For my lead project, I organized a group of people to remove garlic mustard, a highly invasive plant, from the local forest. We were able to fill six large garbage bags with plants and clear a large section of the trail. Elementary school students from my neighborhood use this path everyday during the school year to walk to Lilja, so removing these overgrown weeds makes it easier to navigate. This also will help to encourage the native plants to grow back now that they aren’t being pressured out for resources and overall create a more healthy ecosystem.
My lead project was to represent National Honors Society at Step-up night, get incoming freshman interested in the organization, and give them all of the important information that pertains to applying to and participating in National Honors Society. I chose to do this for my lead project because I wanted to help promote National Honors Society because I believe in what the organization aims to accomplish and I wanted to spread the message and opportunities with incoming freshman who might be interested. This project got incoming Freshman interested in this organization and encouraged them to participate in community service. I worked with my partner to organize the event. I made a poster with all of the important information as well as a QR code that leads to the National Honors Society website. I bought candy and a bowl for the incoming Freshman and their families. I also gave out information verbally during the event, and sent a lengthy and detailed information email after the event to those who were interested and provided their emails. I worked with Sofiia Kazyrid, Mrs. St. Jean, and Mrs. Marino to conduct this event. The event went very well. More people than I expected signed up for the informational email, and demonstrated interest in person about National Honors Society. If I were to do this again, I would prepare some talking points to say to the students and their families, as I struggled more than I expected to get my thoughts out in an efficient and persuasive manner. Other than that, I would not change anything.
For my lead project, I organized and ran the Milestone Church booth for Natick Days. This included overseeing the schedules of all the volunteers who helped run the stall over the course of the day, assigning them roles, guiding them through the operation of the different stations, and adjusting timetables in accordance with attendance. I was also in charge of keeping track of inventory, limiting how much we gave out to make sure our stock lasted the whole event and handling cleanup once the event ended. I chose this as my lead project as it gave me the opportunity to help my Church community, while making a positive impact on the wider Natick community through our interactions with attendants and our distribution of prizes and gifts. Everything ran smoothly over the day, and we had more than enough volunteers to help out and keep wait times down in all but face painting. In future years, I would look to reach out to more artists to participate in face painting, as the lines for it tended to get rather long. All in all though, a great event and a wonderful memory.
My lead project was to lead a 4-day fundraising swim clinic run by high school team captains and volunteers. I chose to do this because I have always been involved with swimming and it is also a significant team fundraiser for things like our banquet. This project helped younger children learn how to swim more safely and correctly. We organized pool time at Longfellow Natick and made a curriculum. I advertised the clinic to the public at physical locations and also had it posted on Facebook. I also asked others to do the same along with the help of the Longfellow aquatics department. We also decided upon a loose curriculum that could be adapted to swimmers of different levels and ages. Before the first session, I estimated the swimmer's abilities based on their parents’ emails, and adjusted accordingly during the session. I was helped by other swim team members and team captains, as well as my mother and the staff of the Longfellow Aquatics department. It went very well, with many parents expressing their appreciation for our help and enthusiasm. In the future, it may be beneficial to advertise the clinic earlier in order to get more sign-ups.
For my leadership project, I taught three students how to play Dungeons and Dragons, and I ran the beginning of a campaign for practice. I chose to focus on a community based project because with the recent increase in popularity of the game from the show Stranger Things, Dungeons and Dragons has become a great way to make friends and build relationships. I was in charge of helping with character creation and what goes into a well written character, initiating the four meetings, purchasing materials, and creating a campaign so they would learn using real time examples. I feel that the lessons were very successful because by the last session, the players were able to understand and interact with their character sheet without help from me, had incredibly witty and character driven roleplay moments, and held their own in combat. Now that these players know the rules and what truly makes this game magical, they can take these skills to play Dungeons and Dragons in college and beyond as a way to bond and share this wonderful experience with others.
For my lead project I was responsible for running tour guides during step-up night at the high school. I wanted to have this for my lead project because I was able to show the incoming freshman and their families how great of a community and school we have here at Natick High. In preparation for step-up night I had to recruit tour guides while coming up with a plan of how tours during step-up night would be run. I was also responsible for informing and organizing the tour guides during step-up night. Although there was a little shortage of tour guides, I think step-up night went well and with the guidance of Ms. Dalton-Thomas, I was successfully able to run tours and organize tour guides while keeping things in an orderly manner. In the future I would urge other organizers to try to recruit more tour guides and try to limit the amount of people on each tour. Overall this was a great experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to be involved in the community.
For my lead project, I led a Natick Babe Ruth Baseball team as an assistant coach. On the team, my tasks were to organize and run drills during practices, create a lineup so everyone has equal playing time, track every pitch through an app, and ensure that everyone is still having fun while trying to win. I wanted to coach because I have participated in Natick Youth Baseball every year that I could play, and now that I could no longer play, I still wanted to be a part of the program. I also wanted to give my advice on sportsmanship, respect, and competitiveness during this experience. Overall, our season was successful as everyone had a great time, and we even won a playoff game. This has deepened my appreciation for teaching and mentoring young students, and I definitely want to continue doing this in future years.
For my lead project I planned a group of 4-5 people to clean up any pollution around Natick Village. I supplied the group with trash bags, gloves, and any other required supplies. I also personally disposed of all the trash we collected in an adequate manner. I chose this as my lead project because I work in Natick Village and constantly see trash around the barbeque area. I wanted to help make it a clean shared space for families and individuals to be able to enjoy themselves in. Furthermore, I know how special this location can be due to the fact that I used to live there and would always use the space with my friends to grill and have picnics. In return I wanted to help the community keep a clean environment. To prepare for this project I first looked around my home for the materials needed, and any missing items I simply bought from my local dollar store. The project was a great success, the area was left clean and the trash was disposed of in the local dump. I wouldn't change anything about this project for the future due to it being such a success.
For my lead project, I organized and led a shampoo donation for A Place to Turn, which will provide the necessary supplies to those in local communities, such as Natick, for the year. I was able to collect nearly fifty bottles of shampoo, ranging from two-in-one shampoo to kids' shampoo, through creating posters, handing them out, reaching out to local businesses, posting online, and going door to door in neighborhoods. This is a project that A Place to Turn specifically asked me to do, as every year, they need a new supply of shampoo to hand out for the year to those unable to afford hygiene products, and this not only contributes to my own community but other communities and towns nearby.
My lead project was organizing the National Honor Society booth at Natick Days, our organization’s only fundraiser. The booth was a cake walk, which I chose because it directly benefits all members and gave me an opportunity to get to know them better. Through this project, I also connected with members of the Natick community, which made the experience even more rewarding. The money raised funded NHS’s induction ceremony and supported Natick Days, which in turn allows other local clubs and organizations to fundraise as well. To prepare, I worked closely with Ms. St. Jean, attended Natick Days planning meetings, created a schedule for cake drop-offs, communicated with NHS members, and gathered all necessary materials. I collaborated with Dhwani Prakash and Sandra Kintu, and together we raised about $1,000. The day was well-organized and the booth ran smoothly. In the future, I would stagger cake drop-off times more to ensure plenty of cakes remained available toward the end of the day.