Sophomore Inspire Week
During the first two days of Sophomore Inspire Week, I participate in multiple workshops relating to my future college and career path. During the last three days, I participated in a community service project in the community with a group of other students. For my community service project, I helped to design and create a mural for Southwest Conservation Corps, a local conservation organization. We worked on the mural inside the Commons building in Durango, in which Southwest Conservation Corps has their offices. We designed a geometric landscape on roughly a 30 foot wall in the building that was previously all beige and did not reflect the values of SCC. My role within the project was to contribute ideas for our design, and work on the execution of the mural, which included putting up painters tape, painting the wall, and cleaning up the area. Over the course of three days, we turned a plain beige wall into a vibrant mural that reflected the values and work of SCC.
Pictures
SIW Reflection
During Sophomore Inspire Week, I realized that I am actually better at working in groups than I had previously thought. I have always dreaded working in groups and thought that my contributions were not valued, but while working with my SIW group, I felt like I was working well with others and avidly contributing. I also felt like my contributions were being valued by my group members. Another thing I realized was that in addition to working well in groups, I also enjoy working in groups more than I previously thought. I have always been an independent worker, and I still am, but I now know that I can actually benefit from working with other students, and that I actually enjoy it. I enjoy bouncing ideas off of other people, and being able to put out ideas together into one, which was what our SIW project was all about: we had to put together our ideas for a mural into one that reflected the values of conservation and would beautify a blank wall. We all had different ideas about how to execute an attractive mural over the course of three days. We had different ideas of patterns, or different types of landscapes we could paint, and we were able to put them into one idea that we completed in time and turned out really well. These realizations about group work can help me in the future when working in other groups. When I am required to work in groups in the future during college, or my future career path, I will be more open to working with others because of these realizations.
During SIW, I had a lot of time working with my group, in which we had to collaborate to complete our task of designing the mural. Working with groups is a skill that I have had lots of experience with in school. This is how I noticed that my SIW project and my school work connect. We often work with groups for various projects in school, which helped to prepare me for group work during SIW. This is a lesson that is highly emphasized by AHS. I am and have always been an independent worker, but it is hard to run away from group work at Animas because everyone has to do it, so now when I have to collaborate with other people I am better prepared and feel like I can contribute more because of this experience that Animas has given me. Another skill I have learned in school that carried over to SIW is professionalism. Animas also emphasises professionalism as a necessary skill. Professionalism is required of us for POLs, SLCs, and was in our Model UN conference. SIW also required me to be professional because we were working with people from local businesses in a professional working environment, so we had to do the same. While planning our mural, we were trying to acquire supplies from local businesses such as paint, brushes, and tape. We had to reach out to those businesses in a professional way, which we were well prepared for because of our past work in school that has required us to be professional. This skill of professionalism can go both ways: it can also carry back into school. Our professionalism that we are taught in school can help us with real world professionalism, such as SIW, and the professionalism we learned from our community service projects can help us to be more professional in school.
During our SIW project, I was very effective in time and task management. Our group as a whole was very effective with our time and work. I tried to always make sure I was helping the whole time, whether that was painting, putting up painters tape, contributing ideas, or helping with clean up and cleaning brushes or putting paint away. We spaced out our time and work very well in the amount of time we had: we put up all of the tape the first day and got all of our supplies ready, and we painted the whole wall the second day. On the third day, we were able to fix some of the painting that needed fixing, take the tape off, and spend time talking to people from SCC about the kind of work they do and what we are interested in. I noticed that I worked very efficiently when we had a lot to do. At the beginning of the week, during our workshop time with our group, I contributed my ideas for the mural in our conversations. As we were painting, I made sure I was always helping with painting, cleaning brushes, or mixing paint. When we were done at the end of each day, I made sure I helped clean up our materials, and make a neat workspace. Usually whenever we had a lot of work to do was when people were working the most, and people were rarely not helping. During the times when we were mostly done for the day or had little work to do was when we could have done something to help but since we were finishing up what we were working on, we were just sitting around.
My YouScience results connected to my SIW experience because the aptitudes I have, which were shown by my YouScience results, helped me in contributing to my group and working on our community service project. One of my aptitudes that was shown by YouScience was that I am a brainstormer. I saw this reflected in my SIW work because when we were all brainstorming ideas for our mural and how to execute it, I contributed to the group by brainstorming original ideas of my own. This benefitted my overall experience because my brainstorming ability helped me to contribute my ideas and help my group come up with one final idea for our mural. Another aptitude of mine that was shown by YouScience was that I am a blended energizer. I saw this reflected in my SIW experience because I was able to incorporate independent work and group work to benefit our project. While we were coming up with ideas for our mural, I worked independently by drawing ideas on my own for our mural, and I also worked with my group by discussing my ideas with the other students. We decided to do a geometric landscape mural, and I contributed my ideas of specific elements we should include, such as a desert landscape, a mountain landscape, and also to incorporate trees into each landscape. By connecting my aptitudes with how they helped me in my community service project, I now know what skills I can bring to a group in the future when I will have to work with people for other projects. I will always have to work in groups during high school, college, and my career, so it is helpful for me to know exactly what I bring to the table when working in a group.
I would tell future sophomores to be open minded about their SIW. I heard many people last week saying that their community service project was “lame” or “had no point” or “wouldn’t help them with their future career path.” Even if the project you do for SIW does not have anything to do with what you would like to pursue as a career, you can still make the best out of your experience. You can still have fun with your project and get something from it, even if you are not interested in the content of the project. Another piece of advice I would have is to choose the project that you are genuinely interested in, instead of just choosing the community service project that all of your friends want to do. Choose the project that you want to do, because you will enjoy it more. Whenever I have had to sign up for something like Osprey week, Sophomore Inspire Week, or even Xblock, I never immediately go to my friends and sign up for whatever one they want to do so we will be together. I always sign up for whichever one genuinely interests me and that I am passionate about. When I signed up for SIW, I knew I wanted to sign up for the dog rescue project, even though none of my friends signed up for it. I did not get into my first choice, and for the project I ended up doing, I did not know anyone in my group, but I still ended up having a good time and working well with the people in my group. If you choose whichever one you are passionate about, you will probably enjoy your experience more. You will also probably get more work done and have better time management if you are not with all of your friends and getting distracted. Working with people you rarely work with will most likely have a better impact on your experience than spending more time with friends. You will have much more to takeaway if you just choose the one you are interested in.
During SIW, I had a lot of time working with my group, in which we had to collaborate to complete our task of designing the mural. Working with groups is a skill that I have had lots of experience with in school. This is how I noticed that my SIW project and my school work connect. We often work with groups for various projects in school, which helped to prepare me for group work during SIW. This is a lesson that is highly emphasized by AHS. I am and have always been an independent worker, but it is hard to run away from group work at Animas because everyone has to do it, so now when I have to collaborate with other people I am better prepared and feel like I can contribute more because of this experience that Animas has given me. Another skill I have learned in school that carried over to SIW is professionalism. Animas also emphasises professionalism as a necessary skill. Professionalism is required of us for POLs, SLCs, and was in our Model UN conference. SIW also required me to be professional because we were working with people from local businesses in a professional working environment, so we had to do the same. While planning our mural, we were trying to acquire supplies from local businesses such as paint, brushes, and tape. We had to reach out to those businesses in a professional way, which we were well prepared for because of our past work in school that has required us to be professional. This skill of professionalism can go both ways: it can also carry back into school. Our professionalism that we are taught in school can help us with real world professionalism, such as SIW, and the professionalism we learned from our community service projects can help us to be more professional in school.
During our SIW project, I was very effective in time and task management. Our group as a whole was very effective with our time and work. I tried to always make sure I was helping the whole time, whether that was painting, putting up painters tape, contributing ideas, or helping with clean up and cleaning brushes or putting paint away. We spaced out our time and work very well in the amount of time we had: we put up all of the tape the first day and got all of our supplies ready, and we painted the whole wall the second day. On the third day, we were able to fix some of the painting that needed fixing, take the tape off, and spend time talking to people from SCC about the kind of work they do and what we are interested in. I noticed that I worked very efficiently when we had a lot to do. At the beginning of the week, during our workshop time with our group, I contributed my ideas for the mural in our conversations. As we were painting, I made sure I was always helping with painting, cleaning brushes, or mixing paint. When we were done at the end of each day, I made sure I helped clean up our materials, and make a neat workspace. Usually whenever we had a lot of work to do was when people were working the most, and people were rarely not helping. During the times when we were mostly done for the day or had little work to do was when we could have done something to help but since we were finishing up what we were working on, we were just sitting around.
My YouScience results connected to my SIW experience because the aptitudes I have, which were shown by my YouScience results, helped me in contributing to my group and working on our community service project. One of my aptitudes that was shown by YouScience was that I am a brainstormer. I saw this reflected in my SIW work because when we were all brainstorming ideas for our mural and how to execute it, I contributed to the group by brainstorming original ideas of my own. This benefitted my overall experience because my brainstorming ability helped me to contribute my ideas and help my group come up with one final idea for our mural. Another aptitude of mine that was shown by YouScience was that I am a blended energizer. I saw this reflected in my SIW experience because I was able to incorporate independent work and group work to benefit our project. While we were coming up with ideas for our mural, I worked independently by drawing ideas on my own for our mural, and I also worked with my group by discussing my ideas with the other students. We decided to do a geometric landscape mural, and I contributed my ideas of specific elements we should include, such as a desert landscape, a mountain landscape, and also to incorporate trees into each landscape. By connecting my aptitudes with how they helped me in my community service project, I now know what skills I can bring to a group in the future when I will have to work with people for other projects. I will always have to work in groups during high school, college, and my career, so it is helpful for me to know exactly what I bring to the table when working in a group.
I would tell future sophomores to be open minded about their SIW. I heard many people last week saying that their community service project was “lame” or “had no point” or “wouldn’t help them with their future career path.” Even if the project you do for SIW does not have anything to do with what you would like to pursue as a career, you can still make the best out of your experience. You can still have fun with your project and get something from it, even if you are not interested in the content of the project. Another piece of advice I would have is to choose the project that you are genuinely interested in, instead of just choosing the community service project that all of your friends want to do. Choose the project that you want to do, because you will enjoy it more. Whenever I have had to sign up for something like Osprey week, Sophomore Inspire Week, or even Xblock, I never immediately go to my friends and sign up for whatever one they want to do so we will be together. I always sign up for whichever one genuinely interests me and that I am passionate about. When I signed up for SIW, I knew I wanted to sign up for the dog rescue project, even though none of my friends signed up for it. I did not get into my first choice, and for the project I ended up doing, I did not know anyone in my group, but I still ended up having a good time and working well with the people in my group. If you choose whichever one you are passionate about, you will probably enjoy your experience more. You will also probably get more work done and have better time management if you are not with all of your friends and getting distracted. Working with people you rarely work with will most likely have a better impact on your experience than spending more time with friends. You will have much more to takeaway if you just choose the one you are interested in.