Photo Booth B- October 31st, 2024
Event Participation:
For the cash handling job at the Photo Booth on Halloween, my job was to stand at the front desk right next to the photo booth decorations. Talk to people to get them interested in the photo booth and handle all the money transactions. Taking money from those who wanted to get their photo taken, handing them a number to wait in line for, give back any change, and offer refunds to those who couldn’t get their photo taken because of the short amount of time we had.
Curricular Competency: Theme 2: Utilize different leader styles to complete tasks.
- It aligns with my course goals because while I may not have been the leader/point person in this specific event, I took charge in different ways that showed leadership skills to help with the photo booth.
- Effectively communicating with the people (customers) on where to go, many were confused about which way to line up or where they should line up for those who still hadn’t paid and those who had already paid but wanted to get their picture taken. The table where we had to stand at was placed oddly so it confused the customers about where to go.
- Taking charge while painting our poster, where to draw everything and how they should do it. I had made a few of these types of posters before, for other Halloween projects or other assignments in different courses. So I knew where and how we should paint everything. Using my previous knowledge that I had about art and decorating, I applied that to our crime scene poster board and directed everyone on how we should continue painting the poster.
Actions Taken:
Before: On October 9th, when I first found out what I was doing and we had our meeting afterschool for our mandatory Halloween event, I began to look for ideas on Pinterest for a proper background, I saw a few ideas, either a classic Halloween themed backdrop with things like bats, and pumpkins, or a crime scene/mental asylum themed backdrop with blood and handprints everywhere. I emailed my ideas to our point person so she could take a look and take my ideas into consideration. We had our second meeting on October 16th after school where our point person gave the group the outline of our crime scene related backdrop (the one I had suggested). We had a meeting the next day at lunch to draw and cut out things to stick onto the board. I drew and colored things like knives, handcuffs, guns, and fingerprints, while helping others cut and draw other items as well. On our second lunch meeting on the 21st, we discussed making things like the missing poster, and what other supplies we needed, I suggested we use caution tape to hang it all around the board. On our third lunch meeting we had our supplies ready to go and to paint, we decided to stay in after school that day to paint the poster. I got paint brushes from the art teacher in room B101 and we got huge white poster paper from Mrs. Hopkin and I began to paint blood splotches and splatters all over the white paper with red paint, and a few handprints as well, I also wrote “Help me” on the poster so it could look more realistic. I also guided other groupmates about how they should continue painting on the board. Then once the painting process was over I cleaned up our paint brushes and our painting spot. On the 28th we had another lunch meeting, this was the day where I helped my team mates with stapling the items and the poster on to the board. At this point our board was ready and everything was set for Halloween.
During: Once the 31st came, I wore my costume to be on theme and asked my teacher to leave class around 10 minutes earlier to be ready for lunch. I was in charge of handling cash, so I waited at the desk until people started lining up for their photos. During the lunch block, our line got a little bit out of hand, people started to get upset because it was a huge line filled with people who were waiting for their picture taken and some who were waiting to pay. I started individually asking people if they had paid already and to just come to the front desk to pay if they haven’t. Throughout the whole lunch block I made sure I handled the money properly and gave people the right amount of change.
After: Once it was over, we were given the task to count all of the money that we had made from the photo booth, my other groupmate who was on cash handling duty, counted all the cash, while I counted all the coins. I can’t recall how much exactly we had raised, but I remember being shocked at the amount of money we raised, once we added it all up together, which ended up being somewhere around one hundred and twenty dollars (ish). Once lunch was over, our other group mates decided to put the board away and I went to my Block 4 class.
Evidence: Provide strong, concrete examples of your efforts and achievements. Ensure your leadership teacher can understand this evidence.
- Before our afterschool meeting on the 23rd, I already knew how I wanted to paint the poster, and what we had to paint. So when I got there, I noticed that many didn’t know exactly where to start and were confused about how they should paint the board. Without hesitation, I assigned everyone to do different tasks for painting the poster. Assigning a few people to paint their hands red and put hand prints in different places around the poster and assigning some to help me make random splatters and marks all over the paper and to smudge some paint around to make it look more realistic. I demonstrated my own way of leading by assigning different roles to everyone, organizing the group to work towards a common goal, while working along side them as well.
- Before taking charge of the line up, I didn’t think I would need to take charge at any point of the photobooth, because I was only in charge of handling cash, nothing else. There was already a supervisor role that had been taken by someone else, who was in charge of the customers and making sure people know where to go. But near the middle of the event, things got crowded, the supervisor was no longer aware of the line, as they were busy calling out numbers and helping the camera(wo)man when the camera started acting up. I noticed a few girls in the line getting upset that the line was taking too long and that they were thinking about leaving. I knew the best way to get everyone’s attention was to yell out and tell everyone to line up in front of the desk if they haven’t paid, and to line up behind the camera if they’re waiting for their photo. With the loud noises bouncing around the foyer, I knew that my voice wouldn’t project as far as I needed it to. I swerved through the line, asking each person whether or not they have paid. Directing each person in line to the place that they needed to be in, depending on whether they had paid or not. Eventually I successfully, helped everyone to get into the correct lines.
- Again, after noticing the few irritated people in the line, I decided it would be best to offer candy, to those who had paid. So I grabbed the box of candy that was given to us, and decided to go around through the line, and offer a candy to those who were waiting in the line. This approach reflects on my own style of leadership, it shows that my style of leadership is most effective in one-on-one situations, by connecting with people individually.
Photos:
(I took a photo at our own photo booth)