Service Work BootCamp at The Door 10/22 and 10/29/2016

10/22/2016

      Since I don't have all my community service hours completed, I participated at this Service Work Boot Camp at The Door in Manhattan with my friend, Tanzil. It was such an amazing experience, the people there are extremely nice, and it was not what I imagined it to be. I questioned myself, "why have I not done this earlier?" It was so fun and so much better than what I expected. We first introduced ourselves with a game of toilet papers, where we all had to take a random amount of toilet papers, and for every square of toilet paper you take, you have to share a fact about yourself. 

      Then we started the Capstone Project where we all pointed out the issues of our community and were put into random groups to discuss and create a plan to help solve one of the issues. My group decided to focus on the issue of the homeless people and thought of ways to help them. And by the end of this capstone project, we've agreed on a project where we will be creating blessing bags to donate to charities to the homeless the following week. 

      We then had a little time to play games of 2 truth and one lie and went upstairs for the panel where we had two successful guests from Citi Bank to talk with us about the life, career, and education. When I asked them about Community Service, one of them said that, "After a certain level of education, everyone is smart, so the question is, 'what else are you bringing to the table', it can be community service or other things." This really inspired me because I really agree with his idea, and it helped me realize the benefits of doing community services besides fulfilling my school requirements and help out other. They also said that finding mentors are extremely important. And it can simply be just knowing people who knows someone in the field of your interest, and asking to have a short 15 minute talk with them, asking them questions that you are generally interested about. Some might ignore you, but those who agrees with you can be extremely beneficial. They also said that networking is extremely important, because you be opened to positions before it is told to the public or sometimes even before it's opened. The guy's brother also said that education is very important because it is what makes you go forward in life instead of staying in the same place forever. This panel was so interesting, it's just so nice to listen to people talking about their experiences. And I thank them for the what they have taught me.

      After the panel and lunch, we began to create these cute little Halloween mask for children who might not be able to buy their costumes. By the end of the day, I made around two owl masks. It was so an amazing day. I learned so much and had so much fun.

10/29/2016

      This is the second and last day of this Service Work Boot Camp. I really enjoy being there, everyone is so nice, and I felt quiet comfortable speaking there. There were not much plan for this day, we simply got all the supplies such as tooth brush, tooth paste, soap, and a hand written note to lighten their harsh lives, and assembled them into blessing bags so we can donate them to a certain charity that will give them to those who are homeless. We spent most of the time decorating the notes, because we wanted it to be pretty and really help make their day. We also spent time, communicate with students from all over NYC, most are in the top high schools, and it's really fun to talk to them. After we complete this Capstone Project that we planned. Kate, Marshal, and Ashley, the instructors of this Boot Camp taught us how to create our volunteer resumes and buzz works people look for while looking at your resume. Overall, I had a great time working with each other and completing this Capstone project.