February 14, 2025

Event Participation: I was put on Note’s N Sweets for our February Event, and our plan for this event was to sell them a week before Valentines Day in the foyer. I was in charge of cash handling throughout those days. Afterwards we all had to choose a day to pack and wrap all the Notes and Sweets as well as putting them into the right boxes, essentially getting them all ready to hand them out to classes on Valentines Day.

Curricular Competency: Theme 1: Understand that successful leaders and teams develop strong relationships and incorporate effective group processes

• This Competency aligns with my course goal, because my main goal this year was to push myself into taking the role of a leader, and to understand the criteria that comes with being a leader, as well as precautions and steps needed to take to be a good leader.
• Throughout this event, a lot of teamwork had to be done, where we had to come together and think of a solution that would solve our issue so that we could move forward.
• It also aligns with my goal because while there isn’t always a leader, its important to know how to act in certain situations and take everyone’s opinion into account, which directly correlates with this curricular competency.

Actions Taken: Explain what you did to work towards or achieve this competency.

Before: There were tons of steps we had to take to as a team to successfully make this event work. We first signed up for which days of the week we were able to help out with selling in the foyer. I signed up for February 3^rd and 4^th. On one of those days, we had the emergency fire drill during lunch which we were unable to fully sell the tickets properly, while the other day was a success, and I was in charge of cash handling and giving back change. After a week of selling Notes n Sweets, a lunch meeting was held on February 11^th, I missed this meeting because I had forgot to set a reminder on my phone. During this meeting, the notes n sweets were packed and wrapped, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to help them. The next meeting was afterschool on Wednesday, which I attended, and we all went to room A109 and started sorting singles with the bouquets. We split ourselves up into groups to divide and conquer faster. A few people would work on the notes from each block, wing, and floor. By the end, everything was packed and ready to go, but we held another lunch meeting the day after to really make sure there were no issues for Valentines Day, where we would go around and surprise those who received one.

During: On Friday, Valentines Day, I chose to go and deliver notes during Block 2 in the lower A wing. I arrived around 15 minutes earlier and grabbed the lower A wing bowl and began to deliver when class started. Everything went smoothly and we didn’t have many issues, we would go door to door and deliver the notes n sweets to classes. None of the teachers seemed to be upset about anything. The only issue we ran into was that a few of the notes didn’t have the right class or block and we weren’t able to find the person to deliver to.

After: After delivering the notes, we had a couple that weren’t in the class, one was away and one wasn’t even in the class that was written down. We decided it would be best to give it to the other block group, since maybe they had the class right but got the block wrong.

Evidence: Provide strong, concrete examples of your efforts and achievements. Ensure your leadership teacher can understand this evidence.

• Fire Drill Incident

• • During one of our selling days, we were able to sell tons of notes to students, near the middle of lunch, we suddenly heard a fire drill, so one of us grabbed all the notes that were written on, one of us grabbed all the notes that hadn’t been written on and I put them all into the cash box and closed the lid. Without any of us needing any leadership or someone to direct and guide us we got everything put away and ready to evacuate the school. I was surprised at how little number of words were needed to do this, but I think it was just because it has already been a semester and a half into the course, so the people we work with are quite familiar. Which shows that strong relationships help with effective group processes.
• Sorting Issue
  • While packing and wrapping the notes n sweets, we all divided ourselves into groups to sort out the notes and attach the lollipops to them. But during the sorting, we started to separate some of the unfinished notes (notes that were missing a block, or a class), we had to cross reference back to the sheet that had all the information on it. During this process, we started to fill in the missing information ourselves and unknowingly put them back into the wrong piles. We soon realized that we were putting the notes into different piles and the singles and bouquets were mixed up with each other (meaning that now we had to go back and check each one to see if they were in the right pile). We notified our point people, but instead of getting upset, everyone was willing to help and sort them back into the piles. Again, I think that the strong bonds we build throughout this course causes us to be more understanding of each other’s mistakes and at the end of the day that’s what effective groupwork is all about.
• Missing Notes
  • While handing the notes out (we were a group of 3) we still had 3 notes where we were unable to deliver because of misinformation on the note. Before handing them out, we collectively agreed on a few options to consider if we run into issues like these. We decided to either ask around the class and ask if they know of that person and know what class they have during that block, or to give the note to the teacher to hold on to if the student is known for being late, and finally to hand it back to block 4 groups in case the person writing the note got the wrong block. This way the note would somehow end up in the right hands of the person that the note belonged to. I think it’s important to come up with solutions to issues before running into them, which is another reason why effective groupwork is the key.

Photos:

December 16-19, 2024

Event Participation: I was a point person for our school’s Spirit Week event, I was in charge of 2 days throughout the week. Monday, which was PJ day where we planned to play Christmas themed music in the cafeteria during lunch. And I was also on Thursday’s event which was Christmas themed day with a photobooth of Santa and Buddy the elf and we had a hot chocolate stand where we sold hot cocoa for a dollar at lunch.

Curricular Competency: Theme 2: Take on increasingly demanding leadership roles.

• This core competency aligns with my course goals because becoming a point person has been one of my main course goals for a very long time. I have never joined leadership before, nor have I really done anything throughout the school where leading was necessary. Therefore finally being one and being able to do my job as a point person correctly was a huge step forward throughout my journey in leadership.

• Being able to plan out everything I had in mind and being able to communicate my ideas to my fellow point people and people in my group both within our meetings afterschool and lunch meetings as well as communicating that information through various online platforms or teams.
• Being able to take charge and guide a big group of people has also been a big part of my course goals.

Actions Taken: Explain what you did to work towards or achieve this competency.

Before: I first signed up for being a point person for Spirit week with no hopes of actually becoming one of the point people. There is always a huge amount of people who sign up for point people roles which is why I thought the odds of me becoming a point person was low. But oddly enough, I did get the role, and we were placed into a spirit week point people teams channel on November 24^th. Monday and Thursday’s theme was already figured out, we just needed themes for the rest of the days and activities to be done during lunch on each day. Me and the other spirit week point people decided to make a group chat for ourselves where we could think of ideas and figure out who will be in charge of which day. We decided to send out a form to the spirit week channel for others to collaborate their opinions on what our activities and themes should be. Sadly we only had a couple responses, and they were not much help. We decided to meet up (point people only) on November 29^th at lunch to discuss what our themes and activities should be, that was the day where we finalized our full plan and discussed how each person should run one day. But since our Thursday event had lots of things going on I decided to also help out on that day as well. I created a Spotify playlist filled with all Christmas themed songs to play on Monday, and that was really all I had to do for that day. We asked a set of people to make posters for each day of spirit week, and on Dec. 4 we hung up all the posters and made the reels for our events afterschool. On Dec. 11, we were shown how to make the hot chocolate, and we used wrapping paper to cover up the foyer board for our photoshoot backdrop.

During:  Monday: I messaged my group on teams and sent them a reminder about 20 minutes before lunch to leave their classes 10 minutes earlier to help with our event. I got there 10 minutes earlier and looked for Chami, because he was the one who had set up the speakers for us. We found him in the halls a few minutes before lunch would start. We connected my phone to the speakers and Chami adjusted the volume and wires, I played the playlist just as the students started entering the cafeteria.

Thursday: I left my class 20 minutes before lunch to go to the teachers lounge to bring the hot water pot to the foyer. Me and the other point person in charge of the Thursday group ran downstairs to the gym office to borrow their speakers to play music in the foyer (last minute plan). We carried it all the way upstairs and plugged it into the outlet in the wall and connected a Christmas playlist onto it. We brought the foyer board and set it up, we put chairs so that Santa and buddy the elf could have somewhere to sit while taking photos. We set up tables for the hot chocolate stand and brought candy, marshmallows, candy canes, and our money box. Throughout the lunch block I was kind of flying around everywhere, helping out with the photobooth by taking cash from people and giving them their tickets, helping out with the hot chocolate stand and making hot cocoa for people, and asking the floaters how their job was going and helping anyone around who needed anything.

After: Monday: I disconnected my phone from the speakers and thanked Ms. Lovelock for letting us use her equipment, and Chami took care of the rest of the speakers.

Thursday: We put the foyer board and the chairs back into the upper cafeteria storage area, we cleaned up the hot chocolate area and put the hot water pot back in the teachers lounge, and we put the rest of the candy boxes, marshmallows, polaroids, and extra films back into the socials office. We put the tables back into the upper cafeterias storage area. We counted all of our money and wrote it down somewhere. We carried the speaker all the way downstairs and gave it back to Mr. Davies. We made sure everything was cleaned up and put away properly before we went back to class.

Evidence: Provide strong, concrete examples of your efforts and achievements. Ensure your leadership teacher can understand this evidence.

• Helping out with more things than needed
  • While all of us (point people) had decided that everyone will be in charge of their own day, and we all had chosen which days we wanted to do, I still decided to help out on both days rather than 1 because I felt that the Thursday event needed more help. While I was in charge of Thursday, I was asked to help out with the photobooth. But instead I noticed that many of the people in the Thursday group were confused on a few things or had questions throughout the event, and since the original Thursday point person was taking polaroid photos, I decided to jump in and help the people in our group with their questions, which led to me being all over the place that lunch block. Aiding all 3 different groups at the same time (floaters/security, hot chocolate, photobooth).

• Helping everyone clean up in the foyer

• I helped clean up the foyer, and being the last person to leave the foyer before going back to class, I instructed the other members of our group where each item should go and where they should put it back, whether that’s taking it back to the upper cafeteria storage room, downstairs in the gym, back to the socials office, or in the teachers lounge, I offered my help to anyone who needed it during our clean up.

• Being able to communicate with teachers and staff members when in need of borrowing their equipment
  • For the Monday event, we needed to use some equipment and speakers from the drama room. About a week before the event, I went to speak with Ms. Lovelock afterschool if we could use the stage and the speakers in the drama room for our event, which she was completely fine with and gave me permission. But I forgot to ask her if I had to set it up or if she was going to set it up for me. So I sent her an email over the weekend about the specific details about the set up, letting her know the exact time that we need to get the speakers ready and when we need to start playing the music. I noticed that she hadn’t responded to the email, so I reached out to Chami and asked about whether he was going to set up the speakers. Then I explained the rest of my plan to him and made sure everything was made clear. We also had to ask Mr. Davies to use the speakers for the Thursday event and we were granted permission to use it but had to return it once lunch was over.

Photos:

November 27, 2024

Event Participation: I was a part of the afterschool event, my job was to sell the Sundae tickets to grade nines in the foyer on Monday and Tuesday. I was also a Sundae Barista for the Grade 9 day afterschool event. My job was to come early to the library at 2:55pm and serve the ice cream with the scoopers to the grade nines who have previously purchased a ticket.

• Curricular Competency: Theme 4: Use effective communication skills in a group setting, which will be sensitive to everyone’s ideas, while still being efficient.
• This core competency aligns with my course goals because I am usually not the one to initiate conversations, and I am often not as talkative as other people. So being able to start a meaningful conversation with the grade nines was a huge step forward for me.
• Being able to project my voice so that others can hear me was another step forward towards efficient communication.
• Communicating with the other people in my team about concerns I had about the amount of ice cream we were giving them and being mindful of how I approach the issue to them and present my idea.

Actions Taken: Explain what you did to work towards or achieve this competency.

Before: For this event, I was initially put on the raffle team when we had our first initial lunch meeting on the 13^th. I was in charge of handing out the raffle tickets to grade 9’s while walking around school at lunch. On the 19^th of November, the Point People had decided to entirely scrap the raffle idea and have the raffle members switch out to security and floater roles. Then during our next meeting on November 20^th, I was assigned to the after school event, I was now part of the Sundae Barista members. During that same afterschool meeting we discussed items we needed, such as gloves, napkins, bowls, ice cream scoop spoons, and more. We discussed which ice cream flavors and sprinkles the grade nines would want. We collectively agreed on having chocolate, vanilla, and cookie dough ice cream along with chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, and I suggested we have crushed Oreo bits as an additional topping. After having all of our material organized we split half of our members to sell tickets during lunch. I was assigned to sell tickets on Monday and Tuesday (the 25^th and 26^th). I was there on Monday, but I had forgotten to bring my shirt, I stood near our table and would encourage grade nines to come buy tickets, approaching the ones I was familiar with (grade nines from my peer tutoring class). I wasn’t able to be there on Tuesday because I had a Point people meeting at lunch for our December event.

During: Then came the next day, grade nine day, I made sure I didn’t forget my shirt for that day. I arrived 15 minutes early to help set up. I got there around 2:55pm and began setting up the tables and chairs in an organized manner so the kids could sit at tables with their friends without being too cramped. Then they needed someone to crush up the Oreos into small bits, so I volunteered to help with that. Then we waited on the ice cream for a while (until around 3:20) and made the grade nines wait outside, we were all looking for Mrs. Macpherson so me and a few other team mates told our point people to send a couple people out to look for her. But once the ice cream arrived we let them in. Me and the other scoopers quickly began ripping the lids off of the tub as we saw the herd entering the room. I was scooping the cookie dough ice cream, and we decided to give a maximum of 3 scoops to each person.

After: After everyone got their ice cream, I decided to switch out with another team member so I could get ice cream for myself. Later on, me and a few other team members chatted with the grade nines, got to know a few, and played Jenga with two other girls for a while. After the event was over, we talked to a few other students about what being a grade 12 is like and we stacked the chairs and took the grade nine day posters down from the halls.

Evidence: Provide strong, concrete examples of your efforts and achievements. Ensure your leadership teacher can understand this evidence.

• Communicating with the grade nines
  • After serving ice cream to everyone a second time we decided to socialize with the students in the library. We looked for the people that seemed to be within smaller groups, because we wanted to take into consideration that the larger friend groups probobaly wouldn’t want additional company. So we approached a smaller group that was playing Jenga, we wanted to be sensitive to their feelings, we didn’t want to force ourselves into the game. So we asked them how they were doing and if they enjoyed the sundae. Then we discussed the game, and they asked us if we wanted to join them. We made sure that we were mindful of not forcing ourselves into the game and that they were comfortable with us joining the game.
• Sending someone to fetch the ice cream
  • It was 3:18pm and the ice cream was no where to be found. The grade nines were waiting and started to form a line outside. This raised concern for me and the other scoopers, we thought it would be best to bring this to the attention of the point people. We were mindful of how we approached them and said that it would be best to send a few security people down to the socials office to look for Mrs. Macpherson. Being efficient and effective with our communication while also being mindful of how we are presenting our idea.
• Concerns for ice cream amount
  • While handing out ice cream to the students, I noticed that the other scoopers were giving smaller scoops, but it was only because their ice cream tubs were harder to scoop, and they didn’t want to hold up the line. I effectively communicated with the other scoopers I told them that maybe we can give the students bigger scoops since they had already payed for it and it was their first year in highschool, so we could try to make this experience a memorable one. While being mindful of what I was saying, they agreed to give bigger scoops and that they felt the same way. I offered them to use 2 spoons to scoop the ice cream so it would be easier to hand out bigger scoops.

Photos:

Photo Booth B- October 31^st, 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 9^th, 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 16^th 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 21^st, 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 28^th 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 31^st 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 23^rd, 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)

Reflect on your personal aspirations for this course. In a detailed response, address the following points:

1. Learning Objectives: What specific skills or knowledge do you hope to acquire by the end of this course? Explain why these are important to you.

By the end of this course I want to gain valuable leadership experience, I want to be able to take control over events and be able to efficiently manage the people and the environment. Being able to take charge in certain situations is a valuable asset, especially in career related atmospheres. Collaborating between team members, making sure everyone has a role and knows what to do is the type of skill I want to achieve by the end of this course.

2. Application of Knowledge: How do you plan to apply what you learn in this course to real-world situations or future academic/career pursuits? Provide examples.

There are many real-world situations where leadership can be applied. Learning to efficiently lead a group of individuals is crucial to future academic or career success. A leader is a motivator, communicator, and a guide. No matter what workplace you are in, employers will often favor employees who can lead. It also comes with making the right decisions on a whim, or under pressure, having this ability as a leader will come in handy when issues in the workplace rise and you will need to take action as soon as possible.

3. Personal Growth: In what ways do you expect this course to contribute to your personal development? Consider aspects such as critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills.

I think that due to this course causing us to work in teams a majority of the time, it essentially forces us to become better team members, as a group. Having great teamwork skills will improve my communication skills, which helps in forming interpersonal connections with others. It teaches empathy and adaptability, as you learn how to work well with others, being introduced to new perspectives and approaches. All of these qualities can build confidence and lead to a well-rounded, self-aware person.

4. Challenges and Strategies: Identify potential challenges you might face in achieving your goals for this course. What strategies will you employ to overcome these challenges?

Potential challenges would include, not being loud enough at times. I unfortunately have a quieter voice that can’t reach a very loud tone, that’s definitely something I will need to work on and increase my vocal range. Another thing I think I would find difficulty in is being unable to work with people who are uncooperative. If I am working with someone who does not know what to do, has no interest in participating, or isn’t positively benefiting the group. I will immediately decide to not depend on them and try to take over their amount of work. I will often take charge of something when I feel that I cannot control something. Therefore this is one of the challenges I need to work on. Whether it’s by trying to explain their tasks in a simpler way or if I have to walk them through their task, I need to work on making sure everyone is included and has a job to do.