Active - 51 hours
Beautification Day - 3 hours
Description: Twice a year EHS holds a day where students come out to the school on a weekend to help trim trees, plant vegetation, paint walls, and clean up the school grounds in order to make the school a better place to be visually. This activity counts as both active and service, but has been attributed to the active category.
Reflection: I have been to Beautification Day previously once where all I did was plant several trees, so I wasn't really sure what to expect when committing to this activity. As soon as I arrived on campus I was commissioned to help clear away a pond area in the back of the school that was so over run with foliage I didn't even know it existed. The work was tricky due to a massive ant hill centered right around the are we needed to work as well as multiple wasp nests in the palm trees we needed to trim around the pond area, but with the proper precautions my team and I were able to make the pond area a better looking place. Team work was key because one person had to spot dangerous areas while another worked and often times the invasive bushes were stubborn and took two people to pull them out. After this work was done I took up helping paint over smudges and peeling paint on the walls, but not for long before I was set to weeding out a gardened area in the school. This was more solitary and quiet work that was hard on the knees and hands, but I didn't mind. The garden area outside a teacher's window of whom I didn't know looked much prettier after I was done with it. I believe it is days like these where students from all the grades and programs come out to help that our true school spirit and pride shows as we work to make it a better place.
Building Art Display Frames - 6 hours
Description: EHS Art was in need of new art display frames for their art show at the end of the year so students got together to build these frames on two afternoons after school on January 23, 2015 and March 13, 2015.
Reflection: Due to living on a farm I have experience with building frames and securing structures, so this activity appealed to me from experience and because I wanted to help a teacher out. The Art department does not receive much funding, so it was not possible to buy newly made frames, so my friends and I got together to refurbish the old display frames. We had to work together in pairs to complete each frame and also had to be wary of getting in another pair's way so communication was key. It was laborious, but fun because of the people I got to work with who were enthusiastic as I was about helping out the Art department and fixing up the frames. I got to experience an atmosphere of energetic eagerness to contribute and help out without asking for anything in return. Many of the students were not even in an Art class, but simply wanted to help. There was a keen sense of community in this activity that made it worth the effort.
Entomology Club - 3 hours
Description: Students met up after school to designate an area within the school bounds to collect different jumping spider species for a University of Florida entomology research lab. This activity falls under the active category.
Reflection: This project was one that required cooperation between group members in order to successfully trap and catch the spiders. We had to coordinate who would cover which areas in the field and it usually took two people to transfer the spider from the nets to the carrier vials. Since the spiders were small and highly mobile it was often difficult to trap them in the vials even when in the net. We also used teamwork to double check population numbers and clarify species identification.
(one of the spiders we caught)
( a praying mantis we found one day during collection)
Joey's Wings Run - 2 hours 30 minutes
Description: A 5K to fundraise for the Joey's Wings organization that is researching a cure for cancer. This activity falls only under the active category.
Reflection: I heard about this particular 5K because of an old friend who is close with Joey's family. Joey was a young boy who contracted a rare form of cancer and passed away. This encouraged his mother to create an organization to fundraise for research on this rare form of cancer that generally affects children. The 5K was the first major fundraising event for this organization and I was more than happy to participate in the race to help support the cause. It was held at a park on a day with nice weather. I brought my dog because it was cool enough for her to complete the 5K with me and gave me a chance to further train her in a public setting. My goal for the 5K was to complete the race with my mother, who can't run for health reasons, within an hour of our start time. The pace was set at a moderate speed walk, but in the end we missed our target time by fifteen minutes. This was mostly due to our making acquaintances with the other speed walkers on the run and slowing down to talk and share experiences. I found that many of the walkers were people who had either been effected themselves or had family members who had survived cancer. The one woman was even in a wheelchair, but was determined to finish the race on her own without any help. This show of compassion and shared experiences showed me how all of these families who previously would never have met each other come together from a shared experience to support one another and give comfort. After walking I stayed a while longer to just continuing talking with the other participants to learn their stories and worldly views.
March of Dimes - 4 hours
Description: March of Dimes is a 9 mile marathon that is held annually to fundraise for combatting Premature Birth. This activity is only under the active category.
Reflection: My family used to do the March of Dimes walk when I was much younger in support because it is a local branch of the organization so the money stays in Gainesville. They helped my older brother who was born premature to get through the first few hard months of his life. I don't remember these walks, though, so I wanted to start doing the walk again so I made that a goal for my CAS agenda. I wanted to complete the March of Dimes walk for the first time in years in part celebration of my brother's life and also in celebration of all the babies the March of Dimes has helped saved. There's a milestone on the walk where the families March of Dimes has sponsored and supported sit with their premature children all grown up to cheer on the runners/walkers. This is my favorite part of the marathon because the families go out of their way to support us and will even walk up to people, shake their hand, and thank them for participating in the March of Dimes. It's a celebration of victory and life and simply up lifting. After the walk when you return to the starting grounds they have live performances, food, and a place for people to gather and talk as well as other booths. I didn't stay long since my goal was not to enjoy the festivities, it was to complete the walk. So after eating some food and waiting for a dance performance of a local dance company to finish I left having completed my mission.
STAR 5K Run - 2.5 hours
Description: STAR is an EHS club organization that collaborates with the University of Florida level of the same club. The goal of the club is to study and research autism and teach the public (especially families with autistic children) how to support, interact, and take care of a child with autism based on their level on the autistic scale. Every year, this past year falling on the date April 4, 2015, STAR holds a walk/run to fundraise for their research. This activity only falls under active.
Reflection: While I am not a member of the EHS STAR club, I wanted to support friends who were in the club by participating in the walk/run. Since I had failed previously in completing my hour goal with my mother, I wanted to try a second time. The walk did not start immediately and beforehand I actually found myself occupied at a information booth where I was taught all about autism and the research being conducted on it. I spent an hour and a half interacting with the University devision of the program and a few autistic teenagers who the research program had benefitted. The conversation was fascinating and opened my eyes to a disorder I previously had very little knowledge of. This time around I completed my goal of walking the 5K in an hours time, which was confirmed by the electronic time keeper the organization had placed at the finish line. The 5K had been scenic and mostly covered by trees on an equine and biking trail which turned out to be optimal conditions for walking the 5K. Many of the participants had autism so they of course walked with us and had fun dancing, singing, and making conversation during the race which added to the pleasant experience of the 5K. Overall I found it a great achievement both in achieving my goals and in gaining new insight on autism and the stigma that surrounds it.
May Day Glow Run 5K - 1 hour
Description: The May Day Glow Run was a community activity hosted in Gainesville to bring the population together for a fun night run/walk with glow sticks and other lit decorations. This activity only counts under the active category.
Reflection: To keep up my streak of completing 5Ks in record time of an hour with my mother and the occasional friend who would join us for these races, I decided to take on the Glow Run as well. There wasn't any special organization attached to it for fundraising, so part of my goal wasn't to help support a cause. I did it to experience and enjoy exercise in the simplest form of walking. Walking has been proven to help with your heart health and is often considered better than running since it does not put as much strain on your muscles and joints. I am no different from most people in that I want to live a healthy lifestyle so this 5K helped me achieve that goal along with beating my record time of a 45 minute 5K versus the last one which was an hour.
Teacher's Room Set-Up - 8 hours
Description: During teacher planning week, the week before my senior year started, I came to help teachers set up their classrooms by moving textbooks, desks, and other supplies where they needed to be so the teachers could save time moving their classrooms and could focus on their lesson plans and other work. This activity only falls under the active category.
Reflection: I arrived around 7 a.m. in the morning before even some of the other teachers had arrived to check in with a club sponsor and then was immediately put to work moving desks from one class to another and then arranging them the way the teacher wanted. After I finished the first classroom I helped clean up another teacher's classroom before helping yet another teacher who had to move her entire classroom around the corner at the last minute. After this I was made to move textbooks around from all around the school picking up missing textbooks, moving them to where they belong, and organizing them for the teachers. By the time I was done it was 2 p.m. and I had to go home, but I had successfully helped set up around four classrooms and helped organize two more. Considering the amount of work teachers put into their jobs with little reward I consider it time well spent. As a student, it helped me understand the hectic schedule and hoops teachers have to jump through in order to prepare for their classes.
Student Government Fall Festival - 2 hours
Description: On November 20, 2015 the Student Government at my school hosted a Fall Festival for the students and I volunteered my time through the National Honors Society to create posters, post them around the school, and host a booth at the festival for my fellow classmates. This activity falls under both active and service, but has only been counted towards active.
Reflection: School spirit is important to the administrators at my school, so during the school year there are at least two or three festivals during the lunch hours in order to promote positivity and creativity. This particular one was hosted by the Student Government organization and I was in charge of a donut eating contest booth with three other people. We had to work together to set up a string length area between two trees to tie the donuts to. This wound up being difficult because as soon as we strung the donuts on the string hung way lower than where we had originally tied it. So while keeping an eye on the rest of the donuts to make sure no one was being a bad sport and simply stealing one from the box we stood and held up the strings for the contestants during each race.
Norton Elementary School Carnival - 2 hours
Description: On October 23, 2015 Key Club and National Honors Society promised to help out Norton Elementary School with their school carnival. Students helped run booths for the kids. This activity counts for both service and active hours, but has only been counted towards active hours.
Reflection: I personally ran a putt putt golf booth where I had to teach kids how to play properly, pick up the stray balls, judge and hand out prizes, and keep all the supplies accounted for. Originally I was only supposed to manage the putt putt booth on my own for 30 minutes to an hour until I was going to be sent a partner to help me and who would also switch off with me for a dinner break, but there was a mix up and my partner never came so I wound up managing putt putt for the full two hours. After a long day of school and having already volunteered at another elementary school that day for arts and crafts the work was tiring, but the kids made it worth it since they were so eager and cheerful to play and interact with me. The parents were equally nice and kept thanking me for being so patient with their children, there wasn't any room or reason for a foul attitude or exhaustion. Which made the end of my volunteering that more enjoyable as I was given free tickets for food and refreshments for my work and apologized to for not getting a partner to switch off with, which I in the end didn't even mind.
Going to the Gym - 17 hours
Description: Working out with friends and a neighbor to challenge ourselves to new equipment and goals. This activity only counts towards active.
Reflection: Admittedly, I had never been to a gym before and most of the exercise I got was from running around my own neighborhood/farm whether on foot or a bike, so stepping inside a gym for the first time was a whole new experience in itself. My knowledge of most of the machines was nonexistent and it was teeming with a diverse amount of people of all ages. My first two visits I stuck to the more simple machines like the treadmill and elliptical since I was used to those types of movements. I aimed to just keep my muscles and body in shape during the long summer days where I'm usually tempted to just sit around watching movies nonstop until school starts again. On the third visits I tried lifting weights, which was way more difficult that I anticipated because it turns out I have absolutely no upper body strength and I was sore for the entire week because heading back to the gym. Leaving weights aside I tried other activities some of which I don't remember there names, but the one machine was supposed to work your abs and another your arm and leg muscles. The very last time I attended before summer ended I decided to keep it a light workout so I started with yoga and then hit the elliptical. Although it wasn't intentional, I lost ten pounds over the period of going to the gym and I noticed that my sleeping and eating patterns were drastically improved from previous summer habits, so it's safe to say my goal of staying active and healthy in between school months was achieved.
