The Grand Opening Of T-raza Is Near!

Everything is slowly coming together and turning out amazing, for the past month as a team we have been focusing on getting all the necessary needs for the youth center before the big opening such as decorations, food, donations for the raffle that will be taken place during the opening( contacting businesses around the Tamarindo community for donations for the raffle), getting other donations from people within other communities such as more furniture and other objects for decorations. As these tasks are slowly being completed, everything at the youth center will start to come together and turn more than just amazing, a lot of hard work is being put into this project so we can provide the community with a safe and entertaining youth center for the young!

As of now the most important factor in order for this project to be successful is to be organized! Organization is a key factor when it comes to succeeding; having all these different tasks at once in such a short amount of time and not being organized could possibly lead to chaos and that cannot happen a week before the opening. Before any activity or idea is being taken into consideration or being proposed to the team, we have to look at the statistics, the outcomes and the pros and cons of that idea, lay those factors out and think about if this idea that is being suggested will really impact the youth center in a positive way and will it really be necessary and beneficial. Before I propose an idea, what I tend to do is, I create vision statements and visualize how this idea will work, if I do think it will work, then I go ahead and right down it’s pro’s and cons and once I actually think that this idea is worth being taken into consideration, I will go ahead and propose the idea publicly and layout all it’s pros and cons and how it will be beneficial. This is the type of planning management and way I perceive an idea or activity before going ahead and doing it without knowing the circumstances of it. For example, we have a group chat between everyone that is involved with this project and before I even think of typing the idea or suggestion I have, I stop and think; ask myself if it’s really worth it or is it really necessary for the youth center and will the team like this idea, because I can’t just think about my point of view and my perceptions on how the youth center should appear because this is team work, we should agree upon everyone’s ideas. So once I have thought about all these different factors, and I do agree that this idea is worth the try then I go ahead and suggest it to the team, we discuss about it and we come to a conclusion whether it’s worth it or not.

Speaking generally, this whole project/activity was not found by myself, Henry a student at La Paz community school, is the founder of this youth center, he was the one that participated in those meetings to be able to be part of this project and have some sort of “ownership”in creating and making this project a possibility. Once this has been done, Amy Jacobs a teacher at La Paz community school proposed to us this idea of running a youth center in Tamarindo, I thought this was an amazing idea because in our community it’s important to have a safe place in which teenagers can meet new people through cultural exchange to learn about each other and entertaining themselves through fun activities. Having a successful social life has always a positive impact in the human brain, and we want to promote health as a youth center because health is crucial! Once I have thought about all these different factors and how this youth center can really provide positive change in our community, I agreed to take part in this project not only because I thought it was going to be successful but because it was going to pay back to the community very positively and that’s the main purpose of a CAS project, giving back the community an activity that will be beneficial and will have a positive impact upon communities that surround us. This youth center will be crucial because it will promote safety, it will promote health as a teenager because having a balanced schedule and life is important to stay healthy and because we are bringing so many communities together through social interactions and learning from each other culturally.

Teamwork was the crucial part of this activity, and was so important in order for this project/activity to be successful. Me as an individual don’t usually enjoy working with large groups of people because it tends to get very chaotic at times for me to cope with all the different opinions or if the people don’t agree with your ideas; this project hasn’t just taught me on how to grow as an individual generally but has helped me grow out of my weaknesses. I couldn’t be more grateful for working with the people I have worked with during this project:

Amy Jacobs

Carolynn Herman/ Kevin Herman

Jade Imbert

Henry Rios

Ashley Look

Nadja Imbert

Silvana Zindovic

These people have not only taught me important factors of how to run a business like this but they have helped me grow as a student and as an individual as well as step out of my comfort zone when I need to. This project is a huge activity and will be is a huge step into moving forward with my life, this activity isn’t just benefiting the community but is benefitting me as an individual by teaching me learning outcomes and growth as a person. Becoming more mature, learning how to stay organized, time management skills and finally teamwork. These factors are all learning outcomes, i learn as I work with these people, working in a project likewise with people that have experience is always positive for your business and yourself because you learn from them and then apply those learning outcomes into the project and this is how it can impact the project learning from each other always leads to success and will impact the project in a positive manner.

The main goal of a CAS project in general is giving back a beneficial and positive activity to the communities surrounding you. The main purpose of this youth center is to provide a safe environment that will include social interactions between teenagers from the ages of 13-18, through entertaining activities that all teenagers enjoy doing. A lot of teenagers in our communities in the present day, tend to replace their free time with inappropriate activities and we want to eliminate that from our communities, and replace that with positive activities that teenagers can learn from while enjoying themselves. As a youth center, we want to make sure that teenagers feel comfortable and safe in that space, make sure that everyone has a time in their busy schedule to take time off, and socialize with their friends through social interactions and diverse activities. Once again, balance is key in order to stay healthy no matter about what. In this case, it would be a balance between your academic and social life which is something that a lot of teenagers tend to have a problem with, either there social lives are stellar but there academic life isn’t succeeding or either there academic life is excellent but there social life is non-existent; this is not healthy! We want to change that and that’s the main goal as a youth center, promote health by engaging yourself and participating in diverse social activities and step out of your comfort zone and feel comfortable and confident with your social life and your individuality.

We have one more week to make sure that everything is organized and fully prepared before the grand opening which takes place Saturday, November 10th 2018 from 5pm to 9pm. We as a team have worked extremely hard on this project and we are inviting everyone to join us and have an amazing night and enjoy themselves through interactions with friends and family and learn more deeply about how this project is important and what were the steps that were followed through to get to where we are now!