This project has taught me organization, team work, and patience. I learned to take things easy by trusting the process especially when it felt like there was no solution. I learned to collaborate by listening to my peers and applying my own knowledge and ideas as well. However, I faced many setbacks that made me feel discouraged or want to give up. For example, volunteering at an elementary school meant that we had to arrange a time to meet during the school day. Since no one in my group shared an off block, we had to work together to organize a time. We overcame this challenge by strategically talking to our teachers and explaining the situation. We learned to take a deep breath and understand that challenges are only temporary. We learned that being successful in our project meant that we had to keep going no matter what.
This action changed the way I think about most things in my life. I learned to grow into accepting that things might not go the direction I would like it to. However, I understood that in order to achieve things in life I had to chase after it until it became a reality. It taught me that getting a bad grade didn’t conclude that I was going to do badly in that course, it just meant that I was going to face challenges in life and overcoming them did not mean making myself feel bad about it but instead it was about focusing on what’s ahead of me. This completely changed my perspective since at the start of this project I felt discouraged and afraid that our challenges would get in the way of our success, yet, it only taught us what we needed to learn all along.
This action project impacts the way I communicate and deal with situations in the future. I now know that when obstacles happen, I should think strategically by taking things step by step. For example, when at a work, volunteering, sport club, or any public place, I should accept that I will face challenges and that I must remain on track no matter what. Moreover, volunteering at an elementary school by providing them with the necessary life saving skills and techniques needed can help ensure that more lives are saved locally and globally. Children would be able to react calmly and effectively in times of emergencies. I believe that this project has already left a huge impact on our community and the next generations. We hope to continue to spread our message across to other schools too in the district. As much as this project’s purpose was to teach them about the knowledge we had, it also taught us about how we can view things from a different lens.
