wasn’t.
Junior Marshall Duty Total Hours for Each Creativity: Action: Service:
When I was in the 11th grade, I was honored with being a Junior Marshall. As a part of our Junior Marshall duties I did a lot of volunteer work. Some of the volunteer activities include:
Creating index cards to prepare for graduation: 4 Hours. In this activity, I worked with the other junior marshalls to create and organize hundreds of index cards in alphabetical order for graduation. This activity was somewhat difficult because we had so many of us working on the same thing that ideas began to clash at one point. But once we decided the most effective way to create and organize the cards, things went very smoothly. In this activity I met learning outcomes 3, 4, and 8. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan and organize how we would create and organize the cards. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls to get the activity done, and I met outcome 8 because this activity helped me further develop my teamwork skills and my patience.
Creating signs for graduation: 1 Hour. In this activity, I worked with some of the other junior marshalls to create signs to help organize graduation. Through this activity I got to express my creativity in a constructive way that would help organize graduation. For the signs we cut up poster board into smaller boards and each board had a letter of the alphabet on them. We then proceeded to paint the letter on each board. Although it was not very difficult to do, it was fun and allowed me to help out. In this activity I met outcomes 1, 3, and 4. I met outcome 1 because this activity increased my awareness of my strengths in creativity. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan creating the signs, and I met outcome 4 because I worked with some of the other junior marshalls on this project and we worked collaboratively by putting our creative ideas together.
Setting up the senior breakfast: 2 Hours. In this activity, myself and some of the other junior marshalls helped decorate the cafeteria for the senior breakfast. We covered the tables, decorated them, hung decorations, set up balloons, the works. It was really fun because I am a very creative person and I had fun just letting my ideas flow for a good cause. In this activity I met learning outcomes 1, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me how creative I really was and also showed me that I need to be more patient and listen to everyone’s ideas, not just my own. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan how and when we would decorate the cafeteria. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with my fellow junior marshalls to decorate the cafeteria and rope off the areas that the other students couldn’t go in the morning. I met outcome 5 because I showed perseverance by staying after school to work on decorating the cafeteria, when many of the other junior marshalls just went home.
Serving the senior breakfast: 3 Hours and 15 minutes. In this activity, myself and the other junior marshalls helped serve the seniors breakfast to celebrate their graduation. In this activity, Cathy and I helped serve the fruit and also would go and get food to refill the food that was quickly running out. In this activity, I met learning outcomes 1, 3, and 4. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I need to be more aggressive when working with others because they will not always listen. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan who would do what and how we could work quickly and effectively. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls and the seniors.
Cleaning the senior courtyard: 1 Hour and 30 minutes. In this activity, the other junior marshalls and myself cleaned the senior courtyard in preparation for the honor grad picnic which would take place the next day. We had garbage bags and rakes and went out and cleaned up all the leaves and trash. It was pretty fun because it was a beautiful day outside and I love being outside, so I really enjoyed this activity. Yes, it was work, but it was the kind of work I enjoy, and the fact that it was for a good cause, helping the environment, just made it even better. In this activity I met outcomes 4 and 6. I met outcome 4 because I worked with others to clean up the courtyard. I met outcome 6 because I was facing the global issue of the destruction of the environment and how no one really appreciates how important it is to us.
Creating banners for the honor grad picnic: 2 Hours. In this activity I expressed my creativity by working with the other junior marshalls to create banners for the honor grad picnic. Myself and a few of the other junior marshalls that decided to stay after school went to the art room to create banners to hang at the honor grad picnic. This was another creative activity so I had a lot of fun doing it. We went and got long white paper from the library and painted “Congratulation” on one and “Honor Grads” on the other. We painted them a basic color and then went back and splatter painted the banners with red, blue, and black to add more color. It was so much fun. By the time it was over, I had paint in my hair and on my shirt, but it was well worth it. In this activity I met learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity helped me work on my artistic skills and my patience. I met outcome 2 because I had never splatter painted before and it was definitely a new and exciting experience. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan staying after school to work on the banners. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls that had stayed after and we worked well putting all of our ideas together on what the banners should look like. I met outcome 5 because I showed commitment by staying after school to work on the banners.
Setting up and serving the honor grad picnic: 3 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other junior marshalls to decorate the senior courtyard, set up, and serve the honor grads at their own special picnic. We hung the banners we created the day before and also hung long strips of paper that looked like ribbons from the windows to add more decoration. We also hung the ribbons from the trees for more decoration. After we got done decorating the senior courtyard we went back and forth from Ms. Gordon’s room bringing the food, drinks, and all the other necessities out to the senior courtyard. After we had gotten all the food set up, we assigned ourselves to stations for what exactly we would be serving. I was serving the sides and extra things that you could get for the hamburgers. I liked this activity because I got to be outside and also see what I would be experiencing the next year when I would be an honor grad. In this activity I met outcomes 3 and 4. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan and set up the picnic. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls, the teachers, and the seniors.
Setting up and serving the senior picnic: 7 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other junior marshalls to set up a picnic for all the seniors. We got to the school early in the morning and began to take things out to the field behind the school for the picnic. We took the food, drinks, cooler, tables, cotton candy machine, and everything else that we would need for the picnic out to the field to set up. After we had finished setting up, we divided ourselves into groups to determine who would do what for the day. We would work the picnic outside in shifts that way everyone would get a chance to be outside without getting sunburn (although some people couldn’t avoid it). So when it came time for my shift outside, I found myself working the cotton candy machine. It was really fun, but my arm was pink and covered with cotton candy by the end of the day. I really liked this activity because I got to be outside, and although I did not get to run around and have fun with the seniors, just being there outside made me happy to do it. In this activity I met learning outcomes 2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 2 because working the cotton candy machine was a new experience. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan who would do what and when groups would rotate. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls, the teachers, and the seniors. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to my duties and showed perseverance by completing everything that was asked of me.
Helping out with graduation rehearsal: 3 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other junior marshalls to help the seniors prepare for graduation. We each took some of the index cards we had created weeks ago and lined the seniors up in alphabetical order. We then had to walk with them into the gym and put them back in alphabetical order, because they would not listen to us when we put them in alphabetical order the first time. Once the seniors were preparing to walk, we had to stand on the end of the rows and count them and put them in rows which would help them walk at the real graduation. In this activity I met outcomes 1, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I have to be more assertive as a person, especially when I am trying to get work done. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls, the teachers, and the seniors. I met outcome 5 because I showed perseverance and kept working, no matter how rude and impatient the seniors were.
ClaireTran said... Hi, this is my Service Category. Journal Entry: 6 Name of Activity/project: Honor Graduates Picnic Approximate hours: 7 Summary: Last year, to congratulate the honor graduates for their hard work, we organized a picnic for them in the senior courtyard. We, the Junior Marshals, did the set up and prepared the foods as well as the decoration. The main thing was to serve the seniors and let them enjoy the picnic. We had to do what the seniors told us including entertainment. The picnic was a fun event for the seniors as well as for me. After the picnic, we divided our jobs; mine was to clean up the courtyard along with 2 other marshals. The event showed me that each individual could not do everything and that we had to divide the jobs to achieve better results. I also learned how to appreciate others' talents as well as my own. Through this activity, I gained the courage to take the initiative and to demonstrate my responsibility. Outcomes met: 1) My own strength was to organize and clean-up orderly and quickly. However, I also noticed the area that I needed to concentrate on: my physical strength. 4) In this activity, I worked well with others, including the seniors. We organized and clean-up together and also provide entertainment for the seniors. 8) Through this activity, I developed a sense of responsibility by handling the job with care.
ClaireTran said... Journal Entry: 7 Name of Activity: Senior Breakfast Approximate hours: 8 hours Category: Service Reflection: We, junior marshals, along with some of the teachers organized a breakfast for the seniors. Along with the breakfast, we also provided fun activity and other entertainment. Before the day we served the breakfast, we did the decoration and organized the tables. On the day of the breakfast, we divided tasks among ourselves and took turn to do the seniors' job such as office aid, library aid and counselor aid. At first I was helping out the breakfast and directed the seniors to their destination; then I took over the office aid in which I answered the phone calls, made copies, run errands, etc. Then after that, I went to help an administrator to sort out documents. Throughout the event, I learned to accept my responsibility and focus on my jobs; I also learned how to organize things in certain order to have an effective result. I understood that in order for the seniors to have fun, it is necessary for someone to do the backstage jobs. Outcomes met: 1, 3, 4, and 8.
ClaireTran said... Journal entry: 8 Name of activity/project: Volunteer at My Lady of Vietnam Catholic Church Approximate hours: 84 hours Reflection: Beginning from March 30, 2009 until present, every Saturday from 9-12 o'clock, I volunteer to help out the teachers as well as the students since we teach Vietnamese to young students. My job is to prepare foods, organize documents, make copies, run errands, and sometimes assist teachers to handle classes. At first, I was overwhelmed by great amounts of works I had to take care of, but I soon get used them and work to achieve the highest quality of work as possible. Although sometimes I encountered many hardships such as many teachers wanted my helps at the same time, young students tried not to listen to the lessons and just wanted to play, and sometimes some teachers doubted my ability to handles what they had asked me to do even though I already ensure them that I am able to perform the tasks. However, time was a good solution. Over time, I gained trust and responsibility. I also gained a great listening skill as well as the ability to do the work and complain or have questions later. This volunteer activity is a great way for me to discover myself and learn from experience. Outcomes met: 1, 2, and 4,5,7,8.
ClaireTran said... Journal Entry:9 Name of Activity/project: Teacher Assistant Approximate hours: 24 hours Category: Service Reflection: From September 14, 2008 to November 30, 2008, every Sunday, I assisted teacher at Sunday School. My job was to overlook the students and kept them focus on their studies. Because the students were mostly young children I had to be very careful on how I should act and present myself. There were also some troubles since there were some kids that were hard to deal with. At first, I just wanted to quit since I could not bring myself to gently guide them; however, I quickly figured out that they also have many good points. I began to gently talk to them and tried to bring out their good qualities so they could focus on the studies. Slowly but strongly, it worked. They began to listen to me; they even began to consult with me about their problems. I found that it was easier for us to talk once we accept our faults, qualities and tried to understand each others. Overtime, I found joy in this activity and the kids were just so adorable and angel-like. Through this activity, I learned how to communicate with younger different people and how my perseverance of getting to know someone really helped.
ClaireTran said... Journal Entry:10 Name of activity/project: community service at Church Approximate hours: 12 hours Category: service Reflection: Last year around Easter time, Christmas time and anniversary of my Church, I volunteered to help clean the church and made it ready for the special events. I helped clean the inside of the church such as take out candy wrappers inside the books holder, arranged the chairs and picked up trash around the church area. Even though it was tiring but I had fun. It showed me that even my little help was needed. The most important thing was I could contribute my help to make the church a better place for the special events. Through this activity, I learned how to work collaboratively with others to achieve what we desired. I also understood that there might be disagreements but if the goal is the same for everyone, it does not matter the methods, eventually, the goal will be reached. I also learned how to listen to the elder carefully and focus on my job wholeheartedly. Outcomes met: 1,3,4,and 7.
ClaireTran said... Journal entry: 11 Name of activity/project: Volunteer program at Southern Regional Hospital Approximate hours: 32 hours Category: Service Reflection: This summer I had a chance to be a part of the Volunteen Program at Southern Regional Hospital. My shift was on every Tuesday from 5-9 o'clock in June through the beginning of August. The unit I worked in was called Telemetry; it was the place where I could monitor heart-patients. My job was to respond to the call lights of the patients, get the nurse if necessary, and worked on documents. Sometimes I even had to deliver things the patients asked for such as snack, water, or ice. It was a busy job since I had to deal with a lot of patients at one time. Some patients just kept call me since the nurse was on late to get there. At first, it was hard to handle since this kind of experience was new to me, however, overtime, I get used to it and worked efficiently. Sometimes while there was no work, I learned some of the medical tech information from the tech work next to me. A lot of time, there was no time to rest. Overall it was a unique experience. I could learn a lot from the people I worked with as well as from the patients that I came into contact with. I understood that the hospital is nothing like their homes and I wanted to make their visit as enjoyable as possible. I also remembered there was one time I heard there was a patient that just deceased, even though I did not come into contact with that patient, I felt sad. It was normal for the people I worked with, but it was my first time dealing with that kind of news. That gave me some thinking and I told myself that I would provide the great quality of service to others patients in the unit so they could enjoy their lives as much as possible. Outcomes met: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8.
ClaireTran said... My # 11 concluded all my service hours. Let me start on my last one: creativity
Journal #11 Service Activity: Honor Grad Lunch Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes: show perseverance and commitment, work collaboratively with others, plan and initiate activities, and increase awareness off strengths and areas of growth.
The Junior Marshals were responsible for cleaning up and decorating the Senior Courtyard, serving food to the Seniors and cleaning up afterwards. Through this activity, we hoped to ensure the Honor Graduates would have a memorable experience commemorating them. Even though at first we were having issues communicating and with organization, the issues were dealt with, we each took leadership roles and successfully planned and initiated the activity on our own. I soon discovered that my forte was in organization but I could work on sharing the workload rather than trying to handle everything on my own. It was an easier task with the help of Dawson and the other Senior advisors.
Journal #11 Service Activity: Honor Grad Lunch Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes: show perseverance and commitment, work collaboratively with others, plan and initiate activities, and increase awareness off strengths and areas of growth.
The Junior Marshals were responsible for cleaning up and decorating the Senior Courtyard, serving food to the Seniors and cleaning up afterwards. Through this activity, we hoped to ensure the Honor Graduates would have a memorable experience commemorating them. Even though at first we were having issues communicating and with organization, the issues were dealt with, we each took leadership roles and successfully planned and initiated the activity on our own. I soon discovered that my forte was in organization but I could work on sharing the workload rather than trying to handle everything on my own. It was an easier task with the help of Dawson and the other Senior advisors.
Journal #12 Service Activity: Senior Picnic Hours: 7 Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities, develop new skills, show perseverance and commitment, work collaboratively with others, and increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses.
The Junior Marshals were split into two groups: one to handle outdoor activities and the other to work the Senior jobs inside the school. There were many activities and jobs for each person to do such as serve food, oversee the moon bounce, rock climbing wall and bungee race. My main job was to plan the competition that would be held on the Bungee Race. I had to explain the rules, hook up the participants to their bungee lines, and ensure their safety and fairness. This was another first for me but it was fun and was completed with little problems. Eventually after working hard and long in the hot sun I traded jobs with other people and handled the cotton candy machine or helped with clean up and then returned to the Bungee Race. Through this activity I learned that my strength is organization and leadership although I could always get better at planning activities and seeing them through.
Journal #13 Service/Creativity Activity: Prom Committee Hours: 6 Learning Outcomes: Increase growth and awareness of strengths, plan and initiate activities, work collaboratively with others, and show perseverance and commitment
I was a part of a 5 or 6 member committee that worked together on a weekly basis to plan for the Lovejoy’s Prom of 2009. We were charged with determining the theme, decoration, location, caterer and invitations for prom as well as promoting the prom throughout the student body. The main issue with working with the committee was agreeing on one decision. One person wanted red the other blue or black as the primary colors for decoration. Instead of continually arguing over the various topics we always reached a compromise or a middle ground of the various matters. I discovered that I am skilled at compromises but should work on voicing my opinions more efficiently.
Category: Creativity Journal: 12 Name of Activity: Set up art works at PAC Apprx hours: 2
In this activity, I helped Mrs.Thomas, my art teacher, to set up students' art works at the Performing Art Center for an exhibit. I also worked together with other IB students cooperatively to achieve fast and good result. During the activity, I encountered some challenges, how to put the art works in frames carefully, how to display them properly. With the help of other and Mrs. Thomas, I could get the hang of the job. Through this activity, I hoped to show the best views of the art works so people can feel and understand what the artists wanted them to understand. Through this activity, I've learned my personaly limitation: to ask for help if needed. I've also learned that others are just like me, they also needed my help. I developed as better understanding of the people that I worked with. This activity helps me to learn to do favors for others to make them happy and to appreciate life: live and work together to accomplish something. Outcomes met: 1,2,4,and 8
Journal #14 Service Activity: Peer Mediation Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, undertake new challenges, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment, and consider ethical implications and develop new skills
To my surprise I was asked to be a peer mediator my sophomore year, something I never considered before. As a mediator I worked with another mediator to help quell any issues between two parties or amongst groups of people. Some issues were highly confidential or volatile so what I said or did could easily escalate the matters at hand forcing me to “consider my ethical implications.” Through these sessions with the two parties, my fellow mediator and I, the problem at hand was discussed by listening to both sides and then solutions and compromises were obtained followed by the signing of a contract agreeing to the solutions and confidentiality of the session. Often times during these sessions my fellow mediator would step on each other’s toes and found it difficult to find a balance of power between us. With each session I found that I am a great listener and can easily create compromises but need to work on sharing such tasks with another person.
Journal #15 Service Activity: Clayton County Babies Can’t Wait Administrative Support Hours: 10 Learning Outcomes: Increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, develop new skills
There were employees of Clayton County’s Babies Can’t Wait Program were overwhelmed with various tasks and projects that they had to have complete but also had other priorities. So I offered my assistance to any of the employees who need it my help and began helping them fill envelopes, print labels, fold flyers, clean offices, answer telephone calls, make copies or faxes and to help with filing. Helping out this program helped me hone my administrative skills which could be helpful in internships, volunteer opportunities or jobs. I learned I am good at multitasking with various projects at hand but absolutely need to improve on my telephone communication skills.
Journal #16 Talk to IB Juniors Hours: 1 Learning Outcomes: Increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, work collaboratively with others, undertake new challenges, show perseverance and commitment, and develop new skills
During one period a teacher asked me and two other of my peers to impart some advice to the upcoming Senior IB students. We discussed college applications, standardized testing, IB exams, and papers and answered any of their questions. Not very often to speak in front of people so this was an opportunity for me to work on my speaking skills and confidence with an audience but I did discover that I would need to work on effective communicating my thoughts coherently. This becomes near impossible whenever I am flustered by being in front of an audience.
Journal #17 Service Activity: ING Marathon Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment, and increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth
One Saturday morning, a group of students including myself attended the ING marathon and helped pass out water and clean up after. The ING marathon was a full and half marathon around Atlanta on a cold rainy morning. We were asked to be there at 5am but that was impossible due to our carpool options and various other activities that occurred that day. Instead of not attending at all we arrived before 8am, after getting lost, and quickly handed out cups of water or Gatorade to runners relieving other volunteers. We passed out hundreds of cups that were then tossed on the side of the street. We had to “rake up” all of the used cups into piles, put those into garbage bags, recycle water jugs, and break down boxes and tables. This was strenuous work even through the drizzling rain and cold but we worked together having one person raking cups and another putting them in garbage bags.
Service Activity: PAC Art Display Set Up Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others and develop new skills
Our art teacher was swapped with work while dealing with our IB art internal assessments and asked for a few of us to help frame, display and label student art work at the Performing Arts Center gallery. After school we dedicated some time to finding the materials necessary to frame and mount each photograph, sketch or painting and display sculptures. Our job was difficult with the lack of supplies and with other schools vying for the materials as well. With one person framing, the other hanging and labeling we were able to complete the task despite the competition for materials and space. This was a valuable activity because it helped us learn how to properly mount and display our own art work as well.
Service Activity: PAC Art Display Set Up Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others and develop new skills
Our art teacher was swapped with work while dealing with our IB art internal assessments and asked for a few of us to help frame, display and label student art work at the Performing Arts Center gallery. After school we dedicated some time to finding the materials necessary to frame and mount each photograph, sketch or painting and display sculptures. Our job was difficult with the lack of supplies and with other schools vying for the materials as well. With one person framing, the other hanging and labeling we were able to complete the task despite the competition for materials and space. This was a valuable activity because it helped us learn how to properly mount and display our own art work as well.
Category: creativity Name of activity Organize culture fair Hour: 10
In this activity, I, with other IB students, planned and organized a culture fair to demonstrate to people how we are culturally different but still the same. We came up with ideas and worked to carry them out. We prepared food, flyers, poster board, clothes, etc. We cooperatively worked together to create our first culture fair at Lovejoy High School. Our purpose of this culture fair was to spread awereness of cultural differences across the school so students as well as teachers can be tolerate and understand differences in people. During the activity, I encountered some challenges: many students came at one time and asked questions regarding our club and this cultural fair. It was hard to answer everyone's question and keep the people moving. However, we soon divided into groups and divided our duties, so it went pretty well after that. I've learned new things about other culture as well and be tolerate and understand other students. I've learned how to open my mind to accept the uniqueness and difference of others. In this project, other IB students helped me to accomplish what we wanted to do, my history teacher also gave us support. I can also use some of the things I've learned into real life: to understand how people act and react accordingly so we can minimize the misunderstanding and create a better place to live and to learn. Outcomes met: 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8.
Category: Creativity Name of activity: Creation of Bulletin Board. Hours: 4
For this particular activity, I first noticed that the bulletin board on 100 hallway did not have on anything so I proposed to Mr.Etheridge, my English teacher, to create a bulletin board and to inform students about what's going on in the classroom. First, I planned and made decorations on my own. Then along with 2 other Ib students that wanted to help me with this activity, we organized and display them on the board. In this activity, I hoped to spread information regarding what's goind on such as words of the week, scholarship information, books that each class was reading,etc. to other students or visitors to learn more about our school, in particular, the English course. I've learned to be patient since it took time to organize the board. I also learned how to arrange the board for effiency. Mr.Etheridge helped me with the ideas of the words of the week; he suggested the words and I got the definition and post it on the board every Monday. Through this activity, I hoped that students that usually walk past the board, noticed what's on the board and learn it. I also hoped that through this activity, I can be more open minded to provide information to other students in Lovejoy, and to start something new to make a wave so other might follow my example of initiation. Outcomes met: 1,2,3,5,6, and 8.
Journal: 15 Category: Creativity Name: St.Jude's Give thanks walk Hours: 3
In this activity, we walked Altanta Zoo together encouraging others to keep going as well. We also communicate with others asking them to donate and support our walking team. For this activity, we tried to raise as much money as possible for St.Jude's children and their cancer-research program: think globally while acting locally. During this activity, we encountered many problems, it was very cold and we did not expect such hilly terrain at the zoo. Throught this activity, I've learned how to contribute some of my efforts into this big project and I was glad that I was able to keep up with everyone. For this activity, my friends were a big help, they encouraged me to walk and keep up with everyone and together, we supported each other. Outcomes met: 1,2,4,5,6,and 8
Journal #19 Service Activity: Church Day Care/ Tutor Hours: 8 Learning Outcomes: Increase strengths and areas of growth, develop new skills
As a volunteer for my church daycare I helped clean up the daycare, tutor children who are need of help, and mentored other youths. I have always tutored children but there could always be improvement. This activity helped me develop new methods and skills to help children in life in school.
Shakespearean plays were and always are my greatest interests. His dictions are beyond what we normally speak. So I chose to watched Shakespearean plays to be able to think creatively with my vocabularies and interpret the plays and how they are different from the written plays. Through this activity, I hope to be able to understand the thems in Shakespearean plays which are still applicable to today, and to learn from these plays about life. I've learned through this activity, that in life, sometimes, one has to sacrifice and faces challenges head on in order to live again in harmony :"Die to Live". Mr. Etheridge, my English teacher, helped me by providing me the access to the plays and encouraged me to learn more about Shakespeare. Through this activity, I've also learned that "life is a stage and everyone is an actor himself" so by watching Shakespearean plays which have life situations, it made me think critically about how to deal with each situation to overcome hardships and live peacefully. Outcomes met: 2,5, and 8
Journal: 17 Name: Piano lessons Category: creativity Hours: 12
Music is always my hobby and interest, so I wanted to learn more about it and be able to feel the soul of the music. I took piano lessons every Monday after school. It was challenging since I had to get there ontime and avoid any afterschool activity in school, so I managed to work out my schedule of the week to fit every activities. My teacher taught me well and piano lessons broaden my musical knowledge. Throught this activity, I hoped to know more about musics, especailly piano. I also faced hardship since I knew how to play piano, I just did not learn how to read music, so my teacher had me to work on it. I practiced almost everyday to memorized the notes and finally I was able to read music. I've learned taht music can be a good way to discover oneself: through the way one plays and interpret themusic. I've discovered another side of me: a peaceful, absolute serene side of me. I've learned to appreciate other's feelings and life. Through this activity, I learned that always take life slowly with the rthym, but seriously to appreciate all things that life has to offer. To bring happiness and harmony in every bad situation in life. There's always hope.
In my junior's years, I had a chance to practice and perform singing with my peers at church. I had to practice with others every Saturday to have a best result. I hoped to work well with other in this activity. I also wanted to learn how to sing properly and sing in unison. However, we encountered some hardshis: some of us could not hit the high notes. So we had to practice over and over again to perfectly sing it. I've learned to control my high pitch voice and worked on my lower pitch. I've also learned how to work collaboratively with other in singing so we could have a best result. Through this activity, the conductor helped us a lot. He showed us how to sing in unison perfectly and how to control our voice and pitch to produce great quality of singing. In this activity, I've learned to appreciate life through singing and glad that I have a voice to sing. Outcomes met: 1,2,4,5,and 8
Journal #20 Service/Creativity Activity: Tri-M Girl Scouts Day Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others, increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses, and show perseverance and commitment
One morning was dedicated to helping Girls Scouts earn their Music Badge. This was accomplished by having them participate in various activities such as sing-a-longs, making musical instruments, and music from around the world. I helped the girls sing songs in French and Spanish and also helped then do karaoke. I also photographed this activity and ensured that the girls had fun. The co-historian of the club also helped me photograph the activities and the girls. I learned my strength was photography and I need to work on working with large groups of children.
ok so I created my account a long time ago when we were supposed to and I even blogged a little since then, too, but I didn't realize we were supposed to post on here and not on our pages. So greetings everyone, I'm Cathryn Campbell. & here is what I have already posted about paintballing. I also have stuff on some performances I did, but I'm not using those hours anymore because I don't need them. November 15 (4 hours)
Miss Floyd and the Chamber Orchestra planned to go paintballing November fifteenth. It was my first time going so I was a little nervous. I was scared of how much it would hurt to get hit, and I didn't really understand the rules of the game. We went to Dan's Land Paintball. It was two teams of five. Each team had two people that had played before and three people that never played before. Before we got started, Dan explained everything to us. He talked to us about safety. There was a safety button on the guns so that, when it was pushed, the guns wouldn't fire. They also had orange barrel covers on the guns so just in case your gun did go off it wouldn't shoot anything. Dan also explained to us the rules. The field was set up with all kinds of barriers in it. One team started on one side of the field and the other team started on the other side. When the game started, everyone ran behind a barrier and would peek out and shoot at people. The team that got all it's players shot first lost. It was pretty fun. Most of the time you would get hit when moving from one blockade to another, or when you are shooting at someone and they are shooting at you at the same time. Sometimes, though, you get hit by someone who you just don't see. We played four games. My team one 3 out of four. I only got shot twice. That means I stayed in for the whole time on two of the games. Paintball was so much fun! My legs were soar the next day, though, from running, squatting, and getting shot. We are talking about going paintballing again next semester. I hope we do. It was so much fun!
We went paintballing since then and it was basically more of the same.
So my hours basically fall into three different categories (other then creativity, action, and service): junior marshall duties, RFKC summer camp, and orchestra hours. I have a few other hours, too, but I will post my blogs in those groups. Here are my "other" hours:
Name of activity: Passing Out Water Category: Service Hours: 4 Learning Outcomes met: Increased their awereness of their own strengths and areas for growth Explanation: My boyfriend's youth group and I passed out cold water bottles to people in an intersection one hot summer day. There was not really any other motive behind doing it other than to serve our community and fight back thirst. It was funny to see the spectrum of people's responses: some would be happy to take the water, others would kindly refuse, and others would pretend like they didn't see us, as if we were asking them for something, not offering them something. This activity really helped me to learn about servanthood and what it means to serve just to serve.
Name of activity: softball category: action hours: 10 Learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, undertaken new challenges, worked collaboratively with others, shown perseverance and commitment in their activities, developed new skill explanation: Playing softball was first of all fun, and secondly a great learning experience. I learned about how to work well with a team, when to lead and when to follow. I pushed myself to learn a new position than what I was used to. I learned how to play catcher which helped me develop new skills and undertake a personal challenge.
Name of activity: Senior Courtyard Cleanup category: service hours: 2 learning outcomes met: planned and initiated activites explanation: the NHS volunteered to clean up the senior courtyard. It was really more landscaping than cleaning. Of course we got trash off the ground and stuff, but we mostly had to pick up weeds, cut the grass, trim bushes, and the likes. I didn't really like landscaping before and I still don't really, but I did learn more about it with this activity. I have more appreciation for landscapers now.
Journal #21 Creativity Activity: Honor Band Performance Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment
Every week for almost a month, students from bands from all over Clayton County met at the Performing Arts Center to rehearse and prepare for a performance. The performance was successful after the tension filled rehearsals we had due to the marching band competitiveness that majority of the participating students felt. We were so used to being separated and competitive that it carried into what was supposed to be neutral rehearsals. However, we were able to put those feelings and competitions behind and work towards a successful show. During this activity I learned of my strength in sight reading but need to learn how to better socialize and step out of my comfort zone.
Name of activity: Church Clean-Up category: service hours: 6 Learning outcomes met: worked collaboratively with others explanation: My church had a renovation and I went after it was done to help clean up. It was basically an all-day affair. It was so much fun. It wasn't just me, it was a group of people helping out. The experience helped to teach me that volunteering and serving doesn't always have to be a drag, it can be fun too! It felt good for me to be able to give back to my church that has given so much to me.
Reflection 18 Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Courtyard Dates: May 12, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 3 & 4
On this day, we, the Juniors Marshals, thought it would be a service to our school if we “renovated” the Senior Courtyard. We raked the yard, pulled weeds, cleaned benches and tables and picked up the left over lunch trays and bottle tops (Lord on knows how old they were).
Outcomes Met: 3) Junior Marshal duties were ongoing activities for the last two months of the 2008-2009 school year and I attended and worked through each event. 4) I collaborated with my fellow Junior Marshals to make the courtyard a but nicer for the senior to lunch in.
Reflection 19 Activity: Junior Marshal- Honor Graduate Picnic Dates: May 13, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 7 Learning Outcomes: 3 & 4
This day, we decorated the Senior Courtyard for the Honor Graduate Picnic that took place during lunch. This was no easy task as our school’s courtyard did not give us Marshals much to work with. We cleaned, created signs and hung decorations made from tissue paper.
Outcomes Met: 3) Junior Marshal duties were ongoing activities for the last two months of the 2008-2009 school year and I attended and worked through each event. 4) I collaborated with my fellow Junior Marshals to make the courtyard a but nicer for the Honor Graduates.
Reflection 20 Activity: Junior Marshal- Attendance Office Dates: May 14, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
I learned fairly quickly that Junior Marshals were not only “senior slaves” but we served the entire school faculty as well. Someway, somehow, the faculty of Lovejoy High weaseled their way into using the Junior Marshals for their own miscellaneous tasks. We did not mind after all because in the end we were receiving community service hours. My task for this day was to work in the attendance office with Ms. Angela Moylan.
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with Ms. Moylan and other attendance office workers to achieve the normal tasks of the day. 5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 21 Activity: Junior Marshal- Front Office Dates: May 14, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
My task for this day was to work in the main office with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins.
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins and other main office staff to achieve the normal tasks of the day. 5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 22 Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Picnic Dates: May 15, 2010 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes: 2, 4, 5 & 8
As a part of Senior Week at Lovejoy High, there is a Senior Picnic. This picnic is to a senior what “field Day” would be to an elementary school student. All the Junior Marshals checked all of the equipment beforehand and set up games as well as the picnic layout. We each had a specific station to oversee. My station was the cotton candy machine. It was a lot more fun that it looked!
Outcomes Met: 2) New challenges I faced at the senior picnic were making cotton candy and learning to deal with rude, hasty and attitudinal seniors! 4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow Junior Marshals to ensure a successful event. 5) Through all of the unbearable heat and demanding seniors, I did my job with pride and excellence. 8) Through working at the picnic, I found that I was quite crafty with the cotton candy maker and time management.
Reflection 23 Activity: Junior Marshal- Front Office Dates: May 15, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
My task for this day was to work in the main office with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins.
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins and other main office staff to achieve the normal tasks of the day. 5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 24 Activity: Chemistry Class Instruction Dates: May 20-May 21, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 6 Learning Outcomes: 2, 3 & 4
On these dates, my fellow IB Chemistry classmates and I recognized that our teacher was having a rather difficult time with her classes. They were rude and obnoxious and showed a total lack of respect. I hate to witness disrespect and to see a teacher in distress over student unwilling to cooperate. So my classmates and I decided that we would take over the class for a while and see if we as their peers could reach the students better.
Outcomes Met: 2) As previously mentioned in my blogging, public speaking is NOT my area of expertise. Attempting to teach a class full of strangers that can sense fear and take advantage of it thereof was quite the challenge for me. 3) Angel, Taylor and I took charge and initiated this deed of service. It felt great to give of myself without having to be prompted by others. 4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow classmates to achieve our goal. I am glad they were with me because we were truly able to support one another while teaching. If one of us needed a little assistance, the other would jump right in to help.
Reflection 25 Activity: Junior Marshal- Counseling Office Dates: May 22, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
My task for this day was to work in the counseling office.
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with the counselors and other counseling office staff to achieve the normal tasks of the day. 5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 26 Activity: Junior Marshal- Business & Marketing Class (Ms. Gordon’s Room) Dates: May 22, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 1 Learning Outcomes: 4
As always, the Junior Marshals were assigned stations for the day. One of my stations was the Marketing classroom. I helped the instructor, Ms. Gordon, who also happened to be a senior advisor, prepare her classroom for the end of the school year.
4) Throughout this task I worked collaboratively with my fellow Junior Marshall DeAndre’.
Reflection 27 Activity: Junior Marshal- Graduation Rehearsal 1 Dates: May 27, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 4
The Junior Marshals organized the seniors by last name and distributed our white names cards accordingly. Also, we assisted in the rest of the graduation rehearsal with regards to entrance, seating arrangements and exiting.
Outcomes Met: 4) The Junior Marshal s worked together to ensure a smooth and fluid graduation rehearsal with the hopes of having the same performance at the actual graduation.
Reflection 28 Activity: Junior Marshal- Graduation Rehearsal 2 Dates: May 28, 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 4
The Junior Marshals organized the seniors by last name and distributed our pink names cards accordingly. Also, we assisted in the rest of the graduation rehearsal with regards to entrance, seating arrangements and exiting.
Outcomes Met: 4) The Junior Marshal s worked together to ensure a smooth and fluid graduation rehearsal with the hopes of having the same performance at the actual graduation.
Reflection 29
Activity: Marching Band Dates: August – October 2009 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 & 8
As a Dancing Diamond at Lovejoy High School I perform with the Marching Wildcat Band every Friday of the football season under the direction of Ryan Lincey and LaToya Lee. During this season I held the position of Co-Captain on my team. Throughout the season, I helped to improve and inspire my team as a whole as well as each individual by instilling confidence and pride in their art and school.
Outcomes met: 1) I increased my leadership ability by taking on a new roll in the team as Co-Captain 2) I have undertaking new challenges many of which came from dealing with a plethora or personalities from the girls to their parents and band members. 4) I worked collaboratively with my sponsor, choreographer, drum majors, and band directors at every practice and performance to make sure that we were all on one accord. 5) I attended every practice and performance and dealt with difficulties during the activity, whether it is a disagreement within the team or concerns arising from parents, at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner. 7) Often times I had to make decisions that may not have pleased everyone involved but it was done for the better of the team. 8) I developed new skills including: inspiring, leading, comforting, improving and challenging my teammates.
Reflection 30 Activity: The Wildside News Staff Dates: 2009-2010 School Year Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 10 Learning Outcomes: 1,2,3,4,5,7 & 8
The Wildside is the newspaper at Lovejoy High. This year, the journalism class was striving toward bringing back the newspaper as well as an actual Journalism Club. Due to lack of funding and time, we were not to produce and issue this year; however, we did create a solid foundation for the upcoming year.
Outcomes Met: 1)I increased my awareness of my people skills as the Dear Destiny… columnist. 2 & 7) Writing as an official reporter was quite the challenge for me because I had to learn to consider every word I said, as ethics a major part of journalism. 3 & 4) I collaborated with my fellow journalists to plan activities necessary for fundraising such as selling nachos after school. 5) Even though we did not get the results desired, The Wildside News Staff continued to work for future staff and club. 8) I developed several new skills such as: interviewing techniques, marketing strategy, ethical decision making and m much more.
Activity: Battle of the Bands Date: May 10, 2009 Location: Herndon Stadium Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
As part of the Lovejoy High School Dancing Diamonds, I have a number of performances a year. One of the main attractions is the Battle of the Bands.
4) I worked collaboratively with my Captain and band director. 5) I have shown perseverance throughout the 2009-2010 season by attending all practices and attending all but one performances.
Reflection 32 Activity: Tennessee State University Dates: November 6 – November 8, 2009 Location: Tennessee State University Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
On this weekend the Wildcat Marching Band was included in the TSU Homecoming Parade.
4) I worked collaboratively with Captain and band director 5) I have shown perseverance throughout the 2009-2010 season
Reflection 33
Activity: Dazz with Jazz 3rd¬ Annual Battle of the Dancelines Competition Dates: November 22, 2009 Location: Clayton County Performing Arts Center Hours: 6. Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
On this day I volunteered with the Dazz with Jazz dance company at the competition center. This competition was designed to showcase the dancelines of the metro-Atlanta through competition in the areas of stands and field routines.
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with the team sponsors, choreographers, and other volunteers backstage through communication. 3) Through all of the chaos occurring backstage before the competition, I stuck through it and helped to ensure a smooth running show.
Reflection 34 Activity: IB Seniors to IB Juniors Rap Session Dates: January 29, 2010 Location: Lovejoy High School Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes: 1, 3 & 4
Two of my fellow classmates and I thought it might be helpful to chat with the IB Juniors to see if they had any questions about what to expect Senior year from the program and what colleges to start looking at. Though the questions were few I do feel that the information we gave was helpful.
Outcomes Met: 3) The IB Seniors participating in this activity initiated the activity as well. 4) I worked collaboratively with my classmates to present a summary of what lay ahead for the juniors.
Reflection 35 Activity: ING Marathon; St. Jude’s Volunteer Dates: March 21, 2010 Location: Approximately 5 miles from Centennial Park Hours: 8 Learning Outcomes: 4, 7
On this day I acted as a St. Jude’s volunteer for the ING Marathon with a group of my fellow IB classmates: Jazmine, Dominik, Alex, Cecili and Hao. We were responsible for handling the hydration station 4. The volunteers were at the site at the crack of dawn it seemed. 6 am on a weekend is torture to a teenager but it was well worth it. We had a great time together cheering on the runners, walkers and wheelers.
Outcomes Met: 4) I worked collaboratively with a group of my classmates. 7) Call time was 5:30 am, instead of arriving at 8 am like a few others did, Alex, Dominik and I decided that it would be more appropriate to show up on time.
Name of activity: solo & ensemble category: creative hours: 4 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others explanation: solo and ensemble is a Saturday where small groups from Clayton County perform and get evaluated. I played in a quartet and a duet both junior and senior years. I learned and grew between the years and improved from junior year to senior year. The first year, my duet got the second highest score and we told ourselves that we were going to do it again and work harder the next year and get the highest score, and we did it by golly. My groupmates and I learned more about playing in a small ensemble and the importance of our part in the group.
Name of activity: Fall Concert category: creative hours: 4 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others explanation: The Fall concert is always the first concert for Lovejoy High School orchestra. This helps the orchestra really get a feel for how the rest of the year should be. When working up to this concert, my orchestra mates and I got to know each other better and kind of get a feel for everyone's talent level. It's like a breaking in time for the orchestra like the breaking in of a new pair of shoes.
Name of activity: Spivey Hall (11th grade) category: creative hours: 10 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others explanation: Spivey Hall is my favorite concert of every year. It is actually called the Spivey Hall Honor Chamber Clinic, but its just easier to call it Spivey Hall. This Honor Clinic invites the cream of the crop musicians from all over Georgia to perform together in one concert. We have one long all day rehearsal together and then perform that same night. I really enjoyed it. the music director from Florida State University conducted and helped us out a lot.
Name of activity: Winter Concert category: creative hours: 4 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others explanation: The winter concert is the holiday concert for the Lovejoy High School orchestra. I love the holiday concert because it gives me the opportunity to spread holiday cheer through my art. The music is never as dificult as the other concerts throughout the year, so it makes the concert more fun and lighthearted. We always do a full orchestra piece which is good experience for me to have for my college music career.
Name of activity: Mass Work category: creative hours: 10 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others explanation: The mass work concert is an experience I have been thankful to have every year. I basically relate a mass work to a Catholic mass. The music is written to be sung by a choir with orchestra in the background and the lyrics are religious, but in Latin. I always enjoy playing in Spivey Hall and when the orchestra plays with an outside group like a choir or band.
Name of activity: Spring Concert (11th grade) category: creative hours: 2 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others, considered the ethical implications of their actions explanation: The Spring concert is always a themed concert that is the last concert of the year. Orchestra awards are also given out at this concert. In 11th grade the theme was cultures from around the world. This concert helped me to not only learn more about foreign cultures, but also be able to appreciate their music. The rhythms in the Latin music were a little tricky, but i got the hang of them after much practice.
Name of activity: Spivey Hall (12th grade) category: creative hours: 10 learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others explanation:Spivey Hall is my favorite concert of every year. It is actually called the Spivey Hall Honor Chamber Clinic, but its just easier to call it Spivey Hall. This Honor Clinic invites the cream of the crop musicians from all over Georgia to perform together in one concert. We have one long all day rehearsal together and then perform that same night. I really enjoyed it. the music director from University of Georgia came this year and conducted and helped us out a lot.
Name of activity: Creating Graduation Index Cards Category: service/creativity Hours:4 Learning Outcomes met:1, 4 Explanation: This is when the junior marshalls all had to make index cards for graduation. Each graduating senior's name was on an index card, and it was our responsibility to put those cards in alphabetical order, excluding the honor grads, whose names got put in the front in order or class rank. This helped me get ot know my fellow peers, about who rises to leadership, who has bad ideas,a and other stuff like that. It was interesting finding where we all fit in the organized mess of what we were doing.
Name of activity: Senior Breakfast work Category: service, creativity Hours: 6 Learning outcomes met:1,4,7, &8 explanation: As part of Junior Marshall duty, we had to set up, decorate, serve, and clean up the senior breakfast. We decorated the cafeteria the day before the breakfast after school. That took about two hours of hanging streamers, blowing up balloons, puting out party favors, creating pretty signs, and other things of that nature. The next morning, early before school, we started actually setting up the place for the breakfast. Then we served them as they came through the line, and aftwards we cleaned up after them, and let me tell you, the class of '09 was not a clean class.
Name of activity: Honor Graduate Picnic work Category: service, action Hours: 5 Learning outcomes met: 1,4,7,&8 explanation: The junior marshalls had to make signs for, set up for, serve, and clean up the honor grad picnic. This activity was particularly challenging because many of the honor grads had been junior marshalls the year before, and therefore found it amusing to give us a hard time and prank us. We took the abuse well though and took it as tradition, and we are plotting our abuse for the junior marshalls this year. Throughout all of the junior marshall duty, especially this task, I learned how to be a humble and pacient servant.
Name of activity: Senior Picnic work Category: action, service Hours: 8 Learning outcomes met: 1, 4, 5, explaination: The senior picnic was the most challenging, yet the most fun activities of junior marshall duty! We went out to the field during first period to start setting things up. The seniors didn't come out until third period and when they came out we served them food, then we were able to eat. After that, everyone had a station they worked. I was at the popcorn and cotton candy machines most of the time, but I was kind of floating around the whole time doing whatever Ms. Floyd wanted me to do. Then, we had to stay and break everything down after the seniors went back inside. I ended up staying after school to get everything done.
Royal Family Kids' Camp is a one week summer camp that is offered to abused children ages 6-11 in the Clayton County Foster Care system. It is a nationwide organization, but the one I volunteered at was with Clayton County children. The following are activities I did as part of volunteering there.
Name of Activity: Breakfast work Category: service Hours:5 Learning Outcomes met: 3,4,7 Explanation: I was a teen helper at camp, and as part of that, we had to set up, serve, and clean up every breakfast every day at camp. We were not only serving the kids here, but also the other volunteers as well. It felt good to serve. It was sometimes a sticky mess, but in the end it wasn't that bad. There were many teen helpers, so that made the workload easier.
Name of Activity: Lunch work Category: service Hours:5 Learning Outcomes met: 3,4,7 Explanation: I was a teen helper at camp, and as part of that, we had to set up, serve, and clean up every lunch every day at camp. We were not only serving the kids here, but also the other volunteers as well. It felt good to serve. It was sometimes a sticky mess, but in the end it wasn't that bad. There were many teen helpers, so that made the workload easier.
Name of Activity: Dinner work Category: service Hours:5 Learning Outcomes met: 3,4,7 Explanation: I was a teen helper at camp, and as part of that, we had to set up, serve, and clean up every dinner every day at camp. We were not only serving the kids here, but also the other volunteers as well. It felt good to serve. It was sometimes a sticky mess, but in the end it wasn't that bad. There were many teen helpers, so that made the workload easier.
Name of Activity: Rehearsal for the play - "Sheepfold" Category: creativity Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes met: 1,2,4,7,&8 Explanation: The Sheepfold was a play that we put on for the kids every day. It was an ongoing continuous story. We spent about an hour every day rehearsing. Thankfully, we had a theatre major there as a volunteer to help us with the play. I learned about scene blocking in rehearsal, and I also learned about the over dramatization of children's theatre. The rule is if you don't feel silly doing it, you're doing it wrong. Needless to say, I felt very silly through most of that play.
Name of Activity: Acting in "Sheepfold" Category: creativity Hours: 8 Learning Outcomes met: 1,2,4,7,&8 Explanation: Acting in this play was one of the funnest things i've done. I know I felt stupid through most of it because of the over dramatization, but it was all for the kids, and they thouroughly enjoyed it, which was my goal for the whole thing. There was nothing I did at RFKC that I didn't do with the purpose in mind of the kids having fun.
Activity name: Baccalaureate Program Category: service Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 1 explanation: I worked at the Baccalaureate program, which is basically like a religious graduation. I helped to set up both for the service, and for the reception afterwards. One obstable that we had was the rain, so we set up a big tent and used that to cover everything. This was a major success. The class of '09 had a very beautiful Baccalaureate Service.
Name of Activity: Swimming Category: action Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes: 1,4,5,&7 Explanation: Every day the kids got an hour to swim. All the female volunteers would swim with the girls and the male volunteers would swim with the boys. It was fun to play games with the kids every day in the pool and just get to know them and make a positive impact on their lives. They taught me how to be childlike and not have a care in the world, which adults need to be like sometimes too.
Name of Activity: Archery Category: action Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes: 2,5,&8 Explanation: One of the activities for the kids to do was archery. Before the camp, I knew nothing about archery. The volunteers had a little training session before teaching the kids about archery. It was so much fun. The kids really enjoyed. I'm glad to have learned how to use a bow and arrow.
Name of Activity: Giving out shoes Category: service Hours: 1 Learning Outcomes: 1,4,&7 Explanation: The camp provided a pair of shoes for each child. It was up to us, a small group of volunteers, to organize the shoes by sex and by size. It was pretty chaotic when the kids came to get their shoes because the children had short attention spans and were loud, but we got the job done. This was one job where the lesson of patience was obvious.
Name of Activity: Set up for "Christmas" Category: service Hours: 1 Learning Outcomes: 1,4,&7 Explanation: The camp also provides the children with a "Christmas in July" type thing because many of the children come from homes where their Christmas is not very joyful. The children absolutly loved it. Our job was to set up one of the rooms to be like a ski lodge that Santa was going to come to. All the children got their picture with Santa Claus, too.
Name of Activity: Easter Egg Hunt Category: action Hours: 4 Learning Outcomes: 2,5,7,&8 Explanation: This was one of my favorite parts of camp! We set up a little Easter egg hunt too, because many of the children come from homes that didn't provide an Easter egg hunt. First, we went and spread eggs all over a field. Then, I went and dressed up as the Easter Bunny and showed up to the Easter egg hunt. My job as the Easter Bunny, was just to skip around and frolic in the field with the children. That was one of the best experiences of my whole life. Afterwards, each child got his or her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. It was extremely hot in the suit, but I persevered through it. Some of the kids did not believe I was the real Easter Bunny and I didn't want them to tell the other kids who did believe. There were two Easter egg hunts: one for the girls and one for the boys.
Name of Activity: Night Relief Category: service Hours: 6 Learning Outcomes: 1&7 Explanation: Night relief is when us, the teen helpers, go into the cabins at night and give the counselors a break. We are in there a couple of hours and hopefully the kids are asleep by the time the counselors get back. This is good relief for the counselors, because although they love the children, a short break is always nice. It was also nice for the teen helpers to get some extra time in with the kids to get to know them better.
Name of Activity: Breakfast Club Category: service Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes met: 1&7 Explanation: Breakfast Club was another short break for the counselors. The time is right after breakfast, and we take the kids into another room where they have little mini-concerts where they can sing and dance, puppet shows, and veggitales. Again, its nice to give the counselors breaks and also nice for the teen helpers to get some bonding time in with the children. The kids taught me how to be less shy and not care about what the person next to me thinks if I want to sing and dance.
Name of Activity: Carnival Work Category: action Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes met: 2,3,7,&8 Explanation: On the third day of camp, there is a carnival put on for the kids. At the carnival are rides, snacks, moon bounces, and all kinds of fun stuff for them to do. My friend and I worked at the inflatable waterslide station. That was so much fun. I learned how to work at a waterslide. It was a great job to have because it was hot outside but we were always near cool water. It was so great to see how the kids enjoyed going down the slide over and over agian. Eventually they started to want to slide down with their counselors, which we let them, even though we probably weren't technically supposed to.
Name of Activity: Talent Show Category: service Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes met: 1,4,&7 Explanation: The third day is cram packed because right after the carnival is lunch and right after is the talent show that we had to set up and break down. We wanted to make the children feel like celebrities with their talents. We had a spotlight for them and everything. Some of us helped them pick out pretty dresses to wear for the show. We created signs for all the kids in the show with their names written all pretty and special. The children were very talented I was very impressed. Afterwards we learned that its much easier to hand garland and lights in a tree than it is to take it out. That helped to teach me patience. It was late and I was tired and the stupid lights didn't want to cooperate with me. But its all worth it for the kids.
Name of Activity: Shaving Cream Fight Category: action Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes met: 2,4,7,&8 Explanation: To set up the shaving cream fight, we set up a bunch of cans of shaving cream in a line down a field. We played volunteers against the kids (it was really every man for himself). The volunteers started on one side of the cans and the kids started on the other side and when the buzzer blew everyone ran to grab a can (or 2) of shaving cream and we squirted it all over each other. This was a new skill I learned and I was undertaking a new challenge. I didn't really like the shaving cream in my mouth and hair, and it was impossible to rub off of anywhere because it was everywhere. Afterwards a fire truck came and squirted us all down to clean us. That was a fun experience, but most importantly, it was fun for the children, whether it was fun for me or not, they are more important. The whole RFKC experience helped to teach me selflessness.
Name of Activity: Night Relief Category: service Hours: 6 Learning Outcomes: 1&7 Explanation: Night relief is when us, the teen helpers, go into the cabins at night and give the counselors a break. We are in there a couple of hours and hopefully the kids are asleep by the time the counselors get back. This is good relief for the counselors, because although they love the children, a short break is always nice. It was also nice for the teen helpers to get some extra time in with the kids to get to know them better.
Name of Activity: Breakfast Club Category: service Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes met: 1&7 Explanation: Breakfast Club was another short break for the counselors. The time is right after breakfast, and we take the kids into another room where they have little mini-concerts where they can sing and dance, puppet shows, and veggitales. Again, its nice to give the counselors breaks and also nice for the teen helpers to get some bonding time in with the children. The kids taught me how to be less shy and not care about what the person next to me thinks if I want to sing and dance.
Name of Activity: Carnival Work Category: action Hours: 5 Learning Outcomes met: 2,3,7,&8 Explanation: On the third day of camp, there is a carnival put on for the kids. At the carnival are rides, snacks, moon bounces, and all kinds of fun stuff for them to do. My friend and I worked at the inflatable waterslide station. That was so much fun. I learned how to work at a waterslide. It was a great job to have because it was hot outside but we were always near cool water. It was so great to see how the kids enjoyed going down the slide over and over agian. Eventually they started to want to slide down with their counselors, which we let them, even though we probably weren't technically supposed to.
Name of Activity: Talent Show Category: service Hours: 3 Learning Outcomes met: 1,4,&7 Explanation: The third day is cram packed because right after the carnival is lunch and right after is the talent show that we had to set up and break down. We wanted to make the children feel like celebrities with their talents. We had a spotlight for them and everything. Some of us helped them pick out pretty dresses to wear for the show. We created signs for all the kids in the show with their names written all pretty and special. The children were very talented I was very impressed. Afterwards we learned that its much easier to hand garland and lights in a tree than it is to take it out. That helped to teach me patience. It was late and I was tired and the stupid lights didn't want to cooperate with me. But its all worth it for the kids.
Name of Activity: Shaving Cream Fight Category: action Hours: 2 Learning Outcomes met: 2,4,7,&8 Explanation: To set up the shaving cream fight, we set up a bunch of cans of shaving cream in a line down a field. We played volunteers against the kids (it was really every man for himself). The volunteers started on one side of the cans and the kids started on the other side and when the buzzer blew everyone ran to grab a can (or 2) of shaving cream and we squirted it all over each other. This was a new skill I learned and I was undertaking a new challenge. I didn't really like the shaving cream in my mouth and hair, and it was impossible to rub off of anywhere because it was everywhere. Afterwards a fire truck came and squirted us all down to clean us. That was a fun experience, but most importantly, it was fun for the children, whether it was fun for me or not, they are more important. The whole RFKC experience helped to teach me selflessness.
302 comments:
1 – 200 of 302 Newer› Newest»Hello I am Alex La Pierre and I have recently recieved my CAS papers. I have created an account on blogger, but I am still a little weary of the way these things are supposed to flow. I'll be back on in a few days to update anything that needs changes.
As far as my community service, that has already begun. I will be volunteering at my local library by working with children and hopefully making an impact on their lives. I hope everyone has an idea of what they are going to do this summer! It's hot out there!
Hi Mrs. Dillard! This is De'Shera Benton! I am saying hello and also trying to understand something else. I have created my account but what is this blogger account going to be used for exactly?
Hello Mrs. Dillard and my other fellow peers! As instructed in the letter you have recently sent us, I have created my account on blogger.
I am very excited to start my CAS activities/projects! I actually have some offerings at my family's church so I am sure you will be seeing a blog from me soon!
P.S. I am in the Elite Scholars Program and we get to do a lot of activities throughout the county. Since these services are being done within another program could we still submit them?
Hi Mrs.Dillard, I received the letters and I created an account on blogger, but I am not sure how to use it and do we suppose to write the blog everyday that we do the CAS or do we just write the summary for each activity we do? And when will the CAS log record due?
This is George Adams.I got the packet. I created the account, but do we put our community service on this or our actual blog?
Hey y'all!! :-) Sorry for the delay in responding. I just got back into town. You need to record all CAS activities on your log sheet. You also need to give a summary/reflection of your experience on this blog site. To see some examples, you can check out North Clayton's site. http://northclaytoncas.blogspot.com. Your completed hours are not due until your senior year so don't think that you have to rush to get all of these hours. However, I will periodically check to make sure that you are working towards completeing the hours. Until next time....
Hey everyone! I'm Cecili Reid and I also just received the infomation about CAS and created my own account. I am extremely excited about my first year in IB and slowly but surely working on my community hours in various places. Talk to y'all later!
I was wondering whether an activity, which is an all day event that occurs once a year, can be counted towards CAS even when I plan to participate in it next year.
Cecili, what exactly will you be doing?
Well Clayton State just added dorms to their campus and I spent most of my day helping move in students, answer questions about the area and school, and basically help the new students and family anyway I could.
Hello everybody!!
My name is Julia Cooper. I just created my blogger account. And I'm still trying to figure it out.
Hi everyone it's Jazmine Wilcox dropping by to say hello! I recently did some community service (today) and I wanted to know exactly what am I supposed to blog about?
Hello my name is Lianna Fierroz. I had totally forgotten about this blogging thingy, sorry Mrs. Dillard. Anyways late is better than never, eh? :)
Here is my first blog from my frist CAS activity of the year: Clayton State University "Operation: Move In" Saturday August 15, 2008.
This activity began at 9am and ended at 2 in the afternoon. The work I would be doing throughout the day was greeting students moving on to campus, guiding them and their parents in the right direction, asking any questions about the campus, and assist the students and parents move luggage into the dorms. I worked with a team consisting of 4 other people all of whom were of college age and eventually treated me like a peer. To be honest, I thought this would be a completely easy project and that I would learn nothing from it. Instead I learn one valuable concept: Be committed and work with others.
I was about half an hour late for work and soon realized how the rest of my team were depending on my help; however, my tardiness made the work harder for them and forced them to not take a break until I arrived. From this I learned how once I made a commitment I am taken responsible and expected to be on time and prepared. I also learned that I working with others instead of being a loner made work easier on others as well as myself. Once we resolved problems with who should do what task and when to switch, my team and I worked well and actually began having fun. I definitely plan on helping with the dorm move in this year.
Thanks for the post Cecili! :o)
Mrs. Dillard my name is Quincy Little. I am a Rising 11th Grader. This is my first CAS Activity. I volunteered to help the Georgia Games 7v7 Soccer Tournament June 13, 2009. I never really liked soccer, but after seeing the teams play I had a change of heart. They all played their hardest and in my book they all were winners.
The volunteers were to be at the soccer complex at 8:00am. I was on time of course, but everyone else was already working. I met the project leader, Marissa Orr, and she gave me my shirt. It was like as soon as I put that shirt on I was already running. You would think that all you would need for a soccer game was two nets and a ball. I learned you needed much more. The fields needed signs and sun tents. For every field you needed at least four tents, two tents for the teams and two for the crowd. The fields needed signs so that you would know which field you are on. There were three fields. There was never a lack of things to be done. We had to make Power-aid in 10 gal coolers. The teams needed to be registered. The snack stand needed to be set up. This all had to happen before 10:00am. Somehow we did it; we finished before 10:30am. We were a little late, but not too late. All that was left was to watch and record the games. I had fun. The best part was watching the teams. Everyone was nice and helpful. I will probably volunteer for their Lacrosse Games. Who knows what I will do there?
Hi Ms. Dillard! I'm Xavier Turner! I'm a rising 11th grader and Ive been volunteering at the library and I want to know if it counts.
Hello everyone! Well, it took me a a while to figure out that I actually have to post my blogs as comments, rather than specifically blogs within my own account, so here is my first one!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Alex La Pierre Journal 2 (CAS)
Today was my second day volunteering at the local library. It really is so inspiring to see the children run through the door with excitement and not even start towards the computers but scatter to the shelves of wordly knowledge. I don't honestly remember children being so eager to read when I was younger. I recall thinking of the library as something similiar to a ghost town. Now I am proviledged to say that the reading bug has caught quite a few of our youngsters.
So this past tuesday as well as earlier today I was allowed to be included in the experience of encouraging good reading habits in children. Their smiles were completely intoxicating and I truly cannot wait until the next time I get to have with them. This Wednesday and Thursday should prove interesting also as the Morrow Branch will offer a two-day celebration of America's birthday that will be open to many children of all ages.
6/17/08 2 hours
6/21/08 1 hour 45 mintes
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Alex La Pierre Journal 3: Celebrating America's Birthday at the Library
So, it has taken me a little while to return to the blogspot. But, now that I'm here, I can recollect on the memories of brightfaced children.
The Morrow library hosted it's annual celebration of America's 'birthday' on June 25th and 26th. Both days were spent teaching children about the history of our nation and letting them do crafts with our nation's most precious colors. Several of the volunteers, including myself, ran around with purpose putting smiles on little faces and gave much of our time to glueing crafts and fastening sequence pieces onto red, white and blue mats. With numbers of children reaching around 75, the serenity of the library was at best a whispering outside voice.
Working with the children has caused me to begin research on a possible major in child psychology. It was most interesting to me how the children seemed to pick up easily on my name and how contagious my own smile was to their visible countenance. One little boy came almost halfway across the library to ask me to help him, by-passing all of the other volunteers and adults. Nothing seems more fulfilling and intriguing making a child's day. In working with the children I have been inspired to research fields of study that will encourage children to become positive adults. This has been a most honorable experience and it is one that I hope to be apart of again in the future.
Total number of hours: 11
Alex La Pierre
Alex La Pierre Journal 4: Graduation performance for 2008 Seniors
It is a bit late to be documenting this community service project but, as I see it, every hour counts. Why should I exclude this experience?
On May 31, 2008 over 100 of Lovejoy's Senior class walked across the stage to accept their diplomas to the beat of our entire group of stinged instrumentalists. I myself added to the music by playing along on the violin to the tune of the very popular "Pomp and Circumstance." It was wonderful to see the faces of young people who have come such a long way in their twelve or so years of rigorous education. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of their transition into the next stages of their young lives. This performance provided me the chance to act as a musical encouragement of future success and prosperity.
The time for this project spanned over a period of seven hours that involved set up, sound checks, and encouragement to younger players as well as graduating seniors. I'll never forget the relief on the faces of those who perambulated quicly off the stage to reach the final end of their hardwork and dedication to education.
Hours: 7
Date: May 31, 2008
Alex La Pierre
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Alex La Pierre Journal 5: Summer Library Volunteering
My summer volunteering consisted mostly of roaming around the shelves of our local library, helping children with thir needs and signing them up for the summer reading program. Encouraging young children to further their education through reading put a smile on my face and the bright faces of a few constant readers really put a spark in the light of my days. I hoped to be an encouragement to children to read but it seems as though my smile brought about even more in the children than just a need to obtain information from books. They seemed to really enjoy flipping each page to find a new adventure written upon it.
Patience is something I definately had to keep as every child is different and, with so many of them around, patience can trickle away quickly like water falling from a cliff. I have learned through my volunteering with children that the future of our brightest most encouraged children looks bright and that one person truly can make a difference in the life of a child. It was quite entertaining to even listen to the stories of the experienced librarians and hear their episodes of life.
I hope to once again volunteer at the library and bring smiles to children's faces once again next summer. There is more light in a happy child's eyes than there ever will be in the entire solar system.
Total hours: 15
Alex La Pierre
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Teacher Assitance June 3, 2008
My service completed for my seventh grade life science teacher on June 3, 2008 was definately a fulfilling experience. I never realized how much effort goes into preparing the classroom for the eager eyes of ready listeners, and for those few know- it- all kids with sly smiles and a reputation of disrupting lectures. I found myself immersed in cutting and pasting, cleaning, running errands, and being snatched up by other teachers who needed assitance as well.
Jonesboro middle school is not where I personally completed my middle school years, but as this is the school that my previous educator moved to, I chose to take the chance to meet and greet new faces, to broaden my spectrum of connections while earning knowledge from unknown, but reputable sources. I think a few of the teachers were astonished to see a rising high school junior back in the confines of a junior high classroom, eagerly waiting for the next task to be completed.
I worked from 12:30pm until 4:00 pm without breaking.
Hours: 3 1/2
Well, there are the blogs I have done so far! More to come soon!
Journal 7 :Clayton County Honor Orchestra Performance
November 17, 2008 was the day of the Clayton County Honor Orchestra, Band and Chorus concert. The actual performance did not take place until 6:00 pm, but the preparation that was put into it during the day was a life changing experience, to say the least. I found myself confronted by all sorts of talent. Musicians of my age range were brought to the Performing Arts center to rehearse for this motivating event. I found myself intruiged by the different musical learning styles of others, and challenged by not only their own talent, but the talent of many different directors.
The performance was directed by three different directors, and I found myself adjusting to their own styles quickly, yet maybe not without flaw. I hoped to achieve a broader musical knowledge through this experience, and can safely say that I accomplished the feat, but I know now that music is something that truly sets us apart from one another, even though it brings us together all the same. Music is something that everyone has in common, and yet finding two people with the exact, note for note, same tastes is nearly impossible.
Through this experience I found in myself more talent than I expected. My audition into the program allowed me a seat right up at the directors hands, which happened to be a lot closer than I expeced to find myself. And yet, all the same I found that the competition was strong, and that evenb though there were many people behind me that may not have auditioned as well, every person in the ensemble had something about them that made them shine. The performance with other great musicians furthered my ability to appreciate people for their own hidden talents.
11/17/2008
Total Number of Hours: 10
This is the first blog I have been able to post pictures for. On November 18th, the day after the Clayton County Honor Orchestra, I was also called to volunteer for a Christmas time performace at Publix in Lovejoy. We played from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 and actively encouraged the shopping audiences to sing along with the carols we played. It is clearly visible in the second picture that Santa was also a part of the evening celebration, so with spirit we decided to take a quick orchestra picture with him after our performance.
Through this activity I hoped to aid in giving off insiration for a wonderful holiday. I was perfectly delighted when some of the customers and even employees throughout the store came to sing with us and smiled as we played. In completing this activity, I have learned that celebrating the power of the holidays is not to be restricted mainly to sit down dinners and specific holiday parties, but it can be celebrated anywhere, anytime, and anyway. I must say, I was originally a bit disoriented when I found out our holiday performance would be in the produce department of Publix, but it turned out to be a fantastic night.
11/18/2008
Total number of hours: 2
+ (Unfortunately it appears as though I could not attach the pictures I posted in the actual blog to this comment. If anyone is interested in seeing the two photos, they are welcome to click the link on my name and go to the actual blog itself.)
Journal 9: Govenor's Mansion Performance
December 12, 2008 was yet another of Lovejoy High School's Orchestra volunteer opportunities. This time we were invited by exclusive invitation to perform Christmas tunes for the Governor himself, Sonny Perdue. When we got there we set up quickly in a room a short way from the front door and dove right into our playing. People touring the house walked by and very often stopped to remark on our playing ability, or to ask for a special selection. We were only too happy to oblige. We played from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm and then were forced to resign for another group had also been invited.
Unfortunately, we were not able to speak with the Govenor himself, but after our performance we were allowed to tour the house and get our own bird's eye view of the Mansion's magnificiance for ourselves. We all were complemented highly on our playing abilities.
Above all I learned from this experience that even rich people can be humble enough to reach out to the children, and that is a wonderful thing. Considering the bad publicity that has gone on and on about Clayton County, it made me feel very honored to be able to help in bringing light to our school system, even if it be through a few simple music carols. We can certainly say we made an impression because we were invited back to a special event later! That blog will come later.
From this experience I have gotten more confidence in my playing abilities and better at interacting with others.
12/12/2009
Total number of hours: 6
+ Once again Photos did not post on here, but on the actual blog.
Hello everyone!! Hope your summer has been going well. I can't believe that it's almost time to go back!
Quincy, how did the lacrosse games go?
Xavier, those hours definitely count, but remember that you can only count 10 of the hours.
Wow Alex!! You were pretty busy! :-)
Keep up the good work guys!
Well Mrs. Dillard, that isn't the half of it. I still have many more blogs to write and many more things I want to do. I just happened to open up the binder I have for my CAS hours and started writing. Many more to come! Thank you for the compliment!
Annie, The Musical: Pit Orchestra Violinist
Annie was a musical performed soley, and completely by students. Many rehearsals were conducted in the anticipation of the three show weekend, but all of the dedication and time put into preparing for the final product definately paid off.
Our first performance was on January 15, 2009. Children from within the county were allowed to attend and recieve a bried glimpse of the the entire play. All of the performances were held at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center. The pit Orchestra was required to play the music for only the specific scenes given at this particular performance, as compared to running the entire program from begining to end. We played for two seperate audiences from 8:30am until 11:30 am.
The actual debue of the musical occured on January 16th, from 7:00pm until 9:00pm, but I was unfortunately not able to perform that night. I am able to testify that Annie was succesfully executed from 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm on Saturday, January 17th and from 2:30 pm until 4:30 pm on Sunday January 18th.
As a violinist I was able to significantly broaden my musical knowlege and experience. The music from the score for Annie was so much harder and more challenging than anything I had ever played, that I find myself chuckling now when something that would have appeared difficult before is placed in front of me. When originally presented with the challenge of playing in the pit orchestra for Annie, I was very quick to deny the opportunity for many reasons, including that it required me to take much time away from my studies and school itself at times, and the music was just so challenging to prepare in a few short months. However, I am happy to say that I have learned a great deal about playing with other musicians in a new atmosphere and I would eagerly play in another pit orchestra if given the chance. I must say that it was most rewarding also to look up to the eager faces of audience members after the show as they looked down at us with awe and admiration when they realized that the music was live. If only they know how hard it was!
1/15, 17, 18/ 2009
Total Number of Hours : 7
Back At the Govenor's Mansion
Once again Lovejoy's chamber orchestra found itself within the confines of the Govenor's Mansion. This time, however, it was by very, ver personal invitation from the Govenor himself for a more secluded affair than the annual Christmas celebration. We were not informed of what the actual event was held for or, for whom, but we were asked to play greeting music!
On this particular occasion we were put in a room right off of the main door and were to play as respectable men and women walked through the front of the house and greeted each other. Unfortunately, one of the highlights of the night, before our performance, including realizing that my stand partner had grabbed the wrong folder before we left the school. Luckily, because Lovejoy is constantly called to play for events and has a general music program for such, we happened to have a few of the pieces that we were going to play in the folder we had grabbed, but not all. Apart from a few seating changes, according to the music, and a piece that the second violinists played straight from memory for everyone else's sakes, the night went spactacularly well.
After our performance, Govenor Perdue himself strode in to acknowledge our musical presense and joyfully posed to take pictures with us. Performing with the most talented kids at Lovejoy High is something I will sure not forget.
4/8/09
Total Number of Hours: 6
RFKC: Teen Volunteer
Hardwork, dedication, a great sense of humor, and a wole lot of patience went into making the 2009 session of RFKC camp a tremendous success. Never have I been to camp myself, but even though this camp was not geared toward my enjoyment but for very deserving young children, and the work certainly wasn't always easy, I had the time of my life! Even the training session before hand on June 6th was informative but definately enjoyable. I can say that it was certainly more rewarding than the soothing, full-body massage I missed to attend, and man was that a hard choice!
Grandparents, singers, camp councelors and teen helpers including myself, along with a few others there to help, all arrived at the camp grounds on Sunday, June 28th. That was our day to prepare the camp for the next day arrival of the most deserving kids I now know. We teen helpers got our schedules and found out that our main tasks would be in providing assistance during meals. As we later found out, camp activities that were hosted for the campers, but fun for all, were a good part of our responsibilites as well. Three guys and myself ran one of the water rides at the carnival and had an absolute blast taking turns sliding down it and watching the kids to make sure they were safe too. Night-time relief for the councelors was also something we had to fill in for as the church who normally steps in to cover it decided not to this year. That simply included getting the kids in bed while the councelors got a 2 hour break from their long days with the children.
......
Throughout the week teen helpers, including myself, assisted with many things. We sang carols for the kids when Santa came to town, we dressed up with the girls and passed around tea and crumpettes during the tea party, we helped the young boys with archery lessons and even entertained the kids by dancing around and getting in conga lines while the adults were planning the next activity. There was never a dull moment. One teen helper even volunteered to dress up in the heavy easter bunny outfit during the easter egg hunt. We banned together to set-up and dismantle the shaving cream fight, and I even found myself in the swimming pool after being begged by one of the girl campers to swim with them.
Despite the long hours, and my less connected role with the children, I grew very fond of their energetic presense over the week. I made a critical effort to sport the widest smile possible everyday and treat them like kings and queens as well as I could. These children, most having come out of foster care, were most deserving and I was sure to make them realize how important their lives were. Their tender ages of innocent childhood pushed me even more so to be a good role model. And, even though there were times when one child just would not go to bed or do as I ask, I can proudly say that I never waivered, although I came very close.
Through this activity I hoped to become a more humble person, and to grow a fonder sense of blessing and spirit. But, I shall say that my gains have proved much larger. Faces still linger in my head of the children , and even camp workers who tried so hard to conceal tears on the day of departure. I can still hear their joyful laughs as they splashed and slid down the rides at the carnival. I can still feel the pitchers of cool punch that I walked around with to make sure the kids and councelors had all they wanted to drink, way before I would sit down and accept my own meal.
The week I spent at RFKC has to have been the most rewarding volunteer experience I have completed so far. Positively certain am I that I shall return next year to put more smiles on more faces and lend a helping hand to this great camp. I really do believe that it takes a village to raise a child and I'm so fortunate that I could be a part of this village.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the camp and it's purpose in reaching out to abused children, I have had to exclude names of the people and children I encountered. Anyone wishing to recieve additional information about the camp may ask Mr. Tony Geasley. He has been a participant of the camp for many years now and recruited me.
Total Number of Hours : 93 (yes 93)
6/ 6/ 2009
6/ 28/ 2009- 7/3/ 2009
My last blog wouldn't post in it's entirety, so I had to break it up into three comments. Don't have pictures up on my actual blog yet, but I have a few I'll scan and put up later.
Hi, Mrs. Dillard, I volunteered to help the Georgia Games 7v7 Lacrosse Tournament July 18, 2009. This was my first time seeing lacrosse. I did not know what to expect. My project leader asked if I had seen lacrosse before. I said no, so before I started to work he let me sit in on a game. I was amazed. The lacrosse is very hard to describe. The goal of the game is to get a small rubber ball into the net of the opposing team. The net is set up like a soccer goal but it is much smaller. It is in the shape of a triangle. In the opening of it is a goalie. In a typical game there are 7 players, one ball, two goals, 7 lacrosse sticks, and a referee. The game would last for 44minutes. At 22minutes they have a 5 minute break. The job I had with lack of a better term was ball and water boy. To keep a lacrosse game going you need balls and when playing it outside you are going to lose balls, so you must keep balls on the side line. I learned that you must stay on top of your job or you will fall behind. The thing about lacrosse is that you can hit the other team with the lacrosse stick. We had three medical volunteers on site, but it was not enough. In at least every two games some was hurt. They play rough. When someone is injured the game is put into pause all players are to get on to one knee and that signals the medical volunteer that someone needs help. At a point all three medical volunteers were on different fields, thankfully no one was hurt too badly some even managed to come back to cheer their team on. Volunteering for the Georgia Games this summer was fun. It opened my eyes to new sports, and it gave me some valuable experiences. The GA Games really need volunteers and we can help. If you want to help go to their website, gagames.kennesaw.edu, and volunteer they need it and thank you for reading.
Mrs. Dillard,
I am going to band camp for a week Iwas wondering if I could count as CAS Hours. We will be inproving ourselves in musicanship and physical fitness. We will aslo be developing skills to help use in life. At the end of the camp we will be performing a fundraiser show to help us raise money to suport our trips and our school's band efforts. I would like for it to be counted separarte from my the hours I get from concert band, because it is for Marching Band. Thank you for your time and answer.
Journal Entry #2
Creativity Activity: Emory Pre-College Prog. Magic of Photography Class/Field Photography Experience
Dates: July 1,2,7, 2009
Hours: 7
The class was apart of Emory’s two week non-credit Pre-College course that took place June 29th through July 10th. This class was designed to be a sample of a college entry level photography class. We learned skills with basic methods of photography like pinhole cameras and Holga/Diana toy cameras. While learning these skills, our professor who was a former professor of Emory for 17 years had no problems with helping her 3 students with college advice, references, digital work, portfolios, and advice. We visited the Michael C. Carlos Museum on campus which exhibited Harry Burton photographs of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. We also visited the High Museum of Art to see the Claude Monet’s works Water Lilies and Richard Misrach’s photography exhibit On the Beach. All exhibits we visited as a class were very informative on the scope of photography from documentaries to aesthetic artwork and were also useful in getting us more interested in photography and formulating our on ideas for out work. One of the main days of field photography was the day we visited Krog Bridge and the Briarcliff campus of Emory. The fieldtrip to Krog Bridge was a chance to photograph different styles of graffiti that has been documented and admired. At the Briarcliff campus, we photographed a mansion and greenhouse that had been present since the 1970s before the close by mental institute became apart of the Emory campus. On these particular trips we used the Holga which is a type of simple film camera that has been used by various photographers to produce a particular type of photograph. Such artists include Nancy Rexroth. We had a full day to experiment with the Holga and try its different features such as its two types of exposure, two shutter speeds, and five aperture settings.
On two other occasions I gained experience using various sizes of pinhole cameras. In simple terms, a pinhole camera is any kind of sealed container with a pinhole in its side that will allow light to travel and hit film or light sensitive paper inside the container. This type of camera requires stability, bright lighting and a lot of exposure time. I took shots of various plants, a long winding road, other students, and a creek.
Challenges that I faced in both activities include accepting criticism of any kind from both my classmates and my professor, asking for help with working the cameras, tolerating my mistakes, gaining more patience, and stepping out of my comfort zone into a campus and highly social environment. In the end it was all worth it. I learned about myself and how do handle various situations. I experienced a “taste” of college life and learned a great deal from two other students from South Carolina and Texas with differing views and approaches to life, photography and college life.
Hi I’m Davis Nguyen and I’m overdue to submit my journals. So here they are.
Journal Entry: 1
Date: 8/20/09 and 8/25/09
Event: How to run a Better Club Meeting: Learning Parliamentary Procedures
Location: After school after Lovejoy High School in room 404.
Hours: 4
Reflection:
TSA, FBLA, FCCLA, HOSA, DECA, Kappa, NHS, Beta…Lovejoy High School is home to many clubs and organizations. One day I was thinking what if I there was a way for me to be involved in all of these organizations even if it is indirectly. Over the last week, I’ve held took Mr. Minix’s advice and held a 2-part 4 hour seminar on How to run a Better Club Meeting by teaching anyone who was interested about Parliamentary Procedures.
On Day One, I went over the basics of Parliamentary Procedure. I began with the Order of Business (Robert’s Rules) and “The Rules of the Gavel.” My plan was to keep Day One as basic and interesting as possible so that I would have an audience left for Day Two. As an exercise I had everyone practice obtaining the floor and making a motion.
Day Two, I focused more on the specifics of Parliamentary Procedures. We worked on types of motions, their priorities, and if they could be interrupted. I also went into greater detail such how to use a “rise to order” and “amendments.” There was more I could have covered but it was 5:30 by the time we finished.
Looking back over the course of the two day seminars, I had fun. I even learned some aspects Parliamentary Procedures that I didn’t know before holding the seminar when I was researching for material and examples. I’m glad I was able to hold this seminar, because by doing so I’m able to indirectly help the clubs around the school that was represented at the seminar. I plan to do another one if enough people are interested.
Journal Entry: 2
Date: 8/29/09
Event: Clayton Youth Leadership Interview/Selection
Location: Clayton County Water Authority Community Room
Hours: 4
Reflection:
During the summer while I was attending the Governor’s Honor Program, I received an email from Mrs. Tamika McLester, the chairwomen for Clayton Youth Leader. CYL was a program I participated in my sophomore year. Mrs. McLester wanted to ask me to come back and assist her as an Alumni representative to the CYL Advisory Board. I gladly accepted.
My task was to sit down last Saturday to interview over 65 candidates for this year CYL Class of 2010. Between the Board and me, each member interviewed 6 candidates over a period of 3 hours from 8 to 11. At 11 we each sat down and made our selections. The selection process took about an hour and was hard because the program only had enough funding for 35 students and we thought that a majority of the candidates would have been a great fit.
Out of the six people I had to choose from I based my selection on based not only on academics, but also about potential. CYL is a great program to break out and meet new people. I know that was the case for me. Last year I was able to meet 34 people with different backgrounds and circumstances from around the county that I otherwise might not have had the chance to meet. I feel honored to help this year. I will come back in two weeks for to give the orientation speech from an alumni’s point of view.
Journal Entry: 3
Date: 9/12/09
Event: Clayton Youth Leadership Orientation
Location: Clayton County Water Authority Community Room
Hours: 4
Reflection:
As an alumni member of Clayton Youth Leadership, I was invited to speak in front of parents and students last Saturday. While people might hate public speaking, I love any opportunity to speak in front of people. My speech was done extemporaneously as I took the floor, I wish I could have prepared something but at the least I meant every word I said Saturday.
When I saw all the students in the room, I remember how it was with me; I could see each student sat with their parents and schools. I remember sitting with Lovejoy people 12 months ago as well. I told them that in 10 months they will break off and feel more like a family around each other. I know this will happen because it happened to my class last year.
I had a number of parents come up to me and praised me for my speech afterwards. I stayed for the entire meeting answering questions from parents and students. After the meeting ended at noon, I stayed to speak with more parents and students who had questions about the program. I will continue to work with Clayton Youth Leadership for the next eight months.
Eight learning outcomes for the Emory Photography in the Field activity
-Develop new skills in photography
-challenge myself
-become aware of my weaknesses and strengths
Learning outcomes for the Operation:Move in for Clayton State
-Work with others
-show commitment to activity
Journal #3
Creative Activity: Emory Pre-College Photography Darkroom Experience
Hours: 10
Schedule: Two weeks 9am-12pm
Learning outcomes
-become more aware of areas of growth, strengths and weaknesses
-develop and inhance skills
-tackle new challenges and opportunites
This is the second part of the Photography class I attended over the summer. Overall, this was my FAVORITE part of the class. I learned something all together new and foreign to me. I was taught exactly how to mix the chemicals necessary to develop photos, the unofficial "Do's and Don'ts" of a darkroom. When I first stepped into the darkroom, I felt way behind and I found the need to know how to do everything as soon as possible. It was challenging to remember every single detail related to developing film or making prints. My impatience became even more noticeable when having to deal with the darkroom. I would spend 3 hours on just making ONE final print. But at the end of the day it was all worth it because I knew and understood how I took a simple photograph of a mansion on campus and turned it into something spectacular. This is extremely different from digital photography where effects can be added with in a touch of a button. In this situation, I had to cooperate with other students from across the U.S. This resulted in all of us inspiring one another and coming up with great ideas.
Hi. This is Sharifah Williams.
Sharifah Williams, CAS:
Summary: I shared my CYL alumni experience with new CYL recruits at their orientation.
Reference of Targeted Outcomes: I aimed to 1.increase my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, 2.undertake new challenges, 4.worked collaboratively with others, and 8.developed new skills. I achieved learning outcome 1 by actually doing the community service. I achieved the second one by doing well at talking about my alumni experience which I had never done before. I achieved the fourth one by working with the other alumni at the event to give the CYL recruits a whole picture of what their CYL experience would turn out to be. I achieved the eighth one by being comfortable about talking about alumni experiences.
finally created my blog profile better late than never
Hello. This is Maya Stewart, an 11th grader. I just made my account a second ago, so I'm a newcomer. I'm going to do my first CAS activity today at Trees Atlanta.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Journal Entry#1
Today I went to Shadow Rock elementary and i helped with there fall festival. I was there for 5 hours. I helped sign in all the students and passed out their wrist bands. That took two hours. I then went over to one of the attractions and supervised that for two hours. For the last hour i broke down tables picked up trash and transported the chairs back inside the building.
The festival makes me respect teachers even more. It was a requirement for the teachers to be there. They had to spend their saturday at the schools fall festival where it was very hot, and they didnt just sit around they were over most of the attractions.
hello my name is Kyandria Smith. I have just created my account and I'm planning on doing some community service this weekend.
Watching "October Sky"
It is 9:34 pm on October 11 and I just finished watching the movie "October Sky" for the second time. The movie was so inspirational that I decided it would make a good reflection for CAS hours.
Targeted Learning outcomes:
1. Increased awareness of own strengths and areas for growth
2. Engaged with issues of global importance
Now, I'll be honest and say that this is the ultimate nerd's drama, but the story behind the success of this story is truly amazing. Four young men from the city of Coalwood in West Virginia found themselves intruiged by the limitlessness of outer space. So, they decided to learn how to build rockets. Their inspiration was partly derived from the launch of Sputnick in the 1950's. Their perseverance despite constant doubt from the town people really helped to increase the awareness of my own potential. It helped me to truly realize the amount of support I have behind me. Being it that Sputnick was not launched from the United States proves that this movie also had a global element to it.
Overall I feel truly inspired by this movie to achieve success. In the story, the men actually go on to win the national science fair that no one believes they can win until the last minute, and all four of them recieve scholarships to go on to college. Should they have not won those scholarships their lives would have become focused in mining within the community which is something that eventually lead to the near death of the community. Eventually the mine ran dry and people moved elsewhere to find work. However, the story of the four men being brought to literature and the big screen has offered new hope for the community.
Date: 10/11/2009
Hours: 2
Journal Entry #4
Service Activity: Tutoring Middle School Band Students
Hours: 8
June 20th-23rd
10am-12pm
Learning Outcomes:
-Show perseverance and commitment
-work collaboratively
-undertake new challenges
-increase aware of strengths and weaknesses
Marching band section leaders, including myself, assisted band directors at a local middle school for a week. During this time I assisted in distributing lunches to the middle school band students, ask any questions pertaining to band or a specific instrument. I worked with other saxophone section leaders during the sectionals with the saxophone section. This portion of the event I found distressing particularly because there were three section leaders and only three students to tutor. As you can imagine each of us wanted to be the prevailing leader who was always right and every one listen but of course that never happened. Instead I eventually decided to circulate between sections and other band directors to see if they needed any of my help. I even sat in on some sectionals and learned to play a new instrument like the middle school students. I like to believe that this helped them see that they should feel too bad about there mistakes and to see how far they have come in their skills and where they could be. I would often return to my respective sectional when they needed my help to play a piece of music for the students or to hold rehearsal. During this sectional I gained experience with tutoring younger students, something I have never done before. All the students I have assisted in the past already knew how to play their instrument and needed help with minor problems. With middle schools students I had to remember when I learned how to play my instrument and attempt to introduce them to simple methods to remember notes or rhythms. Overall the experience was fun (despite waking up so early in the morning) and it gave me more experience into how to tutor musicians in various age groups.
hello this is yuri finally im on it:). During the summer i volunteered at many places. so far i have 31 hrs, im guessing thats alot for a junior:) im hoping i can find more volunteer spots for more opprotunities...... If we do something for more than one week would we get credit for both weeks or just the first one??
Journal Entry: 5
Date: 10/14/09
Event: Preparing PSAT Materials
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 1
Reflection:
I guess you would say this was one of those community service that I was at the right place at the right time. It was the morning before the PSAT testing and teachers were being distributed the writing materials for their students. I was on the 900 hall at the time at 7 and Ms. Barr asked me to help her prepare the materials. She gave me the materials and Patrick (person doing it with me) went through the material counted, sorted, made sure everything was ready for tomorrow (the day of the test). We finished distributing and handing the material back to Ms. Barr just in time before 8:15, didn't want to miss homeroom!
Journal Entry: 6
Date: 10/24/09
Event: Atlanta 3 Mile Breast Cancer Walk
Location: Atlantic Station
Hours: 6
Reflection:
Every year 200,000 women and 2000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer thats 550 a day or 23 people an hour! As part of North Clayton High School's Ambassadors International I was asked to join by the IB students to walk with them. The opening ceremonies began at 7 and the final closing was at 3. The walk was in between. We walked for 3 miles around the Atlantic Station. We were joined by over 15,000 other participates. The numbers were overwhelming. I was so glad to have been a part of something of this scale. Individually our IA raised over 150 dollars together all 15,000 of the walkers rasied 1.7 million dollars! It was one of the best Saturdays of my life. It felt some great to walk across that finish line and have people cheer you on from all sides.
Journal Entry: 7
Date: 10/31/09
Event: FAFSA
Location: Perry Learning Center
Hours: 10
Reflection:
FAFSA, the most important financial form you will ever have to fill out before college can be a painful step in a senior's life if there is no one to guide him/her. Luckily, the Perry Center hosted a seminar on the financial aid part of the college enrollment process. I was asked to participate in the seminar prior to leaving for GHP this summer. At GHP I read up on FAFSA and the financial aid process. It was fun to know that people left with information that will help them out later. Maybe next time I'll talk less. (I think I talked as much as if not more than the organizer who asked me to join!)
Although FAFSA does not apply to me just yet I'm always one step ahead. I plan to continue to seminar later for Clayton Youth Leader on May 19th and again next year at the Perry Learning Center for the Juniors that will be Seniors next year to help prepare them for college.
Journal Entry: 8
Date: October 9th -November 10th
Event: Creating an Elite Scholars Club (Class of 2012)
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Reflection:
One of my side project this year with some of the other 11th grade IB students. Together we held a month long recruitment process for 10th and 11th graders interested in joining Elite Scholars.
Individually, I took the first step and talked with Ms. Hardee to establish a list of students who met the 3.6 GPA requirement. When all the inviations were passed out we held an interest meeting where I prepared a powerpoint highlighting what Elite Scholar is and what we do. Overall a success with 64 of the original 89 potential new members showing up.
After the interest meeting, we had a two week process with applications. After the applications came in there were 49 applicants. My pile that I judged though included the 10th grade girls.
The last step was the interview process, along with the rest of the officer team we interviewed 39 applicants we felt had a chance of making it in. After the interview we narrowed our list down to 21 people. They will be sent to the county level to be interviewed by the County Committee board (1 rep. from each high school and our founder) which I am apart of.
This process gave me a lot of self-confidence knowing I can start with a goal in mind and achieve it. And i realized I didn't have to do it alone.
Journal Entry: 9
Date: Late October
Event: Red Ribbon Week/Drug Free Awareness Week
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Reflection:
Red Ribbon Week was another side project I've been invloved with since 9th grade under the late Ms. Clay. This year was special because Mrs. Lukiri knew I had been a member for 3 years and allowed me to spearhead the event. Together with PTSA, we organized the week of activites ending with the Balloon Ceremony for those who purchased a necklace from our week long fundraiser to increase drug awareness. The Balloon Ceremony was joined by Mr. Colbert who led us in the LHS Drug Free Pledge. It was an amazing endeavor. Although I have been proud the last 2 years doing this, this year was special because I was even more involved.
Hello,
My name is Tsion Behailu. I have already completed a few CAS activities and plan to record them soon.
This is my first reflection:
Activity: 1
Date: October 23-31
Event: Red Ribbon Week/Drug-Free Week
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Reflection:
During the week of October 23-31, I helped Ms. Lukiri organize Red Ribbon Week. PTSA had creted 75 necklaces for my group, SADD, to sell. Each lunch period, the other members of the group and myself would use our lunch period to make our peers aware of Red Ribbon Week. By the third day, it was obvious we needed more necklaces, so a few of us made more bracelets and necklaces. We exceeded expectations this year and sold about 160 ribbons. On the day of the Balloon Ceremony (Friday), Perla (another member) and I blew up extra balloons because we had sold much more than expected. The students that bought a ribbon were called out at the end of the day and proceeded outside. With Ms. Lukiri and Mr. Colbert present, the balloons were released.
I was very proud of myself by the end of Red Ribbon Week. I had been successful in managing an important aspect of the event. This was my first year with SADD and I plan to continue doing the activities we have later on this year.
Activity: 2
Date: From Beginning of Year to Present
Event: Creation of Elite Scholars Club
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Reflection:
I have been a part of the Elite Scholars Club for almost a year and a half now and my group and I have undertaken the task of recruiting qualified members into the organization. Students with a 3.6 GPA or above were invited to apply and from those applications, we chose the ones we would like to interview. The interview process was recently completed and our finalists have been chosen. The final candidates will be interviewed by Dr. Walles, the creator of the organization, and those who pass that process will be a part of the Elite Scholars Club at Lovejoy High School.
This activity helped me learn the inner process involved with choosing a candidate using an interview and I also learned more about my fellow Elite Scholars as I worked with them. At times the process seemed difficult, but we had to finish what we started and we had to finish it well.
Hello, I'm Lisa Phommaseng and I have just created my blogger account, I myself have done a few CAS activities, in which I should have blogged a long while ago.
Activity: 1
Event: Creation of LHS Elite Scholars Chapter
Hours:10
Date:09.08.09 [start]
I was a part of Elite Scholars when I entered my Sophomore year having been accepted in my freshman. During my sophomore year we didn't really do much of things to contribute to our school nor community, although we did attempt to. This year our sponsor Mr. Thomas left us having to go towards his goals in life, and were able to get in touch with Ms. William to be the Elite Scholars sponsor once more. After having decided our officials for the remainder of the LHS ES, we came to an agreement of how we would manage our chapter as well as recruiting new members. There was an application and interview processes for those sophomores and junior that wanted to join. We could only accept 20 out of the 40+ that were eligible to join and applied. On the 13th of November we did an interview process and decided on the 20. In the end, we were able to accomplish our goal of recruiting members and now all we have to do is work with the county member to make out member officially in ES and decide on community projects and events.
Activity: 2
Event: LHS Red Ribbon Week
Hours: 5
Date: 10.26.09 - 10.31.09
During this event, I worked with SADD to promote Red Ribbon Week to the student body to stay drug-free. SADD spent each lunch period fundraising and promoting drug-free awareness, by selling bead necklaces or bracelets that were handcrafted by SADD members and Drug-free stickers. The class that bought the most necklaces/bracelets would receive a pizza/wing party in the end of the week. There was also a ballon ceremony for those students that participated in the event. It was a great success.
Hi, My name is Elizabeth Cooper and I'm just now starting to blog for my CACS Hours hopefully I'll remember to do this more often.
Activity 1
Brown Elementary Rainbow House fair. At this event I was required to run a booth that the profits would go to the Rainbow House a shelter for kids. During this time I believed I learned alot. I had to work collaboratively with others, engaged with issues of global importance, and considered ethical implications of my actions. Because Rainbow House is a non-profit organization that helps protect and take care of the children in the community. Whether they were not at home because of abuse or poverty. Either way this is a global issue and my community is just lucky that they have an organization like this. Also the school where this was held had several kids that are in this program. So having them come to the fair and be able to enjoy a care free moment like kids should be able to do is very uplifting and inspirational.
Activity 2
Formation of Elite Scholars
I have been in Elite Scholars since 10th grade and for the most part I wasn't to happy with the way the club was run as far as how it was at Lovejoy high school. At the beginning of this year the Junior Elite Scholars all got together and we chose officers and since then we have been building the club up from there. Elite Scholars is a program that is designed to better yourself as a person, but being an officer in this club it is my responsibility to help everyone get the best they can out of the club. This involves planning and cooperation with my peers. Also a global understanding because Elite Scholars is a group that wishes to pull from different backgrounds and that is exactly what it does. So I have to keep a open mind to be able to work with other people. In the beginning we went through several bumps in the beginning but now the officer team is working hard together to make this club enjoyable for all the new comers.
Activity 3
I know this is really late but Ms.Dillard said it is never to late to blog. This summer I spent my time in rural Sumter, South Carolina working as a lifeguard. When I wasn't sitting out in the hot heat I spent a lot of time traveling around with my grandma. So I was able to visit many senior citizen functions. Luckily I was able to get the opportunity to assist at one. For everyone who knows me on a personal level understands that I'm not to fond of wrinkly old people who drool due to a bad experience I had on a mission trip. So when I get this opportunity I was a little hesitant. However once I got to working it wasn't so bad. The older people acted much younger then I expected and I wasn't watching waiting for one to fall over. While I was there I work along another young lady and we set up activities, prepared meals, clean up after the meals and provided conversation and entertainment for all the guest there. I would like to say that I developed here because I came closer to overcoming one of my fears and I also better helped our community. Because I gave back to people who have given to me all my life. The senior citizens of the world are a vital part because the hold information and history that can only make us better. By taking care of them we preserve a piece of this country.
Activity 4
For my last CACS hours event, I volunteered at Brown Elementary Barnes and Noble night. My job was to socialize and read to the kids and help them explore Barnes and Noble. With Barnes and Noble being one of my favorite stores this was really fun and easy. Also me being able to give back to the school that helped me discover my love for reading was another plus. While at this event I read to several kids and I also helped assist them in finding books on their own. I believe this helped globally because knowledge is power and what is a better way to get knowledge then reading. I was also giving back to community because in our county reading is not especially a strong point by helping others expand their want to read by showing them my love to read can only help better the young minds today which are our future.
Hi, this is Lucy Pham! I got the letter for CAS in the mail, and my mother yelled at me for not doing this earlier. Sorry, I've been very busy; it totally slipped my mind.
Activity: 1
Date: November 30
Event: Brown Elementary Rainbow House fair/dance.
Location: Brown Elementary School
Hours: 3.5
At this even I helped run a booth that collected profits for a shelter for kids known as the Rainbow House. During this event, I worked collaboratively with others, engaged with issues of global importance, and considered ethical implications of my actions. The Rainbow House is a non-profit organization that helps give children a place they can call home and take care of them like family. This organization helps homeless children or those who suffered from abuse or other unfortunate situations. There were a number of kids who attend Brown Elementary that have benefited from this organization. This event allowed the children to relax and enjoy the Halloween holiday safely with their families and friends. This event was fun and easy to do that not only benefits me but many other people as well.
Activity: 2
Date: Month of November
Event: Creation of Elite Scholars Club
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
As a member and vice-president of the Elite Scholars Club along with my fellow peers, we wanted to re-establish the name of the Elite Scholars at Lovejoy High School. In this event, we planned and initiated activities, worked collaboratively with others
showed perseverance and commitment. We informed the potential applicants that had a 3.6 GPA and higher of their eligibility and held several meetings about the club and how they can join. We collected applications and reviewed each one and also held interviews for the 20 spots that were available. With this, we successfully completed our task to expand this club. I learned about the many different people there are in our community and how to work well with my peers. Although this task was rather long and needed much work, we strive to complete it and ended successfully.
Activity: 3
Date: December 9th
Event: Grading/Scoring Middle School Science Fair Projects
Location: Lovejoy Middle School
Hours: 3
Its been over five years since I began doing science fairs for school. Since I have much experience in doing them, I, along with my classmates, took a trip to the middle school and helped the head Science Department at Lovejoy Middle School to grade/score the submitted science fair projects. Based on a rubric, I scored the projects to the best of my ability and was able to leave critics on what I would have done or what they could have done to make it much better. In this event, I increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth, undertook new challenges, worked collaboratively with others, and showed perseverance and commitment. Although the student who submitted project are much younger then me, it also gave me some ideas to incorporate into my future projects such as the Group 4 project that we are currently working on. I had a hard time determining what grade to give them that was considered fair or reasonable, but I was able to continue at it and accomplish the task I began.
Activity: 4
Date: December 14th
Event: Cleaning and Organizing Chemistry Storage and Classroom
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
As I have a lot of work and a busy schedule, I know that teachers also have a hard job grading it all. Each day I witness my teacher Mrs. Etheridge struggling to find things she needs or work in her environment. So in order to help her job become much more easier, I, along with a few of my peers, decided to stay after school in order to help clean and organize the area in which she works in most; the classroom and storage room. During this event, I planned and initiated activities, worked collaboratively with others, showed perseverance and commitment, and engaged with issues of global importance. Due to the mess left by kids or lack of time to clean, it was hard to stay committed since it's like another chore to do, but because we knew that it will not only help our teacher but also ourselves, we strived to get the rooms as clean as possible. With the newly cleaned room, we were able to learn better in order to prepare for the finals and Mrs. Etheridge was able to rest comfortably in a clean room!
*I have to remember to do these more often.
Hey! My name is Andre Jairam and I recently got a letter in the mail that told me i wasnt fufilling my obligations toward cas hours so here I am. Now lets just hope my mom isnt to mad at me.
Activity: 2
Date: December
Event: Lovejoy middle school science fair project judging
Location: lovejoy middle school
Hours: 3
My self and a few of my pairs, during a school day went to lovejoy middle school to grade science fair projects. We helped many middle scholars by giving them contrutive critism on their projects to better them selfves once they go to high school.
Activity: 2
Date: December 14th 2009
Event: Cleaning Chemistry Storage and Classroom
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Since we have been in IB, not only are we the student receiveing alot of work but the IB teachers them selves have a hand full. So to help my chemistry teacher Ms. Etheridge, me and a few of my peers have decided to clean the Chemistry storage room and the classroom. Lets just say before we started to clean the backroom was a mess with all the boxes filled with old chemistry books that were going to be destroyed and recycled. However after we were done the backroom's floor actually became visible again. After that we cleaned the classroom it self and organized her many many folders and binders. Hopefully we made her day a little bit better now that she is in a clean classroom.
Finally! Katrina Jones is on blogspot
Finally Semester Break, so time to update my CAS Hours.
Journal Entry: 10
Date: 11/14/09
Event: Mercer University Math Competition
Location: Mercer University
Hours: 6
Reflection:
Last Saturday, I had the honor of participating at the Mercer University Math Competition. This is a great accomplishment for me, because I never thought we would be able to make it. Months prior to this event Lovejoy High School lacked a formal math team. After attending GHP I was inspired to establish one. I spent the first two months looking for a sponsor before Mrs. Pennebaker and Ms. Lweis offered. I am thankful for them. In preparation for this event I helped Mrs. Pennebaker register us, recruited members for the Junior Varsity and Varsity Math Teams, and held meetings. As for the competition itself, LHS finished in 11th out of 24 teams. I had a team best on both the written test and ciphering portion of the competition. Overall this event was a great, I’m glad I took the initiative to spearhead a math team!
Journal Entry: 11
Date: 11/21/09
Event: Vision Board
Location: Perry Learning Center
Hours: 10
Reflection:
Just came back from the Perry Learning Center. Spend the entire day today at the Perry Learning Center helping Dr. Walles’s vision board project and with his tutoring program. A vision board is a representation of your goals and dreams for your life. Dr. Walles asked me to create one to be used a model for his K-8 students. My vision board was a scrapbook of my personal goals, education plans, career dreams, financial strives, community service projects, my health aims, and my love life. I stayed 2 hours extra to help clean up and plan for the next event which is going to be in January.
Journal Entry: 12
Date: Nov-Dec
Event: Governor’s Honors Program Scrapbook
Location: Valdosta State University/Clayton County Public School Central Office
Hours: 6
Reflection:
Came back from the CCPS central office to hand off my scrapbook I made of my memories at the Governor’s Honors Program. Last month, the county awarded with the Certificate of Achievement for being one of 700 students from across the state of GA to participate in GHP. I thought the scrapbook would be a great way to show the county how much I wanted to give back. I designated Mrs. Rhonda Burnough, who works in the Central Office, as my project advisor because I knew her from Clayton Youth Leadership. When I gave her the book she said it was a first class piece of work. One of the best works she has seen from a student. I was very happy to hear that. Dr. Edmund Heatley, also thanked me for my work. The book is going to be on open display at the Central Office.
Journal Entry: 13
Date: 12/11/09
Event: Administrative Support at Scholars Academy
Location: Scholars Academy
Hours: 2
Reflection:
I helped out at Scholars Academy in the front office last Friday. Dr. Walles wanted me to come to help him sort though some Elite Scholar applications with a select committee. I brought Lisa with me to help. Over 2 hours we went through about 120 applications from around the county picking only the “best of the best” to join our organization at the County level. I also met with some of the students that are part of the tutoring program that Dr. Walles and I have been talking about.
Journal Entry: 14
Date: 12/14/09
Event: Organized and Participated in Science Dept. Clean-Up
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Reflection:
Up to this point I had about passed the half way mark with my CAS requirements, but I noticed that a lot of IB students didn’t start or have less than 10. I noticed a lot didn’t have transportation, so to help out I talked with Mrs. Etheridge, my CAS advisor, about setting up a project we could all do at the school as an IB class. The result was a clean-up session of the Chemistry portion of the Science Dept. I got about 10 people to volunteer which was a relief because more hands equals less work per person. For the 3 hours, we clean-up the storage room, organized the materials, and moved boxes science books being sent to the central office. As for me personally, I spent most of my time moving the boxes and getting them ready to be sent off. Between the four of us that moved boxes we moved about 200 books! My arms were so tried afterward.
*Note to Self: TIFAD for next time
CAS Entry 3:
Summary: My activity was grading science fair projects at Lovejoy Middle School.
My learning outcomes were 1, 2, 4, and 6. I achieved 1 and 2 by judging a science fair project for the first time. I achieved 3 by working with a classmate to help grade the science fair projects. I achieved 6 because science fair projects are global issues of importance that can start at the local level.
To Ms. Dillard:
Regarding the Sports Team section for CAS Hours, it states that you have to take the number of games/matches and multiply by 2....can you further explain what you mean to clarify your definition?
Activity: 3
Date: December 19th 2009
Event: festival of trees and lights
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 4
Today, me and a few peers went to the festival of trees and lights. We helped out by making and selling ginger bread men with marshmellow pasting and candy bits on them. Also we helped make smores and refil the ice that was used to make the sodas cold. After the day was over (9:30ish); I realised even the littlest things like helping a kid make a ginger breadman could bring so much happenness to that person
I haven't blogged at all, but I have plenty of CAS hours, is it okay if I just post them on my actual blog instead of posting them here....that would make everything so much easier :D
((i'm going to try that out))
Journal Entry: 1
Date: October 2009
Event: Creation of LHS Elite Scholars Chapter
Hours: 10
Targeted Learning Outcomes:
-Increased awareness of strengths
-undertaken new challenges
-worked collaboratively with others
-shown perseverance and commitment
-developed new skills
Reflection:
I have been a part of Elite Scholars for almost two years. When I joined last year, the chapter was very unorganized. The members showed no interest and eventually dropped out of the program. This year, we received a new sponsor and had about 10 members. We formed an officer team and set to forming a strong club that would gain a different reputation than that of one that does nothing. We recruited almost 90 potential sophomores and juniors and held an interest meeting. Applications were filled out and reviewed by officers. Interviews were set and our 20 slots were filled.
I learned a lot from this experience. I became secretary of this club and received a position of responsibility and leadership which I though I wouldn't be able to hold. The officers and I were able to set a foundation for those this club by working together and setting differences aside.
Journal Entry: 3
Date: December 19th
Event: Rainbow House Festival of Trees and Lights
Location: Clayton County International Beach
Hours: 4
Targeted Learning Outcomes:
-worked collaboratively with others
-shown perseverance and commitment
Reflection:
Rainbow House sponsored its annual Festival of Trees of Lights in which families can get together for a night of fun with entertainment and fun. I volunteered at the Gingerbread Man and Smores table. Here I worked along other peers to put together the cookies and give a candy bag to kids to decorate the gingerbread man. I also helped by making bags with marshmallows and chocolate for the Smores. Kids would form them and I would go to melt them. My partners and I were able to make the station organized and function as families came to make treats.
Maya Stewart - Activity 1
Activity: Organizing Chemical Storage Room
Category: Action and Service
Date: December 14, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School - Ms. Etheridge's Room
Hours: 3
Reflection:
I am excited to say that I have completed my first activity - helping to organize Ms. Etheridge's storage room. I know that Ms. Etheridge, especially as an IB teacher, is constantly working and educating her students in the best way possible. Unfortunately, because of her hard work and dedication, she has been unable to find the time to organize and clean the storage room filled with materials needed for labs and a better learning experience. Many times, students hurry to their next class leaving beakers out of place, test tubes filled with substances, and aprons on tables waiting to be cleaned by Ms. Etheridge who is already pressed for time.
In order to alleviate this problem, I ,and other students, had organized a time in which we would work together to clean and organize the chemical storage room which was in total disarray. While doing this, I undertook new challenges, worked collaboratively with others, and showed perseverance and commitment. I helped wash the beakers thoroughly and dry them out, wipe tables, organize lab materials so that they could be easily identified, and place materials away so that they would not be hazardous to other students. While doing so, I worked with other students to get the job done efficiently and safely.
I really did enjoy myself while engaging in this activity, and I felt accomplished after helping a teacher who deserves assistance. I am looking forward to participating in more rewarding activities such as this.
Activity: 3
Date: December 9, 2009
Event: Scoring Middle School Science Fair Projects
Location: Lovejoy Middle School
Hours: 3
Reflection:
I had the pleasure of traveling to Lovejoy Middle School to grade science fair projects. I must admit that the numerous tri-fold boards brought back memories of my days staying up all-night to finish up my paper/board. The quality of the projects varied, but it was a great experience to look at the projects from an outside point of view.
Activity: 4
Date: December 14, 2009
Event: Organizing Science Storeroom
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Reflection:
On Dec. 14, I was part of a group of students that volunteered to help Ms. Etheridge, a Chemistry teacher at Lovejoy, organize her storeroom. The task required physical and mental ability. We were required to organize a number of boxes and reshelf in an organized manner, numerous supplies often used during labs. I gained knowledge on a vast amount of solutions and learned how to properly store scientific items.
Activity: 5
Date: December 20
Event: Assist at Festival of Trees and Lights
Location: Clayton County International Park
Hours: 4
Reflection:
On Sunday, Dec. 20, I traveled to Clayton County International Parks to volunteer on the last day of the Festival of Trees and Lights. The event is for families and children to come out during the holidays and enjoy an evening of games and food. The activities my fellow Elite Scholars and I helped with were gingerbread making, arts & crafts, and the raffle. I was part of the art & crafts group. I was in charge of selling plain, Christmas-oriented ornaments for "Santa bucks" where they would be painted at the arts & crafts table. I have to admit this was the most fun Ive had at volunteering. I've found an activity I will surely do again next year.
Hi! I'm Toiya Williams. I am in the eleventh grade and will fianlly begin blogging on my activities.
Activity 1
Date: October, 2009
Event: Fall Festival
Location: James A. Jackson Elementary School
Hours: 3
In October, Jackson Elementary School held a fall festival that I participated in. I helped to run one of the Moon Bounces that the children played on. I worked collaboratively with others because, not only did I help the teachers, but I helped the kids to get along with one another while they were playing the Moon Bounce. There was an incident in the middle of the festival during which the Moon Bounce deflated but the issue was quickly resolved. After the fair was over, I spent time cleaning up the gym and cafeteria areas in which the event was held. Working at this festival helped me to realize how much time and effort went into these events.
Activity 2
Date: December 9, 2009
Event: Grading Science Fair Projects
Location: Lovejoy Middle School
Hours: 3
I spent three hours at Lovejoy Middle School grading the science fair projects of students. While participating in this activity, I was able to work collaboratively with others and undertake new challenges. Based on the rubric that was prepared by the head of the science department at the school, my classmates and I helped to grade and critique the projects of the students. The projects were judged on creativity, neatness, and other categories. By learning the grading scale by which science projects are graded, I learned new methods that would help to improve my own grades.
Journal Entry: 1
Date: September 5th 2009
Event: Petsmart Adoption Center
Location: Petsmart in Fayetteville, Georgia
Hours: 5 (Noon - 5pm)
Catergory: Service
Reflection:
This is technically my first recorded volunteer service but I digress. I first arrived at Petsmart to help out with managing the animals after getting a good word from one of my friend. I met a couple of nice matronly women who were seasoned in this type of work. Their warm personality made it all the easier to get right into work. My first impression was that I would only have to stand by cages and play with kittens and puppies but I was mistaken. It was more rigorous than I had imagined. I was moving all throughout the store, cleaning cages, feeding and watering them, walking dogs, letting kids play with the cats without letting them steal them. Of course, I wasn't by myself, I met and got to work with a couple of other volunteers who needed community service or just liked helping which made me ponder why they didn't make community service a requirement at my school.
To be honest though, I felt like I could stay there all day. There were Pug, dachshunds, chihuahuas and lots of mutts. I felt quite moved while hearing about some of the animals stories. Most abandoned and abused with no where to go. I wanted to help them all the more. Well thats the end of day one of the service.
Journal Entry: 2
Date: September 6th 2009
Event: Petsmart Adoption Center
Location: Petsmart in Fayetteville, Georgia
Hours: 4 (Noon-4pm)
Category: Service
Reflection:
This is the second part of my volunteer hours at Petsmart. I came back to Petsmart the next day to finish up my hours. Now that I had already had an afternoon's worth of work under my belt I could now work more diligently. This day there were a few less dogs here and a couple of new ones. One of them, however caught my attention, as the supervisors carried it in a towel. It was a small short haired dog whose breed was unbeknown to me. One of its back paws had looked as if the skin had been torn off, exposing its bone. Even with the severity of the wound, the dog didn't make a sound it sat in silence with submissive eyes.
Its situations like this that motivated me to volunteer at Petsmart. Animal cruelty and abuse is silent epidemic that most people fail to recognize the severity of this issue. In my opinion a person shouldn't keep an pet if they're not capable of taking care of it. Child protection laws should apply to pets in some respects.
In the end as I left Petsmart I felt good about myself knowing I gave my time and effort to a noble cause
Hello everyone!! Glad to see that more of you are finally on board. ;-)
A few notes:
*It is a MUST that you meet the 8 learning outcomes. With that being said, you must discuss how you met a particular learning from an activity in the reflections
*You MUST put your reflections on this page (not your own). If the powers that be decide to do an audit, we have to be able to access these reflections right then and there.
I think that's it for now. HAPPY BLOGGING!!! :-)
Hey, this is Katrina J. I figured since I am practically done with CAS I would finally blog my reflections =). I’m not really sure if some of these will count as CAS, if not I’ll just do some more.
Learning Outcomes to be reached:
1) Increased awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth
2) Undertaking new challenges
3) Planning and initiating activities
4) Working collaboratively with others
5) Showing perseverance and commitment in my activities
6) Engaging in issues of global importance
7) Considering the ethical implications of my actions
8) Developing new skills
Reflection 1
Activity: Catch the Reading Bug
Dates: Mondays & Fridays; June 13 – June 30, 2008
Location: Clayton County Pines Library System: Riverdale Branch
Hours: 10
Learning Outcomes: 1 & 4
After receiving my CAS papers in early June I decided to volunteer at my local library during the summer leading to my junior year. My advisor, Ramona Clark, informed me that I would be working with four other volunteers in order to promote and encourage reading amongst the children in our community during the summer break. My tasks included: registering children for the reading program, helping the children find books to read based on their current reading level, awarding the children with prizes based on their reading achievements and entertaining the children by reading story books while their parents used other services available in the library. I truly enjoyed interacting with the children that entered the library. At the end of my experience many of them knew me by name and they were excited to tell me about the books they were reading and how many hours they had read that week. I always saw myself as a pretty good people person but my time at the library enabled me to improve the way I interacted with and inspired children.
Outcomes met:
1) As I mentioned before, I have always been a people person but I have never been that great with children. Maybe it was because I have always been a little impatient and had a low tolerance for screeching, whining and hyper children. Working at the Riverdale Library showed me how much joy the little people can bring into your life and even lower your stress level. There were times that I really did not want to spent hours in the draft cold library but the children always seemed to look up to me and by doing so, they made my days a little brighter.
4) As a library volunteer I had to work with other teen volunteers, most of which had already established their own personal relationships with one another from school and from previous volunteer work. Despite how awkward our relationship was, I was able to work with them on a professional level to get each task done.
Reflection 2
Activity: Bulletin Board for Reading Champions
Dates: June 16 & June 20, 2008
Location: Clayton County Pines Library System: Riverdale Branch
Hours: 8hr. 30min.
Learning Outcomes: 1, 4 & 8
Aside from my regular tasks at the library, my advisor asked me to design and create a bulletin board so that we may recognize the children enrolled in the Catch the Reading Bug Program and their success. With the help of one of the other volunteers, I was able to produce a board that would be used to recognize all of our accomplished readers.
Outcomes met:
1) I have always been good at organizing and designing. Being given the opportunity to create the reading champs board allowed me to expand and display my talent with the library.
4) In order to create the board I had to work with another volunteer at the library.
8) Even though my designing eye has always been good, my actual artistic ability was never that great. Creating this board allow me to develop my artistic skill and showed me that when I take my time and have patience I can produce good art.
Reflection 3
Activity: Neighborhood Awareness Fair
Dates: June 19, 2008
Location: Clayton County Pines Library System: Riverdale Branch
Hours: 6hr. 15min.
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 8
Every summer the library holds a Neighborhood Awareness Fair to teach and warn younger children about the dangers they may encounter. During the fair everyone helps to teach about safety through a variety of activities such as: demonstrations, videos, interactive plays and of course stories.
In between each activity the volunteers aid in entertainment for the kids with face painting, ring toss, soccer, food and a host of other fun activities.
Outcomes met:
1) I improved my entertainment, artistic and children skills through interaction, storytelling and face painting.
2) I tested out my acting skills in two of the interactive plays/ puppet shows.
3) I assisted in the planning and advertising of the neighborhood awareness fair by handing out flyers and calendars.
4) I work collaboratively with the other volunteers, my advisor and parents and teachers of schools that came to the fair.
5) Even though I was tired half way through the fair from giving all of my energy to the children I did not once give up until the fair was over. Whenever anyone needed my assistance I made sure to help to the best of my ability.
8) During the puppet show there was no script so my co-volunteers and I had to think quick on our feet, using our improvisational skills to teach the kids about safety and awareness. The children seemed to enjoy our comedic show.
Reflection 4
Activity: Dazz with Jazz 2nd Annual Battle of the Dancelines Competition
Dates: November 16, 2008
Location: Clayton County Performing Arts Center
Hours: 4hr. 15min.
Learning Outcomes: 1, 4 & 5
On this day I performed with the Lovejoy High School Dancing Diamonds as the team Captain in the annual Dazz with Jazz competition. This competition was designed to showcase the dancelines of the metro-Atlanta through competition in the areas of stands and field routines. I lead my team through each performance and collaborated with my sponsor and choreographer to ensure a great show.
Outcomes met:
1) I further showed and developed my leadership capabilities by uplifting my team to give a powerful performance and to receive complements from complete strangers about my leadership abilities.
2) I worked collaboratively with my sponsor, choreographer, and volunteers backstage through communication.
3) Through all of the stress and physical ailments I encountered in preparing for this competition, I stuck through it a delivered and so did my team. It paid off.
Reflection 5
Activity: Marching Band
Dates: August – November 2008
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 & 8
As a Dancing Diamond at Lovejoy High School I perform with the Marching Wildcat Band every Friday of the football season under the direction of Ryan Lincey and LaToya Lee. During this season I held the position of Captain on my team. Throughout the season, I helped to improve and inspire my team as a whole as well as each individual by instilling confidence and pride in their art and school.
Outcomes met:
1) I increased my leadership ability by taking on a new roll in the team as captain
2) I have undertaking new challenges many of which came from dealing with a plethora or personalities from the girls to their parents and band members.
4) I worked collaboratively with my sponsor, choreographer, drum majors, and band directors at every practice and performance to make sure that we were all on one accord.
5) I attended every practice and performance and dealt with difficulties during the activity, whether it is a disagreement within the team or concerns arising from parents, at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.
7) Often times I had to make decisions that may not have pleased everyone involved but it was
done for the better of the team.
8) I developed new skills including: inspiring, leading, comforting, improving and challenging my teammates.
Reflection 6
Activity: Cleaning a Preparing Chemistry Lab for Chemistry Classes
Dates: January 15, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 1
Learning Outcomes: 1 & 4
On this day I offered to take on the task of cleaning the chemistry lab and backroom. I rid the mess that had been accumulating for quite some time so that other chemistry classes would have a clean station to work from. I was able to put the things I had learned in the classroom to use with regard to the proper and safe discarding of materials. I broke down lab equipment, diluted solutions for discard, washed and stored glassware, cleaned safety goggles with alcohol and irradiated the goggles.
Outcomes met:
1) I as able to put to use the skill I had learned in chemistry class and apply them to cleaning the lab without harming myself or other.
4) I worked with one other classmate that stayed after to get the task done.
Reflection 7
Activity: English Book Room
Dates: February 27 & March 2, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 4
As a member of the Lovejoy High School Beta Club I participate in a number of community service projects; many of which are held in LHS. One of the projects we did my junior year was cleaning and reorganizing the English department book room so that teachers could use it more efficiently. We boxed books that were no longer on the curriculum, we took inventory on the books that were shelved and we organized the books my number.
Outcomes met:
4) working collaboratively with my fellow beta club members to achieve our goal.
Reflection 8
Activity: Diva in a Day Dance
Dates: March 7, 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Hours: 8
Learning Outcomes: 1 & 5
As a member of the Dancing Diamonds, I was invited to the quarterly held Diva in a Day Dance Camp. This camp was created to improve the skill and technique of developing dancers to the status of “diva.” The camp is hosted by some of the hottest Historically Black Colleges and Universities choreographers. At the end of a hard working day, campers put on a performance for the parents to show what they have learned.
Outcomes met:
1) I further developed my performing art skills through instruction.
5) Even through a knee injury, my teammates can attest to it, I continued on through the camp and performance.
Reflection 9
Activity: SADD Health Fair
Dates: March 18, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Learning Outcomes: 3, 4 & 6
Every year at LHS, Students Against Destructive Decisions holds a health fair. In this fair several vendors come to stress the importance of caution and preventative measures when it comes to teens and health risks such as obesity, cancer, HIV/ AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. As a member of SADD I too participated in the health fair by making sure everything ran smoothly and assisting each vendor with whatever he or she needed. I also held the task of calling every health department within a 15 mile radius and that LHS SADD had developed a relationship with to invite them to come out to our health fair and speak.
Outcomes met:
3) I assisted in planning the health fair my contacting vendors.
4) I worked collaboratively with the vendors, my club members and my club sponsor, Dr. Brenda Adkins.
6) The health fair concerned global issues such at the HIV/ AIDS epidemic, cancer, HPV and obesity.
Reflection 10
Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Shirts
Dates: April 22, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 4
As a Junior Marshal we signed a contract volunteering our time to all senior events with regard to planning and overseeing. We were expected to do each assignment given in a way that met the high expectations on the senior advisors with little instruction. We were often times called “senior slaves,” but even in the most frustrating moments we realized that we decided to volunteer our time and that we had to follow through. After all we would want the up and coming junior to do the same for our graduating class.
On this day we were responsible to setting up the LHS cafeteria in a way that would allow for the t-shirt distribution to be swift and easy. We were bombarded by 300+ seniors demanding their shirts all the while we got the job done. First task down, about a trillion more to go!
Outcomes met:
4) I worked with my fellow Junior Marshals to complete each tasks given to us.
Reflection 11
Activity: NMBC Health Fair
Dates: April 25, 2009
Location: New Macedonia Baptist Church
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 4 & 6
New Macedonia Baptist Church hosted its annual health fair. The health fair provided free services for all who entered such as blood testing, vision screening, massages, scoliosis screenings and more. I aided each vendor at the fair and I even decided to donate blood to the Red Cross Association.
Giving blood was truly a new a rewarding experience for me. It was my first time donating and I was a little nervous. I asked several question and wondered how much blood they were going to take, I must say that when I was how full that “pint” sized bag was, I had to wonder if they had left enough blood on my system for me to survive. Needless to say my mom was scared to, but we knew that it was for a good cause and that some other individual needed m blood more than I did.
Outcomes met:
1) I further acted upon my need to help others.
2) I faced my fears and donated of myself for the benefit of others.
4) I worked collaboratively with Church leaders and vendors.
6) The Health fair addressed issued of global importance such as cancer, scoliosis, vision, AIDS, high blood pressure etc.
CAS Activity: Volunteering for Rainbow House's Festival of Trees and Lights
Summary: I worked at stations in Rainbow House's Festival of Trees and Lights to help Rainbow House fundraise money. I achieved outcomes 4,5,6, and 8. I achieved outcome 4 by working with other volunteers and my classmates at Rainbow House's Festival of Trees and Lights. I achieved outcome 5 by coming both Saturday and Sunday to Rainbow House Festival of Trees and Lights. Outcome 6 was achieved because Rainbow House's goal is to help abused children and that is a global concern. I achieved outcome 8 by learning how to make smores.
CAS Activity: Volunteering at Cafe 458
Summary: I prepared and cooked food, waited and served people, and helped clean up the kitchen at Cafe 458. I achieved outcomes 1,2,4, and 8. I achieved outcome 1 by improving my cooking strength. I achieved outcomes 2 and 8 by learning how to fry french fries. I achieved outcome 4 by working with other volunteers to complete the work I did in Cafe 458.
Hi I am Devin James. I am getting on the ball and doing my blogs. Hope eveything works out!
Journal 1
I have begun volunteering at the CLayton County soccer field. I met Coach Nigel and I will be assisting him with watever he needs
Hi this is Kyandria Smith. I just recently got the letter about blogging each time that I recieve CAS hours. I guess it all just slipped my mind but better late than never so..
CAS activity: Competitive Cheerleading
Well this summer my cheerleading squad and I rode to Clemson Unversity for the week in order to compete with other cheeerleading squads for mutiple types of trophies. During this experience I learned alot such as increasing my awareness of my strengths & also my weaker areas, I undertook new challenges with my squad mates with certain routines & stunts, I helped plan & initiate activites in order for better performance & skills, I worked collaboratively with my team mates to create new ideas for the rountines, I showed perservance & commitment by waking up every morning at 6 a.m in order to practice with my squad & remained committed throughout the day's work, and I also developed new skills with my team such as full liberties, round offs, & even attempted backhand springs.
CAS activity: Judging Middle School Science Fair Projects
Date:Wednesday, December 9, 2009
In this activity I recieved a rubric which I used in order to grade science fair projects at Lovejoy Middle School. In doing this activity it helped to work collaboratively with others in order to get the activity done & it also planned & initiated activities with others.
CAS activity:Judging High School Science Fair Projects
Date: January 22,2010
Hours:1
Place:lovejoy high school
Just like at the middle school I recieved a rubric which I used in order to grade science fair projects at Lovejoy High School. In doing this activity it helped to work collaboratively with others in order to get the activity done & it also planned & initiated activities with others.
Journal Entry: 4
Date: Year Long
Event: TIFAD Book Drive
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Reflection:
TIFAD (The Institute for Anambra Development) is a non-profit organization that promotes the advancement of education in the most poverty-stricken regions of Anambra, a state in South-eastern Nigeria. I first became involved with the book drive in 10th grade. With Dr. Onukwuli, I collected, packed, and shipped textbooks throughout the school year. Overall, TIFAD collected and donated over 25,000 books. During a recent science department cleanup I noticed there were boxes of science books being discarded. I asked my 10th grade chemistry teacher about them. She knew where I was going with it and said, “You take them to Dr. O.” I will always remember the expression on his face when I said, “I think these will make a nice Christmas gift for some students in Nigeria.” To know that I am helping another student halfway across the world get a better education gives me a feeling of accomplishment more than any amount of medals, trophies, or recognitions will ever equal.
Journal Entry: 15
Date: January 12th -19th
Event: Pennies for Haiti
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Reflection:
When Haiti experiences its worst natural disaster in over 200 years, a few students and I were moved by what we heard on the news. We wanted to be part of the relief. I talked to Mrs. Williams (Elite Scholars Sponsor) and Mr. Minix (TSA Sponsor) about doing a joint effort. I was able to get the idea approved by Dr. Colbert (he donated our first 5 dollars). In addition, for a week I made announcements about our donation drive. I walked around asking for donation. Together Elite Scholars and TSA took turns working the Pennies for Haiti’s stand. Together we collected $192.96. A lot of people made this project a success and I hope that will post their efforts to all to read as well.
Journal Entry: 16
Date: Jan. 21st 2010
Event: Hear Our Voices Contest
Location: Performing Arts Center
Hours: 6
Reflection:
The Hear our Voice contest is an annual competition for writers, poets, and orators. I have been a part of the Hear our Voices contest at the high school level for the last two years. My event of choice has been speech writing and delivering. Each contestant submits a speech and a day is set out for each contestant to perform his/her speech. I delivered my speech at the PAC on the 21st. The results came back last week, and I won 1st place overall for the High School level. I have held this honor for the last two years. I love being able to speak publicly. Being a politician is one choice on my short list of careers.
Journal Entry: 17
Date: Jan. 30th 2010
Event: Titan’s Invitational Math Competition.
Location: Northview High School
Hours: 6
Reflection:
The Northview Math Competition is a state wide math competition where the top two finishers are given an invitation to complete in the State Competition in April. This was our third major math competition of the year. The competition was divided into two rounds, individual written test and team ciphering. During the individual written test, each participant is given 1.5 hours to complete a 30 question test. This included 24 multiple choice questions and 6 free responses. The difficulty of the questions varied but wasn’t anything a High School Math Class honors or regular would encounter. George and I led the team with 25 and 20 points respectively. The team ciphering round was divided into a regular ciphering round and a team relay. In the regular ciphering, we were given 15 mins to solve 15 math problems. The team relay with like ciphering but done in teams. The “baton” here was the answer to the previous question. George was first so his answer was used to find my answer since I was second in the relay. I had fun at the math competition. I made a few new friends and reconnected with a few math majors from GHP. Overall Lovejoy High School’s Varsity Team came in 7th place.
Hello Mrs. Dillard! Hey guys! Sorry I'm so late on these! I am not a tech savvy person. But I finally figured it out, thanks to Alex and Thanh Thanh. I will be sending in all my reflections of my CAS projects up until now. Wish me luck! See you later.
Journal # 1
Event: Kaleidoscope Summer Arts Camp
Location: Lee Street Elementary
Date: June 9th- 20th, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, I, along with a teacher, taught elementary school children the basics of drawing and art. During the activity, I exposed them to many types of art and opportunities that are available in the field of art. By the end of the 2 week camp, the children displayed their artwork in a gallery. They also participated in the play, “The Big Bad Musical”, which they prepared for during camp. During this period, I treated the teachers, camp directors, and children with respect and, in turn, became friends with many of the adults, teens, and children. I hoped to take on a new challenge and in doing so, accomplished the required outcomes 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8. I believe I was very successful in achieving my goals and learned more about myself and my abilities. I also learned the abilities I need to improve. I faced cases of small injuries (paper cuts, etc.) and one of two issues with the children’s behavior. I handled these responsibly, in the way we had been taught by the camp directors. There was one difficulty I encountered that I learned a great deal from, although it broke my heart. I cannot detail the problem but a child said some insulting things to me. It ended up with the student expelled from the program, which hurt me because the kid was so sweet and well behaved before the incident. I learned from this problem that all incidents, even those some would not consider serious, should be reported. Not only for the sake of the one hurt but also for the sake of the child, so as to catch a problem and try to fix it before it can develop into something even worse. I learned that each person could contribute something fun and useful to inspire new generations of artistic young people. I have a new found appreciation of the arts. I learned the importance of different people and their views. The directors of the program, Mrs. Franklin, Mrs. Felicia, Mrs. Kirchner, and Mrs. Summerlin were my supervisors during these 2 weeks. They helped me think of my learning during this activity by helping me realize what I was contributing to these children’s lives and how that was positively affecting them. Through this activity, the kids benefited by learning self-expression and boosting their self-esteem. If I get to work with the art camp again, I would like to improve by being more responsible and more interactive with the children and with the people who work there. I can apply what I learned through these experiences with children when I baby-sit or even when I have children of my own someday.
Hours: 60 hours
Targeted Outcomes- 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8
Journal #2
Event: East Clayton County Community Day
Location: Carl Rhodenizer Rec Center
Date: June 21st, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, my team members and I volunteered for this community event. The event leaders assigned us to different jobs, but also called us to help them as needed. I participated by setting up the different vendors stations, planning and setting up the picnic area, helping the vendors and performers, advising the people who attended the event, and operating and keeping watch over the kids playing in the balloon jumper play area. My goal was to work with everyone to make this a fun and smooth running event. I feel I accomplished that and along with outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I was successful in achieving my goals, and the event was a great success. One difficulty I had was remembering and making sure that everyone’s requests fulfilled, especially when I had multiple requests at once. I overcame them by requesting a fellow volunteer help me. I learned that I need a little work on my memory skills, but that I also love helping others. I have developed an attitude that community is important and much can be done if people work together as a community. Dr. Grayson Walles, the leader of my Elite Scholars group, helped me to think about my learning during this activity by discussing what we did and what this experience has taught us. This event benefited others by informing them of important issues, entertaining them and introducing new local entertainers. Next time, I plan to improve by listening better and remembering better. I can apply my experiences in life situations such as running an event or leading and working with a team at school or at work.
Hours: 7 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Journal #3
Event: Welcome Back Teachers Program
Location: Clayton County Performing Arts Center
Date: August 1st, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, I served the performers and supervised the young performers before they went onstage. I also ushered the teachers before the event. In the final act of the event, the other volunteers and I danced onstage with the other dancers and choir. I hoped to fulfill the orders of the superintendent (who was running the program) and please the teachers that attended the event. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 2, 4, and 5. The only difficulty I faced was entertaining and keeping the kids quiet in a small room before they went onstage. I overcame this by teaching and playing some games that I learned at Arts Clayton. I learned that I didn’t like being onstage, but the teachers really appreciated this event because they can and are usually under-appreciated. I now value teachers more and all the hard work they do. No one helped me to think about my learning during this activity; I discovered this by observing the people around me. This activity benefited the teachers by showing them that they are important and deserve to be appreciated. Next time, I would like to have some plans to entertain and help performers as they wait backstage. It made me aware of hard work and good morale and that I should appreciate others for the work they do, especially teachers.
Hours: 7 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 2, 4, 5
Journal #4
Event: Festival of Trees and Lights
Location: Clayton County International Park
Date: December 20th, 2008
Reflection:
In this activity, I helped children pick out ornaments to decorate, “sold” the ornaments to them via Santa Bucks, and helped the children in the arts and crafts area. I hoped to make the children and parents happy while they were at the festival. I was successful and achieved outcome 1 and 3. I didn’t face any difficulties, unless you count indecisive children as a difficulty. I learned the importance for kids to learn financial responsibility because many kids wanted a lot of crafts, but they didn’t have enough Santa Bucks to “pay” for them. I also learned that I need to practice this kind of responsibility, in terms of real money. My mother and another volunteer helped me think about this when I told them about the event and they helped me to realize how this practice was teaching the children ideas about money they would need to know later in life. This event benefited the children by, in a child’s sense, teaching financial responsibility, and the fun of arts and crafts. Next time I would like to be more interactive with the children and teach this lesson myself. I can apply what I learned to my life when I will soon have to take over my own finances.
Hours: 3 hours 30 minutes
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 3
Journal #5
Event: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade
Location: City of Jonesboro
Date: January 19th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Dr. Grayson Walles, the leader of the Elite Scholars program, and State Representative Michael Glanton. I marched in the parade and passed out candy to the children along the route. I hoped to urge everyone to celebrate MLK day and show how important he was, and his contributions during the Civil Rights Movement. I was successful in my goals and accomplished outcomes 3, 4, 5, and 8. The difficulties I faced were the freezing cold weather and running behind in the parade occasionally. We were required to wear our uniforms for Elite Scholars, and being in a skirt and tights was not fun in 20°F weather! The other girls and I resolved this by grouping together before the parade to build up warmth and by keeping on the move during the parade. We also resolved the running behind problem by using quick thinking and splitting into groups that would run out to the children then return behind the previous group. I learned that even small events like this need planning, but also require flexibility to change strategies quickly. Through what I learned, I value Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to society even more. With my discussions with Dr. Walles, he helped me to understand the importance of this holiday. This activity benefited the parade-goers by informing them and helping them celebrate the importance of MLK day. Next time, I would like to improve by thinking of these factors ahead of time and creating plans before I do an event. I can apply what I learned in other life situations by studying and creating plans before major events to help them run more smoothly.
Hours: 3
Targeted Outcomes 3, 4, 5, 8
Journal #6
Event: Spring Break Mission Trip
Location: Locust Grove
Date: April 4th -9th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with one of my church leaders and with other volunteers at a food pantry. We organized, stored, and packed and distributed food to the people that drove up to redeem their orders. I interacted well with the other local volunteers, but I will admit it took me a day or two to be comfortable working around inmates. I hoped to help the people in the local community and to work well with others. I was successful with helping others in need and working well with my team members. I accomplished outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8. I had a difficulty with one girl on my team but we talked and resolved it quickly. I learned how the economy and the disappearance of some industries can severely affect an entire community. I have learned to value what I have and that I should help those in need. My church leaders and the other people who worked at the food pantry helped me think about my learning during this project. They helped me notice the connections between what they were teaching us and what we were practicing. We benefited others by giving them the food they needed and showing them how helpful some people can be when others have pushed them away. Next time, I would like to improve by doing my tasks better and more efficiently and talking more with my group members so we can better achieve our tasks. I can apply what I learned by keeping my eyes open for people in need and helping them as much as I can.
Hours: 18 hrs
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8
Journal #7
Event: Graduation Setup and Organization
Location: Lovejoy High School
Date: April 30th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked along with other Junior Marshals to create and sort cards and posters for graduation and rehearsals. We also organized items for graduation. We worked well together and performed tasks quickly. I hoped to get our tasks done efficiently and in a proper matter. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 3 and 4. I did not encounter any difficulties. I learned that for a goal to be achieved efficiently and run smoothly, it is important to have good communication skills. I have developed an ability to communicate well and understand my teammates when we strive for a common goal. I also learned the importance of being flexible, since things may not always go as planned. We had a fire drill in the middle of our work, so we left everything in an orderly manner and departed the area. When we came back, we resumed the work quickly. Mr. Dawson and my friends helped me to think about my learning in this activity with the discussions we had after the event. This activity benefited the Lovejoy High faculty and staff because it saved them time and effort that had to be done as preparation for graduation. Next time, I would improve the process by splitting us up into more teams so that we could handle the workload better. I can apply what I learned when I work in teams in the future, whether it be school, other service projects, or at work.
Hours: 6 hrs
Targeted Outcomes: 3, 4
Journal Entry: 18
Date: 2/27/10
Event: Science Olympiad Regional Competition
Location: Georgia Perimeter College
Hours: 8
Learning Outcome/Event
1) Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
The Science Olympiad competition allowed me to gain awareness of my strengths and weakness in the field of science. I placed 4th in Experimental Design, an event where you are given a problem (can be from any field of science), a set of material (basic lab set-up and chemicals), and one hour to complete a lab report with the answer to the problem. My strength in this area was being able to design labs with limited time and an abundance of material. I developed this skill from our IAs in Biology. My range of Chemistry is an area for improvement; my partner and I did not place in top 10 in Chemistry Lab.
2) Undertaken new challenges
This was my first year participating in Science Olympiad. I did not know what to expect, but in the end I had fun. I will definitely do this again next year.
3) Planned and initiated activities
Each event was self-planned. While Mrs. Etheridge provided the materials, we were the ones responsible for carrying out our events. I spearheaded my four events in addition to assisting in 2 other events with Andre Jairam and George Keohavong for “What time is it?” and Kyla Stewart and Peter Buckshot in “Environmental Chemistry”
4) Worked collaboratively with others
I worked with others in my events. Each Science Olympiad event is done in pairs. In my 4 events, I worked with each of my partners in a way that was productive and humorous. After all you can still have fun in science.
5) Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
Our Science Olympiad club met once-twice weekly for the months leading up to the event. I was present at all meetings and helped others with their events in addition to preparing for my own.
6) Engaged with issues of global importance
The need for science has been an issue of global importance since the beginning of education. You do not need to look further than the last 40 years (the Cold War) when nations wanted to produce the greatest amounts of educated scientist.
7) Considered the ethical implications of their actions
Throughout the day, there were ethical implication in our actions, the rules of Science Olympiad at regional event is very vague. It was possible to cheat or gain an advantage; however we kept our self to fair play.
8) Developed new skills
Throughout the day, I made a lot of new friends and developed new skills. Looking back my notes for Ecology could have been a lot better. And my presentation of raw data for the Experimental Design could have been better also. After the competition I worked with Mrs. Lowman in these areas for my IB IA and for next year’s competition.
Hello my name is Diana Valdovinos. So I'm finally gonna start blogging. Better late than never. Well i'm kinda lost with this. I have been doing my community service hours i just hadn't got the chance to come try to figure this out. I will be adding all my reflections soon. Hope I do this right..
Journal Entry: 19
Date: 3/10-13/2010
Event: GATSA 48th State Conference
Location: Athens, GA (Classic Convention Center)
Hours: 10
1) Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
The annual Georgia Technology Student Association State Conference is an opportunity for GA’s 20,000 members from the across the state to test their abilities at events in the technological field ranging from programming robots to designing 3D Architectures to building CO2 powered Dragsters. At the 48th Annual GATSA state conference I undertook 6 events: Prepared Presentation, Extemporaneous Presentation, Essays on Technology, Outstanding Student, Career Comparison and Chapter Team. I placed first in Prepared Presentation and Career Comparison and Second in Outstanding Student. This identifies my strengths with public speaking and interviewing. I placed 4th in Essay and Extemporaneous which means there is room for improvement in both fields.
2) Undertaken new challenges
I ran for State President this year at the State Competition. With a huge amount of support from my friends, I ran against the then State Treasurer. It was said that the Presidential election as the highlight of the conference. I never ran for President before but being part of TSA means to undertake new challenges. I lost in the election, but due to our “general pool” system, I had enough votes and support to join become a state officer for 2010-11. (I was elected State Treasurer).
3) Planned and initiated activities
As Chapter President, I planned and organized our activities. I promoted TSA within Lovejoy. Individually, I planned and initiated my six events at the state level.
4) Worked collaboratively with others
Throughout the months leading up to State Conference, I worked with my officer team as well as other members in getting projects started, turning in registration and money, and preparing for the actual competitions.
5) Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
As President, I stayed after school with members as late as seven on some Wednesdays as we worked on our projects. I helped to lead a chapter who only placed in one event in October to a chapter who finished 7th overall in the state of Georgia.
6) Engaged with issues of global importance
The need for technology is always growing. Technology is an everyday part of life. Technology has given us a bridge to connect the world into one global society.
7) Considered the ethical implications of their actions
TSA as with any sports involves competitions. It would have been possible to cheat at any of the events at State. However we chose to play fair and had a great time.
8) Developed new skills
At the state conference I gained new skills in all my events. From participating in Chapter Team, I gained a greater knowledge of parliamentary procedures that I didn’t not have at the beginning of the year. Lovejoy placed 6th in the event. I plan to use my new knowledge to help Lovejoy break into the top three next year in Chapter Team.
Journal #8
Event: Senior Breakfast
Location: Lovejoy High School Cafeteria
Date: May 12th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with other Junior Marshals to set up the Senior Breakfast, decorate the venue, assist the caterers, usher the seniors into the event, and serve breakfast to the seniors. We worked well together and the event went smoothly. I hoped to make the event fun for the seniors, while keeping the event running smoothly without interruption. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 3 and 4. The difficulties we encountered during the event was keeping the underclassmen out of the event, and some scheduling problems when it came time to changing jobs. We overcame the first difficulty by being very strict on who may enter the event. If a student had a problem with the rules, they could talk to an administrator. We overcame the second problem by reflection on what worked and what didn’t work during the event and made plans in hopes that this mistake will not happen again. I learned that good communication is vital to making a team work (this is what led to the scheduling problem) and that small events take just as much planning and thought as big events. I developed the ability to think about different aspects of an event and make plans to cover those aspects, and how to work with others. I came to value the importance of communication and teamwork. Mr. Dawson helped me to think about my learning during this activity by having us reflect on our actions during the event in our meeting after the Senior Breakfast. This benefited the Lovejoy High School seniors in celebration of their hard work and ability to graduate. Next time, I think we will assign one group to office duty and then equally spread out responsibilities to the other people. Also the group should agree on scheduling times together as a group rather than having a few persons agree on the schedule and not clearly communication the plan to everyone else. I can apply what I’ve learned in other life situations by utilizing these skills when I work in the future teams, either at school, other volunteer projects, or at future jobs.
Hours: 8 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 3, 4
Journal #9
Event: Honor Graduates Picnic
Location: Lovejoy High School Senior Courtyard
Date: May 13, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with the Junior Marshals. We prepared for the Honor Graduates Picnic by decorating the Senior Courtyard, creating banners, setting up the serving tables, and either cooking or setting out the food. During the event, we served the Honor Graduates food and drinks and a few Junior Marshals and I did a small sing and dance show for the Honor Graduates. I hoped to make the seniors happy and comfortable while we congratulated them on becoming Honor Graduates. I was successful in making them happy (and embarrassing myself too) and achieved outcomes 2, 3, 4, and 5. The difficulties we encountered was that the banners would not stick to the walls at first and the seniors kept demanding us to do silly things for them because we were their “senior slaves”, (a playful tradition at Lovejoy) We overcame the banner problem by finding duct tape and using a large quantity of it but finally decided to decorate the windows and let the banners fall after the picnic started. We overcame the seniors silly demands by playing along with them, despite some playful embarrassment. I learned that I still do not like performing, but its OK as long as I’m being playful and performing with my friends, I can do it. I also developed the attitude of service. Service is not only a good thing to do for others, but it is fun too, if you have the right attitude. I thought about this learning mostly on my own, but Mr. Dawson helped me by bringing this to my attention in our meeting. This event benefited the Honor Graduates and the faculty. Next time, I would like to plan more events for the Honor Graduate picnic and probably host the event in someplace bigger. I can apply what I learned in other service projects, at work, or when I interact with other people.
Hours: 7 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 2, 3, 4, 5
Journal #10
Event: Senior/Faculty Basketball Game
Location: Lovejoy High School Gymnasium
Date: May 14, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with other Junior Marshals to host and manage the Senior/Faculty Basketball game. We ushered the seniors into the gym and made sure they were content and behaving. We also assisted the student and faculty basketball players. I hoped to host a fun event and I also hoped it would be an exciting event without becoming a rowdy event. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 2, 3, and 4. We faced n difficulties and the crowd of seniors behaved well. I learned how effective good communication is since we, the Junior Marshals, began practicing this skill. I value good communication skills and plan to keep practicing this skill. My friends and I discussed our learning during this activity and we came to this conclusion. This project benefited the seniors and faculty by inspiring playful competitiveness between the two teams. Next time, I would like to been of more help, since there was more that could have been done by myself and the other Junior Marshals, but instead was done by a faculty member or teacher. I can apply what I’ve learned about communication in the future when I apply for college, interview for a job, or when I’m working in or leading a team.
Hours: 1 hour
Targeted Outcomes: 2, 3, 4
Journal #11
Event: Senior Picnic
Location: Lovejoy High School
Date: May 15, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with other Junior Marshals to work in the Senior Picnic. We set up the picnic, the activities and helped set up the blow up games. We also began setting out the food for the picnic and making popcorn and cotton candy. We supervised the seniors to make sure no problems arose and afterwards, picked up litter. We also served food to the teachers that attended the picnic and to the teachers who were working in the office. We attended to teachers’ orders when they needed assistance. We also took turns doing the jobs the seniors left behind so that that they could attend the picnic. When the picnic was over, we cleared up the field thoroughly and helped the people who brought the blow up games and rock climbing wall break down and put away their things. We were successful in achieving our goals and the picnic was an outstanding success. I achieved goals 3, 4, and 5. A difficulty we faced was scheduling problems not because the lack of communication, but because some people did not leave their jobs when they were supposed to. We overcame these problems by talking with them, compromising or letting them continue doing their job because we wanted to let the seniors have a good time, in spite of problem. I learned that in some cases you may have some people on a team willing to do things their own way, but you have to know what’s right to do to reach your team’s goals. The event is to benefit others and you need to do so to the best of your ability. I have developed an attitude of perseverance, and continue serving others despite obstacles, big or small. Mrs. Isom and Mrs. Gordon helped me to think about our learning during this activity in our meeting, when we discussed the importance of service and teamwork. This event benefited the seniors, faculty, and staff by giving them a fun time and letting them relax and celebrate the end of the year festivities. Next time, I would like to talk to our teacher leaders, and see if we can make rules about being a Junior Marshal and create penalties for breaking those rules. Therefore, I hope things would run more smoothly next time and for future Junior Marshals. I can apply my learning in this event to when I have a job in the future.
Hours: 7 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 3, 4, 5
Journal #12
Event: Baccalaureate Graduation Ceremony
Location: Divine Faith Ministries Church
Date: May 16, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, some of the Junior Marshals and I attended the Baccalaureate Graduation Ceremony at a nearby church. We ushered the friends and family of the seniors into the church and organized the seniors into the line they would be in during graduation. The Baccalaureate Ceremony is like graduation, but done in a church for religious reasons. While the ceremony was going on, the attending Junior Marshals and I set up the reception area, decorated the reception area, set up the food tables and the food, and served the food to the seniors and their families. I hoped that the event would be a success for everyone. We were successful in our goals and outcomes 3, 4, and 5 were achieved. The difficulty we faced was the rain. We set up tents before the event to keep the reception area dry and did our best to keep the food dry and away from the rain and let the seniors in the reception area first then the family members. I learned that it’s good to be flexible and prepared for anything. I learned these abilities in this event. Mrs. Isom and Mrs. Gordon helped me think about my learning in this activity in the meeting we had after the event. This project benefited the seniors, the faculty, and the families of the seniors by getting them through this program in a neat and orderly manner. Next time, I would like to improve by being more prepared for future events. I can apply these skills to future events and in my personal life.
Hours: 3 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 3, 4, 5
Journal #13
Event: Graduation Rehearsal Day 1
Location: Lovejoy High School
Date: May 27, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with the Junior Marshals and our teacher leaders to help the seniors rehearse for the graduation ceremony. We ushered them into the gym, organized them by letter groups, then alphabetically by last name. We tended to their needs, since they weren’t allowed to leave the lines. After the initial line-up, we checked the line again and put seniors in place if they were late. We did a run through of the ceremony and went through the graduation lists and took out the names of people who were not graduating and checked our lists again. We also took people out of the line that were stated as not graduating and took them to an administrator to discuss the problem. I hoped to accomplish this task as efficiently as possible and to the best of my ability. I was mostly successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. The difficulty I faced was controlling the rowdy seniors and keeping them in line. I overcame this problem by asserting myself and explaining to them what the rules were and what had to be done. If they were still disrespectful, I gave their names to an administrator or our teacher leaders and let them solve the problem. I learned that I need to be more vocal when I’m trying to lead a group and ask for help if necessary. I have developed my leadership ability, but I need to continue developing it. My friends helped me to think about my learning by advising me on what I could do better and listening to the advice of previous Junior Marshals. This activity benefited the faculty by adding extra help in controlling the seniors and trying to get them ready for the graduation ceremony. Next time, I would like to improve by being more vocal in my instructions and more open to accepting help. I can use this learning in future life situations, like when I am leading a group or working with children.
Hours: 7 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8
Journal #14
Event: Graduation Rehearsal Day 2
Location: Lovejoy High School
Date: May 28, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with the Junior Marshals and our teacher leaders to help the seniors rehearse for the graduation ceremony. Again, we ushered them into the gym, organized them by letter groups, then alphabetically by last name. We tended to their needs, and everything was going better than yesterday. After we lined them up again, we checked the line again and put seniors in place if they were late. We did a run through of the ceremony and went through the graduation lists one last time and took out the names of people who were not graduating or attending the graduation. We also did a final check through the graduation lists. I hoped to accomplish this task better than I did the previous day and practiced what I learned. I also wanted to have the seniors prepared for the real graduation ceremony. I was successful in my goals and achieved outcomes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8. With the help of what I learned yesterday, I faced no difficulties today in rehearsals. I learned that practice makes perfect and that leadership is important to getting things done. I have developed my leadership ability more, but I need to continue developing this skill. Mr. Dawson helped me to think about my learning in the meeting we had after the rehearsals. This activity benefited the faculty by adding extra help in controlling the seniors and getting them ready for the graduation ceremony. Next time, I would like to improve by practicing the skills I’ve learned so that I may do a better job. I can use this learning in future life situations, like when I am leading a group, working with children or working on other big volunteer projects.
Hours: 7 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8
Journal #15
Event: Kaleidoscope Summer Arts Camp, Young Teen Art Camp
Location: Swint Elementary School
Date: June 8th – 12th, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I returned to work at the Kaleidoscope Summer Arts Camp and took on a new responsibility, the Young Teen Art Camp. The teacher and I taught elementary school children the basics of drawing. During the activity, I also exposed them to my style of art and other types of art. In the teen camp, I helped the teacher for the teen class teach acrylic painting. I also took care of their supplies, such as canvases, paints, and paint brushes. I supervised and played with the children during lunch. I also taught the children how to make balloon dog animals when we had a group of clowns come as snack time entertainment one day. During this activity, I treated everyone with respect and diligently attended to the teachers, directors, and performers, many of whom I knew from the year before. I hoped to improve my skills from the last time I was at camp and take on new responsibilities if possible. In doing so, I accomplished outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. I did not encounter any difficulties during this activity. I handled small problems between children the way we were told to by the camp directors. I discovered I have a passion for art and working with children. I have developed better communication skills, improved on my service ability, and learned and practiced responsibility. Mrs. Kirchner, Mrs. Summerlin, and Mrs. Felicia, the camp directors, helped me think about my learning when we talked during snack time breaks and lunch. This event benefited the children by learning art, boosting their self esteem, and promoting self expression. Next time, I would like to continue improving my skills and taking on more and new responsibilities. I can apply what I’ve learned when I work with children or when I possibly have my own in the future.
Hours: 30 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8
Journal #16
Event: Creation of the 100 Hallway Bulletin Board
Location: Lovejoy High School
Date: November 18, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Thanh-Thanh Tran and Lianna Fierroz to design and decorate the bulletin board on the 100 hallway. We interacted well with one another, even though there were some disagreements with the layout of the design. I hoped to work well with Thanh-Thanh and Lianna and create an interesting, creative and informative board. We were successful in creating a great board. The only difficulty we faced was disagreements with design, but those were solved quickly by talking with one another. I learned how well things can go if you have good communication and teamwork in a group. I have come to value good communication skills and good teamwork skills. My mom helped me think about my learning when I discussed the activity with her after she picked me up from school. This activity benefited the school and the English teachers because we displayed the books that were being read in the classes that month and a few vocabulary words. Next time, I would like to come up with more creative ideas and make it better. I can apply the lessons I learned in future life situations when I work in teams, in school or at work.
Hours: 1 hour
Targeted Outcomes: 3, 4, 8
Journal #17
Event: Lovejoy Soccer Field Fundraising Event
Location: Lovejoy Soccer fields
Date: April 4, 2010
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Jazmine Wilcox and Karen Varela at the face painting table to fundraise money for the soccer fields. We painted the faces of children (and some adults) for $1. We even go to paint some of the soccer players faces. We painted various little illustrations, such as butterflies, stars, eagles, kitten nose and whiskers, Spidermans, and a Spongebob Squarepants. We even painted our own faces to promote people to come and get their faces painted. I hoped to raise a significant amount of money for the soccer fields and make the children and their parents happy. I was successful in my goals and accomplished outcomes 1, 2 and 8. The only difficulty we faced was that most of the paint we were given was dried up. We resolved this problem by buying more face paint and sharing what we had with each other. I have developed an ability to face paint and entertain children while they waited for me to finish painting their face. I also learned quick thinking and creativity, which helped when the kids wanted something we did not know what to paint, such as the team that wanted eagles on their faces to represent their team name. I thought about what I learned during this activity and came to the conclusion myself. This event benefited the soccer fields and the children soccer players by raising money so that they can hold future events there. Next time, I would like to improve by buying more face paint ahead of time and make a list of what we can paint, even though it was fun to create new illustrations on the whim. I can apply what I learned when I work with kids in the future and possibly with my students if I become a teacher.
Hours: 4 hours
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 2, 8
Journal #18
Event: Clayton County Cultural Celebration
Location: Performing Arts Center
Date: March 21, 2009
Reflection:
In this activity, I worked with Elite Scholars and State Representative Michael Glanton. The purpose of the Clayton County Cultural Celebration is to promote cultural differences and tolerance of cultural and ethical differences by showcasing acts done by different cultures. Some of the performers represented there were Indian dancers, Asian dancers, African dancers, rappers, step team dancers, Latino dancers, Irish musicians and much more. During this event, we ushered the people into the performing arts center. After everyone was seated, all the Elite Scholars ran down the stairs and started the program by dancing onstage to Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” song. After the program, we continued to spread the message of the program and talked to the people who attended. I hoped to fulfill the purpose of the program, and help the program run smoothly. I was successful in achieving my goals and achieved outcomes 1, 4, 5, and 6. I did not face any difficulties. I learned the importance of diversity and tolerance for cultural differences, and I value global differences in our society. I’ve also learned how important it is to spread this message to other areas of the world, so that we may become a global society. Dr. Walles and Mr. Glanton helped me to think about my learning during this activity by stressing to us the purpose and importance of this program. This activity benefited the people of Clayton County by exposing them to different cultures. Next time, I would like to be more a part of the program and more active in promoting cultural diversity. I can apply what I have learned in the future when I interact with people of another culture or country, and when I visit another country as well.
Hours: 1 hour
Targeted Outcomes: 1, 4, 5, 6
Sorry for the double of journal #8. The computer was acting weird and it posted it twice. Thank you.
Typo on Journal #18- Hours: 2 hours
Journal entry #5
Creativity/Action Activity: Marching band
Hours: 10
Aug-Nov 2008
Performance Schedule:
Home vs. Mt. Zion
Home vs. Riverdale
Away vs. Newnan
Home vs. Pebblebrook
Away vs. Mundy’s Mill
Away vs. East Coweta
Home vs. Creekside
Away vs. Westlake
TSU Homecoming Parade
Learning Outcomes:
-increase awareness of their strengths and areas of growth
-work collaboratively with others
-show perseverance and commitment
-develop new skills
During the first semester of my 11th grade year, I was the section leader of the Saxophone section during the band season. As the only section leader of 6-12 boys was difficult. I had to be a leader, a teacher, motivator, and disciplinarian to my section. I had to learn how to be a fair leader. To do this I occasionally gave the section leadership roles and taught them how to be leaders as well. I gave them the opportunities to lead and make various decisions without being constantly what to do. I tried to teach them the skills necessary for marching band such as dancing, marching, and playing music and often allowed them to teach each other. As a section leader of a section I usually asked to step in for other section leaders as well as assist the drum majors and band directors with various projects like organizing sheet music and cleaning up the band room. Through this activity, I developed new skills as a leader and methods to lead and teach others, I stayed committed and persevered through a demanding activity, and I became aware that my weakness are my leadership and my strengths including teaching. This activity helped me become a better leader and use my teaching skills.
Journal #9
Service Activity: St. Jude’s Give Thanks 5K Walk
Date: 11-21-09
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: Increased awareness of strengths and weaknesses, undertaken new challenges, planned and initiated activities, collaboration with others, commitment to activities and considered issues of global importance.
This activity I felt was extremely fun and beneficial to myself, others involved and the children who would be treated. I learned of this opportunity to volunteer or to walk from emails I received from St. Jude’s after past donations. I decided to walk instead of volunteer because I wanted to be a part of fundraising for the non-profit St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. The activity consisted of walking around the Atlanta Zoo five times and raising money from family and friends to support a walker or a team. I opened the opportunity to any of my peers who wouldn’t mind waking up early on a Saturday morning to walk around a Zoo. Two other friends of mine volunteered and we created the team WildcatGeniuses. We created our own website via St. Jude’s promotional site and sent out emails to anyone and everyone that could donate money. Each of us also donated money towards the event. The day of the event, we dragged ourselves out of bed around 6am and carpooled to the Atlanta Zoo. It was a chilly day but a great day to walk. The turnout of volunteers and walkers was monumental according to the director of the activity. It was definitely a moving scene when we saw people of all ages and even little children who dedicated their Saturday morning for the hospital. There was live music, donated Dunkin Donuts, and various vendors available to the walkers. We all naively thought the walk would be easy but none of us had been to the Zoo in the past years and forgot about how big the Zoo actually was. Along the route we saw various signs of all the companies and teams that donated, encouraged other walkers, and read their signs that were tacked to them stating why and/or who they walked for. We were given the opportunity to see the animals and meet other high school students like ourselves. Overall this was a great experience and it was very rewarding to have raised $350 dollars as a team and be a part of the millions that were raised around the nation for the St. Jude’s hospital who will continue to promote research that will save lives of children all around the world. With St. Jude’s tremendous advancements in cancer in children and with the donations and help of the people, many children would be affected globally. Through this activity I learned that fundraising is my strength and I hope to continue to do so in the future but I could work on communication skills.
Journal#8
Service Activity: Southern Regional Hospital VolunTeen
Dates: 2008-2009
Nov. 15th, 22th, and 29th; Dec. 13th and 27th; Jan. 10th and 24th; Feb. 7th and 21st
Hours: 36
Learning Outcomes: Show perseverance, undertake new challenges, increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, consider ethical implications of my actions and develop new skills
Every Saturday from 9am-1pm I worked with the nurses of the surgery ward, answered phones, filed paperwork, ran errands, greeted guests, and helped patients in any way that I can. I rarely set foot in a hospital and never worked in any type of medical field so this was a new challenge for me to conquer. Through the course of my time volunteering there I gained more knowledge about working in the medical field and honed my administrative and communication skills. In this activity my strongest asset was my willingness to assist nurses, doctors, patients and families in any way that I could and responded efficiently. Each action, however, had to be considered. In some cases certain matters required me to reflect on the consequences of my actions such as leaving personal files out of their place where visitors could see them or whether to divulge information of patient who was possibly abused or at danger. This activity helped me learn a lot about a possible future in the medical field and in other situations requiring confidentiality.
Reflection 12
Activity: Junior Marshal- Graduation Cards
Date: April 30, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 7
Learning Outcomes: 1 & 4
As mentioned in Reflection 8, as a Junior Marshal I agreed, by contract, to volunteer my time to the planning, organizing and overseeing of all Class of 2009 senior events. On this day, I and my fellow Junior Marshals were asked to create and organize three complete sets of name cards of Lovejoy High School’s Class of 2009 seniors. I remember being trapped in the English book room with about 12 other Junior Marshals fighting over which was the most efficient and effective way to attack out task. Too many Indians and not enough chiefs! At the end of the day, we did manage to accomplish our tasks and produce 3 lovely stacks of blue, white, and pink name cards.
Outcomes Met:
1) I increased my knowledge of my personal strength in leadership and organization.
4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow Junior Marshals.
Reflection 13
Activity: Clayton County Jamboree
Date: May 10, 2009
Location: Tara Stadium
Hours: 4
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
As part of the Lovejoy High School Dancing Diamonds, I have a number of performances a year. One of the main attractions is the Clayton County Jamboree which is, essentially, a battle between all Clayton County Public School bands. This year, Lovejoy High was matched up against our rival, Mundy’s Mill and the rest is history!
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with my Co-Captains and band director to ensure a great routine and performance from the 2008-2009 team!
5) I have shown perseverance throughout the 2008-2009 season by attending ALL practices and performances.
Reflection 14
Activity: Rising 11th Grade IB Meeting
Date: May 6, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 1
Learning Outcomes: 2, 4 & 8
As a rising senior of the IB Program, I thought it might be helpful to inform the rising juniors and their parents about what the IB Program actually consists of. Having completed my first year in the program, I’ve observed many things that I myself was not informed of before entering the program as the IB Program was still relatively new to Lovejoy High. My fellow classmate Caitlin and I spoke to the parents about what we have endured throughout the program thus far as well as answered any questions they may have had.
Outcomes Met:
2) Public speaking has always been a weakness of my. I tend to get nervous. My hands sweat, I speak fast, and a my voice shakes. Having to speak at a podium in front these parents a students was definitely a new personal challenge.
4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow classmate to ensure a well informative session for the risings IB Juniors.
8) While undertaking my personal challenge of public speaking, I discovered that I was quite the people person and that I am able to communicate without falter to a group of complete strangers. This is a skill I will definitely need in college and in my pursuit if a business career.
Reflection 16
Activity: Junior Marshal- Breakfast Set-Up and Organization
Date: May 11, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 1, 3, 4, 5 & 8
Yet another day filled with Junior Marshal duties! This day we were tasked with creating place settings and all other decorations for the senior breakfast.
1) I saw an increase in my creative abilities.
3, 4) I planned out and collaborated with my fellow Junior Marshal to transform our school’s cafeteria into a great dining center for the seniors.
5) Perseverance is a necessary skill of a Junior Marshal despite the bickering, torment for seniors and frustration I pushed through all situations coming out on top.
8) I developed some new skills of creativity and display.
Reflection 17
Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Breakfast
Date: May 12, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 4
Learning Outcomes: 5
When Senior Breakfast began, we were bombarded by the host of seniors wanting pancakes, grits, bacon and everything else. Of course the Marshals had to serve the seniors. That was quite the day.
5) Perseverance. Through all of the hectic scene of the senior breakfast and not receiving one thank you from the seniors, the Junior Marshals did not quit.
Journal Entry #6
Service/Creativity Activity: Tri-M Music Honor Society Valentine’s Day Ball Planning
Hours: 10
Feb. 13, 2009
-work collaboratively with others
-show perseverance and commitment
-develop new skills
-increase awareness in strengths and weaknesses
-plan and initiate activities
-undertake new challenges
Planning this event was extremely difficult. At first I thought planning this Valentine’s Day party would be easy just needed to find a DJ, a caterer, and a decorator. But the task became easier when I delegated jobs to other members in the club. Each person was responsible for finding a caterer or DJ, for creating flyers, giving announcements and for decorating the party. This was my first time officially planning a party for an organization and I discovered that I needed to work on my organization and persistence but I was strong in handling the various obstacles we encountered. I believe that in the end we broke even. It was still a fun experience but many things could have made it more productive.
Journal #9
Service Activity: Senior Breakfast
Hours: 6
Learning Outcomes: work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment
This activity was fairly easy and not that challenging. The main obstacle of this activity was working well with others and delegating our jobs and surviving through the all of the events and chaos. With communication, we figured things out and we were able to persevere through the temporary disorder of the senior breakfast and handle all of the obstacles we faced. Our duties were to set up and decorate the cafeteria organize the seniors, admit them to the cafeteria, serve the seniors and clean up afterwards.
Hi, I redo this since I have to put on my learning outcomes.
1) Increased awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth
2) Undertaking new challenges
3) Planning and initiating activities
4) Working collaboratively with others
5) Showing perseverance and commitment in my activities
6) Engaging in issues of global importance
7) Considering the ethical implications of my actions
8) Developing new skills
Name of activity/project: Manager of Tennis team
Approximate hours: 20 hours
Category: Action
Summary:
During my junior year, I participated as a manager in the tennis team. As a manager, I had to come to practice with the team and watch them improve. At first, this was very new to me since I have not involve with any kind of sports since middle school, and on top of that, I have not had any experience with being a manager. However, I took it slow, one step at the time. I came to practice with everyone and I also learn how to play tennis. Tennis is a very hard sport for me since the tennis racket is heavy and hitting a tennis ball is even harder; however, I enjoyed playing it. Since everyone was busy working on their skill, my job was that to provide my support during the practice and encourage them and cheer for them in the match. Being part of the team, I could observe my team-mates as they grew and even though I knew that I could not do anything for them, I could always support them and encourage them to do their best. My strength was that I could support the team just by encouraging them and cheer for them. Even though sometimes, just watch them play gave me the feeling of emptiness however; I soon recovered and realized that they were trying their hardest and my presence could be their mental support. I learned how to interact with different kind of people and to see the differences in each individuality is unique and that all different kind of people can come together to make a great team.
Outcomes met:
1) I noticed my strengths and increased them by providing the team my helping hands and supports.
2) Even though it was my first time on the sport team, I learned to adapt and blend in with people around me.
4) I learned how to work collaboratively with others on the team to make a best team out of Lovejoy Tennis Team.
5) I had to show up almost in every practice to get use to the way my teammates play tennis; and I also went with them to compete.
8) Through this activity, it broaden my knowledge of sporting and how important it is for manager to support the team and be there for everyone.
Journal entry # 2
Name of Activity/project: Golf
Approximate hours: + 20 hours.
Category: Action
Summary:
Last school year, I started to play golf, a sport that I had never played before. Because it was my first time playing this sport, I had to learn the basic first which I found very challenging because I was not good with handling the clubs. However, I started to have some passion for this sport because after a long hour school day, I could release my stress and enjoyed myself. Even though sometimes I had to face challenges such as swinging, aiming, and many more, I realized that I had the ability to improve, I had perseverance and I wanted to play. I practiced almost everyday after school and learned new skills. Thanks to my coach who showed patience with me and guided me through, I could improve slowly. I started to compete with other golfers; before competing with golfers that had experiences and better than a new golfer like me, I thought that this would be very difficult to keep up with them and they would be bored playing with me; however, different from my thoughts, they were actually very patient with me; they showed me how to swing and stand in order for the ball to go far; they were very nice and open to me. Through this experience, I finally understand that playing sport is actually very enjoyable and interact with others through competitions is another way to learn new things and improve myself.
Outcomes met:
1) For this sport, perseverance was a good factor to use in order to play golf. With this strength in me, I slowly but strongly began to play proper golf.
2) This was very challenging since golf requires a great deal of balance and I personally do not have a good physical balance. So I had to learn how to stand and use my muscle throughout my body in order to play golf efficiency.
4) I worked cooperatively with other members on the team and with my coach. We discussed golf together and played together when we had a chance.
5) I came to practice about 4 days a week to improve my weakness and perfect my strength in golf. Even though there were times when it was hard for me to concentrate on golf because it was difficult but soon the feelings of want to hit the ball into the hole sparkle up my spirits.
8) I developed how to play golf for the first time: a sport that is viewed as boring, but to me, it requires a great amount of concentration and hard work to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.
Journal Entry # 3
Name of activity/project:
Graduation setup and organization
Approximate hours: 7 hours
Summary:
During my junior year, I had a chance to help the seniors set-up and organize for the graduation. We, junior marshals, had to work together to put the soon-to-be-graduates' names in alphabetical order on the cards and also to sort them out in specific order. During the process, we encountered many obstacles such as who should do what and how things should be done in order to achieve the high quality of results without any problems. Because we all had different ways and methods to deal with things and all methods did not seem to be ineffective; however, we only need one method to do this, so many of us were disappointed. However, we understood that working together means that we somehow have to sacrifice; at the end, we all did what we supposed to do and everything turned out great. Through this activity, I learned that working together to achieve something is difficult, but once we have some kind of organization and we focus on our jobs and sacrifice our selfishness, we can move forward and have great working time together.
Outcomes met:
1) In this activity, my strength was to organize the name fast and orderly to reduce the time it took to finish the job. I’ve learned that I could increase my strength and allow it to be useful if I concentrated enough.
3) We initially took actions of how to come up with the best method of how to organize the information together to have the best result.
4) I worked well with other and understood that we had to be unselfish to accomplish something in a group.
8) Through this activity, I developed a sense of selfless to put the merits of the group first in order to finish the job on time and efficiently.
Journal entry # 4
Name of Activity/project:
Graduation Rehearsal (2 days)
Approximate hours: 14 hours.
Summary:
Last year, I as a Junior Marshal, had to help the seniors to rehears for their graduation in May. We had to line up them in alphabetical orders and honors/non-honors. Because of the great quantity of seniors and they were too excited to listen, we had some troubles of moving them into the right direction. As the result, the process did not go well. Many of us could not deal with the fact that we had to listen to problems that we were not the cause. However, because we learned how difficult it was on the first day, we fixed it on the second day. We came up with organization and we did our jobs so the second day went better than the first day. I learned how responsibility can be the key to make things work. I also learned that not all people care or pay attention to trivial things that may damage the whole activity/project. Through this activity, it opened my mind to the whole different level of how to deal with people who does not care about the activity/project.
Outcomes met:
1) In this activity, patience helped me to do my job right without causing havoc about how irresponsible people did not act accordingly. I was glad to control my temper well and acted professionally in this activity.
2) Because we had to lead the senior, who were older than us, to follow direction and move quickly and orderly, we took on a new challenge. Most of the seniors did not listen to us since we were their underclassmen; so we had to put up with them accordingly without being disrespectful.
4) I worked well with the teachers and most of the seniors since I always put work first and give feedback later.
5) For this activity, I had to be persevered because I know that conflicts can start with a small disagreement and can cause the whole project to fail. I also put all things aside to focus on this activity and we did this all morning.
6) For this particular activity, I see that nowadays, the youth is kind of do their own things in their own ways regardless of the consequences and violence in teens starts because of the exact reasons. So through this activity, I’ve learned to deal with things professionally to reduce the conflicts and to bring harmony in the workplace to accomplish great things.
7) In this activity, I also brought my work ethics in my actions. I calmly deal with the people who did not want to listen. I put myself into their position to know them better so we could work it out more efficiently. At the end, I’ve learned that they were just excited to graduate and cannot hide their emotions so they were kind of disrespectful to us. I slowly understood them and we worked together just fine.
journal Entry # 5
Name of activity/project: Senior Picnic
Approximate hours: 8 hours.
Summary:
Last year to appreciate and to congratulate the seniors for their efforts and hard-work, we organized a picnic for them. Because it was outside and the weather is extremely warm, it was difficult on concentrate on the jobs. We, the juniors marshals, each took turn to stay indoors and outside to serve the seniors food or what they needed. It was fun overall, however, because it took place outside the whole day and many of us did not feel comfortable being outside and work, the event for us was tiring and extremely difficult to carry on. I personally helped to organize the event and served the seniors food at the beginning then I had to come inside since I had to take turn and let others to come out to serve food and have fun outside. Then at the end, I came out and cleaned up. This event overall was fun for the seniors, however, for us it was a challenge because to serve many seniors at once time demanded a great stamina and I personally do not have much. To experience and overcame my physical weakness was challenging for me since I'm not used to labor work; but I did my best and I'm proud of my determination to finish what I had started.
Outcomes met:
1) In this activity, I noticed that my strength was to organize the picnic and help the teachers to set up the food and everything. However, I also noticed that I did not have physical strength to do any heavy work and I am planning to work on my weakness.
2) Because I knew that my physical strength was not excellent, I tried to help out as much as possible. My challenge was to be able to work physically under the hot sun which I had not have any experience before, so I tried to stay hydrated and help out as hard as I could.
4) I worked real well together with other students and teachers. Since this was a service based event, we put our head together to serve the seniors as best as we could so they could have an unforgettable picnic in their high school career.
5) I devoted my commitment to this activity by trying hard to serve the seniors and help others; my perseverance was to putting up with the high temperature of the day to do my duties.
ClaireTran said...
My #5 entry concluded all the hours I need to do for Action. Now let me start on other two.
Hey it's Katie. So here are all my blogs:
January 24, 2009
VITA Training
Service: 10 Hours
VITA is a volunteer based organization that does free taxes for underprivileged people. The bank that my mother works for, discovered VITA, and volunteered to help the organization. I volunteered as well. So on Saturday January 24, 2009, my mother, some of her co-workers, and myself went to train for VITA. Training started at 8:00am and lasted until 4:00pm. We each sat at a computer with a stack of books next to it, which we were to use during and after training. Once everyone was settled, the man training us began basic introductions to the program we would be using during training. He went over some of the rules for the volunteers, and some of the requirements for the people having their taxes done. We then proceeded to complete some mock tax cases, in order to familiarize ourselves with the system. The first case we did was just a single person with only a few deductions. It was pretty simple because all we had to do was to input the information into the system; however, as the day progressed we moved onto more difficult cases involving married couples with dependents and many deductions. I approached these cases the same way I approached the last one, just by inputting the information into its respective places; however, the format soon came to be confusing, and myself and my fellow volunteers were having problems. Since there was only one person holding the training, and there were over thirty people in the room, it is safe to say that we did not get sufficient help. So I proceeded to befriend the people sitting around me, something that was difficult for me because I am a very quiet person, and offered them my help on the parts I understood, and they, in return, helped me with the parts I was struggling with. This interaction with complete strangers was new to me and really helped to get me out of my comfort zone, which is something I have been able to apply in many other aspects of life. So through this activity I met learning outcomes: 2,4, and 8. I met learning outcome 2, by participating in a new activity and learning something new, which also goes with learning outcome 8. I met outcome 4 by working with my fellow volunteers to figure out the system.
February 14, 2009
VITA Day One: Sign In
Service: 8 Hours
This was my first day actually implementing the skills I developed at VITA Training. We arrived at the library at about 7:45 in the morning because they were opening the doors to the public at 8:30. While we were waiting to open the doors, I thought that there would be a lot of setting up to do. I was under the impression that we were going to set up a table at the entrance of the library so that the people could sign in and we could make sure that they had the proper papers for us to complete their taxes. However, I was sadly mistaken. I was told to have the people sign in on a clipboard, while standing outside the library in the cold. I was also told not to take their names myself, to make it go faster; however, I was hesitant to do so because if I was going to be calling off the names, it would have been easier for myself if I wrote the names, that way I would be able to read them; however, I did what I was told and had them sign themselves in. I then directed them to the back of the library where tables were set up for them. I was then told to call the people up to the main table and make sure that they had all their paperwork in order; however, this was difficult to do because many of the people had signed the sheet like a signature and I was unable to read what they had written. So I then proceeded to go around the room and make another list, one which I could read and then use to call the people up to have their taxes done. This took up more time than if I had just taken the names myself at the beginning. After I had gotten everything situated, I began calling the people up one by one, to look over their paperwork. I had to make sure that they had certain forms filled out and if not, I was to supply them with the form to fill out. I would then direct them to a station to have their taxes done. This went well for the first couple people; however, after all the stations had filled, the rest of the people had to wait to get their taxes done. At this point many of them began to become impatient and even rude. I just had to learn to be patient with them and I began talking to some of them to help the time pass faster. Despite the setbacks, I enjoyed this activity because it allowed me to not only help people less fortunate, but to also learn how to interact with people better, which I can apply to any other activity involving working with people. In this activity, I met learning outcomes: 1 and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I am a strong person, but I could work more on my patience. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to doing VITA and continued doing it after training.
March 21, 2009
VITA Day Two: Paperwork
Service: 8 Hours
This VITA experience was much different from the last experience I had at VITA because we went to a different VITA location. This location was at a church in McDonough. This VITA location was set up in the way I had envisioned the last VITA location. There was a sign in table, where the clients would sign in and the volunteers would ensure that they had their paperwork in order. The clients were then sent to stations in another room, where they would have their taxes done. Except this time, not only did I go over client’s paperwork, but I helped the tax preparers put together each clients finished product. So at this location I was more involved in preparing the taxes rather than at the last location where I just helped the clients sign in and go over their paperwork. In this activity I met learning outcomes: 4 and 5. I met outcome 4 because I was working with the tax preparers and the clients, so this really helped on my teamwork abilities. I met outcome 5 because despite the problems I faced at the last VITA location, I stayed committed and returned to help the people again.
February 2009 - April 2009
Soccer Practice with 4 year olds
Action: 10 Hours
I had always had a love for soccer; however, an injury to my right knee made me unable to play, so I decided to do the next best thing. I helped coach younger children’s soccer teams. I worked with Coach Grant with a 4 year olds team from about 6:30pm to about 7:30pm. We would begin practice by having the children do simple warm ups such as jumping jacks and stretches. We would then set up cones and play games that not only taught the children some of the techniques of soccer, but also allowed them to have fun, because that is the most important thing; that the children have fun. We would play sharks and minnows, where the children had to run from us while dribbling the ball. We would also have them pass the ball back and forth to their parents. We would always end practice with a short scrimmage. We would break the children up into two teams, set up two small goals, and let the children play. They did not always play accurately because they were four year olds and cannot be expected to play professionally, but they were pretty good for four year olds. They knew to shoot in the goal, although they didn’t always shoot in the right one. And they knew to run and kick the ball; even though they would kick the ball out of bounds and instead of stopping, would continue to run after it halfway down the field. I really enjoyed working with the children. It not only allowed me to work with children, which I love to do, but it also helped me further develop my skills as a leader and a role model. In this activity, I met learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I am a good leader and a good role model; however, it also helped me to learn to become more patient, especially when working with children. I met outcome 2 because working with children was new for me, because I had never done anything like it before. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan the activities that we would do at practice. I met outcome 4 because I worked with the children, Coach Grant, the other volunteers, and the children’s parents. I met outcome 5 because I showed commitment by helping at practice every Tuesday and Thursday for almost two months. I met outcome 8 because this activity helped me improve my leadership skills and also helped me improve my soccer skills.
February 2009 - April 2009
Soccer Games with 4 year olds
Action: 10 Hours
Not only did I work with the four year olds during practice, but I also worked with them at their games. Game days were much different from practice days because on game days we worked with the children more on how to play the game properly, rather than just playing learning games that taught them to kick the ball. On game days, I would sit on the sidelines with the children that were not currently playing. I would call for substitutes so that all the children got equal playing time, and nobody was sitting on the sidelines for the entire game. I also would go out on the field during play to keep them from running out of bounds, because if you didn’t stop the children, they would run out of bounds, and just keep running across the soccer field and into other fields. I really liked working with the four year olds because they were a lot of fun. They were a lot of responsibility, and I really had to step up and be a good leader and role model, but that only benefitted me in the end. I think I learned as much from them, as they learned from me. Through this activity I met learning outcomes: 1, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I was a good leader and role model, and that I can do more to be a leader. I met outcome 4 because I worked collaboratively with Coach Grant, the coaches on the opposing team, the children, and their parents. I met outcome 5 because I showed dedication to working with the children by going to their games and not just working with them at practice.
June 2009
Royal Family Kids Camp
Total Number of Hours: 56 hours 15 minutes
Over the summer, I volunteered as a teen helper at a camp for abused/neglected children. As a teen helper, we set up a lot of the activities for the children. We decorated for their dress up, tea party, birthday party, Christmas celebration, shaving cream fight, talent show, Easter egg hunt, and many other activities. We also set up, served, and cleaned up breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the children. We put on a play for the children, and we even had a carnival day, where the kids could just run around and have fun on the various rides. Here is an in depth look at the activities of camp:
Breakfast: 5 Hours. In this activity, I worked with the other teen helpers to help set up, serve, and clean up breakfast every morning of camp. Although it was early in the morning, I liked this activity because I got to be around the children and the people I was working with made it fun. We would set out silverware and cups, serve drinks, help the kids with their trays, get them re-fills and second helpings, take up their trays, clean off the tables, and finally wipe down the tables and sanitize them. It was not the most fun activity, but it was something we had to do, and I was glad to do it because it made things easier on the kids and the counselors.
Play: 5 Hours. In this activity I worked with some of the other volunteers to put on a play for the children. There were actually two plays for the children. There was one play that we would do in segments and we would perform a little bit every day. Then we would do a short skit for the kids every day, but the skit changed every day so we were rehearsing every day for the skit and the play. I really liked this activity because it was a lot of fun and I got to be creative. We had to create the costumes and decide on what the stage would look like and what we could use for props. It was a lot of fun, and the children loved it.
Dress Up: 2 Hours. In this activity I worked with a couple of the other teen helpers to set up a dress up activity for the children. We decorated the walls with ribbons, lights, and posters for the girls to get their pictures taken by. We then laid out all the clothes for the kids to try on and play dress up in. We organized everything based on themes. There were clothes to dress up like cheerleaders, prom, tea party, wedding, and a bunch of other kinds. When the children got there they loved it, they almost destroyed it the way they attacked the clothing, but they loved it. It was fun and kind of scary to watch. After the girls dress up, I went with some of the other teen helpers to help set up the boys dress up activity (except we didn’t call it “dress up” we called it “boys fantasy forum”). We set up all kinds of costumes: superheroes, Star Wars characters, pirates, athlete’s jerseys, the works. There were even props like swords and masks that came with the costumes, which they had a lot of fun with. We laid out all the clothes and then when the kids were done playing we had to clean everything up and box it all back up.
Lunch: 5 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other teen helpers to help set up, serve, and clean up lunch. This activity was fun because we got to be around the children. Some of us would serve drinks, others would help the kids carry their trays, but I usually worked whatever was on the bar. The bar was usually a salad bar, a toppings bar, or a fruit bar. So I would work at the bar and help the children get their food. After we finished serving the children, we would all get our food, quickly eat, then proceed to take up the children’s trays, clear the tables, wipe down the tables, and then sanitize them.
Gave out Shoes: 1 Hour. In this activity I worked with a couple other teen helpers to pass out shoes to the children. We organized the shoes on a table and when the kids came in, we helped them find their size and make sure that they fit properly. We did this for both the boys and the girls and it was really fun. I really liked this activity because these kids really didn’t have much and I was glad to help them and give them something they needed.
Sheep Fold: 5 Hours. In this activity all the teen helpers worked to keep the kids entertained. This was when we would actually put on our plays and do other things to keep the children entertained. It was called sheep fold because every year the camp has a theme that the decorations and the big play are based on, and this year the theme was sheep. Sheep fold was really fun because we got to put on our plays and teach the children something about morals and what’s right and wrong.
Dinner: 5 Hours. In this activity all the teen helpers would work together to serve the children dinner. We would set the tables, set out cups, pour drinks, and just make getting dinner easier on the children and their counselors. At dinner I would usually help the children get their trays and take the trays to the table for the children. This activity was really nice because I liked spending time with the children, and this activity allowed me to be around them.
Christmas: 1 Hour. In this activity I worked with the other teen helpers to set up a Christmas display for the children. We set up a chair, fake fireplace, stockings, and tons of toys. One of the older men working at the camp dressed up as Santa and the kids came in and got toys. Some of the teen helper girls hung out and sang carols for the children, which was really fun. We also in a way acted as Santa’s elves, giving the children the toys, which was really nice.
Night Relief: 4 Hours. Every night for 2 hours, the counselors were given a break. Other than night relief and the break they got at breakfast club, the counselors were with the children all the time. So for 2 hours at night, a teen helper would step in and watch after the children. I did night relief twice while I was at camp because the teen helpers would take shifts and a different person would do it every night. We would get there at 9:00, put the children to bed, read them a story or do something to get them to fall asleep, and then after they fell asleep we would just watch over them to make sure that they were actually sleeping. We would stay until 11:00; that was when the counselors would return and the teen helpers were free to leave and go back to their rooms. I really liked night relief. I had the same room both nights I did night relief so I got to know the children in the room a little bit. I read to them both nights and soon after they would fall right to sleep.
Breakfast Club: 3 Hours. We had breakfast club every morning right after breakfast. This was another time where the teen helpers really had to look after the children because the counselors were given a break. Breakfast club was really fun because we just got to play and have fun with the children. We would sing and dance and just keep the children entertained. The whole purpose of camp was to make sure that the kids were having a good time and were learning something, and breakfast club really helped us achieve that.
Easter Egg Hunt: 4 Hours. In this activity I worked with some of the other girl teen helpers to set up an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. We went out to the huge field in the back of camp and got huge buckets of Easter eggs. We took them out onto the field and threw them everywhere. We covered the field with Easter eggs. One of the teen helpers even dressed up as the Easter Bunny and took pictures with the children. When the children got there, they ran out onto the field and in almost the blink of an eye, all the Easter eggs had been picked up. Then when they were done, we prepared for the boys Easter Egg Hunt (the boys and girls went separately). When we were setting up the girls Easter Egg Hunt, we had set aside half the buckets of eggs for the boys, so after the girls left, we went and got the other buckets and did it all over again.
Carnival: 4 Hours and 30 minutes. This was by far the most fun day of camp; this was the day that we set up a carnival for the children to go to. There was cotton candy, snow cones, sprinklers, a climbing tower, and numerous water slides. I worked one of the water slides with another one of the teen helpers and it was lots of fun. By the end of the day, everyone at camp was soaking wet and exhausted.
Talent Show: 2 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other teen helpers to decorate signs and help clean up the talent show that the children put on. The talent show was so much fun. It allowed the children to get up on stage and showcase some of their talents and interests. We cheered on the kids as they went onstage and then after the show was over, we cleaned up all the decorations: the lights, the plants, the ribbons, and all the other decorations. We took the stage from its beautiful talent show setup, to the normal stage that we used for breakfast club and sheep fold every morning.
Shaving Cream Fight: 2 Hours and 15 minutes. In this activity myself and the other teen helpers set up a shaving cream fight for the children. We went out to the same field that hosted the Easter Egg Hunt and lined up hundreds of containers of shaving cream all the way down the field. When the children and their counselors arrived, we had the counselors on one side and the children down the other, then the fight began. We ran around with the kids spraying them and each other, and after the shaving cream was all used up (it only took a matter of minutes), we all got hosed down and went and jumped in the pool. After we had rinsed off and the children had left, we returned to the field and picked up every single shaving cream container and piled them in a bucket to be disposed of.
Tea Party: 2 Hours. In this activity, I worked with some of the girl teen helpers to set up a tea party for the girls. We covered the tables in fancy tablecloths and tea sets. We then set the tables with multiple fancy plates, napkins, and silverware. We even set up trays with little cakes and made lemonade for them. The girls went and got dressed up in nice dresses and hats and then came in for the tea party. It was chaos, and after it was over, the teen helpers cleaned it all up and returned the dining hall to its original state.
Archery: 2 Hours: While the girls had their tea party, the boys got to do some archery. We watched and cheered them on whether they hit the target or not. After the kids were done, we cleaned up all the archery stuff and went on to our next activity.
Birthday Party: 30 minutes. In this activity we threw a huge birthday party for all the kids at camp. We called them up by the month of their birthday and they all got presents and cake. The party itself was really fun because the kids loved it. After the party was over, we cleaned everything up, cleared the tables, wiped everything down and the dining hall was spotless once more.
Swimming: 5 Hours. The kids would go swimming at camp every day for a certain amount of time. Some days, if we weren’t too busy, the teen helpers would join them. I joined them on many occasions and the kids loved it. They would constantly come over to you and show you tricks they could do in the water or ask you to play a game with them, it was so much fun.
This entire camp was just about giving the children a chance to have fun, something they might not get too much of. We managed in one week, to do so much for the children, and hopefully make a difference in their lives. As a teen helper, we did not get to spend as much time with the children as their counselors, because we were too busy with our “teen helper duties,” but we still managed to see the children as much as we could. We would find places in our schedule where we could go swimming with the children, and spend time with them at their various activities. This was my favorite community service activity, and was the activity that impacted me the most. It opened my eyes to child abuse/neglect in America, something that before this camp, unfortunately, I did not pay too much attention to. This camp changed me in so many ways. It has made me a better leader, a better team worker, and most importantly, a better role model. Also, before this camp, I was debating on whether I wanted to work in pediatrics in the future but, this camp also assured me that I want to work with children as a career in the future. I really enjoyed working with the children, and I am returning next this year as a teen helper to work with the children again. There is so much to say about camp, and I am just barely breaking the surface of how much this meant to me and how much it has changed me as a person. In this activity, I met learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, Yes, I met every single learning outcome through the various activities we did at camp. I also met every CAS criteria, creativity, action, and service, through these activities. I met outcome 1 in every activity listed above because I was working with the children and the children helped me become aware of my strengths when working with children and showed me that I need to be more patient when working with children. Also working with the children showed me how to be a good leader and a good role model. I met outcome 2 because camp was a new experience for me. Everything I did at camp was new for me, and honestly, before camp I was nervous about going because it was such a different experience for me. I am very glad that I went though because it got me out of my comfort zone and exposed me to something new. I met outcome 3 because I worked with the other teen helpers to plan and do all the activities for the children. I met outcome 4 because I worked with the other teen helpers on every activity. I also worked well with the children, the counselors, and the adults at camp. So we were always working together to help the children. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to working at camp and achieved all the things I wanted to achieve for the children. I met outcome 6 because just being at camp made me more aware of child abuse all over the world. I met outcome 7 because throughout this entire camp I had to consider ethically how to treat the children because they have been through a lot in their lives, so we constantly had to watch what we did or said to make sure that nothing bad happened. I met outcome 8 because this camp caused me to get outside my comfort zone and do new things.
August 2009 – September 2009
Soccer Practice 10 year olds
Action: 10 Hours
Earlier in the year I had helped coach a 4 year olds soccer team, so when soccer season picked back up in the fall, I decided to volunteer again, except this time I wanted to work with the 10 year olds. So I practiced with the 10 year olds from about 7:15pm to about 8:00pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Practice with the 10 year olds was much different from working with the 4 year olds because with the 10 year olds, we were able to focus more on properly playing the game and technique, rather than just having fun with the 4 year olds. With the 10 year olds, we would begin practice with a short running drill, a few sit-ups, and a few push-ups. We would then set up cones, and do a few drills. These drills would include: sprints, jumps, dribbling, and passing. I really liked working with the 10 year olds because I really had to step up and be a leader and a role model. In this activity I met learning outcomes: 1,2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity helped me grow as a leader. I met outcome 2 because, although I had worked with kids at soccer practice before, I had never worked with the 10 year olds, so it was a new experience. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan the activities and drills that we would do at practice. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the children, their parents, Coach Grant, and the other volunteers. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to going to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays for almost 2 months.
August 2009- September 2009
Soccer Games with 10 year olds
Action: 10 Hours
During this soccer season, I did not just work with the 10 year olds at practice; I also attended their games and worked with them there as well. Games with the 10 year olds were both easier and more difficult than the games with the 4 year olds. It was easier to coach the children because they had a better understanding of the game; however, it was more difficult because they didn’t listen. They were kids and they all wanted to get in the game and have fun, so I had to be a more assertive leader with them to get them to listen to me. Through this activity I have met learning outcomes: 1, 2, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity increased my awareness of my leadership abilities and forced me to work on those skills. I met outcome 2 because although I had coached the 4 year olds games, this was a new experience and very different from coaching the 4 year olds. I met outcome 4 because I worked collaboratively with Coach Grant, the coaches on the other team, the parents, and of course, the children. I met outcome 5 because I showed perseverance by continuing to coach the kids, even at their games.
November 2009
Wrote a Play for Children
Creativity: 10 Hours
In November, myself and some friends were looking for something we could do for children for the holiday season. We decided that since there were so many of us, that we could perform a play for the children. I went home and looked online at different children’s plays, and decided on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. I thought this would be a good play because it had a lot of characters and we could modernize the language a bit to appeal to the children. So I found a play adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” online that was available to be used for plays. I took that play, which was eighty-seven pages long, and condensed it, modernized it, and added a few funny parts so that it would appeal to the children. After days of work, and after reading Dickens’ work for myself, the final version of the play was 19 pages, with 23 different parts, including extras. I had asked some of my peers, to read it and offer their opinion about it. They wanted me to change it more and modernize it even more, but I did not want to do that because I did not want to lose Dickens’ original story. So I left it how it was and proceeded to begin casting. I assigned parts based on who wanted larger parts, and who wanted to just be an extra, and everyone was happy with their parts. We agreed to have rehearsals on Mondays after school, and everyone agreed; however, problems arose when only myself, my assistant director, and a couple member of the cast showed up at rehearsal. This happened twice. At that point, with much frustration, I was forced to cancel the play. Although the play was canceled, this activity helped improve my creativity and writing skills, and also taught me a lot about working with others and being a leader. So through this activity, I met outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I need to be more aggressive as a leader, especially when working with people my own age because they rarely listen. I met outcome 2 because this was a new challenge. I had never written a play before this, and now I am very glad that I have. I met outcome 3 because I planned everything having to do with the play along with my assistant director, and the rest of the cast. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the cast when casting parts for the play. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to writing and performing the play, although everyone else wasn’t.
May2009
Junior Marshall Duty
Total Hours for Each
Creativity:
Action:
Service:
When I was in the 11th grade, I was honored with being a Junior Marshall. As a part of our Junior Marshall duties I did a lot of volunteer work. Some of the volunteer activities include:
Creating index cards to prepare for graduation: 4 Hours. In this activity, I worked with the other junior marshalls to create and organize hundreds of index cards in alphabetical order for graduation. This activity was somewhat difficult because we had so many of us working on the same thing that ideas began to clash at one point. But once we decided the most effective way to create and organize the cards, things went very smoothly. In this activity I met learning outcomes 3, 4, and 8. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan and organize how we would create and organize the cards. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls to get the activity done, and I met outcome 8 because this activity helped me further develop my teamwork skills and my patience.
Creating signs for graduation: 1 Hour. In this activity, I worked with some of the other junior marshalls to create signs to help organize graduation. Through this activity I got to express my creativity in a constructive way that would help organize graduation. For the signs we cut up poster board into smaller boards and each board had a letter of the alphabet on them. We then proceeded to paint the letter on each board. Although it was not very difficult to do, it was fun and allowed me to help out. In this activity I met outcomes 1, 3, and 4. I met outcome 1 because this activity increased my awareness of my strengths in creativity. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan creating the signs, and I met outcome 4 because I worked with some of the other junior marshalls on this project and we worked collaboratively by putting our creative ideas together.
Setting up the senior breakfast: 2 Hours. In this activity, myself and some of the other junior marshalls helped decorate the cafeteria for the senior breakfast. We covered the tables, decorated them, hung decorations, set up balloons, the works. It was really fun because I am a very creative person and I had fun just letting my ideas flow for a good cause. In this activity I met learning outcomes 1, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me how creative I really was and also showed me that I need to be more patient and listen to everyone’s ideas, not just my own. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan how and when we would decorate the cafeteria. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with my fellow junior marshalls to decorate the cafeteria and rope off the areas that the other students couldn’t go in the morning. I met outcome 5 because I showed perseverance by staying after school to work on decorating the cafeteria, when many of the other junior marshalls just went home.
Serving the senior breakfast: 3 Hours and 15 minutes. In this activity, myself and the other junior marshalls helped serve the seniors breakfast to celebrate their graduation. In this activity, Cathy and I helped serve the fruit and also would go and get food to refill the food that was quickly running out. In this activity, I met learning outcomes 1, 3, and 4. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I need to be more aggressive when working with others because they will not always listen. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan who would do what and how we could work quickly and effectively. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls and the seniors.
Cleaning the senior courtyard: 1 Hour and 30 minutes. In this activity, the other junior marshalls and myself cleaned the senior courtyard in preparation for the honor grad picnic which would take place the next day. We had garbage bags and rakes and went out and cleaned up all the leaves and trash. It was pretty fun because it was a beautiful day outside and I love being outside, so I really enjoyed this activity. Yes, it was work, but it was the kind of work I enjoy, and the fact that it was for a good cause, helping the environment, just made it even better. In this activity I met outcomes 4 and 6. I met outcome 4 because I worked with others to clean up the courtyard. I met outcome 6 because I was facing the global issue of the destruction of the environment and how no one really appreciates how important it is to us.
Creating banners for the honor grad picnic: 2 Hours. In this activity I expressed my creativity by working with the other junior marshalls to create banners for the honor grad picnic. Myself and a few of the other junior marshalls that decided to stay after school went to the art room to create banners to hang at the honor grad picnic. This was another creative activity so I had a lot of fun doing it. We went and got long white paper from the library and painted “Congratulation” on one and “Honor Grads” on the other. We painted them a basic color and then went back and splatter painted the banners with red, blue, and black to add more color. It was so much fun. By the time it was over, I had paint in my hair and on my shirt, but it was well worth it. In this activity I met learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity helped me work on my artistic skills and my patience. I met outcome 2 because I had never splatter painted before and it was definitely a new and exciting experience. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan staying after school to work on the banners. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls that had stayed after and we worked well putting all of our ideas together on what the banners should look like. I met outcome 5 because I showed commitment by staying after school to work on the banners.
Setting up and serving the honor grad picnic: 3 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other junior marshalls to decorate the senior courtyard, set up, and serve the honor grads at their own special picnic. We hung the banners we created the day before and also hung long strips of paper that looked like ribbons from the windows to add more decoration. We also hung the ribbons from the trees for more decoration. After we got done decorating the senior courtyard we went back and forth from Ms. Gordon’s room bringing the food, drinks, and all the other necessities out to the senior courtyard. After we had gotten all the food set up, we assigned ourselves to stations for what exactly we would be serving. I was serving the sides and extra things that you could get for the hamburgers. I liked this activity because I got to be outside and also see what I would be experiencing the next year when I would be an honor grad. In this activity I met outcomes 3 and 4. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan and set up the picnic. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls, the teachers, and the seniors.
Setting up and serving the senior picnic: 7 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other junior marshalls to set up a picnic for all the seniors. We got to the school early in the morning and began to take things out to the field behind the school for the picnic. We took the food, drinks, cooler, tables, cotton candy machine, and everything else that we would need for the picnic out to the field to set up. After we had finished setting up, we divided ourselves into groups to determine who would do what for the day. We would work the picnic outside in shifts that way everyone would get a chance to be outside without getting sunburn (although some people couldn’t avoid it). So when it came time for my shift outside, I found myself working the cotton candy machine. It was really fun, but my arm was pink and covered with cotton candy by the end of the day. I really liked this activity because I got to be outside, and although I did not get to run around and have fun with the seniors, just being there outside made me happy to do it. In this activity I met learning outcomes 2, 3, 4, and 5. I met outcome 2 because working the cotton candy machine was a new experience. I met outcome 3 because I helped plan who would do what and when groups would rotate. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls, the teachers, and the seniors. I met outcome 5 because I was committed to my duties and showed perseverance by completing everything that was asked of me.
Helping out with graduation rehearsal: 3 Hours. In this activity I worked with the other junior marshalls to help the seniors prepare for graduation. We each took some of the index cards we had created weeks ago and lined the seniors up in alphabetical order. We then had to walk with them into the gym and put them back in alphabetical order, because they would not listen to us when we put them in alphabetical order the first time. Once the seniors were preparing to walk, we had to stand on the end of the rows and count them and put them in rows which would help them walk at the real graduation. In this activity I met outcomes 1, 4, and 5. I met outcome 1 because this activity showed me that I have to be more assertive as a person, especially when I am trying to get work done. I met outcome 4 because I worked well with the other junior marshalls, the teachers, and the seniors. I met outcome 5 because I showed perseverance and kept working, no matter how rude and impatient the seniors were.
ClaireTran said...
Hi, this is my Service Category.
Journal Entry: 6
Name of Activity/project:
Honor Graduates Picnic
Approximate hours: 7
Summary:
Last year, to congratulate the honor graduates for their hard work, we organized a picnic for them in the senior courtyard. We, the Junior Marshals, did the set up and prepared the foods as well as the decoration. The main thing was to serve the seniors and let them enjoy the picnic. We had to do what the seniors told us including entertainment. The picnic was a fun event for the seniors as well as for me. After the picnic, we divided our jobs; mine was to clean up the courtyard along with 2 other marshals. The event showed me that each individual could not do everything and that we had to divide the jobs to achieve better results. I also learned how to appreciate others' talents as well as my own. Through this activity, I gained the courage to take the initiative and to demonstrate my responsibility.
Outcomes met:
1) My own strength was to organize and clean-up orderly and quickly. However, I also noticed the area that I needed to concentrate on: my physical strength.
4) In this activity, I worked well with others, including the seniors. We organized and clean-up together and also provide entertainment for the seniors.
8) Through this activity, I developed a sense of responsibility by handling the job with care.
ClaireTran said...
Journal Entry: 7
Name of Activity: Senior Breakfast
Approximate hours: 8 hours
Category: Service
Reflection:
We, junior marshals, along with some of the teachers organized a breakfast for the seniors. Along with the breakfast, we also provided fun activity and other entertainment. Before the day we served the breakfast, we did the decoration and organized the tables. On the day of the breakfast, we divided tasks among ourselves and took turn to do the seniors' job such as office aid, library aid and counselor aid. At first I was helping out the breakfast and directed the seniors to their destination; then I took over the office aid in which I answered the phone calls, made copies, run errands, etc. Then after that, I went to help an administrator to sort out documents. Throughout the event, I learned to accept my responsibility and focus on my jobs; I also learned how to organize things in certain order to have an effective result. I understood that in order for the seniors to have fun, it is necessary for someone to do the backstage jobs.
Outcomes met: 1, 3, 4, and 8.
ClaireTran said...
Journal entry: 8
Name of activity/project: Volunteer at My Lady of Vietnam Catholic Church
Approximate hours: 84 hours
Reflection:
Beginning from March 30, 2009 until present, every Saturday from 9-12 o'clock, I volunteer to help out the teachers as well as the students since we teach Vietnamese to young students. My job is to prepare foods, organize documents, make copies, run errands, and sometimes assist teachers to handle classes. At first, I was overwhelmed by great amounts of works I had to take care of, but I soon get used them and work to achieve the highest quality of work as possible. Although sometimes I encountered many hardships such as many teachers wanted my helps at the same time, young students tried not to listen to the lessons and just wanted to play, and sometimes some teachers doubted my ability to handles what they had asked me to do even though I already ensure them that I am able to perform the tasks. However, time was a good solution. Over time, I gained trust and responsibility. I also gained a great listening skill as well as the ability to do the work and complain or have questions later. This volunteer activity is a great way for me to discover myself and learn from experience.
Outcomes met: 1, 2, and 4,5,7,8.
ClaireTran said...
Journal Entry:9
Name of Activity/project: Teacher Assistant
Approximate hours: 24 hours
Category: Service
Reflection:
From September 14, 2008 to November 30, 2008, every Sunday, I assisted teacher at Sunday School. My job was to overlook the students and kept them focus on their studies. Because the students were mostly young children I had to be very careful on how I should act and present myself. There were also some troubles since there were some kids that were hard to deal with. At first, I just wanted to quit since I could not bring myself to gently guide them; however, I quickly figured out that they also have many good points. I began to gently talk to them and tried to bring out their good qualities so they could focus on the studies. Slowly but strongly, it worked. They began to listen to me; they even began to consult with me about their problems. I found that it was easier for us to talk once we accept our faults, qualities and tried to understand each others. Overtime, I found joy in this activity and the kids were just so adorable and angel-like. Through this activity, I learned how to communicate with younger different people and how my perseverance of getting to know someone really helped.
ClaireTran said...
Journal Entry:10
Name of activity/project: community service at Church
Approximate hours: 12 hours
Category: service
Reflection:
Last year around Easter time, Christmas time and anniversary of my Church, I volunteered to help clean the church and made it ready for the special events. I helped clean the inside of the church such as take out candy wrappers inside the books holder, arranged the chairs and picked up trash around the church area. Even though it was tiring but I had fun. It showed me that even my little help was needed. The most important thing was I could contribute my help to make the church a better place for the special events. Through this activity, I learned how to work collaboratively with others to achieve what we desired. I also understood that there might be disagreements but if the goal is the same for everyone, it does not matter the methods, eventually, the goal will be reached. I also learned how to listen to the elder carefully and focus on my job wholeheartedly.
Outcomes met: 1,3,4,and 7.
ClaireTran said...
Journal entry: 11
Name of activity/project: Volunteer program at Southern Regional Hospital
Approximate hours: 32 hours
Category: Service
Reflection:
This summer I had a chance to be a part of the Volunteen Program at Southern Regional Hospital. My shift was on every Tuesday from 5-9 o'clock in June through the beginning of August. The unit I worked in was called Telemetry; it was the place where I could monitor heart-patients. My job was to respond to the call lights of the patients, get the nurse if necessary, and worked on documents. Sometimes I even had to deliver things the patients asked for such as snack, water, or ice. It was a busy job since I had to deal with a lot of patients at one time. Some patients just kept call me since the nurse was on late to get there. At first, it was hard to handle since this kind of experience was new to me, however, overtime, I get used to it and worked efficiently. Sometimes while there was no work, I learned some of the medical tech information from the tech work next to me. A lot of time, there was no time to rest. Overall it was a unique experience. I could learn a lot from the people I worked with as well as from the patients that I came into contact with. I understood that the hospital is nothing like their homes and I wanted to make their visit as enjoyable as possible. I also remembered there was one time I heard there was a patient that just deceased, even though I did not come into contact with that patient, I felt sad. It was normal for the people I worked with, but it was my first time dealing with that kind of news. That gave me some thinking and I told myself that I would provide the great quality of service to others patients in the unit so they could enjoy their lives as much as possible.
Outcomes met: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8.
ClaireTran said...
My # 11 concluded all my service hours. Let me start on my last one: creativity
Journal #11
Service Activity: Honor Grad Lunch
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes: show perseverance and commitment, work collaboratively with others, plan and initiate activities, and increase awareness off strengths and areas of growth.
The Junior Marshals were responsible for cleaning up and decorating the Senior Courtyard, serving food to the Seniors and cleaning up afterwards. Through this activity, we hoped to ensure the Honor Graduates would have a memorable experience commemorating them. Even though at first we were having issues communicating and with organization, the issues were dealt with, we each took leadership roles and successfully planned and initiated the activity on our own. I soon discovered that my forte was in organization but I could work on sharing the workload rather than trying to handle everything on my own. It was an easier task with the help of Dawson and the other Senior advisors.
Journal #11
Service Activity: Honor Grad Lunch
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes: show perseverance and commitment, work collaboratively with others, plan and initiate activities, and increase awareness off strengths and areas of growth.
The Junior Marshals were responsible for cleaning up and decorating the Senior Courtyard, serving food to the Seniors and cleaning up afterwards. Through this activity, we hoped to ensure the Honor Graduates would have a memorable experience commemorating them. Even though at first we were having issues communicating and with organization, the issues were dealt with, we each took leadership roles and successfully planned and initiated the activity on our own. I soon discovered that my forte was in organization but I could work on sharing the workload rather than trying to handle everything on my own. It was an easier task with the help of Dawson and the other Senior advisors.
Journal #12
Service Activity: Senior Picnic
Hours: 7
Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities, develop new skills, show perseverance and commitment, work collaboratively with others, and increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses.
The Junior Marshals were split into two groups: one to handle outdoor activities and the other to work the Senior jobs inside the school. There were many activities and jobs for each person to do such as serve food, oversee the moon bounce, rock climbing wall and bungee race. My main job was to plan the competition that would be held on the Bungee Race. I had to explain the rules, hook up the participants to their bungee lines, and ensure their safety and fairness. This was another first for me but it was fun and was completed with little problems. Eventually after working hard and long in the hot sun I traded jobs with other people and handled the cotton candy machine or helped with clean up and then returned to the Bungee Race. Through this activity I learned that my strength is organization and leadership although I could always get better at planning activities and seeing them through.
Journal #13
Service/Creativity Activity: Prom Committee
Hours: 6
Learning Outcomes: Increase growth and awareness of strengths, plan and initiate activities, work collaboratively with others, and show perseverance and commitment
I was a part of a 5 or 6 member committee that worked together on a weekly basis to plan for the Lovejoy’s Prom of 2009. We were charged with determining the theme, decoration, location, caterer and invitations for prom as well as promoting the prom throughout the student body. The main issue with working with the committee was agreeing on one decision. One person wanted red the other blue or black as the primary colors for decoration. Instead of continually arguing over the various topics we always reached a compromise or a middle ground of the various matters. I discovered that I am skilled at compromises but should work on voicing my opinions more efficiently.
Category: Creativity
Journal: 12
Name of Activity: Set up art works at PAC
Apprx hours: 2
In this activity, I helped Mrs.Thomas, my art teacher, to set up students' art works at the Performing Art Center for an exhibit. I also worked together with other IB students cooperatively to achieve fast and good result. During the activity, I encountered some challenges, how to put the art works in frames carefully, how to display them properly. With the help of other and Mrs. Thomas, I could get the hang of the job. Through this activity, I hoped to show the best views of the art works so people can feel and understand what the artists wanted them to understand. Through this activity, I've learned my personaly limitation: to ask for help if needed. I've also learned that others are just like me, they also needed my help. I developed as better understanding of the people that I worked with. This activity helps me to learn to do favors for others to make them happy and to appreciate life: live and work together to accomplish something.
Outcomes met: 1,2,4,and 8
Journal #14
Service Activity: Peer Mediation
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, undertake new challenges, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment, and consider ethical implications and develop new skills
To my surprise I was asked to be a peer mediator my sophomore year, something I never considered before. As a mediator I worked with another mediator to help quell any issues between two parties or amongst groups of people. Some issues were highly confidential or volatile so what I said or did could easily escalate the matters at hand forcing me to “consider my ethical implications.” Through these sessions with the two parties, my fellow mediator and I, the problem at hand was discussed by listening to both sides and then solutions and compromises were obtained followed by the signing of a contract agreeing to the solutions and confidentiality of the session. Often times during these sessions my fellow mediator would step on each other’s toes and found it difficult to find a balance of power between us. With each session I found that I am a great listener and can easily create compromises but need to work on sharing such tasks with another person.
Journal #15
Service Activity: Clayton County Babies Can’t Wait Administrative Support
Hours: 10
Learning Outcomes: Increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, develop new skills
There were employees of Clayton County’s Babies Can’t Wait Program were overwhelmed with various tasks and projects that they had to have complete but also had other priorities. So I offered my assistance to any of the employees who need it my help and began helping them fill envelopes, print labels, fold flyers, clean offices, answer telephone calls, make copies or faxes and to help with filing. Helping out this program helped me hone my administrative skills which could be helpful in internships, volunteer opportunities or jobs. I learned I am good at multitasking with various projects at hand but absolutely need to improve on my telephone communication skills.
Journal #16
Talk to IB Juniors
Hours: 1
Learning Outcomes: Increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, work collaboratively with others, undertake new challenges, show perseverance and commitment, and develop new skills
During one period a teacher asked me and two other of my peers to impart some advice to the upcoming Senior IB students. We discussed college applications, standardized testing, IB exams, and papers and answered any of their questions. Not very often to speak in front of people so this was an opportunity for me to work on my speaking skills and confidence with an audience but I did discover that I would need to work on effective communicating my thoughts coherently. This becomes near impossible whenever I am flustered by being in front of an audience.
Journal #17
Service Activity: ING Marathon
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment, and increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth
One Saturday morning, a group of students including myself attended the ING marathon and helped pass out water and clean up after. The ING marathon was a full and half marathon around Atlanta on a cold rainy morning. We were asked to be there at 5am but that was impossible due to our carpool options and various other activities that occurred that day. Instead of not attending at all we arrived before 8am, after getting lost, and quickly handed out cups of water or Gatorade to runners relieving other volunteers. We passed out hundreds of cups that were then tossed on the side of the street. We had to “rake up” all of the used cups into piles, put those into garbage bags, recycle water jugs, and break down boxes and tables. This was strenuous work even through the drizzling rain and cold but we worked together having one person raking cups and another putting them in garbage bags.
Service Activity: PAC Art Display Set Up
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others and develop new skills
Our art teacher was swapped with work while dealing with our IB art internal assessments and asked for a few of us to help frame, display and label student art work at the Performing Arts Center gallery. After school we dedicated some time to finding the materials necessary to frame and mount each photograph, sketch or painting and display sculptures. Our job was difficult with the lack of supplies and with other schools vying for the materials as well. With one person framing, the other hanging and labeling we were able to complete the task despite the competition for materials and space. This was a valuable activity because it helped us learn how to properly mount and display our own art work as well.
Service Activity: PAC Art Display Set Up
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others and develop new skills
Our art teacher was swapped with work while dealing with our IB art internal assessments and asked for a few of us to help frame, display and label student art work at the Performing Arts Center gallery. After school we dedicated some time to finding the materials necessary to frame and mount each photograph, sketch or painting and display sculptures. Our job was difficult with the lack of supplies and with other schools vying for the materials as well. With one person framing, the other hanging and labeling we were able to complete the task despite the competition for materials and space. This was a valuable activity because it helped us learn how to properly mount and display our own art work as well.
Category: creativity
Name of activity Organize culture fair
Hour: 10
In this activity, I, with other IB students, planned and organized a culture fair to demonstrate to people how we are culturally different but still the same. We came up with ideas and worked to carry them out. We prepared food, flyers, poster board, clothes, etc. We cooperatively worked together to create our first culture fair at Lovejoy High School. Our purpose of this culture fair was to spread awereness of cultural differences across the school so students as well as teachers can be tolerate and understand differences in people. During the activity, I encountered some challenges: many students came at one time and asked questions regarding our club and this cultural fair. It was hard to answer everyone's question and keep the people moving. However, we soon divided into groups and divided our duties, so it went pretty well after that. I've learned new things about other culture as well and be tolerate and understand other students. I've learned how to open my mind to accept the uniqueness and difference of others. In this project, other IB students helped me to accomplish what we wanted to do, my history teacher also gave us support. I can also use some of the things I've learned into real life: to understand how people act and react accordingly so we can minimize the misunderstanding and create a better place to live and to learn.
Outcomes met: 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8.
Category: Creativity
Name of activity: Creation of Bulletin Board.
Hours: 4
For this particular activity, I first noticed that the bulletin board on 100 hallway did not have on anything so I proposed to Mr.Etheridge, my English teacher, to create a bulletin board and to inform students about what's going on in the classroom. First, I planned and made decorations on my own. Then along with 2 other Ib students that wanted to help me with this activity, we organized and display them on the board. In this activity, I hoped to spread information regarding what's goind on such as words of the week, scholarship information, books that each class was reading,etc. to other students or visitors to learn more about our school, in particular, the English course. I've learned to be patient since it took time to organize the board. I also learned how to arrange the board for effiency. Mr.Etheridge helped me with the ideas of the words of the week; he suggested the words and I got the definition and post it on the board every Monday. Through this activity, I hoped that students that usually walk past the board, noticed what's on the board and learn it. I also hoped that through this activity, I can be more open minded to provide information to other students in Lovejoy, and to start something new to make a wave so other might follow my example of initiation.
Outcomes met: 1,2,3,5,6, and 8.
Journal: 15
Category: Creativity
Name: St.Jude's Give thanks walk
Hours: 3
In this activity, we walked Altanta Zoo together encouraging others to keep going as well. We also communicate with others asking them to donate and support our walking team. For this activity, we tried to raise as much money as possible for St.Jude's children and their cancer-research program: think globally while acting locally. During this activity, we encountered many problems, it was very cold and we did not expect such hilly terrain at the zoo. Throught this activity, I've learned how to contribute some of my efforts into this big project and I was glad that I was able to keep up with everyone. For this activity, my friends were a big help, they encouraged me to walk and keep up with everyone and together, we supported each other.
Outcomes met: 1,2,4,5,6,and 8
Journal #19
Service Activity: Church Day Care/ Tutor
Hours: 8
Learning Outcomes: Increase strengths and areas of growth, develop new skills
As a volunteer for my church daycare I helped clean up the daycare, tutor children who are need of help, and mentored other youths. I have always tutored children but there could always be improvement. This activity helped me develop new methods and skills to help children in life in school.
Journal:16
Name: Shakespearean interpretation
Category: creativity
Hours: 6
Shakespearean plays were and always are my greatest interests. His dictions are beyond what we normally speak. So I chose to watched Shakespearean plays to be able to think creatively with my vocabularies and interpret the plays and how they are different from the written plays. Through this activity, I hope to be able to understand the thems in Shakespearean plays which are still applicable to today, and to learn from these plays about life. I've learned through this activity, that in life, sometimes, one has to sacrifice and faces challenges head on in order to live again in harmony :"Die to Live". Mr. Etheridge, my English teacher, helped me by providing me the access to the plays and encouraged me to learn more about Shakespeare. Through this activity, I've also learned that "life is a stage and everyone is an actor himself" so by watching Shakespearean plays which have life situations, it made me think critically about how to deal with each situation to overcome hardships and live peacefully.
Outcomes met: 2,5, and 8
Journal: 17
Name: Piano lessons
Category: creativity
Hours: 12
Music is always my hobby and interest, so I wanted to learn more about it and be able to feel the soul of the music. I took piano lessons every Monday after school. It was challenging since I had to get there ontime and avoid any afterschool activity in school, so I managed to work out my schedule of the week to fit every activities. My teacher taught me well and piano lessons broaden my musical knowledge. Throught this activity, I hoped to know more about musics, especailly piano. I also faced hardship since I knew how to play piano, I just did not learn how to read music, so my teacher had me to work on it. I practiced almost everyday to memorized the notes and finally I was able to read music. I've learned taht music can be a good way to discover oneself: through the way one plays and interpret themusic. I've discovered another side of me: a peaceful, absolute serene side of me. I've learned to appreciate other's feelings and life. Through this activity, I learned that always take life slowly with the rthym, but seriously to appreciate all things that life has to offer. To bring happiness and harmony in every bad situation in life. There's always hope.
Journal: 18
Category: Creativity
Name: Performing( singing)
Hours: 20
In my junior's years, I had a chance to practice and perform singing with my peers at church. I had to practice with others every Saturday to have a best result. I hoped to work well with other in this activity. I also wanted to learn how to sing properly and sing in unison. However, we encountered some hardshis: some of us could not hit the high notes. So we had to practice over and over again to perfectly sing it. I've learned to control my high pitch voice and worked on my lower pitch. I've also learned how to work collaboratively with other in singing so we could have a best result. Through this activity, the conductor helped us a lot. He showed us how to sing in unison perfectly and how to control our voice and pitch to produce great quality of singing. In this activity, I've learned to appreciate life through singing and glad that I have a voice to sing.
Outcomes met: 1,2,4,5,and 8
Journal #20
Service/Creativity Activity: Tri-M Girl Scouts Day
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes: Work collaboratively with others, increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses, and show perseverance and commitment
One morning was dedicated to helping Girls Scouts earn their Music Badge. This was accomplished by having them participate in various activities such as sing-a-longs, making musical instruments, and music from around the world. I helped the girls sing songs in French and Spanish and also helped then do karaoke. I also photographed this activity and ensured that the girls had fun. The co-historian of the club also helped me photograph the activities and the girls. I learned my strength was photography and I need to work on working with large groups of children.
ok so I created my account a long time ago when we were supposed to and I even blogged a little since then, too, but I didn't realize we were supposed to post on here and not on our pages. So greetings everyone, I'm Cathryn Campbell. & here is what I have already posted about paintballing. I also have stuff on some performances I did, but I'm not using those hours anymore because I don't need them.
November 15 (4 hours)
Miss Floyd and the Chamber Orchestra planned to go paintballing November fifteenth. It was my first time going so I was a little nervous. I was scared of how much it would hurt to get hit, and I didn't really understand the rules of the game. We went to Dan's Land Paintball. It was two teams of five. Each team had two people that had played before and three people that never played before.
Before we got started, Dan explained everything to us. He talked to us about safety. There was a safety button on the guns so that, when it was pushed, the guns wouldn't fire. They also had orange barrel covers on the guns so just in case your gun did go off it wouldn't shoot anything. Dan also explained to us the rules.
The field was set up with all kinds of barriers in it. One team started on one side of the field and the other team started on the other side. When the game started, everyone ran behind a barrier and would peek out and shoot at people. The team that got all it's players shot first lost. It was pretty fun. Most of the time you would get hit when moving from one blockade to another, or when you are shooting at someone and they are shooting at you at the same time. Sometimes, though, you get hit by someone who you just don't see.
We played four games. My team one 3 out of four. I only got shot twice. That means I stayed in for the whole time on two of the games. Paintball was so much fun! My legs were soar the next day, though, from running, squatting, and getting shot.
We are talking about going paintballing again next semester. I hope we do. It was so much fun!
We went paintballing since then and it was basically more of the same.
So my hours basically fall into three different categories (other then creativity, action, and service): junior marshall duties, RFKC summer camp, and orchestra hours. I have a few other hours, too, but I will post my blogs in those groups. Here are my "other" hours:
Name of activity: Passing Out Water
Category: Service
Hours: 4
Learning Outcomes met: Increased their awereness of their own strengths and areas for growth
Explanation: My boyfriend's youth group and I passed out cold water bottles to people in an intersection one hot summer day. There was not really any other motive behind doing it other than to serve our community and fight back thirst. It was funny to see the spectrum of people's responses: some would be happy to take the water, others would kindly refuse, and others would pretend like they didn't see us, as if we were asking them for something, not offering them something. This activity really helped me to learn about servanthood and what it means to serve just to serve.
Name of activity: softball
category: action
hours: 10
Learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, undertaken new challenges, worked collaboratively with others, shown perseverance and commitment in their activities, developed new skill
explanation: Playing softball was first of all fun, and secondly a great learning experience. I learned about how to work well with a team, when to lead and when to follow. I pushed myself to learn a new position than what I was used to. I learned how to play catcher which helped me develop new skills and undertake a personal challenge.
Name of activity: Senior Courtyard Cleanup
category: service
hours: 2
learning outcomes met: planned and initiated activites
explanation: the NHS volunteered to clean up the senior courtyard. It was really more landscaping than cleaning. Of course we got trash off the ground and stuff, but we mostly had to pick up weeds, cut the grass, trim bushes, and the likes. I didn't really like landscaping before and I still don't really, but I did learn more about it with this activity. I have more appreciation for landscapers now.
Journal #21
Creativity Activity: Honor Band Performance
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, increase awareness of strengths and areas of growth, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment
Every week for almost a month, students from bands from all over Clayton County met at the Performing Arts Center to rehearse and prepare for a performance. The performance was successful after the tension filled rehearsals we had due to the marching band competitiveness that majority of the participating students felt. We were so used to being separated and competitive that it carried into what was supposed to be neutral rehearsals. However, we were able to put those feelings and competitions behind and work towards a successful show. During this activity I learned of my strength in sight reading but need to learn how to better socialize and step out of my comfort zone.
Name of activity: Church Clean-Up
category: service
hours: 6
Learning outcomes met: worked collaboratively with others
explanation: My church had a renovation and I went after it was done to help clean up. It was basically an all-day affair. It was so much fun. It wasn't just me, it was a group of people helping out. The experience helped to teach me that volunteering and serving doesn't always have to be a drag, it can be fun too! It felt good for me to be able to give back to my church that has given so much to me.
Reflection 18
Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Courtyard
Dates: May 12, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 3 & 4
On this day, we, the Juniors Marshals, thought it would be a service to our school if we “renovated” the Senior Courtyard. We raked the yard, pulled weeds, cleaned benches and tables and picked up the left over lunch trays and bottle tops (Lord on knows how old they were).
Outcomes Met:
3) Junior Marshal duties were ongoing activities for the last two months of the 2008-2009 school year and I attended and worked through each event.
4) I collaborated with my fellow Junior Marshals to make the courtyard a but nicer for the senior to lunch in.
Reflection 19
Activity: Junior Marshal- Honor Graduate Picnic
Dates: May 13, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 7
Learning Outcomes: 3 & 4
This day, we decorated the Senior Courtyard for the Honor Graduate Picnic that took place during lunch. This was no easy task as our school’s courtyard did not give us Marshals much to work with. We cleaned, created signs and hung decorations made from tissue paper.
Outcomes Met:
3) Junior Marshal duties were ongoing activities for the last two months of the 2008-2009 school year and I attended and worked through each event.
4) I collaborated with my fellow Junior Marshals to make the courtyard a but nicer for the Honor Graduates.
Reflection 20
Activity: Junior Marshal- Attendance Office
Dates: May 14, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
I learned fairly quickly that Junior Marshals were not only “senior slaves” but we served the entire school faculty as well. Someway, somehow, the faculty of Lovejoy High weaseled their way into using the Junior Marshals for their own miscellaneous tasks. We did not mind after all because in the end we were receiving community service hours. My task for this day was to work in the attendance office with Ms. Angela Moylan.
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with Ms. Moylan and other attendance office workers to achieve the normal tasks of the day.
5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 21
Activity: Junior Marshal- Front Office
Dates: May 14, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
My task for this day was to work in the main office with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins.
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins and other main office staff to achieve the normal tasks of the day.
5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 22
Activity: Junior Marshal- Senior Picnic
Dates: May 15, 2010
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes: 2, 4, 5 & 8
As a part of Senior Week at Lovejoy High, there is a Senior Picnic. This picnic is to a senior what “field Day” would be to an elementary school student. All the Junior Marshals checked all of the equipment beforehand and set up games as well as the picnic layout. We each had a specific station to oversee. My station was the cotton candy machine. It was a lot more fun that it looked!
Outcomes Met:
2) New challenges I faced at the senior picnic were making cotton candy and learning to deal with rude, hasty and attitudinal seniors!
4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow Junior Marshals to ensure a successful event.
5) Through all of the unbearable heat and demanding seniors, I did my job with pride and excellence.
8) Through working at the picnic, I found that I was quite crafty with the cotton candy maker and time management.
Reflection 23
Activity: Junior Marshal- Front Office
Dates: May 15, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
My task for this day was to work in the main office with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins.
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with Ms. Kenty and Ms. Perkins and other main office staff to achieve the normal tasks of the day.
5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 24
Activity: Chemistry Class Instruction
Dates: May 20-May 21, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 6
Learning Outcomes: 2, 3 & 4
On these dates, my fellow IB Chemistry classmates and I recognized that our teacher was having a rather difficult time with her classes. They were rude and obnoxious and showed a total lack of respect. I hate to witness disrespect and to see a teacher in distress over student unwilling to cooperate. So my classmates and I decided that we would take over the class for a while and see if we as their peers could reach the students better.
Outcomes Met:
2) As previously mentioned in my blogging, public speaking is NOT my area of expertise. Attempting to teach a class full of strangers that can sense fear and take advantage of it thereof was quite the challenge for me.
3) Angel, Taylor and I took charge and initiated this deed of service. It felt great to give of myself without having to be prompted by others.
4) I worked collaboratively with my fellow classmates to achieve our goal. I am glad they were with me because we were truly able to support one another while teaching. If one of us needed a little assistance, the other would jump right in to help.
Reflection 25
Activity: Junior Marshal- Counseling Office
Dates: May 22, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
My task for this day was to work in the counseling office.
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with the counselors and other counseling office staff to achieve the normal tasks of the day.
5) I showed commitment to my school and Junior Marshal Contract by enduring the last minute requests of faculty without complaint and by doing each and every task assigned to me effectively.
Reflection 26
Activity: Junior Marshal- Business & Marketing Class (Ms. Gordon’s Room)
Dates: May 22, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 1
Learning Outcomes: 4
As always, the Junior Marshals were assigned stations for the day. One of my stations was the Marketing classroom. I helped the instructor, Ms. Gordon, who also happened to be a senior advisor, prepare her classroom for the end of the school year.
4) Throughout this task I worked collaboratively with my fellow Junior Marshall DeAndre’.
Reflection 27
Activity: Junior Marshal- Graduation Rehearsal 1
Dates: May 27, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 4
The Junior Marshals organized the seniors by last name and distributed our white names cards accordingly. Also, we assisted in the rest of the graduation rehearsal with regards to entrance, seating arrangements and exiting.
Outcomes Met:
4) The Junior Marshal s worked together to ensure a smooth and fluid graduation rehearsal with the hopes of having the same performance at the actual graduation.
Reflection 28
Activity: Junior Marshal- Graduation Rehearsal 2
Dates: May 28, 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 4
The Junior Marshals organized the seniors by last name and distributed our pink names cards accordingly. Also, we assisted in the rest of the graduation rehearsal with regards to entrance, seating arrangements and exiting.
Outcomes Met:
4) The Junior Marshal s worked together to ensure a smooth and fluid graduation rehearsal with the hopes of having the same performance at the actual graduation.
Reflection 29
Activity: Marching Band
Dates: August – October 2009
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 & 8
As a Dancing Diamond at Lovejoy High School I perform with the Marching Wildcat Band every Friday of the football season under the direction of Ryan Lincey and LaToya Lee. During this season I held the position of Co-Captain on my team. Throughout the season, I helped to improve and inspire my team as a whole as well as each individual by instilling confidence and pride in their art and school.
Outcomes met:
1) I increased my leadership ability by taking on a new roll in the team as Co-Captain
2) I have undertaking new challenges many of which came from dealing with a plethora or personalities from the girls to their parents and band members.
4) I worked collaboratively with my sponsor, choreographer, drum majors, and band directors at every practice and performance to make sure that we were all on one accord.
5) I attended every practice and performance and dealt with difficulties during the activity, whether it is a disagreement within the team or concerns arising from parents, at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.
7) Often times I had to make decisions that may not have pleased everyone involved but it was
done for the better of the team.
8) I developed new skills including: inspiring, leading, comforting, improving and challenging my teammates.
Reflection 30
Activity: The Wildside News Staff
Dates: 2009-2010 School Year
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 10
Learning Outcomes: 1,2,3,4,5,7 & 8
The Wildside is the newspaper at Lovejoy High. This year, the journalism class was striving toward bringing back the newspaper as well as an actual Journalism Club. Due to lack of funding and time, we were not to produce and issue this year; however, we did create a solid foundation for the upcoming year.
Outcomes Met:
1)I increased my awareness of my people skills as the Dear Destiny… columnist.
2 & 7) Writing as an official reporter was quite the challenge for me because I had to learn to consider every word I said, as ethics a major part of journalism.
3 & 4) I collaborated with my fellow journalists to plan activities necessary for fundraising such as selling nachos after school.
5) Even though we did not get the results desired, The Wildside News Staff continued to work for future staff and club.
8) I developed several new skills such as: interviewing techniques, marketing strategy, ethical decision making and m much more.
Reflection 31
Activity: Battle of the Bands
Date: May 10, 2009
Location: Herndon Stadium
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
As part of the Lovejoy High School Dancing Diamonds, I have a number of performances a year. One of the main attractions is the Battle of the Bands.
4) I worked collaboratively with my Captain and band director.
5) I have shown perseverance throughout the 2009-2010 season by attending all practices and attending all but one performances.
Reflection 32
Activity: Tennessee State University
Dates: November 6 – November 8, 2009
Location: Tennessee State University
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
On this weekend the Wildcat Marching Band was included in the TSU Homecoming Parade.
4) I worked collaboratively with Captain and band director
5) I have shown perseverance throughout the 2009-2010 season
Reflection 33
Activity: Dazz with Jazz 3rd¬ Annual Battle of the Dancelines Competition
Dates: November 22, 2009
Location: Clayton County Performing Arts Center
Hours: 6.
Learning Outcomes: 4 & 5
On this day I volunteered with the Dazz with Jazz dance company at the competition center. This competition was designed to showcase the dancelines of the metro-Atlanta through competition in the areas of stands and field routines.
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with the team sponsors, choreographers, and other volunteers backstage through communication.
3) Through all of the chaos occurring backstage before the competition, I stuck through it and helped to ensure a smooth running show.
Reflection 34
Activity: IB Seniors to IB Juniors Rap Session
Dates: January 29, 2010
Location: Lovejoy High School
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes: 1, 3 & 4
Two of my fellow classmates and I thought it might be helpful to chat with the IB Juniors to see if they had any questions about what to expect Senior year from the program and what colleges to start looking at. Though the questions were few I do feel that the information we gave was helpful.
Outcomes Met:
3) The IB Seniors participating in this activity initiated the activity as well.
4) I worked collaboratively with my classmates to present a summary of what lay ahead for the juniors.
Reflection 35
Activity: ING Marathon; St. Jude’s Volunteer
Dates: March 21, 2010
Location: Approximately 5 miles from Centennial Park
Hours: 8
Learning Outcomes: 4, 7
On this day I acted as a St. Jude’s volunteer for the ING Marathon with a group of my fellow IB classmates: Jazmine, Dominik, Alex, Cecili and Hao. We were responsible for handling the hydration station 4. The volunteers were at the site at the crack of dawn it seemed. 6 am on a weekend is torture to a teenager but it was well worth it. We had a great time together cheering on the runners, walkers and wheelers.
Outcomes Met:
4) I worked collaboratively with a group of my classmates.
7) Call time was 5:30 am, instead of arriving at 8 am like a few others did, Alex, Dominik and I decided that it would be more appropriate to show up on time.
ORCHESTRA HOURS
Name of activity: solo & ensemble
category: creative
hours: 4
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others
explanation: solo and ensemble is a Saturday where small groups from Clayton County perform and get evaluated. I played in a quartet and a duet both junior and senior years. I learned and grew between the years and improved from junior year to senior year. The first year, my duet got the second highest score and we told ourselves that we were going to do it again and work harder the next year and get the highest score, and we did it by golly. My groupmates and I learned more about playing in a small ensemble and the importance of our part in the group.
Name of activity: Fall Concert
category: creative
hours: 4
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others
explanation: The Fall concert is always the first concert for Lovejoy High School orchestra. This helps the orchestra really get a feel for how the rest of the year should be. When working up to this concert, my orchestra mates and I got to know each other better and kind of get a feel for everyone's talent level. It's like a breaking in time for the orchestra like the breaking in of a new pair of shoes.
Name of activity: Spivey Hall (11th grade)
category: creative
hours: 10
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others
explanation: Spivey Hall is my favorite concert of every year. It is actually called the Spivey Hall Honor Chamber Clinic, but its just easier to call it Spivey Hall. This Honor Clinic invites the cream of the crop musicians from all over Georgia to perform together in one concert. We have one long all day rehearsal together and then perform that same night. I really enjoyed it. the music director from Florida State University conducted and helped us out a lot.
Name of activity: Winter Concert
category: creative
hours: 4
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others
explanation: The winter concert is the holiday concert for the Lovejoy High School orchestra. I love the holiday concert because it gives me the opportunity to spread holiday cheer through my art. The music is never as dificult as the other concerts throughout the year, so it makes the concert more fun and lighthearted. We always do a full orchestra piece which is good experience for me to have for my college music career.
ORCHESTRA HOURS CON'T
Name of activity: Mass Work
category: creative
hours: 10
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others
explanation: The mass work concert is an experience I have been thankful to have every year. I basically relate a mass work to a Catholic mass. The music is written to be sung by a choir with orchestra in the background and the lyrics are religious, but in Latin. I always enjoy playing in Spivey Hall and when the orchestra plays with an outside group like a choir or band.
Name of activity: Spring Concert (11th grade)
category: creative
hours: 2
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others, considered the ethical implications of their actions
explanation: The Spring concert is always a themed concert that is the last concert of the year. Orchestra awards are also given out at this concert. In 11th grade the theme was cultures from around the world. This concert helped me to not only learn more about foreign cultures, but also be able to appreciate their music. The rhythms in the Latin music were a little tricky, but i got the hang of them after much practice.
Name of activity: Spivey Hall (12th grade)
category: creative
hours: 10
learning outcomes met: increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, worked collaborately with others
explanation:Spivey Hall is my favorite concert of every year. It is actually called the Spivey Hall Honor Chamber Clinic, but its just easier to call it Spivey Hall. This Honor Clinic invites the cream of the crop musicians from all over Georgia to perform together in one concert. We have one long all day rehearsal together and then perform that same night. I really enjoyed it. the music director from University of Georgia came this year and conducted and helped us out a lot.
JUNIOR MARSHALL DUTIES
Name of activity: Creating Graduation Index Cards
Category: service/creativity
Hours:4
Learning Outcomes met:1, 4
Explanation: This is when the junior marshalls all had to make index cards for graduation. Each graduating senior's name was on an index card, and it was our responsibility to put those cards in alphabetical order, excluding the honor grads, whose names got put in the front in order or class rank. This helped me get ot know my fellow peers, about who rises to leadership, who has bad ideas,a and other stuff like that. It was interesting finding where we all fit in the organized mess of what we were doing.
Name of activity: Senior Breakfast work
Category: service, creativity
Hours: 6
Learning outcomes met:1,4,7, &8
explanation: As part of Junior Marshall duty, we had to set up, decorate, serve, and clean up the senior breakfast. We decorated the cafeteria the day before the breakfast after school. That took about two hours of hanging streamers, blowing up balloons, puting out party favors, creating pretty signs, and other things of that nature. The next morning, early before school, we started actually setting up the place for the breakfast. Then we served them as they came through the line, and aftwards we cleaned up after them, and let me tell you, the class of '09 was not a clean class.
Name of activity: Honor Graduate Picnic work
Category: service, action
Hours: 5
Learning outcomes met: 1,4,7,&8
explanation: The junior marshalls had to make signs for, set up for, serve, and clean up the honor grad picnic. This activity was particularly challenging because many of the honor grads had been junior marshalls the year before, and therefore found it amusing to give us a hard time and prank us. We took the abuse well though and took it as tradition, and we are plotting our abuse for the junior marshalls this year. Throughout all of the junior marshall duty, especially this task, I learned how to be a humble and pacient servant.
Name of activity: Senior Picnic work
Category: action, service
Hours: 8
Learning outcomes met: 1, 4, 5,
explaination: The senior picnic was the most challenging, yet the most fun activities of junior marshall duty! We went out to the field during first period to start setting things up. The seniors didn't come out until third period and when they came out we served them food, then we were able to eat. After that, everyone had a station they worked. I was at the popcorn and cotton candy machines most of the time, but I was kind of floating around the whole time doing whatever Ms. Floyd wanted me to do. Then, we had to stay and break everything down after the seniors went back inside. I ended up staying after school to get everything done.
RFKC (ROYAL FAMILY KIDS' CAMP) HOURS
Royal Family Kids' Camp is a one week summer camp that is offered to abused children ages 6-11 in the Clayton County Foster Care system. It is a nationwide organization, but the one I volunteered at was with Clayton County children. The following are activities I did as part of volunteering there.
Name of Activity: Breakfast work
Category: service
Hours:5
Learning Outcomes met: 3,4,7
Explanation: I was a teen helper at camp, and as part of that, we had to set up, serve, and clean up every breakfast every day at camp. We were not only serving the kids here, but also the other volunteers as well. It felt good to serve. It was sometimes a sticky mess, but in the end it wasn't that bad. There were many teen helpers, so that made the workload easier.
Name of Activity: Lunch work
Category: service
Hours:5
Learning Outcomes met: 3,4,7
Explanation: I was a teen helper at camp, and as part of that, we had to set up, serve, and clean up every lunch every day at camp. We were not only serving the kids here, but also the other volunteers as well. It felt good to serve. It was sometimes a sticky mess, but in the end it wasn't that bad. There were many teen helpers, so that made the workload easier.
Name of Activity: Dinner work
Category: service
Hours:5
Learning Outcomes met: 3,4,7
Explanation: I was a teen helper at camp, and as part of that, we had to set up, serve, and clean up every dinner every day at camp. We were not only serving the kids here, but also the other volunteers as well. It felt good to serve. It was sometimes a sticky mess, but in the end it wasn't that bad. There were many teen helpers, so that made the workload easier.
Name of Activity: Rehearsal for the play - "Sheepfold"
Category: creativity
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes met: 1,2,4,7,&8
Explanation: The Sheepfold was a play that we put on for the kids every day. It was an ongoing continuous story. We spent about an hour every day rehearsing. Thankfully, we had a theatre major there as a volunteer to help us with the play. I learned about scene blocking in rehearsal, and I also learned about the over dramatization of children's theatre. The rule is if you don't feel silly doing it, you're doing it wrong. Needless to say, I felt very silly through most of that play.
Name of Activity: Acting in "Sheepfold"
Category: creativity
Hours: 8
Learning Outcomes met: 1,2,4,7,&8
Explanation: Acting in this play was one of the funnest things i've done. I know I felt stupid through most of it because of the over dramatization, but it was all for the kids, and they thouroughly enjoyed it, which was my goal for the whole thing. There was nothing I did at RFKC that I didn't do with the purpose in mind of the kids having fun.
JUNIOR MARSHALL DUTY
I forgot one...
Activity name: Baccalaureate Program
Category: service
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 1
explanation: I worked at the Baccalaureate program, which is basically like a religious graduation. I helped to set up both for the service, and for the reception afterwards. One obstable that we had was the rain, so we set up a big tent and used that to cover everything. This was a major success. The class of '09 had a very beautiful Baccalaureate Service.
RFKC HOURS PART 2
Name of Activity: Swimming
Category: action
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes: 1,4,5,&7
Explanation: Every day the kids got an hour to swim. All the female volunteers would swim with the girls and the male volunteers would swim with the boys. It was fun to play games with the kids every day in the pool and just get to know them and make a positive impact on their lives. They taught me how to be childlike and not have a care in the world, which adults need to be like sometimes too.
Name of Activity: Archery
Category: action
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes: 2,5,&8
Explanation: One of the activities for the kids to do was archery. Before the camp, I knew nothing about archery. The volunteers had a little training session before teaching the kids about archery. It was so much fun. The kids really enjoyed. I'm glad to have learned how to use a bow and arrow.
Name of Activity: Giving out shoes
Category: service
Hours: 1
Learning Outcomes: 1,4,&7
Explanation: The camp provided a pair of shoes for each child. It was up to us, a small group of volunteers, to organize the shoes by sex and by size. It was pretty chaotic when the kids came to get their shoes because the children had short attention spans and were loud, but we got the job done. This was one job where the lesson of patience was obvious.
Name of Activity: Set up for "Christmas"
Category: service
Hours: 1
Learning Outcomes: 1,4,&7
Explanation: The camp also provides the children with a "Christmas in July" type thing because many of the children come from homes where their Christmas is not very joyful. The children absolutly loved it. Our job was to set up one of the rooms to be like a ski lodge that Santa was going to come to. All the children got their picture with Santa Claus, too.
Name of Activity: Easter Egg Hunt
Category: action
Hours: 4
Learning Outcomes: 2,5,7,&8
Explanation: This was one of my favorite parts of camp! We set up a little Easter egg hunt too, because many of the children come from homes that didn't provide an Easter egg hunt. First, we went and spread eggs all over a field. Then, I went and dressed up as the Easter Bunny and showed up to the Easter egg hunt. My job as the Easter Bunny, was just to skip around and frolic in the field with the children. That was one of the best experiences of my whole life. Afterwards, each child got his or her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. It was extremely hot in the suit, but I persevered through it. Some of the kids did not believe I was the real Easter Bunny and I didn't want them to tell the other kids who did believe. There were two Easter egg hunts: one for the girls and one for the boys.
RFKC PART 3
Name of Activity: Night Relief
Category: service
Hours: 6
Learning Outcomes: 1&7
Explanation: Night relief is when us, the teen helpers, go into the cabins at night and give the counselors a break. We are in there a couple of hours and hopefully the kids are asleep by the time the counselors get back. This is good relief for the counselors, because although they love the children, a short break is always nice. It was also nice for the teen helpers to get some extra time in with the kids to get to know them better.
Name of Activity: Breakfast Club
Category: service
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes met: 1&7
Explanation: Breakfast Club was another short break for the counselors. The time is right after breakfast, and we take the kids into another room where they have little mini-concerts where they can sing and dance, puppet shows, and veggitales. Again, its nice to give the counselors breaks and also nice for the teen helpers to get some bonding time in with the children. The kids taught me how to be less shy and not care about what the person next to me thinks if I want to sing and dance.
Name of Activity: Carnival Work
Category: action
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes met: 2,3,7,&8
Explanation: On the third day of camp, there is a carnival put on for the kids. At the carnival are rides, snacks, moon bounces, and all kinds of fun stuff for them to do. My friend and I worked at the inflatable waterslide station. That was so much fun. I learned how to work at a waterslide. It was a great job to have because it was hot outside but we were always near cool water. It was so great to see how the kids enjoyed going down the slide over and over agian. Eventually they started to want to slide down with their counselors, which we let them, even though we probably weren't technically supposed to.
Name of Activity: Talent Show
Category: service
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes met: 1,4,&7
Explanation: The third day is cram packed because right after the carnival is lunch and right after is the talent show that we had to set up and break down. We wanted to make the children feel like celebrities with their talents. We had a spotlight for them and everything. Some of us helped them pick out pretty dresses to wear for the show. We created signs for all the kids in the show with their names written all pretty and special. The children were very talented I was very impressed. Afterwards we learned that its much easier to hand garland and lights in a tree than it is to take it out. That helped to teach me patience. It was late and I was tired and the stupid lights didn't want to cooperate with me. But its all worth it for the kids.
Name of Activity: Shaving Cream Fight
Category: action
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes met: 2,4,7,&8
Explanation: To set up the shaving cream fight, we set up a bunch of cans of shaving cream in a line down a field. We played volunteers against the kids (it was really every man for himself). The volunteers started on one side of the cans and the kids started on the other side and when the buzzer blew everyone ran to grab a can (or 2) of shaving cream and we squirted it all over each other. This was a new skill I learned and I was undertaking a new challenge. I didn't really like the shaving cream in my mouth and hair, and it was impossible to rub off of anywhere because it was everywhere. Afterwards a fire truck came and squirted us all down to clean us. That was a fun experience, but most importantly, it was fun for the children, whether it was fun for me or not, they are more important. The whole RFKC experience helped to teach me selflessness.
RFKC PART 3
Name of Activity: Night Relief
Category: service
Hours: 6
Learning Outcomes: 1&7
Explanation: Night relief is when us, the teen helpers, go into the cabins at night and give the counselors a break. We are in there a couple of hours and hopefully the kids are asleep by the time the counselors get back. This is good relief for the counselors, because although they love the children, a short break is always nice. It was also nice for the teen helpers to get some extra time in with the kids to get to know them better.
Name of Activity: Breakfast Club
Category: service
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes met: 1&7
Explanation: Breakfast Club was another short break for the counselors. The time is right after breakfast, and we take the kids into another room where they have little mini-concerts where they can sing and dance, puppet shows, and veggitales. Again, its nice to give the counselors breaks and also nice for the teen helpers to get some bonding time in with the children. The kids taught me how to be less shy and not care about what the person next to me thinks if I want to sing and dance.
Name of Activity: Carnival Work
Category: action
Hours: 5
Learning Outcomes met: 2,3,7,&8
Explanation: On the third day of camp, there is a carnival put on for the kids. At the carnival are rides, snacks, moon bounces, and all kinds of fun stuff for them to do. My friend and I worked at the inflatable waterslide station. That was so much fun. I learned how to work at a waterslide. It was a great job to have because it was hot outside but we were always near cool water. It was so great to see how the kids enjoyed going down the slide over and over agian. Eventually they started to want to slide down with their counselors, which we let them, even though we probably weren't technically supposed to.
Name of Activity: Talent Show
Category: service
Hours: 3
Learning Outcomes met: 1,4,&7
Explanation: The third day is cram packed because right after the carnival is lunch and right after is the talent show that we had to set up and break down. We wanted to make the children feel like celebrities with their talents. We had a spotlight for them and everything. Some of us helped them pick out pretty dresses to wear for the show. We created signs for all the kids in the show with their names written all pretty and special. The children were very talented I was very impressed. Afterwards we learned that its much easier to hand garland and lights in a tree than it is to take it out. That helped to teach me patience. It was late and I was tired and the stupid lights didn't want to cooperate with me. But its all worth it for the kids.
Name of Activity: Shaving Cream Fight
Category: action
Hours: 2
Learning Outcomes met: 2,4,7,&8
Explanation: To set up the shaving cream fight, we set up a bunch of cans of shaving cream in a line down a field. We played volunteers against the kids (it was really every man for himself). The volunteers started on one side of the cans and the kids started on the other side and when the buzzer blew everyone ran to grab a can (or 2) of shaving cream and we squirted it all over each other. This was a new skill I learned and I was undertaking a new challenge. I didn't really like the shaving cream in my mouth and hair, and it was impossible to rub off of anywhere because it was everywhere. Afterwards a fire truck came and squirted us all down to clean us. That was a fun experience, but most importantly, it was fun for the children, whether it was fun for me or not, they are more important. The whole RFKC experience helped to teach me selflessness.
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