5 Laura's Blog

Approaches: Ongoing/ Community Based

CAS Strands and Hours: Service: 7.5 hours—7.5 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Direct

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Initiative & Planning, Commitment & Perseverance, Collaborative Skills

Description and Goals: For the past four months, I, along with my National Honor Society, have participated in several nighttime food drives for a local church called Derbyshire Place. Here, we have helped to make, package, and deliver bags of boxed food to poor and homeless locals who can eat from Derbyshire for free. Afterward, we offer assistance in the cleanup of cooking supplies for the adult volunteers servicing the event.

Reflection: Having committed 5 nights of my time aiding the Derbyshire food drive, I have been grateful to learn the sheer importance just one person -let alone an entire group- can make for a community in need of life-changing service. Overall, I now find it necessary for a person like myself -who lives an arguably comfortable life- should give back in this way to understand the plight of others and how assisting them could create a miraculous, plentiful change for people in desperation. Even though most nights I would only be scooping food for boxing or gathering plastic bags for packaging, it truly made a difference in the speed our team of people was able to work and, eventually, give more to the community than we initially thought possible.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Derbyshire Place, local church– Email: derbyshireplace@gmail.com

Me at Derbyshire Place

Approaches: Community Based/ School-Based

CAS Strands and Hours: Creativity: 5 hours and Activity: 2 hours—7 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Indirect/ Advocacy

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Challenge & Skills, Commitment & Perseverance,
Collaborative Skills, Ethics of Choices & Actions

Description and Goals: As I am currently preparing to enter the University of Central Florida as a film major, I have been trying my hardest to not only build up a proper portfolio for my own film class but one I can carry with me as I go into college. Furthermore, my goal for this project was to create my own documentary for the incoming IB freshmen for years to follow, which will grant them advice and discussion of program-specific benefits from fellow IB seniors of my 2022 class. In order to do this, the video would first describe what IB entails and what it means to be an IB student. Then, with interviews I created with the help of my friends, I would edit together the final edit of the PSA video. With it, I hope to show the video to my principal in the hopes he will have teachers in future years show the video to their students.

Reflection: With the completion of this project, I have actively utilized my skills as a filmmaker and placement as an IB student to create something beneficial to not just myself, but an uncountable amount of incoming IB freshmen. In reflection, I feel as though I have completed a unique feat of creativity and perseverance, as it would often be complicated to find and interview willing students, whom of which I also had to create personal contacts and work around their schedules. As well as this, the creative aspect could appear daunting at times, as I wanted to be informal with the video without being preachy or argumentative. However, I feel as though the project helped me to find this balance; equality of skills that will be crucial when filmmaking becomes my full-time career.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Dirk Kuiper, Spruce Creek High School film and video teacher–Email: dwkuiper@volusia.k12.fl.us

Screenshots of three interviews found in the video

Approaches: School-Based

CAS Strands and Hours: Creativity: 3 hours and Activity: 2 Hours—5 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Research

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Challenge & Skills, Initiative & Planning, Commitment & Perseverance, Collaborative Skills

Description and Goals: When I had learned of a Christmas door decorating contest occurring in early December, I wanted to help one of my favorite teachers, my art teacher Mr. VandenBerg, win the contest. With the help of my friends, we decided that, of the chosen topic Christmas Cartoons by the contest committee, we would try an original idea by making the door a Peppa Pig Christmas-themed one. In order to accomplish this, my four friends and I would contribute different art supplies such as glue, paper, scissors, and embellishments, as well as spend time each day preparing it for the judging on December 6, 2021.

Reflection: As we had met the due date of the judging and had actually ended up winning first place in the contest, it felt good not only to help my teacher represent his subject of the fine arts for the whole school to see but that I was able to help out my friends with an active effort of fun collaboration. Though the work was often stressful and frequently tedious, the support of group morale helped to finish the project in what became an eventually school-admired piece of art. In doing this, I feel as though I gave something back to my school and helped contribute to a larger effort at hand for the holiday season.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Joseph M. VandenBerg, Spruce Creek High School photography and art teacher–jmvanden@volusia.k12.fl.us

Me working on the project and the final door

Approaches: Ongoing/ Community Based/ Individual

CAS Strands and Hours: Service: 15 hours—15 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Advocacy

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Strength & Growth, Challenge & Skills, Commitment & Perseverance

Description and Goals: For many years, I have been waiting to be mature enough so that I would be legally allowed to volunteer at pet shelters and watch animals for others. Surprisingly, in a fortunate turn of events, my friend Becky is in close contact with and a man named Mike who frequently needs his dogs, Milo and Winston, to be cared for while he goes to work. Due to my natural love of caring for pets, I found this rare opportunity to be perfect for advocating myself in a way that I am best suited, and to learn more about dog-sitting in a skillful, practical way for future ventures.

Reflection: Though I have cared for the dogs only a handful of times, the experiences I have had with them are both as fun as they are enriching. Because the dogs require much more responsibility than my own pet cats, I can cultivate new skills in pet ownership such as changing pet diapers and taking animals outside for when I wish to volunteer at pet shelters. In being in the process of this experience, I am an active force in my community for both pet owners and the pets that need all the love and support they can receive. With my new skills, I can better apply myself elsewhere and continue to help others in their times of need via the forms of activity and service.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Mike Woelfle, Milo and Winston’s owner–Phone Number: 1 (386) 383 3123

A texting thread with Mike concerning the first day I would watch his dogs

Approaches: Individual

CAS Strands and Hours: Activity: 5 hours—5 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Advocacy/ Research

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Strength & Growth, Challenge & Skills,
Initiative & Planning, Collaborative Skills, Global Engagement

Description and Goals: As my favorite dish, sushi is a definite food staple for both me and my family. However, it has never crossed my mind to actually roll traditional sushi myself, despite enjoying trying new dishes from a variety of cultures. In the case of my CAS experiences, I would rectify this by having my friend Rosa and I try it ourselves. To truly gain from this experience, we would go shopping for all the ingredients that day, specifically to bring them back to my house and make dinner for the others in my family. Though the experience took around 5 hours to do every step in the sushi-making process, it was, overall, a cultural, engaging experience that not only taught me a new, rather difficult skill but gave me gratitude for the daily efforts my parents endure to put food on our table.

Reflection: Stemming from the core values of CAS, I can proudly say that I was able to fully utilize the three strengths of creativity, activity, and service in unique ways concerning my experience. Considering that the variety of sushi dish preparations are endless, I was able to find creativity in choosing specific ingredients, Rosa, me, and my family could all enjoy whilst taking away culinary skills as a bonus. As well as this, as much as I enjoy studying the culinary arts, I’m a highly novice chef when it comes to actual cooking and food preparation. Hence, my activity for this experience was a maturing measure of doing something that could benefit multiple people; this experience acted as a glimpse into the future for when I shop for food and make dishes for myself and others as an adult. Lastly, the service I completed for others, though simple in the long run, will show my parents that I care about the daily things they do for me and that I want to become more willing and able to give their kindness in return.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Rosa Santos, my friend who helped me buy ingredients for and make the sushi–Email: 1sfrj@vcs2go.net

Our finalized plater of sushi for dinner

Approaches: Ongoing/ Individual

CAS Strands and Hours: Service: 4 hours (approx.) and Activity: 2 hours (approx.)—6 hours (approx.)

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Indirect/ Research

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Strength & Growth, Challenge & Skills,
Initiative & Planning, Commitment & Perseverance,
Collaborative Skills

Description and Goals: Since around 20 years ago, my mom has had the idea to write a children’s book about the birthday party she always wanted as a child, as well as a story teaching gratification for the little things in life. However, this tale has sat on the back burner for around two decades and has only been reinstigated after my mom illustrated her first children’s book, Saving Morty, alongside author Debbie Harley. Now, she has finally been able to start her own story as both an illustrator and author for the children’s book Mia’s Magnificent Moment. Nevertheless, she doesn’t necessarily have much experience with creative writing and is still very new to illustrating in the literary space. As a writer who is currently working on a novel and specializes in learning how to write marketable literature, I have offered my help to her and the two of us have come together to craft her book. With the graphic designer Terry Cheremsak, we have chosen to create a great effort that can make this piece of children’s book the best it can be with our range of talents.

Reflection: Though the book is still within its drafting stages, the story is coming along well thanks to the service the three of us have contributed to it. Though the brunt of the work primarily falls to my mom as she is both artist and writer, I have been able to significantly help her by editing the sections of text and suggesting different angles or compositions for the illustrations. In relation to CAS, the two of us have researched other children’s literature for inspiration, illustrated together, and, eventually, hope to spread the powerful meaning of her story to hundreds of avid children. In assisting with her story, I both directly help her to accomplish her lifelong dream and give inspiration to the community who seek her book; the greatest experience of activity I could give to others in this incredible literary journey.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Terry Cheremsak, graphic designer for Mia’s Magnificent Moment–Email: tcheremsak@gmail.com

The current cover of Mia’s Magnificent Moment (the text will be added digitally later on by Terry)

 

Approaches: Community/ Individual

CAS Strands and Hours: Creativity: 25 hours and Activity: 3 hours–28 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Advocacy/ Research

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Strength & Growth, Challenge & Skills,
Initiative & Planning

Description and Goals: For many of my teenage years, I have been thankful to be a member of a New Symerna Beach-based art group known as Art Is…Creation, or AIC for short. This group, for adolescents and teens between the ages of 9 and 18, has been a major part of my life due to their monthly art sessions, face painting events, and, in the case of this blog post, their summer art camps. Though Covid-19 made having our usual Saturday sessions impossible throughout most of the 2020 year, I was thankfully able to rejoin my fellow peers at the teen art camp that was still held for the art students in 2021.

During the week of art-centered activities, a new instructor came in every day to teach us their particular craft, which ranged from jelly plate painting, cold wax, and oil painting, and even gem tree weaving with copper wire. As an artist, the lessons were nothing short of enriching to untapped areas of creativity I never knew I possessed. To boot, these skills I gained have carried over into other activities of my life, such as in my own art classes in school and simply for personal enjoyment.

Reflection: When the week was complete, I was proud to say that the event, like my other CAS experiences involving art, has been a great addition to my knowledge of the fine art world. Lessons such as these are especially crucial and empowering to me because I fully intend to go into an art-based career as an adult. Hence, experiences that teach me a variety of art elements and processes I can carry on with me to the future make my creativity, activity, and service to the community broadened by an endless fountain of craftsmanship.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Regina Wise, art director of the Art Is…Creation program and leader of the art camp–Email: wiseregina@gmail.com

A cold wax and oil painting I completed on the first camp day

CAS Project [Valentine’s Card Making (12/13/20-2/14/20)]

Approaches: Community Based/ Ongoing

CAS Strands and Hours: (Creativity, Activity, Service)  Creativity: 100 hours (approx.), Activity: 1 hour, and Service: 100 hours (approx.)—Around 100 Hours Total (approx.)

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Indirect/ Advocacy/ Research

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Initiative & Planning, Commitment & Perseverance, Collaborative Skills

Description and Goals: For my CAS project, my friends Abby, Nhi, Lilliana, and I have decided to create over a hundred Valentine’s day cards for those living in a nursing home in Port Orange with the help of many chosen volunteers. We came to this resolve as our final project because we figured that, due to complications with Coronvirus, many nursing home residents are unable to see their friends and family in order to protect themselves in their possible weak state of health. By spreading the love of Valentine’s day to these residents, we strive to fill a lonely void in their lives and give them joy, even if just through words.

Reflection: After having finished our project, I feel a deep sense of commitment from making my cards heartfelt and compassionate for the residents. I am excited to have been a part of a project that will affect such a large, finite amount of people and make their holiday unexpectedly momentous. There is no better feeling than being thought of, and I strive to let the residents know that they are being considered in a probably lonely time in their life. I, along with my friends and helpers, hope to make their Valentine’s Day at a time they will never forget.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Jennifer Brewer, Executive Director at Benton House of Port Orange—Email: Portorangedirector@bentonhouse.com

(There are many other supervisors, as shown below. However, I am unable to match their names with their nursing home location/email and vice versa.)

Pictures 1 and 2: Cards my team members made for the project

Pictures 3 through 8: Emails are written by our supervisors at the nursing homes

 

Approaches: Community Based

CAS Strands and Hours: Activity: 3 hours—3 Hours Total

Types of Service Action: Indirect/ Advocacy

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Challenge & Skills, Commitment & Perseverance, Collaborative Skills, Global Engagement,
Ethics of Choices & Actions

Description and Goals: As I have always longed to participate in a beach cleanup, I found it only fitting that when my school’s SEA and NHS clubs were going to do one that I would join right away. I am always a strong advocate of reducing litter and keeping Florida’s beautiful wildlife healthy, so seeing others excited to clean up the beach made me feel a part of something effectively great in size and reception. For an hour and thirty minutes, the SEA club and other helpers such as myself dispersed both left and right of the beach to ensure the most amount of work possible. The crew intended to pick up every piece of trash, no matter the size. The next hour and thirty minutes were spent retreating back to our start point, picking up more trash that we might have missed. When we returned, we made a point to safely dispose of all our found scraps.

Reflection: After seeing all the trash we were able to accumulate, I felt as though I saved many animals from being potentially harmed by the trash and protected the local flora of the beach. Having been said, it goes to show that when people with a like-minded idea positively restore the environment, the results can limitlessly empower healthy growth for humans, plants, and animals alike. Being a part of such an experience has driven me to continue cleaning beaches with the hopes that others will be just as inspired to protect their planet as I was.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Mr. Platt, Spruce Creek Environmental Science teacher and cleanup organizer—Email: jpplatt@volusia.k12.fl.us

The NHS and SEA club members (I am in the middle wearing yellow and holding a claw)

CAS Experience [Toys for Tots (12/22/20)]

Approaches: Community Based/ School-Based/ Individual

CAS Strands and Hours: Activity: 1 hour and Service: 2 hours—3 hours total

Types of Service Action: Direct/ Advocacy

Targeted Learning Outcomes: Commitment & Perseverance, Global Engagement, Ethics of Choices & Actions

Description and Goals: As another effort to participate in CAS events, I decided it would be fun to assist in a Toys for Tots event; an occasion I have always donated toys to, but have never actually handed out toys for. Because I love brightening the lives of children in need, Toys for Tots seemed to be the perfect way to participate in something that truly spreads the joy of the holidays to those who need it the most. When I arrived, I helped to clean up the handout room by vacuuming the floors and categorizing toys together. Afterward, I and my team of students from school gave out the toys we packaged together for the parents of the Toys for Tots children. Seeing their gratitude made me feel proud that, by doing such a simple act of kindness, I could positively affect the life of a needy child and their family.

Reflection: By aiding in the Toys for Tots event, I truthfully built myself into a stronger character and encouraged me to work towards other beneficial events in my community. When one person decides to help others, an amazing butterfly effect occurs where others want to volunteer as well. Perhaps one day the children of Toys for Tots will help to donate their toys to other children in need, and the cycle will continue because of this immense gratification in helping others. In the end, kindness is infectious, and its spread does wonders to those who are touched by it; not just for me, but to my fellow helpers and the children that will be graced with love.

Supervisor Name, Title, and Email: Donna Burke, Toys for Tots runner—Email: whereyoumatterdp@gmail.com

Mr. Russel, supervisor—Email: iolefogey@gmail.com