To implement our event successfully, planning, but a lot of improvisation and adaptations were necessary. Our event was comprised of many moving parts, and being the one to orchestrate the amalgamation of them required all my organizational skills. It required troubleshooting on the day itself – some people did not claim their work, some finances had not been turned in, we needed to paste the blurbs and descriptions down. However, it was the most satisfying thing I’ve done, seeing it come alive from nothing but an idea in our head. It was heartening to see school-wide participation, especially seeing students of all ages engaging with such complex topics such as women empowerment, cultural celebration and transformations, which all link to the powerful work that the NGO does.

Apart from us running the event, we also needed to get our GC members involved by collecting funds, advocating for the cause, and committing their time to impromptu meetings. I realised that this GC is not just about running a successful event, but it’s about being a good leader. Being a good leader is something people don’t really teach you, and it’s difficult to. I learned you need to involve people and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Once we had pitched the idea for our GC to the service leaders and team and gotten it approved, Shreya and I were able to move forward in planning for our GC. This involved looking at specific action we could take for this GC – planning events and planning our sessions. We used our collaboration and mutual investment in the great cause to implement our action. We planned using this document over summer using this google document, and set up connections with our NGO, started building connections with the service office, and got our GC group together.

It was slightly scary leading a GC group when neither of us had done it before. However, because of the research we had done, and our experience being part of other GC groups in the past, we were willing to learn and grow alongside our GC members in this exciting experience. We first started with setting up the systems within the GC. How will leadership look? What are our goals? Shreya and I knew we wanted to establish ourselves as a significant member of the GC community with an event that the whole school would know about. We started preparing for this by ideating. We came up with multiple possibilities and fleshed them out. Once we settled on an Art Competition as our main focus, we started looking for how we could differentiate our event from the rest. What makes it stand out? Once we established our themes, the connection to our NGO and the way we would make money, we started to plan the logistics. Upon reflection, Shreya and I did not nearly fully utilise the resources that the people in our GC could have provided us with: their time and effort. We were too invested and personally involved to trust anyone else with the large responsibilities because we treasured the GC too much. Looking back, this was a mistake as we not only took on too much work, especially during the preparation phase, but we lost the opportunity to establish a bond of trust with our GC members, which would further encourage them to work and help take the GC forward. I did not anticipate the number of service meetings that would take place in the lead up to the event: about marketing, finance, logistics, bookings, students, resources – the list was neverending! However, this experience taught me to take ownership for an event from the start to finish, giving me confidence that I have the ability to nurture a sapling of an idea, and watch it flourish.