April 2016 - Blog Post 2

On April 9, I also volunteered at the UNCG International Festival. I helped to set up booths and clean up after the event ended. I also got to watch the different performances and participate in the activities from the different booths. There were many cool, cultural dances and I actually knew some of the dancers from previous cultural festivals I had been to. There was also a performance by a diverse group of girls in the IB program in my grade and it was so amazing to watch! It was completely unexpected how talented those girls were in dancing because of how quiet they are in school and I truly enjoyed seeing them perform. I got to try different delicacies from different cultures, play games like ring toss and guess the country the displayed flag belongs to, etc. It was definitely a cool experience because I got to enjoy the event with my friends and I learned a lot from different cultures. I loved seeing the diversity among the crowd and it was so exciting learning about all of the places everyone came from. I definitely gained more knowledge on cultural backgrounds and I would say I learned about time management here too because I acted according to the schedule and had to learn when I needed to transition from setting up, to taking a break to walk around, to helping supply the booths, to watching performances, and finally to cleaning up. I loved the international festival and it was definitely a really cool way to learn about other cultures!

April 2016 - Blog Post 1

On April 9, I volunteered with the Earth Day celebration at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Library. I helped to set up the booths for the numerous organizations that signed up for the affair. It was a very exciting experience because there were so many different groups that came to talk about how their organization helps the environment and how they contribute to preserving the planet. There were clubs from school there to talk about projects they were working on specifically aimed at helping the planet, groups there to talk about different animals and their habitats, and groups there to set up fun activities like animal face painting, games, etc. It was intriguing seeing the different booths, I felt like I learned so much just from helping the organizations set up and briefly viewing the actual information on display. I felt like I gained some time management and organizational skills because I had to help the lady in charge keep track of all of the groups set up and make sure things were going according to schedule. I also had to work on my feet, like when groups didn't show up or when the parking lot was jammed but overall I had a lot of fun and learned an incredible amount of cool new stuff about our planet!

March 2016 - Blog Post 2

On March 27, the Indian Association of the Triad hosted a Holi celebration that was attended by over three hundred people. As a youth representative of this organization, I helped in distributing information, supplies (color and water guns), and entertainment. The weather was pretty dreary because it had rained a considerable amount the night before and the day of but it was awesome seeing how many people still bothered to show up and this is extremely cheesy but it really did not rain on our parade (ha ha)! I loved seeing how many people from our community, and not necessarily the Indian community, came to celebrate and join in! Even the staff members at the place we were at were joining in. I love celebrating my culture and being able to share it with my friends and family! I truly feel like a leader within the Indian community because I get to help with organizing the event and making sure it runs smoothly and I learn so much more about culture through events like this. It is events like these that make me feel more connected to where I am from.

March 2016 - Blog Post 1

On March 23, I had my last meeting session with the Youth Leadership of Greensboro. The theme for the day was Economy and Environment. First, we visited Syngenta. We specifically got to see the packaging room where we observed the different tests performed on packages to ensure their safety and durability. Next, we visited the Proximity. We took a tour of the entire hotel and learned about how energy sufficient the hotel was and it was probably my favorite part of the day. I had no idea this hotel was so invested in saving energy; every aspect of the hotel was dedicated to conserving energy and this tour intrigued me so much. The last place we visited was the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. We toured the building and I find it so interesting and neat that the business is dedicated to advising and assisting smaller and local businesses. The environmental part of the day was interesting to me and I very much enjoyed learning about different applications of environmentally dedicated business. Something that does not typically interest me is the economy, but the Nussbaum Center really caught my attention because I really like how this organization is the root of many small businesses that have since grown into something much bigger and more successful than it was when it first came to Nussbaum. I really enjoyed the day and reflecting back on the activities, I definitely think it contributed to my leadership skills because I got to look at different aspects of my community and learn more about how I can help in the future and what is going on presently.

February 2016 - Blog Post 2

A club I am frequently involved with at school is Lunch Buddies. I have been the president of the club for the last three years. Once a week, I sit with the disabled students in Mrs. Miller's class. This experience has been extremely enjoyable and something I look forward to every week. I love talking to the other students because they are so much fun to talk to and sit with. They lead interesting lives and I love getting to hear about what they do. I have made some new friends with this club and it has been a lot of fun getting to know new people. I make a new friend each time and it's nice having people open up to me. Many of the kids are pretty shy and quiet at first but once they get used to me being there, they talk to me more and I love how much more confident and open they are. This is an experience I am grateful to have been a part of for the last few years and I definitely want to keep this up until I graduate.

February 2016 - Blog Post 1

I am a member of the Youth Representatives of Greensboro and we meet once a month to discuss and explore different issues and aspects of the city of Greensboro. For the February day session, our topic was Serving Society. We got the opportunity to go to Backpack Beginnings and help sort out food to be donated to Guilford County Schools and given to students who do not have adequate meals at home. This experience was so much fun and definitely a lot of work. We had to split up the food into over ten different categories based on expiration date and then further separate those by fruit, vegetables, pasta, etc. We had to put the food in giant boxes, seal them, weigh them, and put them in storage. This activity is definitely something I am going to go back and do on my own because it was an amazing experience and it is a solution to an issue that impacts a lot of children in Guilford County. Sadly, North Carolina is home to counties with some of the highest rates of hungry children, who do not have available food at home, in the entire nation! It was eye-opening hearing the statistics on how many children do not have basic necessities available to them and it really makes me want to do more to help out and this is definitely one program I want to be more involved with in the future.

January 2016 - Reflective Blog

Throughout my volunteering experiences, I think I have definitely grown as a person. A lot of the activities I take part in involve helping others in need. Volunteering to help those who need help has been a passion of mine since I was younger and I have my parents to thank for that. They have taught me from a young age to put myself in other people's shoes and really take advantage of what I am privileged to have. I know this sounds incredibly cheesy but it's extremely true! I like that I get to serve my community and help those in need and it truly is amazing seeing how small, kind actions can have a large impact on someone's life. I mean, it's nice and all getting CAS hours and contributing to my IB Diploma with these service learning opportunities, but I would still volunteer and help if I did not have these requirements to fulfill. Honestly, all of these experiences have allowed me to see life from different viewpoints and I enjoy having these opportunities to grow as a person and to help others!