Student Voices

"Enjoy it, enjoy your time doing this unit, make it something you want to do."

"Really make sure to utilize class time well. You will get a lot of free time to work on your projects during class, and if you don't use this time well, you will end up having a lot of extra work to do outside of class."

"If I could make one recommendation to a friend starting this unit, it would be to not stress about it and enjoy it, because it is pretty fun."

"Choose a topic you really feel passionate about and want to make a change. And do a lot of planning for everything you wish to do, including contingencies for if anything goes wrong."

"Definitely make the most out of it and focus on something you truly care about. While this is an assessment, it's also an amazing opportunity to make a change in our community, or even our world, so take the opportunity and don't waste it!"

"General points to keep in mind: Your project should be clear and concise (I can't stress that enough) Make sure your project is realistic in terms of time and range of resources but don't let that affect your ambition! Organisation is key in this project, your action plan in particular should be most detailed as it is your "planning doc". the clearer your action plan, the easier the process will go. Last piece of feedback, please choose a project you truly feel passionate about, it's empathy to impact! feel connected to your chosen project!"

"Manage Your TIME"

"I would recommend them to definitely choose a topic that they are truly passionate about, and start small before slowly building up. Also to persevere and troubleshoot throughout covid-19."

"My recommendation to a friend would be to tell him/her to be realistic with their goals"

"If I could make one recommendation to a friend starting this unit, I would tell them to have multiple plans in place as things may not always go as expected (especially during covid-19). Having other routes to take will ensure that even if there are any challenges faced, there will always be another option to keep the project going smoothly."

"Have all of the project proposal completed as soon as possible, and be clear on everything you need before hosting events."

"If I could make one recommendation to a friend starting this unit, it would be to start their project once they have an idea. During this project, we had to email many people asking for their support and confirmation that we could hold a supply drive, we also had to sent out multiple promotion emails to promote our drive. This process took much longer than we expected, and if we had started it earlier, we could have promoted our drive in the weekly circular much earlier."

"Be AMBITIOUS and FLEXIBLE because things don't always go the way you expected! if you have an elaborate and well thought out plan, anything is possible. For our group, despite having covid regulations and our initial plans being rejected, we were still striving to complete the project and find other alternatives to create the same impact."

"Try to actually make a lasting impact even if it's small, it would be more meaningful than trying to influence a large group of people only for that impact to die out after the unit ends."

"Make sure you clear what you actually want to do. Have everything planned out well."

"If i could make one recommendation to a friend who was about to start this unit, i would tell my friend to : "get out of your comfort zone, think outside of the box!". Leaving your comfort zone allows you to have new experiences and to engage in activities that you haven't before, all while opening you up to meet new people, things and discovery a "new" you! You wouldn’t know how amazing you are until you have accomplished the goal that you thought is unrealistic and unachievable. it always seems impossible util its done, everything is possible!"

"I would also share my own experience to my friend! when i started with my SDG and hosting this donation drive, i thought its so hard and almost impossible. I wished i chose an easier SDG and could make my impact easily. I am now really glad because i have made the right choice of going out my comfort zone, i feel very accomplished and am proud of myself!"

"Pick a goal that you like and enjoy achieving"

"If I could recommend one thing to a friend for this unit, I would advice them to do something that they truly want to do, even if it is not the biggest change. This is because this project was really an eye-opener for me, and I have learnt a lot of lessons from this project."

"If I had to make a recommendation, it would be get started as soon as possible. It's best to already be sorted out, and know what you're going to do. This will allow you to more efficiently get things done, as time may really be a difficulty."

"There is a huge difference between sympathy and empathy, and empathy is the critical idea in this unit. Thinking back to when I was completing the Sixthtone and DollarStreet assignments, I felt sorry for the families I read about, but I didn't think to genuinely put myself in their shoes and imagine what their lives were. During the empathetic research assignment, it would help really think about what your target is living through and the one thing they want the most, and try to make that happen for them. Take advantage of the assignments to practice being empathetic, and let your empathy drive your impact."

"I guess they should start finding personal contacts as soon as they got the idea what they are doing, because they might not find the proper person they want for the first time, and there might be some suggestions or advice given by the personal contacts, which would be really useful but not exactly the same with what you might planned, so it also takes time to sort it out."

"If I had to make one recommendation to a friend starting this unit, it would be to have a solid idea when starting and make sure that you have connections making this a feasible idea. For myself, at first I had a few contacts but they never got back to about much besides one however the information he provided did not really help much. This was a pretty big issue as I struggled a bit to find beaches that were dirty and until I linked up with Jake, I did not know what much to do as my local areas were all too clean. This cause a lot of wasted time and a lot of unnecessary stress which could have been avoided so that would be my recommendation."

"My recommendation would be to think big and consider all of the issues you have noticed people facing in your life and then tackle those issues head on."

"Make sure your action plan is concise and start the project as soon as possible as some actions require a certain amount of time that you may not have near the end of the project."

"Make sure you manage your time well"

"I would most likely recommend to choose a topic and project that they are genuinely passionate about, especially since having a personal connection to the topic through my volunteering experience made research and planning a lot more enjoyable for me. I also tried to use public speaking as a part of my project since it's definitely one of my hobbies, and made me a lot more invested in maximizing the impact of my actions."