A closing

     I'm soo happy to finally close my CAS project. It took a while, but it was definitely worth it! After several tries of wanting to present in community meeting Denis and Camille finally got the opportunity to present with the rest of the school community their experience.

      I felt like a proud mom when they were presenting and at the same time I felt melancholic thinking about my time at Creek Camp and I can't believe it was over a year ago! Denis said Camille was a little nervous about the presentation but I think that they did fine! They didn't make a boring presentation, everyone was listening and enjoying the presentation. Today after school I was talking with Denis and he loved camp so much that he said that if he decide to take over my project we would send himself and another student! Also he is interested in Creek Camp and is considering either taking the project that I started or the project that Selene started. I knew that I was choosing Denis for the right reason and he has proven it, he is the best person that will be to continue the relationship with the people from Creek Camp and Allegheny College.

Below are pictures of their experience and the video will be posted soon I just having trouble uploading it!

Camille looking for salamanders

Denis with a salamander

Denis canoeing

Camille canoeing

The group who were at Camp

Refelction Time Monday May 19

    I can't believe that I'm almost done with CAS, it's sad and relieved at the same time. I'm sad that this class is almost over because through CAS I have learned many things about myself and it has been the way that I have gotten outside my comfort zone and gone out into the community and help different causes that I'm passionate about. I have learned how the "real world" work and it's fun but also very challenging because you don't have your parents or teachers to help you out it's just you. Of course during CAS we do get a lot of help from Miss Amy and other community members but it still gives you a good view of how things work. 

    I'm very glad that I found a final project to do because one of my problems is that I love to help and if I could I would do so many different things, which is why I struggles so much last year because I had 2 project at the same time during the first and last trimester and I was kind of lost during the second trimester. I enjoy my final project because it's very personal and that is my motivation. Just knowing that I can give this amazing opportunity to others students makes my day. 

   One of the things that motivates me more is Denis, because before I didn't know who the students were going to be I already had in mind 3 people and I was excited but not as much because these students have had opportunities to travel and explore their passions but Denis hasn't had that yet and when Miss Kellie told me that I should open it to 9th grade because he might be interest in participating I knew that my project would take a different direction but I wanted to because I knew that it would be a lot to him. I knew him before because he is my advisory but since he has been part of my CAS project I have gotten to know him more just seeing the excitement and smile in his face reassures me that this is the right thing to do, I could not be doing something better. At the same time I wished I had a better connection with Camille as well because she is also one of the students that is going but I don't have to work with her as much because she already has very to travel a and this is something normal for her. But even though people say I'm crazy when I say this I think that they are a good combination. I hope that both of them get to know each other more, Camille doesn't talk much around people that she isn't close to and Denis is shy at first but he loves to talk and he is very entertaining so I'm really looking forward to seeing how things go for the both of them. 

    In order to get where I am not I had a lot of motivation just self motivation telling myself "come on you can do it you know you love CAS, it's much more fun than doing homework" or "remember CAS is your opportunity to shine! You can help others, learn about the "real world"and also get grade for it!"or "CAS time, that means planing and events, you know you love to plan things!".  Also I knew that I wanted to something big and I did do something big that I'm very proud of myself because I don't give up until I get what I want. It's been a hard and long journey but every time I do something different I learn something new and I enjoy learning and helping others. I know that I will miss CAS, but I will also feel relieved that I won't have as much work. But one of the things that I learned from CAS was that I can't keep myself not busy and I will always find a way to help others because it's what I love to do, it makes me happy and I will always carry the concept of CAS with me for the rest of my life.

The visa week

   On Monday May 12th I stayed after school with Denis to do the application of the Visa. Maureen was with us but she was working on something else while Denis and I worked on the application. We ended up lasting about 2 hours but we did. I was in the computer typing up the answers and he was telling me the answers to the questions and if we had a question or weren't sure about what to put in something then we would ask Maureen. I was really hard for me not to translate to Denis every once in a while but I knew that I had to stop myself because I knew that he understands everything almost perfectly. Beside that everything went every smoothly it was a team work and we finish quickly because we were working together and we were both double checking all the information required and making sure we made no mistakes. After that we were really excited because we were one step closer to getting his Visa!

    Then on Tuesday May 13th I met with Edgar to buy the plane tickets and also pay for the Visa. This ended up taking way much more time than I expected and I learned many things. For starts the most of the money was in the same bank account, but there was one donation that was made by Jim that was not in the same back account because it was in the donations account. The good thing was that the week before I had organized a spread sheet with all the information about the money that I had fundraise with the help of Pierre, Edgar suggested than I should add the bank and account that the money was in to have a better control over it. It was fun, challenging, and intimidating working with Edgar because he is a nice person and fun but he is can also be very intimidating. It took a while for him to understand what we were trying to do and then it took me and Miss Amy another effort for him to help us pay for the things that we needed to pay. First we started with the plane tickets and we decide to pay for both plane tickets even if we don't know if Denis will get this Visa because we are hoping for the best and it will also be more expensive if we waited and bought it later. The Internet kept crashing while looking for the plane tickets and then the school credit card was not working because it was large amount of money that was being charge and I was very worried because I just wanted to get the plane tickets. After about 45 minutes later we managed to get the plane tickets and that was very exciting but I also learned that if they want to take a bag they have to pay $25 dollars extra and I had totally forgotten about the taxes that have need to be payed to get out of the country which is something that I had not included in my budget. I think that I will leave that to the students, if they want to carry more things with them then they can pay for extra luggage and maybe I will see if I pay the taxes, but I'm struggling with getting the rest of the money and I doubt that I will be able to pay for that as well. 

   After paying the plane tickets we had to pay the Visa which was another story and struggle. First the Internet was slow and we were working outside and the heat was starting to get to us. At this point we atmosphere wasn't as stressful but we just wanted to finish the process because we were taking longer than usual. Miss Amy and I followed the instruction that were on the website of the Embassy and for some reason we could not use the school's credit car because the card was from el Banco de Costa Rica and they didn't accept cards from that Bank. We tried other links but that did not work, so at last we had to use Miss Sara paypal account and card to pay for the card because the one from the school did not work. We decided to use this card because she is one of the founders of the school and the other card was at her as well. And after another 45 minutes we payed the Visa and I didn't have to worry about it any longer. 

   At the end of that day I was tired from the heat and all the trouble, I missed half of my lunch break, science class and half of History Class but it was worth it because I came into the class excitingly announcing that I had bough the plane tickets and payed for the Visa. I had so much energy that I had to interrupt Denis's Class and tell him about the good news and then after school I told Camille because I wasn't able to interrupt her class. I just need to get a few hundred more dollars to pay for the camp and I will be done and they will be going to the CAMP!!! I'm so very excited!

Monday's Class May 5th refelction

  Besides CAS the other activity that I do because I love it is yearbook. Last year I stared it as my LEEP project and this year I did it on my own free time. This was big challenge because I had to manage my time in a way that I would have time to organize and coordinate all the aspects regarding yearbook on top of all my other responsibilities. 

    I'm the yearbook director, meaning that I'm in charge of everything and make sure that all the students who are part of the yearbook club put from their part and help with the process of the yearbook. I found this very challenging because I had to play a different role if a leader that I'm not use to, I had to play the role of a boss and make sure that all the members where doing what they were supposed to. I found this very hard many times because I didn't want to sound mean and I didn't want them to say that I was too bossy but at the same time wanted them to do what they had to and also show respect. It was very hard for me because many of these people are my friends or classmates and I had to play the role of teacher in a way. I felt confused and I struggles to keep order during the meetings while still keeping it fun and casual but there were many time where I had to raise my voice so people would stop talking and pay attention to what was going on.

    My goal was too delegate more on the yearbook because I had a group of 9 students, but it ended being a lot of more work and I had a bad experience working with others because I would give them deadlines and nobody would complete them. We had a lot of time to work on the yearbook and it wasn't  until the last two weeks that we had to turn it in that everyone starting working, but even then only one of the members was helping me the night before fixing pages that other students left incomplete and fixing minor details. However this tough me that next year I have to be more strict weather I like it or not and be really specific and ask people to stop being in the group and stay with only the people that will actually take their time and work on it, that way I can also enjoy working on the yearbook and not have to deal with people that say that they want to work on it but they end up not working on it. 

    Being in the yearbook helps me with CAS because it helps me develop the ability to work with other weather I like it or not. I have become better because I can actually delegate, I let other people help me with my CAS project and I have learned how to work with all kinds of people, from people how won't do anything to people who are worst than me and want to take control over everything. This was prepared to for the future because I will encounter with very different people through my life and once just has to be patient and learn how to work with them. 

Reflection Time, Monday May 12th

   At first sight my project doesn't approach issues of global importance. However it does deal with two issue that create a large impact in society and the world, education and sustainability.  "Globally, more than 796 million people in the world cannot read and write iv. About 67 million children do not have access to primary school education v."( World Literacy Foundation) If we want to make an impact in the world, big or small we have to start be educating people, that way more and more people are able to have a better opportunity in life and also make better decision with their lives. By educating one person, then this will star a chain reaction because then this person will want his or her following generations to also have an education and so one. With my project I'm giving the opportunity to two students to get educated in a specific topic, and this way they will be able to come back to school next year and share the information that they learned and make sure that the other generations of students also get the opportunity to learn about the ecosystem the way they do 

   The education that they are getting is even more important because it's information regarding the future of our  world and ecosystem. Costa Rica is a country that is developing constantly and specially in Guanacaste because it's a very touristy area. A lot of time people don't think about the environmental impact that is cause by the tourist industry. Our ocean, creeks and estuary are getting damaged and many species are suffering from this impact. The school does a project in 6th grade, which I did along with my class when we were in 7th grade about the health of our estuaries and we came with the conclusions that many of the estuary around tourist areas are the ones that are the most contaminated. This school year the 6th grade class did the same experiment but with the professional equipment that Selene and I brought last year from Creek Camp and they were able to create their own conclusions and share them with the community. From a young age we are learning the importance of water qualities. And going to Creek Camp takes it to another level because during the camp Camille and Denis will have the opportunity of interacting with professional on the topic and also learn how about the impact of water qualities through organisms that live in the water ecosystems. 

    Also they will be able to create their own project or dd more to their project with the experience and share their knowledge with the rest of the community the way Selene and I are doing. They will be able to take over the aquaponics system that Selene is working on and take that to another level and teach our community how to sustainability grow different products or they can start a catalog on species that are found in healthy salty ecosystem for other student to use around the area base on the information that they learn from camp. There is an wide range of ways that both of them can take the knowledge that they learn and transmit the two concepts that I focused on, education and sustainability and take it to another level and make it their own.

Sources:
1. World Literacy Foundation:
http://www.worldliteracyfoundation.org/interim-report.html

Meeting with Maureen regarding Denis's Visa

     On Wednesday May 8th, I met up with Maureen, Mr. Adam and Miss Amy to discuss the steps that had to be done to be able to get the visa so Denis can travel to the USA. This is one of the aspects that I did not see coming because the chances of choosing someone from Costa Rica were very small because in high school there aren't that many students from Costa Rica. However this has been a good experience because it shows me all the way that a project can develop through out time. 

    To be honest I was very nervous about the meeting because I was expecting the worst regarding the Visa. I thought that Maureen was going to tell us that we didn't have enough time and it wouldn't be feasible to get the Visa on time. I was really regretting not creating a feasibility paper about my project, and I didn't do one because I was (am) too stubborn about this project and I told myself that someway of another I would complete it and I didn't need to worry about any problems until I had them in front of me.

     I liked the way that the meeting was very casual this helped me relax and bring back my positive attitude. Once Maureen asked me how I started this project all my worries went away because every time that talk about it or even think about I get goose bump and butterflies in my stomach because I realized the impact that I'm making and I'm so joyful and surprised that me a 17 yea old 11th grade students can change the life of 2 students by giving them opportunity to travel and explore their passions the way that I was able to so last year. And then of course I explained how it related to CAS and how we are very lucky to create our own projects in relation to our passions that way each of our project create a larger impact on our community. 

     Then I told Maureen about Denis, the way the he is an outstanding student that is flourishing with his experience at La Paz and how he just want to learn and specially how this experience will be so important for him because it will be the first time that he leaves the country. This was something that also worried me because it was the first time that he will leave the country and maybe that would create complications. 

     After I said what I needed to say, Maureen handed everyone some papers with the instructions and procedures that have to be done in order to get the Visa. The papers are very detailed and self explanatory, but she still explained to us each step and also gave us a list of the different documents that Denis will need to present for his interview. 

    The first step is to feel out the Visa application form online, which ask a series of questions. Then we need to pay the Visa and then make an appointment for Denis and his parents to go to the USA embassy and to go an interview. After that we just wait and cross our fingers that he gets it! 

   We agreed that we would all get together the following Monday, May 12th and be with Denis when he did the online application. Also I had a list of Documents to get and I was not worried about that or paying the Visa because I have fundraise enough money. The only this that I was worried was the interview because they would have to go all the way to San Jose. I was worried about this because it's a big sacrifice that they have to do and it's also it can be expensive to go there. Another thing that I was worried about was and is the fact that there is a possibility that he wouldn't get the Visa and I had to tell that to Denis and that just broke my heart because I honestly would not know what I would do if he doesn't get the visa because he and I'm also (he is more though) excited about him going. But I have to be positive because we are doing everything we can and I'm so grateful for everyone how is helping with the Visa application because it's a long process and I won't be able to do it without Maureen or Mr. Adam's help because they have been on top of everything and making sure that Denis and I get everything done on time and the right way.

   Then the next day on Thursday May 8th,  I explained to Denis all the process that we had to get done for the Visa and I also told him about the possibly of not getting it. I told him that nobody knows how the USA embassy actually decides but that we will do everything we can for him because we all want him to go. He was very comprehensive and and said that he understood and that we had to keep our fingers crossed because we had everything and he said that he would try his hardest to create a good impression during the interview. Also he told me that he really appreciated all my hard work and wanted to help and be involve with the process and not have us to it for him. This was really important for me because during my last event I learned the importance of having others help and I told myself that I would make sure to do every step with him so he felt part of it and doesn't feel left out from the process because this is for him and it's important that he feels ownership of the process as well. 

We have a lot to do!!

The Big event!

    I did it! I had a "final" big event for my CAS project in which I feel really proud about and at the same very disappointed, thankful and excited about. This was definitely  a roller coaster of emotions! It was very interesting to work with Hilda because she has a similar attitude of leadership like myself and it make me realize things that I need to change and take more into consideration.

    The event consisted of a dinner, on the anniversary of the fire that occurred at their hotel and restaurant last year. They were devastated after the fire, but that did not stop them, there was noting left other than ashes and debris. I admire the way that they worked so hard along with their employes to re-construct the building and move forward. They are not just a business, but a family that help each other over come the bad times. They wanted to create a dinner to invite the community and the friends that helped them, to "inaugurate" the restaurant. During that year they learned the power of receiving help and support and decided that they wanted to overcome the fire by creating a charity event.

    I would have not met Hilda and Simone if it wasn't for Miss Geneva who knew them and put me in touch with them. They were very interested in my project and wanted to help out as much as they could. Our goal was to try to raise the $3000 dollars that I need to send the two students. Hilda said that she would be in charge of the dinner because she knew how everything works, I could help her get sponsors for the silent action and raffle and also help her publicize.

This was a different approach for me because usually I'm the one behind an event and controlling everything, however Hilda had that role and I was the one that was helping her with the details. I created a list of people that I knew from the La Paz Community that might be interested in donating an item for the silent action and sent the information to Hilda because she wanted to send a letter to the donors explaining the cause.

A list of the donors where:

Restaurnats: 

-Seasons at Tamarindo

-Bamboo Sushi and Patagonia at Tamarindo

-Witches Rock/Eat at Joes's at Tamarindo

-Lolas at Playa Avellanas

-Restaurante Playa Avellanas and B&B

-Oasis Restuarant at Brasilito

Bussiness

-Nimbu Spa Huacas

-Hotel Flamingo Beach

-Petite Paris Beauty Saloon and Spa

The letter that Hilda sent is the one below: 

Dear Friends, 

For those who may not know, on April 25th 2013 an accidental fire destroyed our hotel rancho which was home to Papaya restaurant, as well as a large part of our hotel. We are now rapidly approaching the 1 year anniversary of what could have been a tragic event, but what in fact turned out to be a fresh start and revitalization of our business. We are so very grateful to still be here in this country which we all love, and very thankful to all those people and companies who provided assistance and support during rebuilding and getting back on our feet!

So, we want to celebrate! We would like to invite you to our 'Fire Party' at Papaya in order to celebrate life, passion, determination, inspiration, community and friendship, on April 25th this year. This event will also be a fundraiser for the 'Creek Camp Scholarship Fund' set up by an enterprising young student at La Paz School, in order to send 2 talented students to a science summer camp in the USA.

We would really like for everyone to join us and not only celebrate our joy to have been able to restore our business but also to help us to give back to our community. In order to reach our goal of raising $3000 we respectfully ask business owners to consider a donation for the silent action, or an Item for the raffle.

The party will start at 6pm and tickets will be sold in advance at 20,000 colones per person. All profits will be donated to this great cause. Please contact us directly for tickets at info@conchalcr.com or call us at 2-654-9125.

Ticket price includes:

Entertainment with music by Charlie Lopez Band

Welcome Cocktail 

Buffet featuring signature Papaya dishes including a special surprise cake for dessert!

Also available:

Cocktail Cash Bar 

Silent Auction (all profits will be donated to the Creek Camp Scholarship Fund)

Raffle (all profits will be donated to the Creek Camp Scholarship Fund)

If you have any questions regarding the event please to contact me, I will also will be following up with a phone call. 

We thank you and look forward to seeing you!

Best Regards,

Hilda Rodriguez

About Creek Camp Scholarship Fund:

We were introduced to Camilla Arguedas an 11^th grade student at La Paz Community School, founder of the Creek Camp Scholarship fund. After having the opportunity to attend the Science camp herself in 2013 she decided to make it her school project this year, with the objective to give the opportunity to a 9th and 10th grader to attend the week long environmental Science camp located in Meadville, Pennsylvania. This allows a unique opportunity for these students and also to be able to share the experience with their classmates  and the community once they return home. 

About the candidates nominated this year 2014:

Camille Segonne is in 10th grade, she is originally from France but has lived almost all her life in Costa Rica. Her passion is Marine Biology and this opportunity will allow her to learn more in the area of biology and will help her explore the career that she wants to pursue in the future.

Denis Vargas is a 9th grade student, born in Costa Rica from Villareal. He is one of the newest scholarship students at La Paz, and one of the most enthusiastic learners. With a desire to learn more about what is around him and specially if it's regarding science, this opportunity will hopefully open many doors for him in the future.

    Then I also helped Hilda with selling tickets and advertising it to the community, I feel like I failed with this because it was one of the things that I was in charge of and I was not able to get a good result. One of the things that affect my failure was that I was in vacation and social media was the only way that I could tell people because I was also out of town for most of vacation. I decide to post the information in the Tamarindo and Potrero Garage Sale to inform different communities about it and to come and support the causes. I also posted the information on the families of La Paz Facebook group hoping that a few parents from La Paz would come and do something different. I posted it for 4 weeks and twice the week of the event hoping that I would get response from the parents, and I also included the information on the Newsletter and there was only one parent how decide to donate a tickect because she couldn't make it, my mother, Miss Amy and Jake where the onlypeople who came from La Paz, decide Mr. Jonathan and Pedro who were volunteering. I was very surprised and disappointed because I was hoping that more people would could because it was something different and nice to do on Friday night and it's something that not always goes around.

     I was disappointed that not many people went even through I though that I publicized it, and Hilda also told a lot of people that she knew and she thought that from all the people that she told there were going to be about 50 people going, at the end there were only about 30 people and around 10 of them were guest that were staying at the Hotel. I'm very grateful to all the people that went because they helped us raise 1174 dollars and be with Hilda and Simone during the anniversary of the fire. The people that didn't go missed out in a lot because the event was beautiful and created with love and it was shown through out the entire event. All the donors of the prices where very generous with their donations, we had donations from $50-$400 dollars, which could have helped us raised more money if there were more people to bid on the silent auctions. Then I really appreciate the people that help by volunteering their time, for example Marcony and Mr. Jonathan volunteer to be the bar men but they didn't sell many drinks. However they were very helpful during the afternoon setting up everything. Charlie and the people who were playing music (including Pedro, the music teacher) also volunteered their time. The ambiance of the evening was very warm and cozy because the space was lighted with a warm colored light, people where talking, dancing, and eating the food.

    The preparation went by a little smooth and crazy at the same time. Hilda was very busy at the kitchen making sure that all the dishes were made on time, while her friend Gaby helped but the tables. My mother, Denis and myself helped with the decoration and setting up the table with the silent auctions and the raffle, decorating the place with balloons and making a poster with the names of all the people/business that contributed to the cause. 

   It was very interesting because I got to met different people from the community that I only knew by their names or had seen them around. I was surprised that they were so willing to help specially toward the end of the Night when I went up to thank Hilda and everyone that came and talked a little bit about my cause and about Denis. Another things that I liked about the event was that Denis was there and he was able to help out that day with setting up. I liked this because he wants to be engaged with the project, which I really appreciate it, but at the same time  it's his way of saying thank you for this opportunity. And the small gestures like those are the ones that I value the most barbecue they motivate me even more to work on the project because I want to give them this opportunity to Camille and Denis with all my heart. 

Me working on last minutes arrangements

The silent auction table

How the restaurant looked while there was still light

Denis watching the band set up!

The band checking the sound.

Mr. Chapman and Marcony, the bar tenders.

The set up for the buffet

The buffet

delicious food

mmm more food!

The cake Hilda made as a dessert

How the place looked at night with people

Charlie playing

The raffle items table

The beautiful family of Conchal and Papaya

 

Monday April 28th Reflection Time

Working collaboratively with others

     During this project I worked with Hilda and Simone. It was very interesting because working with Hilda was like working with an older version of myself. She was in charge of everything and was controlling everything. However I noticed how hard it was for others to work with her because they wanted to help but they didn't know how. I wanted to help Hilda with this as much as I could be she liked to be in charge of everything, which I respect because the event was also the anniversary of the fire and she wanted the event to be perfect and just the way that she wanted. 

    I decided to help in the ways that I could, which lead me to help advertise which I think that I could have done better by going to different places and putting up flyers around different parts of the community and business where I knew people and that way they would tell their costumers about the event and more people could come.

    I really admire all the hard work that Hilda put into the event, she really wanted it to turn out well because the Hotel and Restaurant are her passions and that's what make her happy and she wanted to show people how much it meant to her and Simone. I will follow the way that she was organized and attentive to detail but I will remember to delegate, that way more than one person can enjoy the satisfaction of seeing an event flourish at the end. 

     Also I really wanted to be a big part of the event but I just didn't know how. I would ask Hilda how I could help but she would assign me simple tasks, this was good for me because I was in vacation and just wanted to relax, but at the same time I had a lot of free time in which I could have used to help her. I would volunteer to do something and then she would say that it was okay and that she would do it, I know how she felt, because when I do yearbook I feel the same way, it's hard to trust someone to do something when you already have an idea of what you want. For example I volunteered to create the sheets of papers where the people can write their silent auction, but Hilda said that she would do it because she already had the information of the prices and as already doing the certificates. She was putting a lot of responsibilities on herself and I felt bad in a way because she was doing so much for me and I felt useless for not helping her more.

    I'm very grateful overall but I really wished Hilda would have delegated a bit more and let me help her. However it was good for me too have this experience because I now know how people feel when they work with me and I know that I need to work really hard in learning how to work with other and delegate, that way more people can feel the excitement that I feel when I do an event.

Snaps for good hearted people

     I'm so excited I can't even write! It's been a while since I wrote and I feel really guilty about but I have like super amazing news! The event is going very well :) Last week I was not in touch with Hilda because it was aster week and there is a lot of people in the area and the hotel was very busy. However the week before Easter, we created a list of all the contacts that we knew that could donate prizes for the raffle and the silent auction, I don't have the numbers of all the people that we contacted becuase Hilda would send the letter through the hotel's emails because it's there event and they are donating the proceeds. After sending out the emails, we got responses and Hilda and I are making the gift certificates for the prizes. It's becoming a good outcome because Hilda knows a lot of people and she was sold all of her tickets and she says that we might have 60 people instead of 40 people, which is really good and the prices range from $50-$400 which means we will be raising a lot of money! This is really excited and Denis got this passport during vacation and with help of amazing people from the community that will help us get him a visa!

Soon I will be writing about how I work with others, Hilda is as if I was working with myself and know I see how challenging it is for other people.

Planning and initiating more professional and larger activities.

Undertaking new challenges by working with new people and a different type of event.

Showing perseverance and commitment because I've been having trouble fundraising but I haven't given up and now I have a great fundraising event.

Who said event time?!?!

   It's spring break! But that doesn't mean that I won't be working on CAS! I have a lot of free time now and I will be working on my up coming event! It will be what I wanted to do but better and sooner which is a challenge but I have a great mentor for this event.

   It turns out that Miss Geneva had a great opportunity for me. Her friend Hilda, and her husband Simone are the owner of Hotel Conchal and the Restaurant Papaya in Brasilito. I met both of the on Monday because they want to do a charity event to overcome a fire that they had at their hotel last year. They want to leave that behind by having a charity event, I find that a very special way to move on and helping others. Hilda was very generous she doesn't want any of the proceed, she only needs to cover the cost of the event and then all the proceeds will go to the scholarship fund! I told her about the event and what I had done to fundraiser and she was surprised with my determination to get the students to the camp that she said that we will work together to get all the funds in one night.

   Our meeting was at the restaurant, it was lovely, on a second floor and it was very fresh and I know it will look very pretty during the event. Hilda showed us how they had light of different colors for that night and explain me how she planed in setting up and I got really excited. The only this that I will be a small event, the restaurant can hold about 40 people, but it will be elegant and there will also be a silent auction and a raffle. The other thing is that it's planned to be in April 25th, in about 3 weeks, but Hilda know a lot of people around and she is very organized and we planned to get the prices of the raffle, silent auction, tickets and flyer's done by this week. I will in charge of publicity and helping her out by calling a few places to see if they are interested in donating something for the silent auction. The other thing that I'm in charge of is getting volunteer to help as waiters or waitresses, but I'm sure I can get a few students to volunteer.

   I'm not really worried about this event, I'm actually really excited because Hilda knows a lot of people around the area that will love to help and she is also very organized and generous and we are constantly keeping in touch and letting each other know on what is going on. I'm usually the type of person that doesn't like to work collaboratively with other, however if they are people like Hilda, how are organize and have a similar energy like myself than I'm even more efficient than usual. Another thing that I'm learning through this event is showing adults that I can take more responsibilities, at first Hilda was taking more to do, but I slowly showing her that I can be in charge of other things regarding the event. For example we will be dividing up the places in which we will be asking for donations for the silent auction, and at first Hilda was going to do it all herself.

   This is just a quick overview of how things are being planned. Later on the week I should have more updates on specific details of the event, such as times, prices, and sponsors. 

Raping it up!

    This trimester is almost over and I'm glad to say that I feel proud of my accomplishments. It's been a long and I have experiences both failures and accomplishment that have helped me grow. I will start with each Monday. 

    I wrote about my accomplishments on Monday how I created the question and spoke with the 10th grader of about the opportunity. Then on Wednesday I end up talking with the 9th graders because I had so many things going on on Tuesday that i forgot to go to their science class to talk with them. However it was a lot more fun the speak with the 9th graders because they all said that they wanted to nominate Dennis and they were all saying why he should be the best option. I really liked that because it should how much they support each other and how wanted him to have this opportunity. I also really enjoyed myself talking to them because Dennis kept raise his hand and asking questions because he was really excited. It brought me a lot of excitement and joy to know that I'm giving students like Dennis this types of opportunities. 

    Then later that day, I went through a challenge of my own. I'm normally a shy person, but through CAS I have been able to get over it in  may way because I get to interact with more people. Also because most of the time I'm the one behind events I'm not used interacting with people directly I'm writing emails or planing things with people that I see often. However on Wednesday when I went to collect the tickets that were in Nimbu Spa, I can to the realization that I was not selling any tickets, I though that at least they would sell a few, but only the girls from the salon got some. Went I got to the car I really didn't know what to do and I did not feel like going to ask people if they wanted to buy raffles because I don't like to interact with people that way, I feel shy. But I was talking to my mom and she told me that I had no choice and I this was my project and if I wanted to get more money I would have to talk to people and ask them to buy me raffle tickets. I felt really uncomfortable because I don't really like to ask for money, which is why most of my fundraiser get money in an indirect way. But I just told myself that I had to and I remember what my first mentor told me, "if you are asking anything and it's for a good cause, just ask and don't be afraid because you are helping someone." and that was what helped me get through the first shops around the commercial center where the Salon was. There weren't many and I sold a few and I was glad that I sold more, so my mom told me that we should go to Flamingo at the commercial area and ask there because that way I would sell more tickets and there are more commercial centers.  Again I didn't like interacting with people and selling more tickets but I told myself it was for a good cause. 

    To help me, my mom told me to go first to the places where I knew someone, so we went to Petite Paris, the Salon I go to and I sold some there. Then we went to each shop in there and it look a while but each time it was easier to tell people about the project and if they were interested. It was fun at the end because I started to see different behavior with people when I asked them. Some people bough tickets because they didn't know how to say no, some people would say that they didn't have cash, other would say no with a guilty face. Other people would be really interested about the project and I would end up talking with them for a few minutes, then there were people who really wanted the price so they would get two or three tickets. At the end I spoke with around 30 people and sold 50 tickets more, which made a very big difference. I was glad after all to go around Flamingo because it was about half of all the tickets that were sold. 

    Thursday! The big day, at school I ended up selling a few which was a good relive and many people where asking me questions about it, like if they had to be there to claim it,  if they could still buy tickets and things like that. Overall it was a long day for me so I didn't plan much. After school I had dance until 4:30pm and then I had to go home shower and get ready, eat and get all the tickets and count the money. At the end it was 5:30 and I didn't have time to count the money because I had to go the wellness activity. There I had a time to relax and reflect on my community with other students. And at the very end I got a big bucket and mixed all the tickets. Mr. Abel let me give a little speech and I talked about the project and how it was my passion and I could feel my eyes shine when I was talking and that was just another reminder that I love this project.

    The draw of the ticket was a little simple, I got a volunteer and he got the ticket. It was a little dull because nobody really knew the winner expect myself. The overall winner was Karin, from the saloon Petite Paris. I called her the next day and she was really excited and surprised because she was one of those people how just bought a ticket to help out. She was not working on Friday so I mom will be delivering the IPad on Monday because I will be on my way to a IB field trip on Monday after school. On Thursday night I was so tired from the day that my mom ended up counting the tickets that were sold and counting the money for me. I had dinner and just went to sleep after that because I had to rest from a long week.  

    Then I've been waiting to get emails from students how are interested in the Camp because the dead line is tomorrow at 8am. So far I have two emails, one from each class and they are the candidates that are the most passionate in each class and I'm very glad to have the emails. I couldn't wait to read them tomorrow so I already read them and will do it again tomorrow with Miss Kellie and Selene to discuss it a little bit more. Now I have a lot of things to do to get both of the candidates to go! And I need to find a lot of this about passports because one of the candidates doesn't have a passport and need to help him get one and all the arrangements for him to be able to go! I can't wait for the next trimester to finish the last details of this because I will be working a lot during vacation on my next fundraiser!

Oh I almost forgot, I sold 107 tickets which is 214,000 colones which is about  $428, leaving a profit of $278. It's not the amount of money that I intended to get but at least its something. Next time I will see if I can get the price donate from Gollo or Cope Guanacaste (it was my dad's idea, a little late but I will defiantly do it for next time)

Meeting with Miss Kellie

     Today during lunch I met with Miss Kellie to discuss about  the students that will be chosen for the scholarship. Miss Kellie said that is was a good idea to open it to all the 10th and 9th graders because maybe there are students that are interested and we don't know about. We decide to have them write a response to the following questions (at the end )and send them to me by the end of the week. Then on Monday we will be choosing (hopefully Selene will be there and Miss Kellie of course). 

   I felt that the talk with Miss Kellie was very important because it motivated me even more to keep this project going. At first I was terrified because honestly I thought that the students wouldn't show any interest and if there was no interested then why would I be doing this project? And it would really be a waste of my time because I have many things do so thing school year and I'm taking my time to create a scholarship for students to take and experience the opportunity that I had. The sciences are my passions, they are what make me happy, and the camp was such as eye opening opportunity for me because there isn't many people in school that like the science the way I do and many ways I feel like an outcast because I'm the science nerd. But when I was at camp I had a bunch of weird and unique people like that used to watch animal planet when they were in Elementary school and liked to look at bugs for fun. I was with people like me and it also showed me all the amazing opportunities that student like us can get. I want this opportunity to mean a lot of the students and show them that there are a lot of opportunities out there for you if you follow your passion and what you like because the world is huge and there are people similar to you out there. 

   I was scared that the students would take it for granted  and there would be nobody representing the school at the camp. And that would have been disappointing because I have been speaking with Laura (the camp director), Jim (project and camp founder) and my counselors about my project and all the work that I've been doing to have to tell them, sorry guys nobody in my school is interested. It would also look bad because they have helped and supported the school a lot and it would be disappointing that the students are not showing interest. 

   So during an entire period I kept think in my head: what if they don't like it? What if they think it's weird? What if they just ignore my presentation? What if this was a waste? I was expecting the worst so I won't get disappointing afterward. So during the last period I went in the 10th grade science class and with help of Miss Kellie I told them what I was doing. We told them about the questions and I told them a little bit about the camp. At this point I was a little less nervous because they were all very focused on what I was saying, it wasn't until they started asking questions that I was able to finally breathe and calm down. What are some activities? What else do I need? Could be talk at lunch about it? Could you bring me a brochure? It's all payed?!? That was when I knew that at least some of them where interested. Then when I got home I got messages asking about the website, my experience and process, which just brought a huge smile to my face because I'm doing this for them and they showed me that they want it. The last message I got today about it was: "I hope I can go!". That is my motivation, sharing my passion with people that have the same one, helping people with unique opportunities. I always want to go to a Camp and last year my dream came true and it was way better than the ones I read on book and movies because it had my passion and just knowing that I will help students have the feeling that I felt bring a joy and self satisfaction to myself. 

   Then tomorrow during 3rd period I will be speaking with the 9th graders. At first I was not going to tell them because I'm hoping the the 10th grader that will go will take charge of the scholarship fund, but maybe that won't happen and I also want to open the opportunity for them. Another issue that I had is that I think that are still a bit young, but Miss Kellie talked to me about a specific student that would be very interested and it was only fair to open the door for all the 9th graders. The way that Miss Kellie talked to me about Dennis gave me chills, I felt like she was talking about a male version of myself but better! And I know Dennis, he is in my advisory and I adore him, he is just a loving and caring and not smart or intelligent, he is a every day learner. There is no way to describe the way he loves to learn. And when I think of him I get the memories of when I was his age and I had this huge desire to help and I look at myself now I ask myself when did learning become so monotone when it used to be so fun and entertaining and fulfilling before. In a way I feel burned out but still running on some energy because I don't want it to feel monotone and today I felt that energy come back when I was speaking with Miss Kellie about Dennis. My memories came back of that time in high school when I wasn't worried about SAT, IB, Bachillerato Nacional, Colleges, Financial Aid or how to get my GPA up; the only thing on my mind way to enjoy my high school days and learn. And I've been trying to find that feeling in the past two weeks and now that I have it back I don't want to let it go, because it's my most valuable source of energy. 

   And choosing Dennis will be so amazing in so many levels because he is Tico, he is a scholarship student and who knows when an opportunity like this will come up for him again, he is like a sponge that absorbs knowledge and uses it, he will get out of the country for the first time, he will practice his English and will meet a different culture. Also if he really likes it, he can take over my project next year for CAS as a 10th grader and I can be a mini mentor and help him with the program to send another student next year. Of course that if we choose him there are many things that we need to consider like getting a passport and paying for it if he needs the help and small things like that, but I won't let money be an issue because I want the student to feel my passion and my excitement towards this. Now I hope that tomorrow he is interested and "applies", because it will be a great opportunity for him. And I also need to be neutral, which is every important and which is why I'm not the only one choosing. I hope I get as much excitement from the 9th graders tomorrow as I got from the 10th graders!

CAMP APPLICATION QUESTIONS

• Why do you want to go to the camp?
• What is your passion and how does this opportunity relate to it ?
• What makes you the best candidate to go to the camp?
• What do you hope to learn from this experience?
• How will you use the knowledge you've gained to give back to your community?
• Is there anything else you would like us to know?
• Other information to add:
  
  • Is your passport up to date? (It cannot be within 3 months of its expiration)
  • Does your passport give you permission to travel on your own?
  • If you have a residency or student visa, do you need special permission from the government to leave the country?
  • Do you have a US visa?

Learning Outcomes Reflections!!

Planning and initiating an activity

     During this trimester I have to sit down and plan different ways to fundraise for my CAS project. I had two activities, I had one family dinner, which took place February 22 and I'm currently in the process of the end of the raffle tickets. 

    Both activities involve different amounts of planning, but both needed a significant amount of advertising. For the family dinner I had to check again with different parents and see how was the most interested. The one who responded the most and was willing to help was Mauro, the owner of Bamboo sushi. We communicted through email at first but then we exhancged phone calls. During the phone class I explained to him with more detail my project and what I had in mind about the dinner. Then we set a date to meet with each other and finalized the deatils. My mom and I met with him about 3 weeks before the event and he offered to give 10% of the sale that only came from La Paz Families. I liked the amount and the fact the restaurant was open from 11am-10pm and the families could come at anytime that day. 

    I really wanted people to go so I decided to focus on the advertismnet to the La Paz Commity, I had it be incluede in teh newsletter, I kept amnoucing it in community meeting, I had a table with the information of my project and the dinner during the Land and Sea show case a week before and it was also in the CAS bullitin board with information about it. One thing that I did forget to announce it was in at the Families of La Paz Facebook group. Another thing that I took into consideration was that the Catalinas Triathlon was going on that same day and several people attended 

     It was a dissapointing becaue not many people went, only 5 families. But at the same time I feel bad because my family didn't go either...We had family over and we went to Rio Celeste and we took longer than we planned and got home late, when we had planned to stop there on our way back home. I was also expecting more people to go because of my advertising, I even told Tanya to announce it during the community council, where many parents attend.

    Then doing the raffle has been a longer process and more complicated. It took me a while to find a program that will make me more than 100 tickets and that I could add all the different things that I wanted to include in the ticket. Then I had to learn how to work with the program and do in another website all the fonts because the ones from the program where to small. 

     I had the tickets ready for the 17th of February. It also took a long time to cut them and put them in booklets. I did that during my breaks and recess the week before and Diana helped me with the ones I didn't finish. I also choose and cheap price that way people would buy more. I've adveritise it a lot which is why I'm even more dissapointed because I've barley sold any. I went to the coffee house and sold some, but not as many as I expected... For the adverstiment I announced it in 4 different Facebook groups, the Potrero Garage Sale, Tamarindo Garage Sale, Students of La Paz and Families of La Paz.  Also I announce it every community meeting that I think people are getting bored of hearing me saying it to much!

    I planned this fundraiser with my mentor because we though it would be a succes, but I'm worried it will not. I just hope that more people buy raffle tickets this week! And I made sure to plan it and sell it after the bike raffle and I put it out in the community so more people could get them and sold them cheaper, becuase I considerd the challenges that the bussiness class to improve them with this raffle.

Challenges and success

    I've had many challenges with my fundraisers and that really disappointing me and gets me mad and frustrated because I dedicate them a lot of time, well at least enough time. 

    With the dinner I'be had the challenge to people to go. I decide to do this type of fundraise becuase it's a different way of fundraise and it's not like teh type of fundraise that asks for money, it asks for money in an indirect way and it's also adverstise the different restaurantes of La Paz Families. I also have choosen  pricy restuarante but they are the ones that generate more money and the ones that actually agree to help. I did get a good profit with Season, I got $150 dollars even when it was a really pricy restaurant. But Bamboo Sushi was not that pricy and not many people went. Mauro has still not made the deposit becuase he is out of town but he sent me the receipts of La Paz and he told me that we will make the deposit some time this week. Hopefully that will help me cover the Ipad cost. The main challege of the is to get people to go, because the information is out there, people just don't go and I don't know what else I can do to reach the parents, it's just harder becasue many of them are busy working and they don't check the newsletter or Facebook that often. 

    Again I'm having the same problem with the raffle people are just not buying tickets!!! I think I'm going to go crazy trying to fundraise. I'm try to do different things buts it's not working. So all this week I will go during lunch announcing the raffle tickets, hopefully that will work.

    Hopefully my last and final fundraiser will be a success! There is a saying in Spanish that says, " La tercera es la vencidad." It translates something like it will work on the third type. It will be the third type of fundraiser and hopefully it will work. I will be planning it during vacation and the advertise it when we come back to school.

Mentor Meeting

     I'm a little less worried today about the arrangement for the transportation and stay of the students when they get to Pennsylvania. 

     I had a meeting with my mentor Jim and we spoke about our ideas and process. I was telling him how the raffle isn't going as well as we thought it would be even though I'm advertising it and working hard on it, I'm still not selling the amount of tickets that I wanted to sell. Then I told him about my second fundraiser and he said it was a good idea and that hopefully that way I will be able to fundraise the money that I'm targeting for. 

      Then he told me how he asked a few of his friends and unfortunatley none of them can help with the transportation and stay...However he came up with another person, that might be willing to help, while we were brainstorming. April was one of Jim's first students at Allegheny College many years ago and now she helps out with Creek Camp by giving the campers talks about reptiles and then go with them on a salamander and helbender hunt. She lives in Pitsburg, near the airport and she might be able to pick the students up and let them stay at ther house. Then the next day the students can leave with Laura to Meadville (where the camp takes place) becuase she also lives in Pittsburg. We wond't want to ask Laura or Wendy becuase they are vey busy planning the Camps and we don't wnat to put another weight in their shoulders. 

      Also other option is ask other creekers (college students from Alleghany or Pittsburg) to take care of the La Paz Students. The only problem is that they arrive the 5th of July and many people have 4th of July weekend plans. 

     After talking with Jim I became less worried because he is not worried at all and he says that we will soon find someone to help out and that all of this will be solved. He said that he will brainstorm with Wendy and she goes down to Osa with him for the week and they will let me know what they come up with. 

      Now my task is to email Kelsey and Brogan, my counselors and also ask them for the help and see if they can do that or they brainstorm. Hopefully get something soon so I can have everything planned out for when we choose the students and explain to their parents how it will all work out.

Arrangments

      Well this week I focused on the general arrangements that have to be done for  this project to work. I emailed a couple people about the Camp arrangements and I decided a date for my other fundraiser. 

      Regarding my raffle tickets I found out on Friday that there is a La Paz parents, who has been selling raffle tickets! I was really surprised because I haven't given any to anyone expect Sandra, Jenny or Dianna. Kathy Arrieta is the parent who has been selling them, she works with my parents and that is how I found out that she was selling them to all her friends and community member from Brasilito! My dad told me about it on Friday because she offered him some. I emailed her to thank her and let her know that I was in charge of it and that I had more tickets if she needed more. I'm happy that she is helping me and that tickets are being sold!! Yay! This is a big relieved because I was worried that i would end up loosing money instead of gaining.

     I emailed Jim to see if he had spoken with people that he know about picking up the student(s) from the airport and to the college. He said that the two counselors that he had in mind can't as well of a friend of his but he will keep coordinating. Also he said that Wendy, the new head of Creek Connection (she took Jim's place when he retired at the end of last year) will be coming to CR this month and she might come to La Paz with Jim and we will get together and get something set. Maybe she could pick up the student and stay with her family, and are really nice and like to hang out with the campers every once in a while. I cross my finger that we manage to figure something out.

     Then I emailed Laura, she is in charge of Creek Camp letting her know that we will for sure send a La Paz student and if we manage to raise enough money we will send two. I told her that we will pay the camp fees once we get the money and to save a spot for one or two students. I also ask her about ideas about the transportation and stay of our La Paz students. I emailed her Friday night so I expect to get a response sometime early in the week.

     Then regarding the students who will go I brainstormed ideas with my parents on how to choose them. We came up with two, they are a little extra work, but if they really want to get this opportunity they will not complain about it. The first idea is to have them write a little essay or a couple of paragraphs (like you would for any scholarship) stating why they want to go and why they are the best option. Then the fun idea was have them do a contest about their abilities and knowledge on water qualities. They were recently doing water test with the equipment that we brought down which is the same one that we use in camp. If they know how to handle and use the equipment, then they will represent La Paz very well and demonstrate that we are part of creek connection. Also I want to choose the student with help of Selene because she went there last year with me and with Miss Kellie. We will decide at the end of the trimester, so next trimester they can help me in a few things to finish getting them money to get them there, that way they also work for it and appreciate it more. I emailed Miss Kellie my ideas and I will me with her during lunch next week to talk more about it. 

    Miss Amy told me to set a date for my fundraiser and start working towards that date. I looked at the school calender and figured out two things... The night of the arts is the 20th not the 21st of March. I remember checking it during February and it was the 21st! I wanted to draw out the raffle at the Night of the arts because there will be a lot of people. Now I don't know if I should draw it one day before or draw it on Friday 21st, but there is no activity for my to draw it at...Also it will be confusing to people because I've been say March 21st, at the Night of the Arts. I really need help deciding what to do about this....

      Anyways back to my original point, I decided to do the adult dinner on May 10th or 11th, either a Friday or Saturday night. We come back from vacation on the 21st, with gives me about 3 weeks to advertize it and finish planning it. I want to do most of the logistics and basics planning this trimester for example, the day, time, place, price of tickets, music. Then when I come back I can plan the details like food and drinks, advertize it more, dress code, set up and clean up (volunteers or hiring people), waiters (volunteer or hiring people). I know there is a lot to do so I will get myself going starting on Monday. 

    To start on Monday I will email Natasha, Miss Genneva and Jaime and let them know my plan and see which of them will be leaving to help me out more with this. Also ask them about the date because it's a week after Ruta La Paz and if maybe I should wait one more week to do the event. And hopefully start right away!

    One last thing. I was checking earlier today to see the prices of the tickets and they are still around $700 dollars a round trip, so it's still accessible. I hope I get enough money to buy at least that one plane ticket with the raffle money. http://www.kayak.com/flights/LIR-PIT/2014-07-05/2014-07-12

Wish me luck!