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.

Open house video for French I and II- C

My French II teacher, Madame Kerroumi, asked me to make a video of a 7-minute play to show at open house. I went after school to film the tenth graders, and as it turns out, I ended up having to memorize one of the characters' part in 20 minutes because the girl playing that part was absent. So in addition to doing what I had expected, I found out that I am actually good at memorization, even in another language! It was successful by our second run-through, and left only editing to do. I used iMovie for the first time in 3 years, which proved a challenge, but the short video turned out great. As another last-minute addition, I also had to translate the script from French to English so that the parents could follow along with what the students were saying (total of 5 hours). I find that film is an easy and effective way to document anything, and Madame said that it was a success and all of the parents enjoyed seeing some of their kids perform.