Allison's CAS Blog

  As my CAS Project came to a close, it concluded a little over a month ago, I have allowed myself some time to reflect on my experience regarding the planning process and the implications of what led to my final results. It is safe to say that I am nothing short of proud of this project and I have the hope that it will continue on through a rising senior or another member of a club who hopes to provide the school with exposure to a clothing drive. My vision for this project was not only to develop a space where the students of Carrollton High School could shop from each other’s clothes that have no longer been used but to also provide clothing for people who may need extra items that they lack. Looking back, I admire the period leading up to the week of the project. I sought out all of the steps needed to continue the development of the project and had several planning days with just me and my trusty computer. I made connections with people and resources who were crucial in t...

 Now that it is past the halfway mark for my CAS progress, I'd say that it's time for a progress check regarding the development of the project. Starting on March 1st, I made many fliers for my project and posted them around the school along with the service project that the Environmental Club is conducting called EcoSneakers. As a refresher, these products are intended to help those who have clothing needs and are lacking resources for clothing. I know many students at Carrollton High School would love the opportunity to explore what clothing options other students have to offer, so I took it upon myself to host this clothing drive. I started collecting clothes on March 4th and will continue to collect until this Friday, March 22nd. There has been a great clothing turnout collectively given by students as well as teachers. I love seeing everyone come together to help this great cause of giving those in need clothing to one another. I met with Mrs. Cochran, the PASS specialist ...

The planning process for my CAS Project has been eye-opening yet stressful. Thinking about this project ever since my junior year of high school, it is really cool to see it come to life. I know that there are many steps to be taken to complete this project, therefore, I have listed out the things that I need to do to make it worthwhile. In order to come to the conclusion that I wanted to fulfill a clothing drive as a CAS project, there was a lot of thinking about what I could do to set this into motion. Because I had a lot of schoolwork during the first semester of my senior year, I found it best to push my project back to the second semester. I didn't expect it to be this late in the year, but there are a lot of IB final deadlines that I have to dedicate my time to.  During winter break, I had a meeting with myself to complete a checklist for my CAS project. I know that I have a lot ahead of me, but I have completed what I need to do to keep my schedule on track. I have narrowed ...

On the morning of the Sadie Hawkins dance, my church, First Baptist Church Carrollton, hosted a Rise Against Hunger event that is community-wide. I usually like to go to this event alone and can get service hours for the amount of time I've spent volunteering. Rise Against Hunger is a non-profit organization that involves packaging food and distributing it to help people around the world. Most countries that receive this food are still developing and need assistance concerning food and nutrition. Their main goals are to advocate, educate, and mandate food security all around the globe.  This relates to my blog because my Sadies date, my friend, and I wanted to go before Sadies as a kind of icebreaker before the night began. We met that morning at my church and were immediately put to work by the church staff who were also volunteering. We were assigned to make boxes for the food to be packaged in. This sounds a little boring, but it left room for conversation. All three of us talke...

  January 24th was my most recent Student Advisory Council meeting with the Georgia State Superintendent of Schools. Our first meeting, which was held back in November, consisted of a few icebreakers to get to know one another and a brief Q&A with Richard Woods as well as organizations asking for our input on different school policies such as the Student Health Survey. That meeting made me really excited for the next meeting. My previous blog was about my anticipation and preparation for the meeting that was just held last week. That preparation was incredibly useful and allowed me to come to the meeting with confidence.  On that Wednesday morning, I met another friend of 3 that I have gotten close to in all. Her name is Hannah and we hit it off really well. She is a junior who is a basketball cheerleader. We asked each other questions about our plans for college and for our service project. Her service project has to deal with helping students from low-income families wit...

  On Wednesday, I have another Student Advisory Council meeting. As mentioned previously in one of my blogs, to be a member of this council means taking on great responsibility. The introductory meeting took place on November 9th, where there were a lot of icebreakers and activities for us to get to know one another. Now that we have gotten the hang of what it takes to be a member and to know one another, they put us to work and asked for our opinions on different things the Georgia Board of Education was willing to implement. Things such as a video on mental health, questions that are on the student safety survey, and Georgia Futures scholarships were brought to our attention. I really enjoyed this because it allowed me to gain a voice for my peers at Carrollton High School and to advocate for what is best for our students.  At this moment, I am preparing for the next meeting for whatever it may intail. It was very important last meeting that we as members come up with a serv...