23.09.19

I chose Boomerang Bags as my service. I have been a part of this service for the past 2 years and by the end of grade 12, I would have been in the service for 4 years. I am currently the co-chair of the service, which is a position that I enjoy quite a lot, mainly because I haven’t taken much of a leadership role in many subjects, activities and/or services, and I felt that this would be an opportunity for me to step outside of my comfort zone.  So far, we just started on presentations, norms of the service, essential agreements, what is the main purpose of this service, as well as other topics. Next week, the grade 10 students would start sewing, ironing and pinning. We aimed to make 50-100 bags by the end of the season, along with 450 paper bags for Chinese New Year. This year we have a lot to do, so both Cara (chair) and I aim to make it a productive year. So far, I really enjoy service as it is something that I am really passionate about. I also want to make a change to the environment by reducing the amount of plastic bags we use on a day to day basis, by replacing plastic with fabric bags.

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30.09.19

During this lesson, we continued to plan for the year ahead. We later found out that we would have to make 450 paper bags (from recycled newspaper) for the upcoming Chinese New Year. The bags would be used for giving the gifts to the staff in school. After further discussion with the grade 10 students, we made a vague goal of sewing 50-100 bags by the end of this season of service. After evaluating the amount of lessons we have left of the year, this could possibly be a challenge as we do not have much time left and there is a lot of work that still needs to be put in. But, even though I have a busy schedule ahead, both Cara and myself have planned to come onThursdays after school from 3-4:30 to continue working on these bags in order to get them out in time for early next year (LO3).  I personally feel that this extra one and a half hour would really benefit the service as there is a lot to get done in a short amount of time. This shows leadership skills as well as self management (LO1), as I have taken initiative to come into service outside of Tuesdays lessons.

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07.10.19

This week, we finished planning for the rest of the season and finally moved on to pinning, ironing and cutting fabric. This lesson was the first step into making the bags, we did so by starting to teach the grade 10’s to pin, iron and cut fabric. Firstly, the students got divided to each section and began to learn how to work with the fabric as well as learn the most efficient ways to cut, pin the fabrics. Although with the ironing we were with a bit of a disadvantage as we only had two ironing boards and two irons. Hence, this slows down the process as, ironing the fabric takes a lot of time, but not only that but also that there are not enough irons so others are unable to help them. Also another problem that the people ironing face is that the fabric being cut comes in quickly which means that they have more to do in a less amount of time, hence being at a disadvantage. On the other hand, the people cutting the fabric have to be precise with the measurements and also the way they cut the fabric as we don’t want to waste any precious fabric. This is also because cutting is the first step to making a bag, and if something does go wrong with the way the bags have been cut, this means that the whole bag will not turn out the way it should have. I feel that even though this process is difficult to understand in the beginning, I feel that with some help, the students will be able to get a grasp of this process and will eventually become very good at it. We plan to get started with learning how to sew next lesson as the sewing machines need to get repaired this week. Overall, this week has been quite productive and after the students learn how to sew, we will be able to make the bags a lot quicker, hence being more efficient.

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14.10.19

Today we started to learn how to sew. I learnt how to sew for the first time and I quite enjoyed it. Along with that we also taught the grade 10’s how to sew. Almost all of them enjoyed sewing and this is beneficial to us as we have eight sewing machines, and furthermore this will speed up the process of sewing bags, handles and pockets. The major problem that we have run into is that we only have ten grade 10 students and since they all like sewing this means that we will only have few people left for cutting, pinning and ironing. Sometimes this can be seen as an advantage, especially on the days that we have a lot to sew, and less to cut, pin and iron.  I am very happy that I finally acquired a new skill, sewing using a sewing machine. This will be useful for me in the future as I would be able to come in on Thursdays and sew bags, handles and/or pockets that might not have been sewed on Tuesday.  Next lesson, everyone will be assigned jobs and they can be rotated every week or every other week so that each individual has an opportunity to work at each station. Both myself and Cara (chairs of the service) will assign people to each station so they do not get distracted by working with their friends. We hope to have a good working environment and to be working efficiently.

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05.11.19

Today in service we were contacted by Smiles of China, a GC in UWCSEA. They wanted to work with Boomerang Bags and possibly make some bags for their GC. I got back to them in today’s lesson, and asked for more details regarding their proposal. Other than that, both myself as well as Cara planned for the next couple of weeks, as we found out that there is a lot that has to be done by the end of this school year ; need to make many fabric bags for junior school (for fresh fruit Friday) as well as some for the library. We especially want to get these bags ready on time as we do not want students using plastic bags because they are unsustainable and harm the environment (LO6). Not only that, but next lesson we have to continue making paper bags for the staff for Chinese New Year. As we predicted this is a lot of work, so I’ve taken the initiative and made a list for the people that will be sewing, cutting, ironing and making paper bags. This will make it easier for us to begin next lesson and will allow us to be as productive as we can since we will not be wasting time putting people into groups with their friends.

I was able to communicate and collaborate with all of the other members in Boomerang Bags and help them out with their tasks (when needed). I feel that at the beginning of the service I was not very confident and I was afraid of being a leader, but these past few weeks have shown me that I am able to lead a group of people effectively and efficiently (LO5).

Since there is a lot of work that needs to be done before Christmas break, I will be coming into service tomorrow after school since we get let out from classes at 11:30, this will give me enough time to sew some bags as well as plan ahead for the following weeks (LO4). I really enjoy this service and I plan on coming after school and sewing more bags to keep us on track and hopefully make more bags than we were planning on making this year. In doing so, we would be able to give more bags to the junior school as well as some to Smiles of China (GC that reached out). This will ensure that most of the UWC community is using fabric, re-usable bags rather than using plastic bags that can only be used once, hence harming the environment.

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12.11.19

Today, Liz (teacher) wasn’t able to come so both myself and Cara were in charge. This helped both of us improve on our leadership role as a whole (LO1). Not having the teacher during the lesson gave us a lot of responsibility as we were required to watch over as well as help out all of the grade 10 students (LO1). Some of the challenges that we faced included keeping the grade 10’s on task because they got easily distracted. In order to overcome this, we split them up into separate groups in which they were not working with their friends, this furthermore made it more efficient. We were able to make more bags than we normally would (LO2). Another challenge we faced was working with Smiles of China (another GC in UWCSEA). They wanted to work with us on a project (making bags for their GC) but, we have a goal of making at least 50-100 fabric bags along with 450 paper bags by Chinese New Year 2020. This is already a huge challenge because we only have 10 students and we have a huge project ahead of us that we need done within the next 2-3 months. We felt that working with this GC would only slow the process down especially since they needed at least 20 bags. Secondly, they wanted to sell our bags during Family Festival which was not a possibility as Boomerang Bags’ bags are not up for sale, instead they are used around school (for free). But, that is not our aim for those bags, we only make them for school purposes, not as a purchasing item. We had to deny their offer as it did not fit in with the values of our service (LO6). Since there has been a lot of work, I have been coming in with Cara (co-chair) on Thursdays after school for at least an hour and a half to sew either bags or handles, or to do anything else that needs done (LO4). Working collaboratively (LO5) either with Cara or with the grade 10’s has been very beneficial to our service as we have helped each other out a lot by working as a team. This has helped us become more efficient and make the bags faster than we normally would if it was just 2 people.

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14.01.20

This week is one of the last weeks that grade 10 students attend service. Whilst teaching these grade 10 students how to make bags, I have learnt many things both about myself as well as the new skills I have developed throughout this process (LO1). Firstly, my communication skills have improved quite a lot. I am able to confidently communicate with all the students in the service as well as help them out when needed. I have seen that through this, many students also feel more comfortable approaching me and asking me questions rather than just asking one another or even asking Cara (co-chair). My leadership skills have also improved throughout the course of this year. I think this has a lot to do with me stepping up to the role. In the past I would shy away but once I became a leader I quite enjoyed it and the way that both myself and Cara managed the class made us more productive overall. However, we have been faced with some challenges (LO2). Collaboration (LO5) too has had a big role in this service as we are able to work effectively with one another. All the students have learned to work with one another and to get the work done in the given amount of time hence being so productive. This upcoming year, we are trying to make enough bags to give to the hawker center (that is opposite school). We initially thought of doing when we found out that the use of plastic bags in hawkers is very high. We wanted to give the bags for free rather than the locals paying for them, otherwise they wouldn’t want to purchase the bags. But, the challenge that we have run into is that getting in contact with the government as we need permission before giving items out to the public. Communication is a very important factor in this process as we have to communicate effectively with the government as well as the hawker center. I have been committed to this service (LO4) and it has helped us out a lot as both myself and Cara have been able to be efficient and get the work done on time.  We think that if this project does succeed and we are able to work with the hawker center and provide them with the fabric bags, that would be very beneficial to our community. From an ethical standpoint, we also believe it is the right thing to do, and hence why we are moving in the right direction.

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18.02.20

This week we started the season with grade 9 students. I was able to present my various skills, like communication and collaboration, but I also knew what areas to improve on, perhaps my leadership skills (LO1). Collaboration . (LO5) is important in our service especially since there are many steps to making a bag and working with others is vital to making a bag efficiently as well as making them sturdy. But, I feel that this would be easier to do in this season as we don’t have a very big group of students (only 6 people). I personally feel more comfortable talking to them. Some challenges that we might face this year is that we won’t be able to make as many bags as we did as we only have 6 people (LO2). But, students may be more efficient as they won’t be distracted by their friends. This furthermore will help me develop my skill set in sewing as I will to have to participate in making the bags. These past few weeks I have planned lessons with the help of my co-chair (LO3) in order to be more organised for when the grade 9’s came in. This helped us furthermore stay on task and be as efficient as possible. I have been committed (LO4) to this service because I am really passionate about the environment and making an impact on the school community as well as in Singapore. Boomerang Bags is very environmentally involved (LO6) as we are making these bags for the purpose of saving the environment hoping to have a slight bit of impact in some way or another.

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09.06.20

Currently, we are in the middle of a global pandemic and this requires us to stay at home and do service through google meet. In these weekly meetings (LO4), we discussed how Singapore is helping save the environment and what we could do during this time to reduce plastic waste. We worked collaboratively and usually split up into groups to make presentations and posters to raise awareness within the community. Working together and understanding different perspectives helped us gain a better understanding of the challenges that we might face in the future and ways to conquer them. Overall, we have considered ethical behaviour throughout the year and have learnt how to act ethically by reusing materials and old machines as well (LO7)