Wrapping up this project!

As we are getting closer to wrapping up our project with the upcoming trip to Boston, I feel that this project along with the yearbook, has brought me many ups and downs throughout the journey. Due to this, Melanie and I have felt extremely overwhelmed as we are trying to get everything that we are missing before the trip. We have been needing to plan many events and activities to raise money for the plane tickets and to take with us. We have been emailing back and forth with a bunch of people, who are either involved in our project or are wanting to help. But most important we have been paying attention to small details related to the girls and their families as they are getting ready to attend the interview at the U.S embassy for visas. This is something that we need to put a lot of effort and attention into it if we want them to get them. We have been recollecting letters from La Paz, Brookline Highschool and Cepia that explains our project and who is participating in order for the embassy to know exactly why we want them to get their visa. All these small actions that we have to do are part of what is making us feel overwhelmed however, the biggest source of this was the fact that we still hadn’t bought the plane tickets for the trip. As a group, made some mistakes in the beginning of this project which ended up affecting our process and time management. Due to this is that we lost a lot of time that was crucial to getting many things done beforehand, such as getting the visas. This also affected our fundraising and because of this we still don’t have the money necessary to buy the tickets. We are really close to our goal and thankfully as I continued to show perseverance and go on the airline website everyday to check the price of the tickets, last week we were lucky enough to find the tickets at a really low price. Due to this we talked to our teacher and she helped us buy them that same day in order to take advantage of the price from that day. Now we just need to fundraise around $200 to pay her back and after that we can focus mainly on fundraising to take money on the trip. This is something that has definitely taken away part of that stress and overwhelmed feeling not just from the both of us, but also from the rest of the people that are involved in our project. This will give us more freedom and motivation to focus on doing a good job planning the rest of the events needed to raise money. Along with finding warm clothes for the girls and us to take on the trip as we don’t have adequate clothing to be in cold weather. We will also spend more time with the girls to get to know them better, having meetings all together with their families, Miss. Amy and Abby. The last stressful aspect we have to worry about is the interview at the embassy but after that we will be able to have a great time getting ready for the trip! We are really close to our goal and there is no chance that we will give up to make this happen. We want to successfully be the second pair of leaders that make this project happen with our hard work and the help and motivation of our teachers, friends and family. This leads me to think about what I will be leaving behind once I leave La Paz. I want this project to continue to happen as I believe that it truly changes the lives of these students, but it also opens up another way of thinking of their future and what they can become. Therefore, I do want to be remembered in our school for this project, but I know that I will be remembered for many other things, especially since I was one of the first students to ever attend La Paz back in 2007. I hope they remember me as that girl that gave opportunity to other students from our community, that showed perseverance, enthusiasm and a positive attitude no matter how hard the road would get to achieving these goals. Lastly, this project has taught me so many things in a short period of time, that I know I will be using and going back to in my future life. I learned what is like to have a good communication with others and to not depend on others to do your work. I learned to be independent and to find those who care about you and want to see you succeeding. But most importantly, I learned that no matter what your circumstances are, you should always give that extra hand to those who need. Do things with the purpose to help others and not to benefit yourself from them. I’ve been someone that was given an opportunity when I was younger and will definitely take that with me for the rest of my life. Due to this is that I will always take these moments, experiences and new learnings with me and consider them in the future.