Another Stage Of This Process Has Begun

Schedule for the next 2 weeks:
Chicken page- Speak with Miss. Amy S. or J. to see what they want us to put in these pages.
11th grade cas project page- Ask Miss. Amy Jacobs to tell us what the 11th graders have to say about their CAS projects and have them do it as part of CAS homework in order for us to not be after them trying to get them to do it.
Getting money from ads- We need to talk to Karina to get the account that we will use to get the money into from all the companies that purchased an ad.
Email La Nación- Send them an email telling them that we will be needing their services again and sending them all the information that they require in order to prepare for the printing of the yearbooks.
Send a thank you letter to all the donors of our Boston Project- As the campaign has ended, we need to thank all the people that were kind enough to donate to our powerful project.
Finish more than 85% of the Yearbook- Complete most of the pages, check them as done and wait for the seniors to finish their pages. We also would only be missing the Graduation page.
Plan bingo- We need to plan a fundraiser, in this case a Bingo for the parents of our community as a way to raise more money for the Boston Project.
Email reserva conchal- We plan on doing the bingo in Reserva Conchal which is why we also have to email them to see if they would be willing to let us use their installations.
Bingo Prizes- Make a letter from the school that we will use to try to get prizes from local companies, stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. We already have a list of possible companies we could contact, we just have to make the letter and go talk to each one of them.
Meet with Cepia- We really want to talk to Lauren about the project, so we are hoping to schedule a meeting with her or Laeticia and see if they have already chosen the kids that will be going this year.

How did I feel before I took on the new challenge?
Throughout this process of CAS, we have and will continue to face many challenges that will put our skills and motivation to the test. One of our recent challenges has been communicating with Cepia more specifically Lauren, as we are wanting to get to know each other and understand what we have done and still have to do regarding this project. Communication is an important aspect of this project as there are a lot of factors that go into it and if we don’t pay special attention to them, we might not be able to reach our main goal. I feel that overall this project has been our main challenge as we have to pay more attention to what we need to do in order to continue moving forward. Before starting I felt that the financial goal of this project was really high and even though it’s not impossible because they were able to reach it last year, it did seem really hard and we knew we had to work extremely hard in order to succeed. I wasn’t feeling prepared and capable of achieving this project, however Melanie helped me change that idea I had of what we were capable of doing. Now we have reached have of our financial goal and are planning on funding the other half with a Bingo night for the parents of our community. Regarding the Yearbook, I feel that it wasn’t much of a challenge because we were already familiar with the process and all the effort and hardwork that goes into it, but of course we had our ups and downs throughout the way.

How can my project be important to the world?
This is something that I have analysed since we started both of our projects. We have noticed that when thinking about this, the yearbook has definitely been the hardest to talk about. This is a project that doesn’t necessarily have a direct impact on the world, but it does leave a mark on the lives of all the member of the La Paz community, specially the students. The yearbook is created with the purpose of holding all the memories that were made throughout the year as students, classes and a community. We can also say and I believe that it gives an opportunity for students to creatively express themselves through the creation of the pages as they are putting their creativity and effort into each one of them. I feel that in many places/countries children don’t have a lot of freedom to express themselves. They are wanted to assist to school with the purpose of learning, but I feel that kids need more than that. They need to be able to express themselves and engages with other students and situations that will help them grow as individuals. So from this perspective, you could say that this project does have an importance to our world. Now, the Boston Exchange Program plays a really important role in our world. This is a big opportunity, a life-changing opportunity for local teenagers to go out of their comfort zone and experience a new culture. It’s a way to show them another perspective of life and for them to see that if they work hard, if they put an effort into school, into becoming professionals then they will be able to achieve their goals. Many students from low resources not just in our community but in the rest of the world, don’t have this opportunity that we are hoping to provide them with. So this project does have a really big importance in our world and our community. And we say this because we have heard it directly from the two girls that were able to go last year, they mentioned that it was an experience that will never forget, that it has made an impact on how they see the world and they feel very fortunate to have received this enormous opportunity. We plan on making a video to show the importance of this project on the lives of everyone who is involved in it and also to show the world that we are all capable of contributing to the development of our world and community, even if it’s as small as planning a trip for two local students.

How did it feel to work with others?
If i’m being honest, I am someone that focuses only on the work that I have to do and hopes for everyone else to do their work. But in this case, I couldn’t do that. Of course Melanie has been an amazing partner that is also working hard to getting things done, but I will be talking about the rest of our team. In the yearbook committee, I feel that it was very easy to get along with the students that decided to help us because we have known them for a couple of years. They always showed commitment and the desire to help us reach our goal, however we always had to act as the leaders that we were and remind them to complete their assignments. This is where my personality had to change as I had to be on top of their progress and make sure that they completed their tasks. It was honestly very simple and fun to work with them and I thank them for all the help, commitment and motivation that they had. Someone that also helped us a lot not just in the Yearbook project but also in the Boston Project was Willa. She was someone that really gave us a hand whenever we needed it, she provided us with tips and guidelines for both of the projects and never said no to helping us. So I really enjoyed working with Willa and for next year I hope to be helpful with the next leaders of both projects just as she was. Then Miss. Amy was someone that also helped us in many occasions and always wanted to make sure that we were doing well with our projects. Even though we don’t usually bother her when it comes to our projects, we do know that she is there whenever we might need her help. She was also someone that we are extremely thankful for. Now working with Abby has showed me the kind of caring, thoughtful and beautiful person that she is. Without her we would have been able to raise the amount of money that we raised for the Boston project. Communication with her was always very effective, we had a few meetings with her where she provided us with many ideas, logistics and thoughts on our progress and what must be done. These are the main individuals that I am extremely thankful for and I am happy to be working with them. Apart from them, we will continue to work with Cepia, many members from Boston, my classmates and the rest of our school and community to make both of our projects a reality.