Summer 2022 Log

Creativity

 

One way I was creative this summer was during my three weeks at work. During the last three weeks of summer vacation, I was working at my dad’s business In Tamarindo, Senderos. My work comprised digging, raking, cutting, and just about any other form of physical labor to create dirt hiking trails for the Senderos residence. In order to create these trails, you need to map them out in your head to overcome obstacles and have the optimal trail for the terrain given.

 

What are your strengths and areas for growth? How did your strengths help you be successful? How did you work on your areas for growth? Did you get better at something?

 

My strengths were definitely my youth because I was so young It was somewhat easy to keep up with the older guys out there working. I also feel like my creativity itself was a strength because many of the ideas I proposed actually got used. For example, I proposed a switchback when we approached a very steep hill, the other guys proposed stairs but we decided that a switchback would be a better choice.

 

My biggest area of growth during this experience is my Spanish improved a ton. I was very comfortable speaking in Spanish with the other Jardineros and because of that, I spoke a lot.

 

What challenges did you take on? What skills did you develop?

 

Endurance was definitely my biggest challenge. I had never really worked a Job before so working hours on end was definitely a toll on my mind. I worked 8 am – 2 pm and spent another 3-4 hours in the office working on my computer. Near the beginning, the days felt like forever but after three weeks time started to go by a little faster.

 

How did you show perseverance and commitment?

 

I showed perseverance and commitment by dedicating myself to almost a month of working for Senderos during what was supposed to be my two-month break.

 

Who did you work collaboratively with and how did it go?

 

I worked collaboratively with the whole Senderos team. During my experience, I met countless people and made many friends. I learned at least something new from just about every person I met and It helped me better understand how a business works. 

 

Activity

 

I stayed active over this break by participating In Juegos Nationales with my Nicoya basketball team. During this summer we played a game every Saturday in the month of August. I went to practice on Thursday nights and the games on Saturdays. Out of all the games, we played this month we never lost. We won all 4 games and have qualified to participate in the actual tournament in San Jose.

 

What are your strengths and areas for growth? How did your strengths help you be successful? How did you work on your areas for growth? Did you get better at something?

 

My strengths in this activity are teamwork and athleticism. Teamwork is the most important skill to have when playing any team sport. In this basketball tournament, I would often play point guard, this means I would call plays and help my team be better positioned to win. Athleticism is also very important in any sport because it is one of the largest factors that put you above your competition. My biggest areas of growth would most likely be my Spanish skills as well as my basketball confidence. Playing in important games creates a lot of stress but after playing in so many games, my confidence on the court increased.

 

What challenges did you take on? What skills did you develop?

 

The biggest challenge for me was playing well. During this month I was working every day and hardly had time for more than one practice a week. It also started at the end of a month trip to the united states where I didn’t really practice basketball that month. I ended up regaining a lot of my skills the more I played and continued to improve the more I played.

 

How did you show perseverance and commitment?

 

During the month of August, I was always busy, I worked from 8-5 and still made time to go to Nicoya to practice on Thursday nights and games on Saturdays that ranged from a 1:30 – 5-hour drive. The practices were something that I didn’t need to attend but I am committed to the sport and will do what I can to make sure I stay at peak performance.

 

Service 

 

This summer for service I went and worked with a company In atlanta georgia that is providing small rental homes for impoverished people. On top of renting homes for these people, they are also teaching them how to grow generational wealth through investing. I am super interested in investing myself and have also chose this company to work with for my HL Business IA.

 

What are your strengths and areas for growth? How did your strengths help you be successful? How did you work on your areas for growth? Did you get better at something?

 

Through this activity I learned and grew a lot. I learned a lot about businesses and how they work as well as investing that I can take back to teach in my CAS project. Already having been taught a year of business and knowing what I did about investing definitely helped me keep up with what was going on in that business. This was a really eye opening experience for me because I got to see what It was like to be a part of a real business. 

 

What challenges did you take on? What skills did you develop?

 

My biggest challenge was not really knowing what to expect. During this experience I was super nervous so I feel like I was much more quite than usual, an observer. In fact I was so out of my comfort zone I couldnt even order food for lunch. The team were going to get lunch to eat and so I didnt really know what to get and I got a plain burger on accident. Like just burger and bun… Near the end of this experience I was much more confident which was good. If I were to go back I would do much better and participate more.

 

How did you show perseverance and commitment?

 

Well I spent the whole day with this company that was in a different country in order to learn more about topics im interested in and experience new things. I would consider that commitment and perseverance in itself.

 

Who did you work collaboratively with and how did it go?

 

I worked collaboratively with the company ROOTS and all of their members. At one point in the day I worked with them to create their new website. I contributed and they actually used one or two of the ideas I had. It really made me feel a part of the team which I really liked.