Legacy Project

Walking into the classroom at the beginning of the semester, I didn’t know I’d leave being such a different person. Throughout this course, every activity was a learning opportunity and my leadership skills developed immensely. I believe that this course taught me to take risks, developed my leadership skills, and made me think about what my issue is. 

I believe that from many volunteering opportunities and public speaking, I’ve become less shy and more open with my mind. For example, if something is going wrong, I’ll actually stop and say that you shouldn’t be doing that. I think this happened because of the many charity projects we did including the Food Bank and Christmas Bureau. During them, I would always just take a risk. When we were going to call our adopted family, everyone in my group was really nervous and the first phone call didn’t go so well. Outta nowhere I started thinking, “Why don’t I just call, it won’t be that bad”. At the beginning of the call I was really nervous and even though there wasn’t even someone watching, my face turned bright red. The call to our family ended with success and an inner feeling of being proud for taking that risk. Another time I took a risk was when Resleen came to me and asked me “Let’s ask to be MCs for the Remembrance Day Assembly. You up for it”. For a moment I thought “In front of the whole school….will I be able to do it”, but then I stopped that thinking and agreed to her idea. I prepared well for the speech for the Assembly and believe that together we both did a good job. This particular experience really gave me that push and made me realize that it’s not even that scary when you are speaking in front of a big crowd. 

I feel that during this course my leadership skills of making sure everyone’s voice is heard and positive attitude have been further developed. I always try to make sure everyone’s opinion and thoughts are shared. Every day in the course was different and we would always be doing different activities. Bringing a positive attitude was necessary to take the most out of the activities. For example tree planting- looking at the weather that day was rainy, mucky, and wet but I was all up for trying something I’ve never done before. In the class community, I would always try to contribute how I could. In small groups, I was always able to let out my opinion easier than when we would come as a class, but I believe towards the end of the course. 

My major goal after this course would be to continue giving back to the community as we did throughout this course. I am currently a YMCA volunteer which is connected to our local community, but I would also like to help out in larger aspect. For example, The Surrey Food Bank or at Surrey Memorial Hospital. Volunteering at the Food Bank just once was so much fun and a great learning experience that I would love to do it again. I am planning on applying to volunteer at the food bank soon and later on applying to volunteer at the hospital once I am 16. 

This course was not only related to the community but it also was a great learning experience and place of leadership growth. I believe that in coming years the experiences in this class will act as a motivation to stay connected with my the community and always further develop my leadership skills.

Leadership Journey

This class has been a great experience so far because I've improved on many of my weaknesses such as, public speaking, not being shy, and self motivation. I think I'm still finding my way into becoming the ideal leader slowly but I can see the progress occurring. For example, I now am able to stand up for someone and make sure their voice is being heard. This shows how my ability to public speak and making sure there's equality were triggered. Seeing so many motivated peers around me helps me be motivated and moved to contribute. My strengths would be bringing a positive attitude to class. This week how it was raining, I was still positive about walking in the rain and looking forward to the experience again. Also, I think my organization skills and time management skills are further developing because during I believe that my leadership journey is making its way up to where I've always wanted it to be. 

Tree Planting, Litter Pick-up, Blackberry Shrubs.

This was my very first time actually planting trees and other plants. It was raining, but I overcame that accepted the fact that I will get dirty today and its for a good cause. I really liked digging a hole for the plant into the soil because the rain had made it moist and soft, which was very easy to work with. At first I would pat the soil down with my shovel, but then I realized that now that I'm out here, might as well use my hands. I really liked planting trees and hope to be able to get that experience again.

So far we have done 2 litter pick ups and both times have gone pretty well. In my opinion, although we are out there, not much of the school grounds are covered because of large sized groups. If there were less people in a group (ie. 2-3) more grounds would get covered. For example, the front entrance is very big so there should be at least 2 groups there to have more of an efficient job done.

Digging out blackberry shrubs was both sort of painful and lots of fun. I found it really fun to use the big cutters & cut the long roots and vines. Although the thorns would sometimes poke through the gloves, it was also fun to pull the blackberry out. From this experience, I learnt that the blackberry shrubs were not a naturally growing plant here, but it was introduced. I had never dug out blackberry before but it was a good experience.

Remembrance Day Assembly

In my opinion, the Remembrance Day Assembly went really well. Resleen and I were the MCs and I was very nervous at first. When I first started talking, I felt as if that if I look up, I'll laugh really hard. But when I looked up, I couldn't see anyone's face and I was more confident. This was a great way to improve my public speaking skills which was one of my goals. It was really a privledge to be the MC at such an important assembly and it was an amazing experience. All in all, I think it was an honour to be able to be part of this crermony to honour the fallen.

God's Little Acre Farm

I had an amazing time at God's Little Acre Farm, from the big wagon ride to getting my hands dirty while picking carrots. I found it really amazing that the farm was all run by volunteers and that the grown products went to the Food Bank or to people who can't purchase groceries. I learnt a lot on this incredible experience. To be honest, I found picking pumpkins kind of boring because it was just moving the pumpkin from one place to another. There were little thorn things on the stems and I learnt that the hard way. I have always been the type that isn't too happy to get their hands dirty but, actually bending down, pulling out and brushing dirt off the carrots wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it was my favourite part to just put my hands in the soil, it was just really relaxing and felt good. In my opinion, the soil smelt refreshing and you could just tell that the carrots were just perfect. I feel that this trip really connected me with nature and I felt very accomplished once we had finished picking a whole row of carrots. I would really like to go back sometime and re-live the whole experience again.

Leadership Progress Report

As a Sulli Leader, I have learnt many new things and grown out of a shell. I have noticed how I have developed as a team worker and am able to stay more on task and keep the group together. In my opinion, I have become more positive with the way I take things and more open minded than before. When we were planting trees, at first I was not willing to get dirty but then I thought that now that I'm here might as well take it to my best advantage. In the end I really enjoyed myself. For the future I would like to build upon my developing skills right now.

Hero Project on Oprah Winfrey

Here is the link to my prezi on Oprah Winfrey:

http://prezi.com/c6h0qk80hcam/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share