Nature Park Daycamp Volunteering (30+ hours) July - August
This year, once again, I have decided to spend a good part of my summer volunteering for a daycamp (essentially a two-hour daycare with educational elements) at the nature park. In the daycamp I am a leader to the kids and help manage different things that the camp directors cannot do alone. These things include: taking kids on walks, playing games with the kids, as well as helping the kids do the camp activities (e.g. helping them draw picture or cut out paper). As one can see, a camp leader has all sorts of responsibilities ranging from the creative (helping kids draw) to the active (taking kids on walks). Furthermore, I have the chance to work with other volunteers from different areas of the community. This year, I have worked with many people including: my friends from the previous year, exchange students from Korea, and students from Victoria. The nature park's excellent student exchange program provides a diverse background of volunteers, most of whom are university students and high school students. The work with kids is very rewarding, and I have learned a lot from volunteering at the park these past few years. I have learned the values of responsibility and so much more. One especially fond moment of mine at the nature park was when a little child of five or so asked me: "Are you coming back next year?" When I inquired why, he replied: "Because I'll only come if you come!" That was last year. This year he came back. If there is one lesson or human value I could impart from all of this, I think the most important would be the understanding that kids are not so different from you or I; like us, they laugh, they play, and in that process: they learn.

All aboard the IB train
September - November
This year, as many of my fellow students know, my friends Perry, Shirley, and I have been leading the Richmond Secondary School Volunteer Club: Colts that Care. Colts that Care provides volunteer opportunities to Richmond High students such as pumpkin carving at the nature park, fireworks at minoru park, and the halloween wildthings event at the nature park. Although our club's start to the year was quite rocky, we have managed to get ourselves into pretty good shape now that we've been managing the club for over two months. The responsibilities of being a leader of the club include speaking publically to the club every Thursday at the club meetings, organizing and assigning jobs to people at volunteer events, answering the questions of the student body about certain activities, coordinating meetind dates with the sponsor teacher, arranging group transport to certain events, and logistical tasks such as sending out emails for club meetings, recording volunteer hours, and managing the vast amount of volunteers we get for the events we help out at. As a result, we have had more volunteers this year than many of the previous years. There are many things I learned from being a leader of Colts That Care such as efficient ways of speaking to the public and how to organize events effectively. If I could improve upon this experience, I would learn to be more prepared for the meetings and when speaking to the students. Being a good public speaker not only keeps the students in a club, but also entertains them so that they would not be bored at the meetings.

PS: We probably wouldnt have lost a good tenth of our members if we spoke well on the first day.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving (two and a half hours)
Altogether, the halloween pumpkin carving was a semi-success. Unfortunately, due to certain unseen elements, it was not wholly a success. Historically, this event has always been done by steveston-london volunteer club, "Jaws with a Cause", and richmond high volunteer club "Colts that Care". However, with the formation of a Palmer volunteer club, "Griffins that Give", there were more than 60 volunteers at the pumpkin carving event this year as opposed to around 40. Although more volunteers are helpful in some ways, there were often complaints of not having enough tools to carve pumpkins and not having enough space to work. But most of all, the major complaint was that the volunteering time was too short. Originally planned to be 9 - 12 PM, the event barely lasted until eleven. Many Colts that Care members felt disappointed and I feel responsible for that disappointment. If I had been more attentive to the number of volunteers, perhaps I could have worked out some sort of arrangement with the natur park that would allow everyone get more volunteer hours. But I didnt. However, most of the student body felt that it was a moderately good event. The success of the event came from the many creative and artistic pumpkins carved at the event. My job included arranging group transport to the nature park, as well as recording volunteer hours for every Colts that Care member who went to the event.

Halloween Fireworks - Minoru Park (6 hours)
The halloween fireworks at minoru was fun as ever. This year, there were a record number of volunteers at the event. Duties included setting up the stage, seeting up the tents, distributing candy and coupons to the visitors, as well as organizing jobs for many of the volunteers from Richmond High. The even was successful and entertaining with its fire dancers', its magician, and of course, the fireworks. However, there was a period of mismanagement (from the richmond city coordinators) from 4 PM - 7 PM that left many people standing about. If I could do this again, I'd try my best to preplan the event with the coordinators so that people would not have to stand around bored for over an hour. This is essentially an issue with organization, much like the halloween pumpkin carving event above. As such, one of my goals for the year is to continually increase my organization skills and make the events that Colts that Care goes to better and better.

Ok. So technically its going to be four different entries combined. That's OK right? Right? I think I'm going crazy talking to myself (figuratively, of course).

So here it goes.

March 7th - Math Team SFU Math Contest (5 hours)

Today I helped in the supervision of the RHS Math Team at the SFU Math Contest. Competition was intense and even though our team didn't get first, I gained a bit of insight into what teamwork really is. The Math Team had its strong members and its weak members, but despite the results (we were about 9th), they were all extremely friendly towards each other and did not shift blame upon each other. It is this quality of cooperation and teamwork of which I aim to better myself in for the next couple months. Looking at the Math Team and looking back at my own experiences of being in a team, I realize that there are definite areas I am lacking in. As such, my dual goals for entry can be summed up in three words: patience and teamwork.

March 27th - 30 Hour Famine Sleepover

30 Hour Famine is finally here! On Friday, over 70 students at Richmond High had the chance to display their passion for helping the global poverty crisis in the World Vision 30 Hour Famine! The event was a overall success and I can say that everyone went home satisfied in helping the world just that little bit more. With the collaborative efforts of over 300 donors, we raised over $4700 for the 30 Hour Famine this year!
From the 30 Hour Famine, I gained valuable experience into areas of problem solving and team coordination. My job was to organize and secure the breakfast we had next day and due to some much needed help from certain special teachers, the task was very well done. We also ran into unexpected technical difficulties during the famine of which I helped to solve (however I played a minor role in the part). Overall, the learning experience gained from this event was invaluable and (I'm sure my peers would agree) unforgettable. Next year, we will strive to make this event even more coordinated, even more organized, and hopefully even funner.

April 19th - Sun Run

Although I had promised to train for the Sun Run, I stopped training in mid February after I had gotten sick. After recovering, I did not see fit to start training again, making my total distance ran during my short month of training only about 300 km (not 600 km, 10 km per day, as I had envisioned). This reluctance to carry through with plans is definitely one thing I will strive to work on. Had I kept training as I planned and promised to, my time on the sun run would have been a lot better than 50 minutes. My goal for next year's Sun Run is to run 10 km a day starting in September. And this time, I will aim to carry through with my promise, despite what happens.

May 24th

Dragonboat Regatta

Today was the date of the Science world dragonboat regatta. Although we came in second last place today (or second in the last group if you prefer to look at it that way), we had a fun time together and learned a lot about each other. The main reason we did so poorly today was because our steers-person was having a bit of trouble with the incoming tide and wind. However, despite our embarrassing racing speed, we still praised each other and kept a common respect in the team. The surprising event about this day is the lack of blame within the team for the loss. It was quite touching to see a team of twenty be completely respectful of one another. One thing I have learned today is the power of respect and encouragement for one another. With that same respect and encouragement, we went on to beat self-record after self-record, ending the day on a very positive, as well as a very happy note.

Yes yes folks, it's that time of the year again. The time of giving and... giving (No, I'm not talking about Christmas). It's time for the yearly 30 hour famine! [link] (See it's so important its got its own site!)
The thirty hour famine is essentially a massive, global project to raise money for impoverished and underdeveloped nations so they could have what we all need to survive: food and water. To join, one must have a large heart and a small stomach (not really necessary but it does help for the 30 hours you need to go without food xD). However, any donations would be greatly helpful and supportive to the cause.
Excerpt from the 30 hour famine site:
"The global food crisis is getting worse. Families in developing countries who could barely afford to feed their children are now suffering in a way impossible for Canadians to imagine. We need you to spread the word - to motivate others to get involved and do the 30 Hour Famine. For millions of children, next year might be too late. Join World Vision and take a stand against hunger, poverty and injustice and make a difference in the lives of children and communities around the world."

This year I am proud to be part of the organization group (for my school) for the preparation of the thirty hour famine. I'll be taking on two jobs (Forms/Money and Shopaholics) which, quite conveniently, tackle my weakest areas (Organization for forms, and personal skills for shopaholics - as a shopaholic essentially has to beg local grocery stores for donations such as juice boxes). To be truthful, I am nervous about fulfilling my tasks to the fullest of my capabilities, but I'll try nevertheless. So, think about those donations people, and wish me the best of luck!

January 27th
Kilometers ran so far = 120 km
Well, if you've noticed my kilometer counter, you'll realize that I am short approximately 30 km of my weekly goal. Although the reason for those missed days are simple (too much homework) it merely proves that I lack the organization to schedule my time wisely. In addition, it also proves that I lack conviction to carry out my plans (in truth, I was quite glad to have missed those days xD). This has made me realize that I very much need to work on both of the aforementioned areas in the future. As such, in an effort to make up for these missed kilometers, I'll be jogging an extra 10 km during the mornings I do not have Biology SL or ToK (both 7 AM classes).

Stay tuned for my weekly progress!

January 20th
Kilometers ran so far = 80 km
So far so good, I've been keeping true to my goal and its getting to be a very healthy (albeit painful) habit .

January 15th
Jogging Goal = 10km each day until the Sun Run
Kilometers ran so far = 30 km

Well, I have finally decided that I am going to participate in Vancouver's annual Sun Run this year. The run is on April 19th and if I want to do moderately well, it I assume I'll have do a little bit of training on my part. As such, I have set a goal for myself: jogging 10 km per day until the Sun Run (Hopefully I will not die). I began 2 days ago and so far its going well (aside from the stabbing pain in my thighs but I digress). Although I do not expect to do as well as the professional runners, I want to do well enough to make be feel like I've truly accomplished something.

January 15th
Post-Christmas Syndrome

Ahh, it's school time again and I've just realized I havent made any reflections during my Christmas vacation (understandable, but really lazy on my part ). So, what does one do to combat this lack of personal reflection time? Well, one (meaning me) must obviously catch up on them and tell the general public how he/she is doing! As a result, expect some short updates below on the minutia of my daily life .

Art Lessons: I am happy to say that my artistic progress is advancing slowly but surely. I've been going to my weekly lessons without absence (this is a great goal as I tend to skip every three weeks or so). And I've also been spending small amounts of time practicing at home (small is better than nothing). However, I would like to contribute more time to the arts so that my largely academic curriculum does not hinder my personal development in the arts.

Martial Arts Lessons: Well, as my martial arts school closed for the winter holidays, I haven't gotten a chance to practice in about 3 weeks. This is a lot of time to go without practice, and I am quite sure I've forgotten just about everything important. So, in order to make up for the 3 weeks, I plan to go an extra couple times during next week (the first week it opens after winter break). On a final note, I would like to say that next time, I will not make the same mistake and instead practice at home during the break.

December 12th & 13th - 9 hours

Volunteering at the oval was . . . not exactly pleasant for me. Due to my lack of care for what job I was assigned (I ticked myself off for all of them), I had to do eight hours of directing parking in the cold (four hours per night, and it was raining the first night). Unfortunately, I do not have a high tolerance for cold and ended up freezing by the end of my shift. However, there were fun times here and there, and I even managed to make a few new friends. So, believe it or not, I would not take back one second of my time out in the freezing cold if I could. I guess the moral is, although you may be stuck in some really bad situations at times, good things can always come out of it depending on how you approach it.