2012 Sparkle and Shine 5K

Filling up more waters for racers!

December is the time for the winter Sparkle and Shine 5K in Mission Bay in San Diego. I volunteered at this event the previous year and I really enjoyed my experience. I met so many nice people and I loved the work I was doing. One thing that really motivated me to volunteer again in 2012 was  the smiles and looks of satisfaction that was on the girls faces as they finished the race, I was hoping to experience that again. It reminded me of the little moments that really create a person; even small things like completing a 5K can build confidence in the long run. I arrived at 6 am for set up and we unloaded the big truck full of all the supplied for the race. We set up a stage, marked the start and finish line and helped all the vendors set up booths. There were a lot of volunteers there and it was great to see everyone working together to make a handful of little girls' day. I worked at the snack and water table where we organized all of the donated food into piles and cut it up into appropriate serving sizes. We had bananas, fruit snacks, pastries, and bagels. We also served as the water table and I was one of the runners, making sure that we had enough cups on the table at once all with water in them. This meant constantly filling up cups and bringing new water jugs into the booth. It was a really great experience because I got to tell every finisher that came to the table for water congratulations, and it was really rewarding to see them all smile back and say thank you. I also learned the importance of communication in various situations; I was working with a group of other women and we were working very well together communicating on what needed to be put out on the table, if we needed more water and what was going on around us. It was a great experience and I would like to continue working with this organization. I left the station at 10 am.
4 hours service.

"Freeze AIDS"

December 1st isn't just 24 days until Christmas, it is World AIDS day 2012, an awareness day about this dangerous disease. Here is one thing we can all do to help raise awarenes, by "freezing AIDS" and eating ice cream!! 1.Get some ice cream and put a red ribbon in frosting or strawberry sauce on it. 2.Take a picture. 3.Upload it to http://www.freezeaids.org/. I just uploaded my picture there. When you upload your picture, they will put it on their website and give you the opportunity to donate to Givey and Chasing Zero. To mark World AIDS Day 2012, Chasing Zero and Givey have launched the campaign 'Freeze AIDS' to raise awareness of the astonishing impact Antiretroival Treatment is having around the world. (Antiretroviral treatment has been vital in seeing AIDS-related deaths plummet by 25% globally over the last 6 years). Show support today and eat ice cream! 

I spent some time researching the organizations and what they do to help out AIDS awareness. Together they have an amazing goal of eliminating AIDS all together to create an AIDS free world and cure those who are suffering from AIDS today. That would be such an amazing improvement for our world and we all need to do all we can to show our support for their cause. 

My mint chocolate chip ice cream with red frosting ribbon to support AIDS awareness. 

Learn more about these organizations:

http://www.freezeaids.org/

http://www.wearechasingzero.org/

One hour Action.

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! :)

Volunteerism

Vista Viking Festival- Got Lefse?

This weekend in Vista, California was the Vista Viking Festival, a celebration of culture and tradition of Scandinavian countries. My brother is enamored with Norway, he absolutely loves everything about it and speaks Norwegian and its pretty great! He is really involved with the Sons of Norway hall in Vista and hence, through him, I am involved as well. We learned to make lefse last year at one of the lefse making days at the Sons of Norway hall in preparation for the lefse and lutefisk dinner. Lefse is described as a potato and flour based tortilla essentially, and the process in making them is very specific. Once we learned how to make lefse, my brother and I make it at home and I even brought it to my Theory of Knowlegde once for TOK Cafe.
So anyways, back to the Vista Viking Festival. It is a huge festival hosted at the Sons of Norway Hall and Norwegian Fish Club in Vista. They always need volunteers there and this year my brother and I signed up to make lefse. I had a great time making lefse, i always enjoy it. First you must make the potato mix, then you add 2 parts potato mix, one part flour and form them into balls slightly larger then golf balls. Then you roll out the balls into round, flat pieces, about 10 inches in diameter. Using a lefse stick, transfer the uncooked lefse to a hot griddle and cook. Flip the lefse using a lefse stick, a long, thin piece of wood with a handle in it used to flip the lefse. Finally, spread butter on the cooked lefse and sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar and enjoy an amazing lefse. :)
3 hours of creativity

Coming soon...

The summer is beginning to wind down, I cant believe that school will start in less than a month! But back to school means a return to the wonderful character leaders class that is now 200+ people strong for positive change in our community and on campus. New community service opportunities will be coming up within the next few months for all of us and of course they will be showing up in this blog, so keep posted!
Coming up for sure will be more on the Knitting for Babies project as it starts up again during the school year. Not only are we knitting for a cause, but knitting can be really stress relieving on a late night of endless homework.
There will probably be some posts about human rights as I continue my 15 page IB Extended Essay on the topic of international human rights. A good linking question is: How can we use the skills we have to volunteer and support the advancement of human rights globally?
I am open to suggestions for new volunteering opportunities! Just comment below with your ideas :)
And finally, good luck to all the Olympic athletes out there representing their countries. Just remember, character counts, everywhere and all the time.