Goals for the Year: Habitat for Humanity (Service)

Goal for the Year: New Tradition (Service)

 

“We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” – Chuck Palahniuk

As it’s my senior year I’m only have a few months before I leave OSC forever, before I go as key club president I want to plan and initiate something that will outlast myself. An annual charity drive, fund raising event, or service award that will promote C&S in the school. In this way I can engage with an issue of global importance, by inspiring others for years to come I can do far more good over the long run than any single act I could do myself.

My favorite idea so far is to start a competition, have key club grow fund every year then accept proposals from any student with a plan to help those in need. Service leaders can vote on the best idea, implement it using the fund and whoevers idea is chosen given an award during the final assembly for their work. It would encourage students to keep their eyes open for opportunities to do good, make them more aware of all the ways they can contribute to the world, and most importantly give everyone in school with a good with a plan the means and opportunity to really make a difference.

Goals for the Year: Guitar (Creativity)

I spent hours over the summer practicing guitar, I have persevered and can now play quite a few of my favorite songs. New skills I’ve developed, I can finger pick, switch quickly between all the most frequently used chords like A, Am, G, D, Dm, F, C and am even better with bar chords. My goal for this year is to work collaboratively with other and play with a band in front of an audience whether it be during assembly, a talent show, or even a small school concert. A challenge I have never undertaken which to be honest is pretty daunting as I always tend to play worse in from of other people than when I’m alone, one of the main reasons I chose this goal is I believe this is an area for growth: public performing a musical instrument is a skill I would love to acquire.

Goal for the Year: MMA (Action)

I’ve always wanted to learn how to fight, I love watching professional boxing, wrestling, and MMA, although I would never go looking for a fight I’d love the feeling of security that comes with knowing you can hold your own if your ever attacked. This year I decided to make that a reality and undertake a new challenge: I signed up for MMA classes at a gym near my house. The ethical implications of this decision however are similar to those in the debate over gun regulation. Someone who carries a gun for protection is infinitely more likely to shoot someone than a person who doesn’t. He may use it in a situation that would have diffused itself had he not had the gun and furthermore he may have ben far more careful not to get himself in a situation where he may need it without the secure feeling one gets from having it. Similarly once trained to fight people are far more likely to actually get in one, an outcome I am definitely hoping to avoid. My goals are to show perseverance and commitment by sticking with this course as the physical and mental strains I’m guessing will be unmatched by any sports practice I’ve been to before. By the end of the year, win or lose,  I would like to be skilled enough to compete in a tournament.

Goal for the Year: Basketball (Action)

Last season my basketball skills improved dramatically, this year I hoping to get even better again particularly on offence. My biggest problem right now is consistency, I have amazing days and I have days so terrible its mind boggling. My most concrete goal is to make the starting lineup again which this year I believe will be far more challenging than last. If we run a standard offence there will only be two starting spots for a post and I’ll be competing against Jesse, Roger, and Kwabena for those three spots. All of them are amazing athletes and Jesse and Kwabena are both taller than me by about a half a foot. My greatest strength is rebounding, I can time my jump to get the ball at the highest possible point and I’m a pretty scrappy player fighting for every ball, (something I need to learn to turn down in friendly matches) My greatest weaknesses and specific skills I’ll be working on are ball control, my jump shot, and fakes.

Class of 2012: The world isn’t ending. We’re taking over…

Saisa Track & Field

Habitat Update

Key Club Update

Since our foundation we have organized two fund raisers the first was at the school play "The Curios Savage" Teru and I planned and organized the selling food and drinks before the play began and during the intermission, also helping us run the stall on the night were Annie and Maheshi. As we where running the only outlet for food, during the intermission it was rediculously busy however I felt far more able to cope with the rush after selling drinks for SGA. That night we made about Rs 15,000. A few weeks later i organized for food and drinks to be provided at the grade 12 art excibition instead of selling it however we gave it out for free taking donations instead. We raised another Rs 8000 all of which we donated to the Red Cross in aid of Japan after the earthquake and tsunami.

President of Key Club

A meeting for the leaders of all Community Services, (i represented habitat) was held a while ago in which we where told for the first time OSC would be forming a key club. Key Clubs have been established world wide and it is currently the largest community service program for high school students. As well as service one of the main goals is to develope leadership skills in its memebers which is why the leaders of community services at OSC are all automatically admitted, to help us develope the skills to better lead our C&Ss. The other goal of our Key Club is create a centralized governing body encompassing all C&Ss to promote co-operation between them, and encourage brainstorming for now ideas. Key Club would also have access to its own funds raised both from student led fundraises and donations from corperations being led by members of the kiwanis. (a community service program for adults we work collaboratively with) Key club would evaluate proposals from various C&Ss and distributer funds to help start programs previously impossible because of a lack of finance as well as begin programs of our own to help children in need. Similar to our SGA there are four executive positions in Key Club a president, vice-president, treasurer, and secratary. We had an election and the results where as follows

Vice-President - Harini
Treasurer - Terunage Tamura
Secratary - Annie Gilstedt

I hoping to engage with issues of global importance decided to undertake this new challenge. I ran and was elected president.

Food and Fun Fair

At the food and fun fair responsibility for selling drinks was left solely in the hands of SGA, i showed up early to crush ice and make sure the drinks would be chilled by the time the Food and Fun Fair started,and afterward Thaim Abdulla Rasheed, the SGA president, and I (besides two 15 minute breaks) manned the counter almost all day showing perseverance and commitment. We also at all times had two other people from SGA who would cycle in and out in the back room passing forward drinks. At times because we had a monopoly on drinks the stall became swamped with people we had to work collaboratively with others and did so I believe very well. If either me or thaim overheard another ones order we'd include it with our own yell it to the back, the two SGA members in the store room would throw foreward the drinks and like clockwork we very quickly went through a huge number of costomers. Working in such a busy enviroment i also developed new skils I had to multitask, remembering the orders, face of the customer, calculate the change, all at the same time. Proof of my developement: by the end of the day i could simultaneously serve 3 or 4 people at the same time faster than I had been serving a single customer at the begginging of the day.

Guitar Update

Habitat Build

My first habitat build, we left from school early saturday morning and arrived at the build site arround 8:00 a.m. The house was already fairly complete having been built on a previous habitat lone. The walls however were bare brick so they had asked for them to be concreted over. We split into to groups the first making cement the second using it to roughly plaster the wall while two hired construction worker smoothed over the areas we had plastered.

Alzheimer's Charity Run

 

Last weekend with Fillipo Steponi and a few other kids from OSC i joined in a 5km-10km walk to help raise awareness of the disease. Along the way we passed out pamphlets in English, Singhalese, and Tamil to many of the locals we passed on the way. Here in Sri Lanka especially in many of the more rural areas very few people know of the diseases existence, by raising awareness we hope to help more those suffering from Alzheimer's Disease get treatment.

Habitat for Humanity

When considering what Service to join at the beginning of this year I decided the most important factor was hands on work. I wanted an elective where I really felt i was making a difference or helping people in a meaningful way. Habitat was by far the best option. Habitat for humanity is a global network founded about 40 years ago with mission statement:

"What the poor need is not charity but capital, not caseworkers but co-workers. And what the rich need is a wise, honorable and just way of divesting themselves of their overabundance. The Fund for Humanity will meet both of these needs. Money for the fund will come from shared gifts by those who feel they have more than they need and from non-interest bearing loans from those who cannot afford to make a gift but who do want to provide working capital for the disinherited . . . The fund will give away no money. It is not a handout.

The houses would be built at no profit and interest would not be charged on the loans. Building costs would be financed by a revolving fund called “The Fund for Humanity.” The fund's money would come from the new homeowners' house payments, no-interest loans provided by supporters and money earned by fund-raising activities. The monies in the Fund for Humanity would be used to build more houses."

I think it's a fantastic concept. Joining habitat also means through them i can engage in an issue of global importance: shelter is one of the three basic human needs for survival yet around the world is a luxury many do not have. We actually get to go to the build sites and spend the day constructing a house, its an incredible opportunity. We help by tiling the roof, digging foundations, filling in a concrete floor, and whatever else needs to be done. (Undertake New Challenges and Develop New Skills:i must say I've never tried to build a house before) I was incredibly lucky to get in when i went to my first meeting i was told that they had over-booked the activity and so i couldn't join, it was only at the last minute an exception was made for me.

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Six months later, Ali Khan, our current president, and all the other leaders stepped down so they could focus on exams. I volunteered to take their place and am now the new president with Camie Raguin. One of the biggest problems we had last semester was the cancellation of builds.The entire 6 months i believe only 3 or 4 actually happened. Now many interrupted because of the rain and generally terrible whether but also a significant number because of miscommunication and disorganization. Our liaison from habitat, a man named Francis was terribly inconsistent, he took weeks to reply to emails, changed the location of build sites at the last minute, and generally was difficult to work with, and as a result many of our trips where simply cancelled. (However as luck would have it this Saturday we have a build planned if the weather holds up)So as our first order of business me and Camie are going to meet the president of habitat for humanity this Monday to try to build better relations between us. (Helping to improve my ability to work collaboratively with others) Our other plans include getting our service officially licensed as a branch of Habitat, which would make us eligible for funding with some of our projects and many other benefits and also taking the skills we have developed on the builds and using them to Plan and Initiate out own activities. For example close by to the school is a home for the deaf. We plan on using what we learned from our builds and the funds we attained from various fund raising activities earlier in the year to go fix up the home and other similar projects.

Week Without Walls Reflection

Week Without Walls Goals