Leader of Elementary School Girls Group

Hours: 24

Area: Service

Dates: September 2012-March 2013 (bi-weekly meetings)

Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities, show perserverence and commitment to my activities, engage issues of global importance, consider the ethical implications of my actions.

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Throughout my junior year, I was given the opportunity to continue working with a group of elementary school girls from the Triangle area. This was my second year working with these girls. We meet twice a week to discuss issues they may be facing in school and life, as well as enjoy a snack time together and play games or do crafts. This group is intended to be a place where they can enjoy themselves, as well as learn about the gospel and other important moral issues, while also having a safe place to talk and express themselves. Each time we meet, I plan a game or craft for us to complete at the beginning of the night, as well as a lesson that we will go over. Most of these lessons include things about inner beauty, friends, getting along with people who may be different with you, or making the right choices. At each meeting, we sit and discuss the lessons and take time for the girls to ask questions. At the beginning, keeping control over everyone and making sure that we stayed on task to complete everything was a challenge, but over time, I have been able to find a schedule for us to stick to, as well as become better organized and have more leadership over the girls. This group is very important to me because it not only gives me a chance to share some of the wisdom and knowledge that I may have about things that these girls are going through, but it also gives me a chance to recognize the things that I need to improve in order to be a better role model for them. I hope that I have been able to teach these girls something, just like they have taught me. This has been an extremely enjoyable experience for me, and I can't wait to see the amazing things that come from these girls are they enter middle school!

Varsity Cheerleading

Hours: 50

Area: Action

Date: August 2012-April 2013

Learning Outcomes: Increase my awareness of my own strengths and area for growth, undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment in my activities, develop new skills.

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This year, I completed my third year on Millbrook's Varsity Cheerleading Squad. Although the year brought many challenges and changes, I enjoyed spending my time cheering on the Wildcats and competing in two competitions. This year started off with the challenge of a new coach who wanted us to do things different. I quickly learned that while it was hard to change the way I stunt and tumble, I was able to adjust rather quickly and hop right back into things. I also was named the junior captain, so I had to face the challenge of staying organized and making sure that cheers were always being called at games, girls were always on their best behavior, and that something was waiting in the locker room for the football team before each game. My strengths for organization and for keeping things under control were recognized here. I also had to learn to work with my fellow captains to make sure that everyone had a say and got a chance to express their own 

opinion. We also had to make sure that we split work evenly between us so that no one was ever stressed or overwhelmed by what they had to do. Throughout the season, I continued to work on my tumbling and stunting, to a point where I was able to develop new skills, including my "whip to tuck" tumbling pass and different body positions for stunting. I also learned how to work under pressure, as our coach resigned and a new coach was brought in during the middle of the season. I had to step up and become a better leader and be able to help our new coach when this occurred. However, it did not take long for this work to become overwhelming. At times, I found it hard to stay positive and look at the brighter side of things, and during times like this I really had to persevere and make sure that I was working my hardest at all times. Overall, I believe that my junior season on the Millbrook Varsity Cheerleading Squad was a success. I was able to not only work together with two awesome coaches and an amazing squad to better ourselves, but I also became a better me. By learning new skills and strengthening my organization and leadership abilities. As the end of the season rolled around, I found myself counting down the days until the next one.  I can't wait for the chance to finish out my final cheerleading season at Millbrook!!

Faith Town, GYMSOX, & GCC Planning

Hours: 1o

Area: Creativity 

Date: June 2012

Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities, work collaboratively with others.

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 Throughout several days in June 2012, I worked together with a creativity team to help plans events for Grace Community Church. This events, which are put on for the public, span from the local Vacation Bible School to Miles for Missions, which is a race run to raise money for less fortunate. Over these days, the creativity team put their heads together in order to plan the best year of events that the church and the surrounding triangle area had ever seen. 

During this time, I got to see my strengths and weaknesses in comparison to others in the group, and work with these others to better not only ourselves, but the events that we were planning. At the beginning it was challenging coming into a group where I was the youngest person, and having to help lead group discussions, but by doing this I was able to discover my leadership strengths and abilities. I also found it exciting to work with the others and know that the choices that were were making were going to help form exciting events that children would get to enjoy and have fun at. Although this creativity team was only working together for a few days, I enjoyed the chance to work together with the others and think it taught me a lot. I also learned how to hold a discussion maturely and be on the same level as the adults who were also in the group. This is a strength that will help me later on in life, as I continue to have to communicate with people who are older than me and different than me. I enjoyed this opportunity. 

Surprise Reader at St. Andrew's Preschool!

Hours: 2

Area: Service

Date:

Learning Outcomes: Plan and initiate activities, work collaboratively with others.

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To help celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, Carolyn Rapp and I made a special appearance as Thing One and Thing Two at St. Andrew's Preschool. We came to visit the class, eat snacks with the students, and read them our favorite story, "The Cat in the Hat". This was a really fun experience, and it was enjoyable for us, the teachers, and the students. Reading to the students wasn't a simple task though, along with the teachers at the school, we worked together to come up with costumes and ideas for our 

story time together. We planned to dress as Thing One and Thing Two and gathered our supplies. We also picked out our story and read through before reading to the class, in order to practice our "Thing One and Two" voices. Overall, having the chance to read to the class was a ton of fun. The kids were very excited and getting to interact with them was an awesome experience. I also enjoyed getting to take the time to plan and work with Carolyn. It gave us a chance to see how well we worked together creatively. I hope that Thing One and Two get to make another appearance at Dr. Seuss' next birthday bash!!

Faith Town Band

Hours: 8
Area: Creativity

Date: September 2012- October 2012 (Sunday mornings)

Learning Outcomes: Increase my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, undertake new challenges, work collaboratively with others, develop new skills.

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Throughout the fall of my junior year, I got to spend my Sunday mornings singing in front of group of children from the North Raleigh Community. This task was a great deal of fun, and I loved having an opportunity to show of my creativity and singing. When working with the Faith Town band, I was given a lot of responsibility to come up with song lists and ideas for our performances each Sunday. Planning these things, along with coming up with time to practice together, helped me become more aware of my strength in organization.  I realized that I have a strength of getting things together and making sure that things run smoothy when needed. While I realized that organization may be a strength, I realized that I may have a weakness when it came to picking new and different songs, as well as coming up with different ways to present these things to the children. However, working with my band, we were able to collaborate and come up with many good ideas, which was a blast. I enjoyed having a chance to trade ideas with other people and discuss new and exciting ways to do things. Overcoming the challenges in creativity brought our band together and made us better as a group, as well as improved us individually. Working with the Faith Town band was such an exciting experience, I enjoyed the chance to expand my creative talents and sing in front of a group of children from the Raleigh area. I hope I am blessed to have this opportunity again!

Habitat for Humanity

Hours: 8

Area: Service

Date: 

Learning Outcomes: Undertake new challenges, engage with issues of global importance, develop new skills.

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Along with my fellow IB classmate Carolyn Rapp, I was able to spend a Saturday working with Habitat for Humanity. While there, we helped to tear down a house in the downtown Raleigh area. This included moving damaged parts of the house, tearing up the floors, taking down light fixtures, and other various odd jobs. Seeing as I am not someone who typically spends their time tearing up residential property, this was an experience where I learned many news skills by overcoming new challenges. For example, I learned how to properly pull up a floor, so that the boards won't be split and you can reuse the wood for other tasks. This is a project that we spent the majority of the time working on and though it took a few tries to get the technique right, I can now say that I am able to pull up floorboards without splitting the wood into pieces. Carolyn and I also spent time pulling down all the light fixtures in the house, a project where we got a chance to practice team work and patience, seeing as most of the light fixtures in the house were rusty and very difficult to pull down from the ceiling. Overall, I enjoyed working with Habitat for Humanity. I know the work that I did went to the greater good of an area and community, and that I was able to help with a cause that is bigger than me. I look forward to taking a chance to volunteer through them again! 

Special Needs Cheerleading Coach

Hours: 15

Area: Service

Date: October 2012-February 2013 (meeting during lunches, competitions)

Learning Outcomes: Increase my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities,work collaboratively with others, develop new skills. 

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Beginning in the fall of my junior year, I took on the position of the head coach of the Millbrook High School Special Needs Cheerleading Squad. Twice a week, myself and the other cheerleaders on the team, went up to the special needs classroom during lunch to work with them and teach them a routine that they would perform at competition. Throughout my time working with this wonderful group of children, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am strong leader that is able to take control of a situation and make sure work gets done. I also learned how much I enjoy working with the special needs class, and how that could potentially be a job for me in the future. I learned that I can be organized and stay on top of things. I also learned that even though I am creative, I may need to work harder because I struggled to create the entire routine and make up the cheer for the squad in a such a short period of time.  I learned these things because I was undertaking new challenges each time I coached the special needs squad. Although I helped as an assistant coach my sophomore year, I did not realize how much work goes into being completely in control. I had to create an entire routine, make up a cheer, find stunt groups, find girls who were interested in helping participate, mix music for the routine, and more. Most of these things were challenging because I had never done them before. One of the biggest challenges was planning and initiating everything. There is so much that has to get done that I felt as if I was constantly checking behind myself and making lists of things that I had to do.

I also had to work with others to make sure that these things were getting done. It takes patience and cooperation to make sure that everyone is on the same page and working their hardest to get everything done in the best way possible. Overall, I consider my time working with the special needs cheerleading squad a blessing, and they hold a very special place in my heart. I am so excited that I get to continue working with them throughout my senior year, and I look forward to seeing myself and them develop into better people. Working with this squad has taught me so much, not only new skills, but it has also taught me a lot about being happy and making the best of everything. This is by far my favorite activity that I have been given a chance to work with at Millbrook and I'm looking forward to one more year!

GYMSOX Youth Group Band

Hours: 20

Area: Creativity

Date: August 2012-November 2012 (Sunday nights)

Learning Outcomes: Increase my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, undertake new challenges, work collaboratively with others.

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GYMSOX: Halloween Youth Group

Throughout the fall of my junior year, I spent time singing in the band at my Youth Group. Most Sundays, we would arrive at church around 4 P.M., learn about what songs we were singing, begin rehearing, and then spend the evening playing at both the middle school and high school youth groups. Working with the GYMSOX Youth Group band taught me a lot about my personal abilities and what I can handle, as well as how to work with others. For example, I became more aware of the fact that while I may be able to sing, I am weaker in certain areas, such as finding harmony right away. This is because I do not always listen to others singing around me, rather I am only listening to myself. By working with the others in the band, I was able to improve my skills in harmonizing during rehearsals, as well as take advice from more experienced members of the band. Likewise, I also began to undertake new challenges as time went on. When I first began participating in the band at youth group, I was not one to volunteer to take a solo or help pick a song that we were choosing to sing, however, as the year went on, I became more comfortable with these things and started challenging myself. As I challenged myself, my fellow band members were constantly supportive and helpful. As well as challenging myself and learning about my strengths and weaknesses, I obviously worked with others a lot too. Working with the other members of the band was not hard, we all communicated well and supported each other in a way that made it very easy to express your own opinion or ask a question.  I personally believe that as we grew closer as a group of people, our music skills improved because we communicated and worked together so well. Overall, working with the GYMSOX band was a great experience. I learned a lot about myself, working with others, and I learned to challenge myself and step outside of my comfort zone. I am very glad I took the time to participate in the band, and hope this is something I can continue to do as time goes on.