Student Outreach Project

COP Committee

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
  2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
  3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
  4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
  5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
  6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
  7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Investigation:

Wanting to start this project, a lot of research and preparation was required. We had to make many decisions such as whether or not to make this a school based organization or an independent one. We wanted to make this as affordable to the students as possible so we did everything we could to minimize the cost. In the end, with 3 founding members we formed the SOP organization as an independent organization.

Preparation:

Planning for the trips we did a lot of research. Due to us being students, our trips were limited to 1 day trips, therefore, we had to plan around everything being included in one day. We did research into organizations all over Thailand, and looking into what they had to offer. Finding organizations willing to work with us was especially difficult due to the fact that we were a new organization with little to no connections resulting in multiple organizations turning us down.

Action:

Eventually after finding a couple of organizations which were willing to work with us, we selected those which were in the same location (relatively) and set-up trips based on that. We found that having 2 organizations per trip was the optimal number having 1 trip in the morning and 1 trip in the afternoon. After the trip was planned, we recruited members and we went on the service trip. The trips we planned went well with everything according to plan and on schedule without any complications or injuries.

Reflection:

I was one of the founding members of this group, a group formed to help students at our school find their interest and hopefully find a career path or an area of study and at the same time help communities around Thailand. We formed this group when we found a trend in our class, no one was really sure what they wanted to do. Being somewhat confused as well we figured that in order to know what we want to do, we have try it ourselves. Having a goal in mind we took a class survey for potential career interest and based on that we got to work, planning trips.


The first trip we planned was aimed for people who wanted to work with animals (vets, etc.) and people who wanted to work with kids (teachers, etc.). We went to a children's orphanage and an animal shelter, where we taught kids and took care of dogs, assisting vets and care takers. Having only 3 members we shared responsibilities, helping each other plan everything. I was mainly responsible for contacting different organization, restaurants, and transportation since I was the only person fluent in Thai. The first trip was particularly difficult for us, since it was our first trip no one was willing to give us a lot of money, so the cost had to be minimal. Furthermore, no one knew who we were so organizations were quick to dismiss us. Despite these challenges we finished planning our trip and made an announcement to the class for interested parties to join. A few days before the trip one of the organizations cancelled on us so we had to quickly find a new organization who can host our number in such short time. The trip went successfully despite some bumps along the road.


After this we continued to plan other trips on other areas of interests. This has taught me many skills, from leadership to communication, I have learnt many things from this trip that I am able to apply to my life.

Demonstration: