5) Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

6) Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

From September 15th~17th 2023, I participated in the 13th annual ServICE Conference at NIST international school. Remembering the inspiring events and lessons I learned from ServICE Conference 2022, I decided to participate again in 2023.  

This year's conference, I got to design and lead the How-To-Session with a group of seniors. How-to-sessions are opportunities to learn about students' passions for service through workshops. Preparation of the project was challenging as there were many steps to take. Firstly, we signed up for the How-to-session with our ideas and plans of the presentation. To come up with ideas, we gathered with SerWIS members and the ServICE conference participants. Because plastic pollution is a serious global issue, we wanted to promote sustainability by effectively recycling plastic bottles. Therefore, we came up with a project called 'Plastic Upcycling'.  This was a project to transform plastic waste into a higher value material, the plastic plant pots. To proceed with the project, we hosted Plastic Bottle Collection at school. We used a big plastic bottle collecting box and placed in the lobby to collect plastic wastes. After collecting them, we made holes inside the plastic bottles and the cap with the club members then made presentations that show all the steps of making plastic plant pots. Then we were ready for the workshop. In between the preparation, we actively contacted the conference organizers to clarify the procedure and ask questions. By collaborating with the ServICE conference participants from our school and interacting with organizers from other schools, I could realize the benefits of working collaboratively. Without collaboration, this project would have been much harder to organize. 

How-to-session was held on the first day of the conference. As it was our first How-to-session, I was worried if it would turn out well and the participants would be interested. Despite the nervousness, we calmly explained and demonstrated the steps of making plastic plant pots and helped the participants if they are lost. Fortunately, many participants throughly followed the procedures and some gave positive comments on our project. We think that it was a great opportunity to raise awareness about plastic waste and inform that there's so much we can do from 'waste'. I could develop my organizing event skills and social skills through planning a workshop and teaching service lessons in events outside of schools.