Author: Rashad

Was I in conflict with another person because our morals were different? 

Coming from an international school, I am often surrounded by different cultures. This has prepared me to approach to certain issue with respect. For example in Zero Wes, I understand that sustainability may be integral in certain religions or cultures and less significant in others. Environmental protection can be a small thing to one person while another person may see it as a priority.

How have i become more or less principled?

I have become more principled as I learn to respect everyone’s ethics and morals. I used to find sustainability insignificant however, now i understand that for some of the students, environmental problems has caused tremendous issues in their countries. Joining this service widened my knowledge on how this is a issue that affects everyone, but with different severity, hence, I should approach with respect

what did i learn about this issue? 

Before joining Zero Wes, I didn’t know the significance of sustainability or what it means to be sustainable. After joining this service, i have learnt to take cautious actions to prevent creating more waste.

How have my actions have a positive impact?

By raising awareness through this service, I am able to make a positive affect as I educate other students who may be unaware of this situation.

How has my thinking of the issue change?

I used to think one person wouldn’t make a difference. But that is an underestimation because if every single person changed their mindsets, a singular action of a singular person can be significant. I have definitely become more open minded about this situation.

How have my actions had a positive/negative impact on this issue?

What our service has done while working with another service is creating a system which makes it really easy for people to find their lost belongings. This system is much more effective and will have a positive impact on the lost and found as people will be able to find their items easier, even without having to go to the lost and found themselves to go find their lost item as we are using an app for people to be able to look through the lost and found.

How has my thinking about this issue changed as a result of my participation in this activity? Am I more open-minded, caring, principled as a result?

I certainly agree that my participation in this service and in this project specifically has benefited me positively as a person to have better values and be more caring towards the environment, and also be more open-minded to many different strategies of how to solve a certain problem.

What did I plan in this activity?

Firstly, I planned to use a tracker to track my progress each practice. My two main concerns were the number of touches with the ball, distance covered and the use of my left leg. This is because as I was the only new football player in the team, I would be nervous to go for the ball. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and get in contact with the ball more often by communicating with my teammates. I also used the tracker to see the distance I ran each practice as my goal was to cover more distance. Besides those, I tracked the amount of time I touched the ball with my left leg. I tend to only use my right leg as it is my dominant leg, so I wanted to challenge myself to use my non-dominant leg more.

What was the outcome of my planning? How do I know?

By using this tracker i planned, I was able to see that I was improving after every practice. I know that I’m improving because the tracer provides me with numerical data and I can see that the numbers are increasing, which was my goal.

 

What challenges did we face when working together? How did we overcome them? Why couldn’t we overcome some
challenges?

We are a team of diverse players with different skills as well as different weaknesses. When playing games, we rotate players meaning we couldn’t get comfortable with one person. During different games, it was challenging to adapt to your teammates and learn their strengths and weaknesses when playing. This way, I will be able to rely on my teammates as well as stepping in when they need help. We overcame this challenge by practicing more with each other and getting to know each other better.

How important was collaboration to achieving the outcome or my goal?

Although it is helpful to be skilled in basketball, what really helps us win games is teamwork and collaboration. Basketball is a game that cannot be played independently and requires a great amount of collaboration. I cannot be successful on my own as success of each player depends on the performance of other players. Therefore, collaboration is essential  in order for us to win games.

What activities did I plan?

When I first joined the service Zero-Wes, I didn’t know any of my service members. When we got the opportunity to plan icebreaker games to get to know each other better, I took the initiative of taking a leadership role. I partnered up with another member and we planned two activities: Splat and Just Dance. Through this activity, I was able to show not only my leadership skills, but also my communication skills as well as my organizational skills. These are all transferable skills that are useful not only in this service, but in different aspects of my life too.

What was the outcome of my planning? How do I know?

It was a successful activity as by the end of it, we learned each other’s names and were more comfortable working with each other. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the games too. Through this activity, I was able to create a more welcoming and friendly environment for all of us.

How did I show perseverance/resilience/commitment in this activity?

Before joining this activity, I had little to no knowledge about creating animations. I was excited to learn about different animation applications and create my own, which motivated me to stay resilient and committed to the activity. I also get a sense of accomplishment as whenever I finish an animation, as I am able to rewatch it and share with my friends and my teacher. To keep us interested and committed in this activity, my friends and I decided to challenge each other on who can make the best animations or who finishes their animation first. Although it was initially hard for me to understand different animation tools, I persevere and made an effort to learn instead of giving up.

How did I maintain my motivation for this activity?

One main reason why I was able to stay motivated was because I joined this activity with my friends. We were all interested in the same activity and thought it would make the activity more fun if we got share the experience together. We motivated each other to commit to this activity and show up to each session full of excitement and eager to create.

How did I show
perseverance/resilience/commitment in
this activity?

As football isn’t my main sport, I had no expectations when I showed up for tryouts. I wanted to test my capabilities and have fun at the same time. Football is one of the sports I already enjoy watching and playing, hence, it wasn’t hard for me to commit to this activity. When I got put into the U19 A team after the tryout, this made me want to commit to this sport even more. I showed up every practice and game to play my best even though the rest of the team was more skilled than I was. I showed my perseverance and resilience by asking feedback from my coach and teammates in order to improve. I am confident that my skills improved by a lot at the end of the season as I was determined to give football my best although it wasn’t my main sport.

What things affected my commitment
levels, ability to persevere or my
resolve?

One thing that challenged my commitment levels was knowing that I was one of the less skilled players in the team. This affected my confidence in the start, however, I knew that I can get better if I don’t give up. Another factor that affected my commitment levels was that one of the football practice was in the morning. I have never done morning training and it was a new thing for me, therefore, it was hard for me to wake up early and have the motivation to be active.

At what times did I face ethical decisions when participating in this activity?

One instance where I had to make ethical decisions was during our lost and found project. As the school receive an incredible amount of lost item every year, it is essential that we handle them sustainability and ethically. An example of one of the decisions I made with my service was making our “lost and found” digital. We noticed that when left inside the lost and found room, students tend to not bother finding their item. Additionally, we create more waste when we have to label each items and put them in respective boxes. Hence, we decided to start a lost and found online website where we took pictures of each lost items and uploaded it on our page. This way, we are not creating more waste and lost and found becomes more accessible to the whole school.

Have I become more or less principled
as a result of my participation in this
activity? Why?

As I have never been to the lost and found room prior to this, I didn’t know how many lost items are actually there and how much waste is produced yearly just from the lost and found. After participating in this activity, it has motivated me to make sustainable and ethical decisions when it comes to consumption of products. If I had lost an item, I now make the effort to find it first no matter how cheap or small it is. This way, I am not adding or creating more waste.

I was able to demonstrate what I have learned from this experience by giving advice to other members that are planning their sessions. I was shared the importance of organizational skill in planning this project because if I wasn’t organized, I wouldn’t have been able to successfully plan and carry out our ideas. After hosting my session, I also received feedback from people in my service on whether they enjoyed the games or not.