CAS Long Term: CBOB- S

In May of 2010, the UNICEF Club at my high school recommended a workshop at UF that dealt with Internally Displaced Persons in Colombia and Uganda. The organization that ran the presentation and activities was Children Beyond Our Borders, a non-profit that started in Gainesville a few years ago. The experience was great for me, especially since I have a huge interest in working with non-profits, using language skills to interact with people abroad, and global education. Later, in August, I found out that a few seniors decided to start a chapter of CBOB at our school, and of course I decided to become involved. I became 'project manager' and decided to use this as my long-term project for CAS when I was offered the position of president-in-training for the 2011-2012 school year.
The point of this club is to educate, or spread the word, about kids in primarily Colombia that have little or limited access to education because of their situation of being displaced by the Civil War-like conflicts going on there. Also, fundraising is a big activity- obviously if we want to have a scholarship fund, buy supplies, and build schools, we'll need money! We raise money mostly through bake sales, potlucks and getting sponsors. Up to now, I've made brownies three times (total of 3 hours), and had fun experimenting with arepas, a typical Colombian food, for a potluck (2 hours). Our meetings, held about every third Tuesday (unfortunately pretty inconsistently because of the senior schedule conflicts) at school are mostly updates on what we're raising money for, and we've had six at B-lunch (total of 3 hours). Since I'm an officer, I've also been to three meetings at the regional CBOB office (total of 5 hours). I've also learned that I can't depend on fellow officers to get things done, however. I feel as though this has been my busiest year, but the seniors seem especially distracted. A month ago, I made a list of things I want to get done before this school year is over, and the other officers were amazed that I actually took time to do it. That was disappointing- the fact that they weren't willing to work towards this important project- but also helped me look forward to next year when I will be the one initiating activities instead of waiting for others to get things done. More to come on the progress of our CBOB chapter!

Here is the list of what we are currently working on:
-T-Shirt fundraiser designs
-New Horizons E-tutoring kids in Medellin, Colombia
-Getting sponsors for raffles and awareness campaigns
-Save the World Day in cooperation with Eastside's other service clubs (hopefully April 15-17)
-I Am CBOB Scholarship Fund (it costs about $250 for one year of college tuition in Colombia, and we want to raise enough for at least enough for two by the end of this year.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TngUpxOgCqY link to Jose's story, one of the young men  we're raising money for

Zumba- A

My Spanish teacher suggested going to a zumba class for fun. I tried it out with some of my friends, and we assumed that it would be embarrassing and awkward. As it turns out, zumba is both of those things, but they also play my favorite music- and the best part is that you burn 600 calories per hour. I've gone to 4 zumba classes at the GHFC and love going to relieve stress and vary my exercise (4 hours).

Photography at Kanapaha- C

Ever since I was little, I've loved going to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens to see the changes in season, however small they may be in Florida. I decided to go with my brother on a clear and cool day, which was perfect for taking pictures because of the stunning lighting (2 hours). I plan on going back in the later spring and summer to see how the same areas transform with different plants and sun.

Despite it being winter, Kanapaha still had some gorgeous blossoming trees

These cool plants looked stunning with the deep blue sky in the background

This pond reminded me of something Monet would paint because of the clear reflections and lily pads

Tennis- A

I started playing tennis last year for the school team. It was the first sport I had ever played, since the only other thing i had done was ballet. This year, I had wanted to play for the school team again, but wasn't able to because of time restrictions. However, I want to keep up my skills so that I can be on varsity next year. I don't play as often as I want, but I've done a lot of practice on my serves, which have always been one of my main problems (6 hours). If I can get past these, I have a better chance of playing a winning game.

Oceanography T-Shirts- C

This was another example of last-minute stress. My oceanography team captain called me and asked me to design a t-shirt for our competition that was a week away... It takes one week to get shirts delivered! Luckily I made some phone calls and explained our situation and was able to get everything taken care of in 5 business days, which meant the shirts would be ready the day before we left. Then the problem was getting a design by the deadline set by the t-shirt company. I decided to draw a horseshoe crab and called all the teammates for their ideas for a team name. I wish I had been able to take more time on this task, but the shirts turned out alright (total of 2 hours)!

Photo from Anastasyia Zolotukhin

Shirt back

UNICEF- S

I've been a member of Eastside's UNICEF Club since the 2009-2010 school year and decided to continue it this year. This is one of the few clubs that I'm a member of, not an officer; however, I was asked to help with ordering shirts (1 hour) in November and cooked Nicaraguan-style rice and beans for the potluck we held in the same month (1 hour) to raise money for the organization. The secretary has kept track of meetings at school as well (3 hours total). I like this club because my aunt is a journalist for UNICEF and I admire her work. I have learned that even though I may not have an elected position, I still end up doing a lot of work when I'm involved with groups- I went to the two officer meetings in October and November (2 hours total) to help get things started and make suggestions for goals to set in fundraising, ways to collect dues, and certain international dates, such as World AIDS Day, to plan events around. This cause matters a lot to me, and I'm glad to help out with the school's club. It has been another example of needing to take initiative, even if it's not my responsibility, to get things done.

International food and movie night- C

My friends and I wanted to experiment with different international foods since we love eating, obviously, and learning about other cultures. Shelby hosted this event in November. We spent Friday afternoon at her house making latkes, arepas, curry, lentils, plantains and Japanese rice  cakes called onigiri. We also watched Pan's Labyrinth in Spanish to practice comprehension, and we had a brief discussion on Franco's dictatorship (total of 5 hours). We had a lot of fun cooking, and it was interesting trying to make everything vegan or vegetarian because three of us are one of those. Some of the food might have tasted better if we used butter and cheese, but it was fun anyways.