FIN: Ryan's Well

On Friday, March 25, Jayna, Tracey, Eric and I hosted a Bake Sale for WELL-ness. All the funds from the bake sale would go towards the Ryan's well foundation. This would provide for latrines and wells in communities in Africa that lack these crucial water sources.

We delegated various treats to bring in. I brought in brownies, while Jayna brought in her famous homemade cookies and donuts, Tracey made the ever popular "puppy chow" and various other sugary goods, and finally, Eric contributed 3.5 dozen muffins.

Ultimately, after selling baked goods during the 15 minute break and after school, our bake sale was a success. We made about $380, all of which will be going to Ryan's Well foundation.

From the bake sale, I had to almost take charge yet simultaneously work collaboratively. In this, I had to develop new skills in leadership, learning how to delegate various tasks and to communicate with group members. Similarly, having done similar community service before (especially, give my work with Relay for Life), I felt that I show commitment to helping those in need in my activities.

Similarly, there is a large ethical implication of donating money to make wells and latrines in Africa. Through providing necessary utilities to people in need, our group is striving to increase the Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP), increasing the most good for the most people. We are helping through funds, to provide people with their basic needs: clean water. Thus, through the providing of clean water to communities in Africa, we're helping one community at a time, increasing the general world happiness.

Finally, this issue of providing clean water is absolutely an issue of global importance. Many places, including that of Africa, lack access to clean water. They often resort to drinking dirty water, increasing the spread of malaria and other water-borne diseases. Thus, through supporting Ryan's Well, we are not only trying to create an increased access to water sources, but also increasing our school's awareness of the problem. Hopefully, more people, inspired by our bake sale will act on their own in a similar manner.

Ryan's Well

Last week, Jayna had approached me with the idea of having another bake sale. Last year, we had worked together to successfully hold a bake sale to raise funds for Relay for Life.

Thus, after ok-ing our plans with Mrs. Keeler and Mrs. Langely, we planned on having our bake sale on Friday, March 25th. We're holding this bake sale in order to give money to the Ryan's Well Foundation to build wells and latrines in Africa. Tracy Fu, Lucy Zhang, Jayna Sames and I will work together and we hope to sell goods such as doughnuts, muffins, cookies, puppy chow, etc.

The reason that Jayna approached me with the bake sale in the first place was because of her experience in her club, Outdoor Adventure Club. Jayna told me that she had studied the global water shortage, ownership, and the affects of pollutants on the water in the polar caps. The shortage of clean, fresh water in Africa is an issue of Global Importance, and thus, we aimed to support Ryan's Well Foundation , which aids impoverished communities.

Furthermore, nearly one billion people, many from 3rd world countries such as Uganda, lack access to safe water. Over 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. This crisis leads to millions of preventable deaths everyday that contribute to the stagnation of communities. Thus, this problem exists as an ethical implication: the equal rights of humans to access basic human needs.

Here is the Foundation's website.

http://www.ryanswell.ca/home.aspx

Gold and Silver Keys

Two weeks ago, the Regional awards for Scholastics, a nationally recognized art competition, were announced. Surprisingly, I found out that I had won a Gold key for my poetry entry "But Not Really, Clair de Lune" had won gold key, the highest award. SImilarly, my other poetry entry "Dear Jack, Half-Truths, Chalk Dust, Railroads, Phosphorylation" won Silver key. Also, another bit of exciting news is that my poetry entry "But Not Really, Clair de Lune" is going to New York to be judged at the national competition.

I had entered Scholastics last year on a whim, but hadn't won anything. To have my poetry recognized regionally (the region that I had entered consisted of 16 states) made me realize my own strength in poetry. Before, I must admit, I lacked confidence in my poetry. But having received regional (and perhaps national?) recognition has increased my own awareness about my growth as a amateur poet and artist. I am a bit more confident with my poetry, and I'm glad that I committed to my club Spectrum, which really helped hone my poetry skills. With Spectrum, I can experiment with various techniques in my poetry (for instance, right now, I'm going through a phase where I only capitalize important words in my poems).

In case you're curious, here are the poems that I entered in Scholastics.

Clair de Lune

I'll tell you of the Debussy

Moon, reified in the soft specter
of light falling from stars.

But not Really

My first friend (but not really)

in kindergarten
had blonde hair and a bright smile,
and our world was made up of
glitter crayons and colored paper.
But,
Because I had dark hair, almond eyes,
and broken English learned from watching TV,
I never was invited… never invited.
I told my mother, sobbing,
“I wish I was blonde, why am I not blonde?”

My first slow dance (but not really)
was with a boy with a charming smile,
And short brown hair.
I had known him for a week and five days,
And we danced on the stage
With a sluggish heart-beat of music.
And when I laid my head on his chest,
His arms around my waist,
I thought,
“This isn’t right…
This isn’t love at all”
And I ran.

My first crush (but not really),
Who had dark hair and a shy smile,
Told me, pencil whispering on paper,
That I was pretty,
and I smiled,
because being blonde didn’t matter anymore,
and life was more than colored paper and crayons,
and I was happy.

Passing on the torch

I participate in the school's literary magazine, Spectrum.

I started off as merely a club member in Spectrum my sophomore year, writing poetry that made it into the newspaper spectrum page and the yearly magazine. Yet, junior year, I came to Stephanie Blotner (the Editor in Chief of Spectrum then) with the idea of incorporating artwork with the monthly newspaper and literary magazine. From this idea, the position of Design Editor was created. As Design Editor, I would design and create artwork for the page spread in "The Day Times" and also the literary magazine. It was the perfect blend of my strengths in english and the visual arts.

The magazine that I worked on last year earned 1st place in American Scholastic Press Association, a proud achievement as I had spent many long hours designing the cover of the magazine and placing pictures within the magazine.



However, as a senior, I cannot stay and be the Design Editor forever. I've chosen Puja Nair, a current sophomore to be the next Design Editor. Next year, as a junior, she will take on the responsibilities that I have carried the past two years. Because Puja lacks the necessary skills (such as working in photoshop and InDesign, both crucial programs as a Design Editor), for the next issue, I will have Puja work with me on the newspread, teaching and preparing her for her role next year.

Logan Elementary

December 16th, a group of our IB students ventured over to Logan Elementary. This school-sponsored annual trip is meant to be a chance for students to help underprivileged students through a few hours of fun. Last year, our IB group had gone to Logan, making foam cup Snowmen with 4th and 5th graders. Our persistance in visiting Logan will hopefully continue in later years after we've graduated.

However, this year we got younger students (1st and 2nd grade) and remembering the many difficulties involved with foam-cup snowmen, we decided to make a simpler project: popsicle stick snowflakes. Each student got a choice of pink, green, or purple popsicle sticks, which they could then decorate with sequins and glitter to their heart's desire.

As we helped the elementary students decorate their popsicle-stick snowflakes with glitter and sequins, we talked to them, asking them what gift they’d like from Santa this year or what their favorite class was. The experience was both fulfilling and fun. We all laughed when Xavier chased me down and “stickered” me, placing stickers all over my back and forehead. I, of course, responded by stickering him right back.

At Logan Elementary, the IB students in the group that studied Spanish tried to communicate with the second grade children, all fluently speaking rapid Spanish, their first language. As we stumbled around forming words, they giggled at our attempts, correcting our grammar and vocabulary.This experience taught us one of our possible areas of growth. Although we could communicate our rough ideas with the students, our Spanish was severely lacking. The most successful of our group, though, were those that weren't afraid to stumble on the grammar and instead, put themselves out there and took a risk. Although the students laughed, the experience led to a greater understanding of my area for growth. I can't be so scared of messing up all the time, especially in areas that need growth. I need to work hard at it, risking a few errors here or there.

Ultimately, my experience at Logan Elementary was fulfilling. We not only brightened the kids’ day with popsicle sticks and glitter, but I also realized that despite the languages that we spoke, we all want to simply laugh and have fun sometimes.