Investigation: 

As I am part of the service council, every Monday we have meetings to discuss about new projects that the school could be part of or how to promote the service spirit in the students.  The team and I decided to pursue this project as we had heard that this school needed essential supplies and we felt it was a great opportunity not only for helping other students our age but also for personal growth. We thought that this project could be a success as we had plenty of books to donate at  school. 

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Preparation: 

We went to the school to speak with the director and see the space where the library was going to be set up, the space was empty and had some old book banners; the director told us that they had recently received a donation of books for school subjects and that they were lacking narrative books. We measured the area and started to make plans for the position of each object that was going to be placed in the library, we also started planning how to raise funds for the paintings and furniture.

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Action: 

We got in contact with this school through an NGO called “Millon de niños lectores”. Unfortunately Markham College and this organization didn’t work along the same lines, so we decided to leave the project. However, we found out that the NGO had also left the project weeks later, therefore my team and I held a meeting to decide whether we were able to take up the project once again under our own schedule and managing guidelines. The outcome of this meeting was that we agreed to embrace this mission once again.

 

Phase 1 (2016):

Our plan was to sell food in Markham College during lunch time, with the permission of Mr Paz to use the CAS shop, and we also planned to sell food outside the school at our parents’ workplace.

 

We sold sweets and desserts such as brownies, vanilla cookies, “bolitas de vainilla”, blondies and Choco-chip cookies. The group and I organized ourselves to decide who will cook each product for a determinate day when selling food at school. We promoted our sweets sending mails to the whole school via the school mail in order for everyone to know about our sale.

 

When I went to sell food at my parents’ workplace I promoted myself in the same way I had done at school; I sent a mail to all the workers for them to know about this sale and to learn about our aims of building the library in a public school in Lima.

 

The outcome of this 5 week process was successful as we recollected the money needed for phase 2.

 

Phase 2 (2017):

The new members of the Service Council of 2017 are going to take over our project and finalize phase 2:

 

With the money recollected they will buy:

• Sanding paper

• Varnish

• Paint brush

• Paint

• 2 furniture stands to hold the books (the school already has 4 furniture)

 

From the start of phase 2 the project should finalize within 2 months.

Reflexion: 

The project is to create a library within the Public School Federico Villarreal with the aim of helping 650 students have their own library and to be able to have access to a wide range of books. Our main aspiration for achieving the final result is the positive change that the new implementation will bring to the students, helping them in their courses, giving them the opportunity to have greater knowledge and the most important aspect of all is that it will be an incentive to develop better reading habits.

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Demonstration: 

Through aseemblies and posters we communicated our intention of this project to the whole school, teachers and students. After phase one was completed we wrote a piece about the projected, including these intial results, in the school bulletin.

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I demonstrated the following CAS Learning Outcomes:

LO1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth --> I became better at sticking at deadlines. 

LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process ---> My organization and leadership skills improved, through challenging days where volunteers were absent. 

LO3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience --> Ariana and I were the ones that decided to choose this project and take charge of it.

LO4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences --> Ariana and I were present everytime volunteers went to the school to help with the library construction. 

LO5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively ---> Working collaboratively allowed the team to finish on time

LO6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance --> the library project means students are going to have access to wider knowledge.

LO7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions ---> We felt good knowing we could help provide other students like us with a better education.