Personal Narrative: My Make A Difference Project

Group project, as defined by the Business Dictionary: A collection of individuals that come together to achieve a stated objective. Group project, as previously defined by myself: a dreadful situation that I would try to avoid as much as humanly possible.

Week two has been a bit of a rough week for my behavioral change project. I became sick and was stuck at home for three days this week. This caused me to have a bit of a relapse because when I am not feeling well I turn to things that comfort me. A big comfort for me is technology and I hate to admit it but I binge watched a lot of television this week and I used social media quite often. The worst part is that now that the binge has started I am having a difficult time stopping again. I am so stressed now because I missed a great deal of class and as a result I feel extremely far behind and anxious about if I can make it up successfully. Yet, all I want to do is watch Netflix and in all honesty that is all I have been doing this week. After the first week, I felt so strong (naively so) but now I only feel defeated by my own mind. That is a hard concept for me to grasp because how is it that something that feels so good, relaxing, and happy is so detrimental to my life in the areas of education, work, and relationships? I suppose though that part of the reason we do this project is to see what will make us relapse. For me and

The agency that I visited for my placement is called Positive Change Academy. This academy is located in Wilmington Delaware. Wilmington Delaware is a city where about 17,000 of its residents are living below the poverty level. Positive Change is an alternative school for children in 1st through 8th grade. Children are enrolled in this school usually due to behavioral issues. The goal is to equip the children with the appropriate resources to help reintegrate them all back into public, or private schooling systems. I had the pleasure of interviewing with Mr. Miller: Director of Education. Mr. Miller stated that he is basically the assistant principal at the school.

Senior project has definitely been a defining moment for me in my high school career. Senior project is basically a project all about what you want to be when you grow up, along with a few extra topics. I chose neurology and The BRAIN Initiative as my career and topic. I accomplished many things throughout this long process. I also gained so much knowledge about neurology

For a reason I don’t understand, teenagers will often call their peers “Social Justice Warriors” as an insult. As if being proactive about the world around us is a negative thing that should be squashed through insecurity. I am someone who has often been called a social justice warrior. But despite how those who say it would want me to feel, it actually makes me happy. It makes me happy because it means that even if they don’t want to hear or think about how the world treats people and things that don’t fit in with the norm, they know that that’s what I am fighting. To Lewis & Clark I would bring this peaceful fury. There have been times over the years when I have stopped myself from speaking up for things, but I got tired of that pretty quickly.

It is that time of year again; school is starting and with all of the district budget cuts, one way to supplement a school’s needs is the ever popular PTA Fundraiser! My first siting of this story was on Face Book earlier this week. The “Alternative Fundraiser” is an idea that has been percolating for a while: write a check instead of buying/making/participating in something that no one really wants to be involved in any way! As Emanuella Grinberg wrote in her article PTA Fundraiser Lets Parents Donate Cash Instead of Cupcakes on the CNN website (www.cnn.com), Dee Heinz’s family has participated in just about every bake sale and class fundraiser known to the modern PTA. As most parents will attest, all the

My senior project began with me stepping into a unique and exciting world; an adventure into modeling. I found myself wanting to learn everything regarding becoming a model and ways to break out of my shell and into a new comfort zone. The goals I planned before I finalized this project is to be in my first personal photo shoot, why? I loved seeing how rewarding it is to be photographed, and the self-esteem that builds within. The beginning of this project I had questions about what sort of person I am now and how I will shape afterwards, my road to gain these answers by how much work and effort I can accomplish this summer. My progress so far hasn’t been enough to modify my mindset into a people person professional, this has made shape into

The Make a Difference Club helps the larger community/ neighborhood by helping or giving back to the community and the people. In the club you volunteer at events such as beach cleanup, park cleanup, and soup kitchen. The mission and purpose of the club is to help the students and community.

I was born in Australia on January 12, 1999, however I have lived on the Hawaiian Islands since I was five and for most of my life. I have traveled back to Australia several times to visit family and even though I’m an Australian i do consider myself semi-Hawaiian in a sense. To give back to the islands I would love to help the next generation to have a childhood that is filled to the brim with Hawaiian Nature. One idea to give them this experience would be to go into Waipio Valley with the children from different schools in the Big island and explore the valley with them. Some activities while we are in the valley would be hiking, examining native plants, horse riding, swimming in rivers and the ocean, and then

I am a PhD student at the Dalla Lana School for Public Health at the University of Toronto. I work as a research coordinator under the supervision of your former colleague Dr. Julia Woodhall-Melnik. Dr. Woodhall-Melnik has recommended the Communications and Dissemination Research Assistant position on "The Community Ideas Factory Project" to me as she knows I am interested in continuing my work in this area. I have two years of experience in knowledge creation and dissemination from institutions such as St. Michael’s Hospital, and I can use the skills I have built to help you on this project.

Today I had the pleasure to talk to Moira while she watched her son and husband play baseball. Moira has been in the Y for a while. She explained to me that her family lived in Washington D.C. before they came to Houston. There she started her son off in swim lessons and she loved it. She decided to try out basketball and also loved it. When she moved down to Houston, she signed her son her for baseball for the experience and for time for father and son bonding. Also, because she like the way the programs are ran at the Y. Her purpose for staying in the Y is because it’s less expensive than a private gym, she likes Child Watch so she can work out, and because it integrates something for the whole family. It’s good to see that the Y is still provided and family cultures in

My community involvement started my Freshman year of High School when I began helping with the Miller Keystone blood drive. I was too young to donate but I did my part by helping sign others up. During my sophomore year it became more of a club and they trained us more so we could be a bigger help. I worked at the canteen, this continued up to this year. I have donated twice so far and plan to donate once more in May.

At the pool I seen a new face in the deep end of the pool. Ryley was running in the water for 30 minutes. She said that she is a runner and trains for marathons and half marathons since college. She can’t run currently due to an ankle injury. She got a membership to the Y about 3 months ago so she could do water therapy here. The morning time is when she use to come but she can only make it in the afternoon now. We talked for a bit about different events that we ran in high school and the events that I currently run at HBU. She seems excited to be at the Y for her training. It’s good to see that the Y is able to have a pool for people who are looking for water therapy.

What matters to me is giving back. Ever since I experienced hospitalization due to an eating disorder, I felt a sense of responsibility to reciprocate the care I was given. And so I decided to volunteer at my local hospital, Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, as a means of giving back to those who helped me on the road to success.

Overall, our team project was great. We worked well together besides all of us having a busy life, we did our part very well.