I heard about these events that our high school marching band works through my friend, the drum major. My job entailed selling waters at a beverage stand at a sort of "tail gate" before the Beyoncé concert. Waters were $8, and boy were they in high demand that day. Because the concert was in mid July, temperatures were between 90-95 degrees. This was my first time volunteering for such an extensive period of time, and it definitely taught me a lot about customer service.
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This was the second year that I volunteered with the Earth Club at the Bolsa Chica Wetland Reserves to pick up trash. Unlike our activity that we were assigned to last year (removing invasive species), this year our goal was to pick up trash on the street that ran along the area of the wetlands. The item that was the "specialty" for my group was to look for cigarette butts. Never did I realize the amount of cigarette butts on the beach until this day. The number that we collected was tremendous and, quite frankly, scary. I left the beach that day feeling thankful for our efforts to keep this crucial part of the coastline clean. I believe that others driving by and seeing volunteers at work making the earth a better place to live in may inspire others to do the same. As a member of Salsa Club, I decided to volunteer to monitor the fundraiser with the club president, Nick Ritchie. We passed out fliers to students, families, and teachers within the community who chose to help support the club. We also promoted the event itself throughout the school and on different forms of social media. Although we did spend quite some time at Yogurtland, the opportunity was worth a lot more to me in the long-run. I got to see my peers contributing to a great cause, help one of my good friends, and eat some tasty yogurt! It felt great to know that with my help, as well as with the donations of others, the club was able to give over 100 dollars to St Jude's Children Hospital.
In the beginning of the year Charter Oak's Advanced Chorale Ensemble and I had a mini-concert for the special needs class at our school. This was a way for us to both perform our songs for the winter concert, and bring holiday cheer to the students at our school who might need it most. It was my pleasure to sing for them, and if anything, I feel like I performed better because they were in the room. The positive energy that they brought to the room was overwhelmingly pleasant. The performance brightened my day and I hope that the music touched them like it touched me.
On March 11th I volunteered at the Environmental Family Night at Cedargrove Elementary school from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The event that I worked was called animal charades, in which we had little kids choose 3 cards with animals’ names on them and then us volunteers acted out the actions of the animal until the kids guessed the right animals. Then, they got adorable ribbons that had sayings like “I’m doing my part to save the Earth” for participating. It was really heart-warming to see so many students getting excited and involved in all of the activities that sparked environmental awareness. Even though the lessons were very basic, I could tell that the kids left the cafeteria with more knowledge about the Earth than they had in the beginning. This experience really reminded me of how it must be to get the public educated about the Earth. The education generally has to be entertaining and if there is not a reward for getting involved, people usually try to avoid the situation or are afraid that it will be boring. However, once they choose to participate they realize how positive they feel after they have done a good thing and want to do more. I left that night feeling that this Environmental Family Night will be a catalyst for great environmental change in the younger generations in our community and positively influence those involved with the fun educational activities.
I have been involved in the drama department at Charter Oak since my freshman year, but I did not partake in the behind-the-scenes tech work until my junior year. I decided to continue helping the props crew for the fall drama production, Rebel Without a Cause.
My jobs included bringing props on and off stage, handing out props to the actors before the show, going to props crew meetings during and after school, and attending a majority of the rehearsals at the theatre. While this commitment did require a dedication of a lot of time, the experience was made pleasurable. Not only was I the only member of the crew who was not in the drama class, but I got to spend time with good friends and be a part of something I love, the arts. Tonight I stayed behind after the last choir winter show, Home for the Holidays, in order to clean and take down the set. It was a little challenging because I was taking down risers and pieces of the set in my formal ACE attire. It was worth it, though, because it allowed me to help the man who put up the set. He was very thankful for the multiple hands willing to help since it would have taken three times as long without us.
Today COHS Advanced Choral Ensemble rode a Charter bus around the community to 10 different nursing homes and elementary schools to spread holiday cheer. The spectrum of audience members could not have been more large--we caroled to "those from 1 to 92." We sang several carols and were met with so many compliments, smiles, and even tears of joy. It was a long day, as we sang from sun up to sun down, but it was worth it. Something about singing connects me to the community like nothing else does because it allows me to bring a smile to the face of a man with Alzheimer's or a boy in the 2nd grade. Everyone we sang to was so grateful for us sharing our talent and seasons greetings for the holidays.
Today I volunteered with Key Club at Isaiah's Rock in Chino. This organization helps gather canned goods and distributes them to the less fortunate families around the holidays. This event was focused on Thanksgiving, and the feedback was stupendous! There were over 200 people in a warehouse sorting and packaging cans to be distributed the next day. This event was truly humbling and showed me how much I have to be thankful for.
I helped my friend Nick with props for the drama production The 20th Century for the two weeks leading up to the show as well as during the nights of the show. I got to experience what it's like to be behind the scenes of a production and it was exciting! I had to check out props to the actors, make sure the actors had their props before going onstage, and clean up the set after the show had finished.The work put into the show helped me make new friends and made me feel more involved in the performing arts department of Charter Oak.
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AuthorMy name is Erin Flores and I am an IB diploma candidate. This blog will be used to efficiently keep track of my CAS and NHS hours. Enjoy! Archives
May 2015
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