Park Clean-a-thon

Taking a break from picking up trash to take a picture in
a gazebo at Brengle Terrace Park.

PARK CLEAN-A-THON!!! This is a really exciting event for IB CAS because it is an event we planned and organized ourselves during our Friday CAS meetings at lunch. It doubles as a park clean up and a fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) because people could sponsor us a flat rate to clean up the park and those funds go to the WWF to support their wildlife conservation efforts.
We have put forth an effort to improve our community by participating in beautification of Brengle Terrace Vista community park. This beautification came through picking up trash throughout the park. We all met on Saturday morning in the parking lot to organize into groups to disperse around the park and pick up trash. My group was myself, my boyfriend Anthony, and my brother Jake and we made a pretty amazing clean up team. We started by making our way up a hill, bushwhacking through brush and bushes collecting trash as we went. Then we made our way across a large grass slope to another brush area of slope where we walked the nature walk hiking trails and picked up as much trash as we could. We came across a hobo hut, and other areas with a lot of trash so we had to return to get a new trash bag. We made our way eventually to the Alta Vista Gardens and took a picture in the gazebo there. Some of the most common trash items we picked up were a lot of broken glass, wrappers, pieces pf paper, food packaging, and other miscellaneous items. 

Jake and Anthony picking up trash.

At the end of the 3 hour clean up, I think that our small three person group picked up the most trash, returning with one and a half large, black trash bags full of trash and probably walking 2 miles around the park. I think that it was really a learning experience for me because it opened up my eyes to the amount of trash in our parks and the disrespect that many people treat our community parks with. I didn't realize the amount of trash that was in our parks until I was looking for it and then as I picked it up I though that people should do this more often, because there was a lot of it. I am very glad that I participated in this clean-up event  because I feel that i had an  active role in community beautification and make the park safer for not just the wildlife by improving the habitat but for people as well. The amount of broken glass that we picked up could have composed a dozen large glass bottles and I felt that was dangerous for the wildlife, pets and the people enjoying the park. So a note of importance, keep everyone safe by cleaning up local parks and recreational areas.
I would enjoy doing another park clean up so at the next meeting for IB CAS I will bring up the project and maybe another organization to support.
Learn more about the work that the World Wildlife Fund does at this link. : http://worldwildlife.org/
Three hours of Service.

Making Holiday Cards for the Troops :)

A picture of some of the snowflakes that I created. 

As the holiday season is approaching, a tradition in Character Leaders is to make holiday cards for the men and women serving our country. The cards we make are sent to veteran hospitals, bases, or even overseas to bring holiday cheer to those who sacrifice their lives every day to protect our freedoms in the United States. It is the least that we can do to show our appreciation. The first after school card making day was today after school. We had paper, markers and other simple craft making supplies. I saw that some people had cut out papers in the shape of things to glue to the front of the card. I had the idea of creating snowflakes so other people could glue them to the front of their cards fro decoration. Making cut out snowflakes is something that I have been doing for years around the holiday season and this was certainly a skill that I could contribute to the card making effort. Just like people, every snowflake is different and I think that is part of the beauty of making snowflakes, the connection to human life in that sense. I spent one hour after school making cut out snowflakes and giving them to other card makers to glue to the front of their holiday cards.
One hour of creativity.

To make paper snowflakes:

1. Use either a square or circle piece of paper. You need scissors.
2. For a square piece of paper, fold the paper into a triangle and continue folding until the desired size is met. For a circle, continue folding in half until desired size is met. 
3. Cut small shapes out of the sides of the triangle. Remember that everything you cut is only half of the design that will come out on the unfolded snowflake. An example: to create a heart, cut a half of a heart into the side of the triangle.
4. Carefully unfold and enjoy! :)