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.