SERVICE PALOOZA 2016

                   POST OAK ANNUAL SERVICE "TO MAKE THE FUTURE BRIGHTER..."


        This year, I had the opportunity to participate at my school's annual service "Service Palooza". For an entire week in the month of October, we volunteer with different organisations for two hours. The purpose is for us to get involved in our community and help create a brighter future.

        I had the chance to volunteer at different locations, of my choice, every single day. On the first day, I volunteered at the Houston Food Bank and helped to sort products out and place them in their appropriate boxes (liquids, school supplies, vegetables, soups, pasta..). On the next day, I went to the Hermann Park and pulled weeds: it was a hard task, but I was really glad to do it because passengers and drivers, who were passing by, thanked us and were happy that somebody is actually doing something to conserve our environment. The following day, I went to help clean an isolated building that will eventually become a school for low income students. This project was the most challenging things I have ever done in my life, because it was dusty (I am allergic to dust) and there was no electricity. We were only four people cleaning the floors, taking old furnitures out (it used to be a clubnight), and throwing used clothings (apparently a homeless man was living there, but he passed away and left his clothes). However, no matter how hard the experience was, I am thankful that I contributed in facilitating the construction process. Lastly, I volunteered with Project Raw Houses, an organization that helps young African American mothers. We went there and helped decorating the outdoor: a group planted flowers, and another one (mainly our artists) painted drawings on the walls.

       

READING ACES

At the beginning of the school year, I signed up to volunteer at an African American center, known as Reading Aces. Reading Aces is an organization that provides low income children all the necessary help and support to improve and succeed in their academic life. They recruit volunteers of different ages to tutor the students and encourage them to study harder.

I always believed that making a change in the world should start with reducing the rate of illiterates and promoting education. This is the reason why I chose to volunteer as a tutor and teach these future leaders the basic academic skills.

Every Thursday after school, I go to Reading Aces for an hour, on average. My task is to read books to younger kids, help primary students with their homework, and if needed, teach them a couple of basic skills that they seem to lack.

I look forward to every Thursday because I love interacting with children, especially if my presence would have a positive impact on their life. I enjoy teaching each of them, even if it gets frustrating sometimes: I worked with many 4th graders who didn’t know how to add and subtract numbers, or how to form a proper sentence. This shows me how poor the education, in some public schools, can be and how some teachers don’t devote themselves for the success of these kids. This is why, every time I go there, I feel satisfied knowing that I am contributing to the integrity, and, hopefully, success of these kids.

This experience also makes me feel grateful towards all my teachers for devoting themselves and their time to help me build my character and further my motivation in life, but also for being so patient. I never realised how hard it was to explain things to students, especially when they are younger. I always struggled teaching them how to add numbers together, because it is such a simple and basic step that it is very hard to explain.

Overall, it is a very good learning experience that I will hope to continue in the future.

VOLLEY BALL

During the fall season, I joined my school's volleyball team although I am an athletic person. Unfortunately, I have always been bad at playing most of the sports. But, this year I decided to challenge myself and become part of the Bearkats.

For two months, I had practice three times a week at my school, but since I wasn't skilled, my sister trained me during the weekends. I though that the more I practice, the better I will get. In fact, I definitely improved a lot and saw a huge progress, along with my sister, my coaches, and my team mates. 

My biggest challenge was "serving" because it is a step that requires a lot of force and precision: I remember spending most of my time at the park serving. For some reason, I couldn't serve for over a month, and therefore told my coach that I didn't want to serve during games. This step made me want to give up and quit, but also continue and prove myself that I can do it. Thankfully, I was determined to get that ball over the neck, therefore during our last volleyball game, I asked my coach to let me serve so I wouldn't have regrets later on. It was a really scary moment to be honest, but I am so glad that I challenged myself. 

Now that the season is over, I am only practicing with my sister times to times, to further improve and have a better outcome next season!

Our first game.

                                   

Our first game. Our first victory!