Onward and Upward

Today in Invisible Children (if curiosity of what Invisible Children is totally overcomes your mind, visit the link to the right, their website will enlighten you), I began the arduous process of enticing young freshman minds to join us in our quest to save the world (a naive and romantic notion, I know). Since this presented such a wonderful opportunity for me to think on my journey through the club over the last four years, I decided to write my carefully thought out and obviously well done reflection here, as an attempt to further my CAS experience.

I've often thought how I have grown because of my extensive participation in Invisible Children, and the first realization that came to me as I was intently watching the hugely inspirational informational video was that I would never have become so involved in service activities (one of three required types of activities , if I had not been a complete and total loner for almost the entirety of my freshman year. In joining Invisible Children, I may have completely defined the series of events in the next four years of my life. Over the last two years, I have truly taken a leadership role, and watched as I traveled the roads of the many of the learning objectives as set down by the IB Gods.

One such learning objective - plan and initiate activities - was one of the more expected learning objectives related to Invisible Children. To be honest, the majority of the activities we do require an immense amount of planning and initiation. As much as we would like all the cards to fall into place without outside help, gargantuan book drives and fundraisers with immense goals will not and can not organize themselves, so we must do the work to see our ideas come to fruition. However, the most impressive activity I helped to bring to life was the teacher exchange we participated in last year. We raised more than $2,000 in less than three months to fund the travel and lodging for a Ugandan teacher to spend two weeks in the US! Impressive, I know! In that activity, I learned that even in the face of insurmountable challenges, it is possible to break the metaphorical brick walls facing us and reach a goal which can benefit the greater good of the world.

Overall, my experience in Invisible Children has greatly influenced how I approach a planning situation in that I now have excellent planning and organizing skills, and I am extremely adept at coming up with ideas which, while original and fun, are also attainable ideas that can be organized in steps, without a last-minute rush to complete the set-up for a fundraiser, event, or whatever else I might be planning. In some ways, Invisible Children is probably the most rewarding and fun activity I do, because while I learn valuable life skills, I also participate in something I'm truly passionate about, which I think is something not many people have the ability to boast about.

For now, that is all I have to share with you as I travel this arduously long reflection process we call CAS.

May your day be filled with unicorns and rainbows!!!! :)
Jordy