Final Blog 15!

My SCORE experience overall was fun and helped me learn a lot. First off, I am not very good at taking criticism.  Not in that I don’t want to change my ways, but I think I get too emotional and caring about things when it’s not necessary and I should just focus on getting get the job  done.  Also, in the workforce you really can’t rely on other people, which we learned the hard way as a result of skate night.  I definitely over the course of the year learned a ton about human trafficking.  Now, when I see things on the news I listen up and don’t take them so lightly; terrible things like this happen close to home.  In the future, I would love to work for a nonprofit like Somaly Mam, but I really don’t think I would belong in the fundraising department; I want to be out there making a difference.  I obviously do not know what type of job I will obtain in the future but in 4 years if all goes well I should have obtained my Master’s Degree in Public Policy with my Bachelor’s in Political Science.  I hope to go on to law school after that and either work for the government or help run a nonprofit.  After doing my research paper, I think that if I were to work for a nongovernmental organization like Somaly Mam I would want it to have an education initiative, because people can only help themselves if they are educated enough to do so.

Blog 14

On the site we address the projects of the past, and the theme is laid out so that future students can easily transfer pages over to the “Past Projects” link and put the new project under “Current Project.”  Last year, the project was H2O for Life, so under the tab we wrote about the Class of 2012’s efforts:

Haiti is now the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and it still extremely affected by the earthquake in 2008. The biggest problem for the majority of Haitian people is the lack of sanitation and clean water. This in turn leads to massive breakouts of disease that can lead to the death of children. Saint Pierre School in Mirebalais, Haiti has an average of 2,000 students working in twenty classrooms and using four bathrooms, with no places to wash their hands. The school had no running water until Manchester Essex Global Issues class helped to change that.

H2O For life is a non-profit organization that builds water wells all around the world to give people access to clean water. Manchester Essex Regional High School was teamed up with H2O for Life who promised to match our goal of $6,500. The money we raised went to building and installing a water well for a school in Mirabalais, Haiti. This money allowed students at Saint Pierre School to have safe drinking water, improved sanitation, and education on hygiene.

We also have a section dedicated to past students who went on to work with humanitarian type things.  So, we featured Lindsay Rose who will be teaching children in Ghana for the summer, and Simon McIntosh who has been traveling the world working on green initiatives!

Blog 13

We came into class today frustrated about our event over the weekend.  Everybody was on edges, which just lead to conflicting ideas throughout the day.  Skate night was a complete failure.  Mother Nature didn’t really help us out on Saturday.  I can’t really blame people for not coming to skate on a 70 degree day because I didn’t really want to be there while all of my friends were beaching it, but since I was  I wish we made money.  It was very awkward being at the ice rink with just Nicole and the zamboni man.  He totally felt badly for us which made it even more uncomfortable.  Nicole and I did manage to sell baked goods to glittery girls leaving private skate lessons. 

Luckily, after exchanging a few checks of various amounts, the people at the rink decided not to charge us for the rental.  We really lucked out in this aspect because at least we weren’t losing money for the foundation.  They are mailing them back to my home address so I should have a check to void for Ms. Lumsden on the day of my presentation.  During my presentation I plan to reflect on what went wrong with this fundraiser and take the blame for my part in it.  I was extremely disappointed and embarrassed with the event, as was Nicole and we feel as though we have let the rest of the school and global issues community down by not reaching our goal.  Luckily we still have a few items to auction off within the school to hopefully make a couple hundred more dollars; bid away!

Blog 12

Next, we outlined in the Somaly Mam page the efforts that have been made this year by students to fundraise:

The 2012-2013 Global Issues class partnered with the Somaly Mam Foundation to fight against human trafficking. The class aimed to raise $15,000 which would rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate 5 young girls back into Cambodian society.  We also linked this page to the Somaly Mam Foundation site.

Restaurant Nights- The class hosted restaurant nights at various restaurants- Buffalo Wild Wings, Texas Roadhouse, and Giuseppe’s, all of which donated 10-20% of their profits to the cause if presented with a flyer. Cape Ann Pizza in Essex generously donated 100% of their profits on two occasions to the Gardner Project’s fundraising.

Dodgeball Tournaments- Two dodgeball tournaments were held afterschool for students by members of the Global Issues class. The cost per team to enter the tournament was $40, and participants had a chance to take on the defending champions who played in the tournament the year prior for H2O for Life.

Teacher Talent Show-The First Annual Teacher Talent Show was the Gardner Project’s biggest success. Teachers donated their time to perform for students and members of the community on their Friday night. The class profited $4,000 on ticket and refreshment sales, while spectators were entertained by faculty and staff members’ performances.

Other Fundraisers- Students sold raffle tickets to a Bruins game, for a car wash, for a staples gift card, and also sold ornaments to the elderly at the Holiday Luncheon for seniors. In addition, significant donations were given to the Gardner Project by community members. We thank all who helped us in our fundraising efforts throughout the year.

 

Blog 11

Here is the most recent content I have added to the site’s text:

This appears on the sidebar of the site: The Gardner Project is a student-run project focused on giving back to the global community. Manchester Essex Global Issues students participate in the Gardner Project annually, in partnership with a nongovernmental organization of their choice.

The About us section reads:

The Manchester-Essex Regional High School’s Global Issues class follows a curriculum that emphasizes current problems in the world. It contains units on Globalization, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, Promotion of Democracy, Population Growth, and Terrorism. Open discussion is key to the class, as it encourages students to face the emotions drawn forward by the material and critically think of a way to help solve the problem. The Gardner Project helps students apply information that is learned and search for a way to help those in need. Each year, the Gardner Project runs a student-lead fundraising assignment for a chosen nongovernmental organization (NGO). Students of the MERHS Global Issues Class research, present, and ultimately vote for, an NGO to raise money for that given year. The class then sets a monetary goal and organizes fundraisers in order to achieve the amount. One out of every five days is spent in class working on the Gardner Project, and additional work is done out of school to organize and run fundraising events.

It is important to no only relay to site users the issue and goal for the current year, but the fact that this is an ongoing project that students work on year in and year out with the help of Mr. Wallimann.

Blog 10

Despite Ms. Epp describing the Backstreet Wordpress theme to Nicole as “the Christmas present that seems perfect for someone but then is either way too expensive or has a crack or stain on it so you can’t buy it” and urging us not to show it to Wallimann for that very reason, we showed it to him.  And what do you know, he fell in love. So, I obviously forced Nicole to break the news to Ms. Epp that Backstreet was what we were going with.

She has been very helpful in showing us how to use Wordpress and getting things started theme-wise.  At this point, I am still in classes, therefore I work less hours than Nicole, so she is more focused on layout with me editing it when she is done, and I am more text and context focused.  I like the way the site  is coming out.  We recently added RSS feeds to the bottom where relevant news topics and links can be added each year based on the issue that the class is fighting against.  This year we have the New York Times on Human Rights, MEMO Coverage of Somaly Mam, the Somaly Mam site, and WorldBuzz (the debate site).  I think that this makes the site look pretty legit and professional, personally.  I am also in the process of creating new Twitter and Facebook pages for the Gardner Project which will be linked directly to the site via interactive icons.  Things are looking pretty good right now!

Blog 9

Like everything else, getting the e-mail out to the global issues kids was a real pain.  Seniors were never set up with an Aspen account, just their parents, so the only e-mails Mr. Wallimann has of students are those (like myself) who sneakily logged onto Aspen and changed the preferred e-mail to their own; I feel as though I can manage my own grades without my parents permanently in my business.  So, we went to Ms. Lumsden to get more e-mails but she has the same problem.  Next, we went to Ms. Lewis who has everybody’s e-mails but for whatever reason was unable to just give them to us to use.  She would have had to copy and paste the e-mail and send it out herself and we didn’t want to burden her with all of that work as it is always chaotic in the guidance department!

Nicole and I are also ferociously trying to create a website. I liked the theme we were using to lay it out, but it wasn’t completely user friendly.  Not to knock the MERSD site, but it was very similar to that in that people would have to click a lot of links just to get where they wanted to go.  So, it seems we are back to the drawing board theme-wise.  Nicole has one that she really likes called “Backstreet” that is like memo but black-and-white chic.  Ms. Epp has been very helpful in getting us started with the site, ans she said that it may be hard to work with, but we’ll see what happens!

Blog 8

We have still been discussing the car wash idea and I really think it could work! Some people still have dried salt on their cars from winter which is totally unacceptable. 

Nicole and I are responsible for rainsing about $2,500 to reach our goal with the skate night, so we are trying to get volunteers.  This e-mail is going to be sent out to global issues students:

Global Issues Students:

We need your help! As you know our goal as a class was to raise $15K for the Somaly Mam Foundation.  Currently, we have raised around $12,000.  SCORE Interns Nicole Brosch and Kelsi Field are planning a “Family Skate Night” fundraiser from 1-4pm on Sunday, May 18 in order to raise the remaining sum.  At the skate night a silent auction will be held.  So far here are the items we have:

-floating boat cooler

-Yamaha iPod speakers

-Hyatt Regency Boston accommodations for 2

-Who said they could get Red Sox tickets?

Right now, we are looking for a couple more big ticket items for the silent auction part of the fundraiser.  Also, we will be holding a bake sale, so we need volunteers to bake goodies for that day.  Lastly, we will need a few people to actually work at the fundraiser itself (selling tickets, watching silent auction items, and selling baked goods).  Please let us know if you would be willing to help out at any capacity (thekels@comcast.net or broschnicole@gmail.com)! And remember, it’s for sex slaves.

Thank you!

 

 

Blog 7

The Cape Ann Pizza night did not go as well as we had hoped.  There was apparently confusion between us and Cape Ann Pizza owners about whether or not flyers needed to be presented in order for the profits to be donated.  We were told that flyers would not be necessary when in fact they wanted them to be presented at the time of purchase.  All of the flyers we posted around both Manchester and essex said not to worry about bringing flyers so that may have hurt us.  I guess this was a learning experience for me to not take someone else’s word for something; I should have driven down to Cape Ann and found out what the scoop was.  Neverthless, we made $400 that night, which is $400 than we started with. 

We had been thinking about doing a car wash but decided against it.  Now that we didn’t make as much as we had banked on for Cape Ann, I am wishing that we could have planned one. We had tossed around the idea of doing one at the school, maybe like when there is youth soccer going on so that we could place flyers on the cars of parents telling them to drive to the upper lot for a donations only car wash.  I think that not having a set price and doing donations only for something like that is better because if there is a price people expect you to give them change with larger bills, whereas more could be donated by those people otherwise.

Blog 15 Last blog

Becoming a trainer is not an easy thing to do. In order to become a trainer, a person has to not only get certified, but be extremely knowledged in the field. Because of this necessity for experience, the likelihood that a trainer would be of the age of eighteen is highly unlikely. As much as I learned from mirroring trainers, I almost wished I had taken the time to intern in something that I possibly would have a future in. While I’m very interested in exercise, weightlifting, and athletics; I know now that a trainer simply is not the right job for me. Because I love exercising, I thought I would love having others experience too, but it’s much different and definitely is not the same kind of feeling. When someone exercises, the release of endorphins and adrenaline make it so enjoyable that it is almost impossible to replicate unless you are the person who is exercising. Although I would like to help people learn what they need to do in order to better themselves, I feel that I wouldn’t need to always train them in order for them to do that. Even though I may know the exercises that a person needs in order to strengthen desired parts of the body, everyone is different so I could not possibly know the exact perfect workout for another person. Every one themselves needs to understand through experience what is the maximum and minimum levels of output they can commit to a workout.

Blog 14

Now that I’m done with SCORE, I can’t help but feel weird when I go back to the MAC. It’s honestly a strange phenomenon that occurs with in me that I can’t explain, but I am inclined to do the work I did while working at the MAC. It’s not that I even mean to, but I start to pick up weight that other people left behind, look for bottles that need to be refilled, and also pick up other equipment and put them where I know they belong. I hope this doesn’t last very long because people definitely notice and look at me strangely. Because the trainers that work there are almost always there during the morning, in the afternoons and at night, there aren’t any people there to do the work of the trainers. So people actually are slobs and don’t clean up after themselves at all. While I don’t want to, I simply feel inclined to clean up after them because of the work I have been doing for the past 6 weeks. Maybe I should simply keep working there because I have become simply computed to do the work. The problem is, I love the MAC. I go basically every day because it’s such a great spot for exercising. Not only do most of the kids I know have a MAC membership, there are always people there that you know because of it. Because of this it’s easy to find people to play basketball with or just talk with about how things are.

post 15

                With my score project coming to an end I can safely say that I have enjoyed my experience very much. I have got to do many different things that I would not have been able to do had I not worked for Atlantic banks fisheries. I have learned many different things about fish and how it is processed. I also got to learn how to properly use many tools and large equipment, such as a forklift or pallet jack. At first I was not able to spin a pallet jack around inside the back of a truck because there are only a few inches to spare but now I can do it with ease. My favorite thing that I learned was how to drive a big truck. The truck I learned to drive has been the only diesel vehicle I have driven. I learned how to go around tight corners properly and how to back up when you only have the two mirrors on the side and can’t look directly behind you. I also learned how fish is taken from boats and unloaded at the dock to be processed. I have also learned about how the fishing industry has changed very much in the recent years and where it is headed. I am very grateful for my experience working in Atlantic banks fisheries.

Blog 13

It’s crazy that the people you see at the gym seem to be the ones who always go there. The reason that the people who go to the gym are always at the gym is because working out actually gives people energy. So, because those people always workout, they always have energy to continue going back to the gym. Still though, the dedication and time that people put into workouts or going to classes is unreal. This one woman who goes to the gym will get trained by a trainer, then do her own separate workout, and then go do spin class basically every other day. Even though the gym is a place where you see a lot of meatheads, it’s also a place where you can see some of the most dedicated and hard-working people around. Another guy I talk to comes to the gym every morning before work to get in a workout and then proceeds to his executive job at some huge electronic company that is so complicated he couldn’t get me to understand when explaining it to me. The truth is, the most successful people find time to work out because in most cases, success and intelligence are often related. If a person is intelligent, they will understand the importance of exercise and thus work hard to find time for it. Without these people, I probably wouldn’t have seen what true motivation and dedication looks like. There are simply some people who do everything to the best of their abilities and never even think of doing otherwise.

Week 5 Blog 3

SCORE is coming to a close and one of the toughest parts is saying goodbye to all the good people you have met. Even though six weeks seems like a decent amount of time, it really does fly by at the end of senior year. I can’t believe that we have two weeks until we graduate and there is basically only our presentations, (and a couple more of the blogs) standing between me and leaving high school forever. Anyway, the people I’ve met at the MAC are really great. However, besides for Ray, I really haven’t gotten to spend any time with them outside of working there. I just feel like I could get to know so much more about all of them if I only had more time there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for SCORE to end because I’m excited to start making money and for summer to truly begin; but it would have been nice to get to know the trainers more than I do. Hopefully I’ll still hang out with Ray over the summer, but goodbyes are never easy. I know I’ll still see them at the MAC as well because I am always there, but it’s not like I’ll be able to really hangout with them or get to know them any better. It will instead be standard hello and goodbyes and maybe the sometimes small talk. I guess I just have to look at it as another life experience and hopefully I will get to meet plenty of new people this summer.

Week 5 Blog 2

One of the biggest upsides of being a personal trainer is the perks that come along with it. Not only is it good money, but many trainers do it for the free membership that comes along with it. If a person has chosen to be a personal trainer for their profession, then obviously that person is big into exercise and working out. The downside of gyms is that they are usually really expensive. Because the MAC is so nice and luxurious, it’s definitely pricey. The ability for people who are really into working out to go to the MAC for free whenever they please is definitely a nice perk to have. Another perk of being a trainer at the MAC is literally having everyone ask you where everything is. I know it sounds like it could be annoying, but I like people thinking that I play a specific role in their ability to enjoy the gym. When you feel like you know what you’re doing or are the “head haunch,” you feel more confident about your ability to your job and do it well. Other perks of being a trainer that I can see is that the woman love you. All the guy trainers in the MAC are pretty jacked and because of their job title, women are just naturally intrigued to flirt with them. That depiction as the jacked personal trainer doesn’t seem like that bad of an option because women clearly are into the idea of a man who works out all the time and knows his way in the gym.

Week 5 Blog 1

If there’s anything I’ve really realized about myself being at the MAC, it’s that I simply do not have the patience to be a personal trainer. Not only are some of the clients rather difficult to deal with, some are just lazy. If I was a personal trainer, I would obviously work clients to their limits because that is what they are paying for. If trainers wanted to put clients through easy workouts that never pushed them, they would never see results or feel as if they were getting better in shape. It would almost be like ripping them off. However, so many clients complain or try to talk to give themselves breaks that they don’t realize that they are only really hurting themselves. The other aspect that personal trainers always have to deal with is patients showing up late or not showing up at all. Simply because they are paying for training sessions, some of them will show up basically whenever they want, even though the trainer has been waiting there for them. Dealing with people constantly not showing up or canceling last second would get frustrating. I’ve even seen one trainer who lives in Haverhill show up for one client and the client just didn’t even show up. While a lot of the clients aren’t that difficult or are ever really cool and nice; some clearly would be a pain to deal with on a regular basis. While being a personal trainer might not be difficult for some, it would for me because I lack patience.

Week 4 Blog 3

The funny thing about carrying around Dunkin Donuts is how much people feel the need to acknowledge you. I seem to always get somebody saying something like, “Dunkin’s Run!” or “Where’s mine”, etc. The truth is people love Dunkin Donuts. Not only does a nice coffee wake you up and get you ready for the day, it brings people together in a passion that is clearly felt throughout all of the north shore. Anyway, once I get into the MAC, all eyes turn to me. However, I refuse help and feel determined to do it myself and make it to the workout room without spilling a drop. When I finally make the trek to the workout room, the trainers are all very excited to get there coffees. While I walk around and handout everyone’s desired coffees, I also get to drink mine. The trip is completely worth it because I love ice coffees. Not only do they taste delicious, if you drink them really fast you get an energy rush that can be nice if you are not a morning person. The infamous, “Dunkin’s Run” is also fun if I can get Ray Syron to come with me and we can bump some tunes on the way. Although there aren’t many kids my age there, Ray is eighteen and therefore we get along really well. When you’re the youngest workers at the gym, you don’t necessarily get taken super seriously, but at the same time, nobody really gives you a hard time.

Blog 18

Today, Wednesday, wasn’t very exciting. A lot of people were out today and the weather made the day pretty much drag. I started off working on the Assists on OLIVER, until Shelley had me do some mail around 1:00. I folded some membership renewals, made sure everything was in the right envelope (they have to stay in order and the envelopes have the members names on them like they do on the paper I put inside). I did that until 3:00 and I was super tired at that point. There wasn’t a lot else for me to do, so Shelley had me check in the checks into the binder, which I’ve done before. It helps because Cathy isn’t here, and when they’re all in the binder checked in then it’s easier for Ellen to just put them in. I sorted them out until they were done. When that was finished I put together ‘thank you’ papers for renewing memberships into envelopes and ran them through my new favorite thing…the post meter! After that I checked them off for Shelley and then I sorted through the pay log things from 2011 and put them in their different quarter sections in the pay binder. After that I took a press release Mary had made for Art in the Barn and put them on different website calendars.  I talked to Cricket about volunteering at the Farmers Market this summer for a couple hours every Thursday, which I think I’m going to do. I also talked to Dani about possible going on a trail visit with her and David tomorrow if the weather is nice.

Blog 17

Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday. I got in at around nine and talked to Shelley for a bit, because Abby and I were meeting at 9:30 so while I got the spreadsheet up and my notes, well questions, ready we talked about Art in the Barn, which is coming up in June. Abby came in and we went over what I found from the typed up newsletter that a volunteer, Pat, made and all of the paper files. One of my main questions about the Assists were the map and lot, because I didn’t find a lot of them. She brought me to this website on MassGIS called OLIVER. It is a really cool, and helpful, website. Its GIS based, so it has every property and is color coded by scale. I could go to any town/city in Massachusetts and find, or try to find, the property I was looking for. Abby showed me how to use it and what the different things meant, and we did about five of them because some were harder than others, and we actually had to leave some blank because we couldn’t find the map and lot. When you do find the right property it has every detail you need. It has the deed book and page numbers, map/block/lot, acreage and what was also really helpful was how many acres it was when it was put in the deeds, because they sometimes change, who owns it, etc. Unfortunately sometimes they do not have all of the fields filled in. I worked on OLIVER for almost the whole day.

Blog 16

Monday was a typical day. Nothing really happened and everyone did their normal routine. When I got in I started doing some Assisted Projects. About halfway through I took a break and went to Cathy’s computer, because she’s out this week, and printed some stuff Shelley needed out because the computer I use isn’t connected to the printer. I printed all of the minutes from all of the board meetings from 2012 and every month so far of 2013. I stapled each month together, hole punched them, and put them in a binder. When I was done with that I had to take out, from the same binder, contracts from 2012, and swap them with new ones from 2013. I had to hole punch too. I had to put the 2012 ones in a folder where the 2013 ones were. After that I went downstairs to Abby’s office and set up a time for us to meet about the Assisted Projects because I was almost done. I spent most of the rest of the day finishing off the paper files for the Assisted Projects. When I was done with that I did some membership mailing for Cathy and ran them through the post meter. I think the post meter is actually really fun to use, even though you don’t do much. I like the noise it makes when you slide the envelope through it. I ended the day talking to Shelley about summer volunteering and what I would be doing on Tuesday.