Youth Off the Streets
As a collaborative group project of year 11, together we organized Youth Off the Streets in order to raise money for the organization which works with young people aged between 12-21 years who are facing challenges of homelessness, drug use, alcohol dependency, expulsion from school, neglect and abuse. Together with Miss Parr a group of year elevens decided to organize a sleep-out for all years 7-12 which took place in the gym on the night of November 8th. Upon arriving, everyone was supplied with a cardboard box and a plastic cup. They were also given a new identity, which they had to convey throughout the evening.We made new identities with the purpose of trying to put the students participating in the shoes of a homeless person to make the experience more believable and so that they would gain a concept of what it was like living on the streets.
Throughout the night we played many games including murder in the dark and capture the flag which was followed by dinner consisting of soup and a piece of bread. We also had two speakers come in who were the founders of The Manna Soup Kitchen and have been feeding the homeless for over 25 year. It was truly an inspiration getting to hear there stories and experiences. When it was time to go to sleep, we organized our cardboard boxes into our sleeping arrangements and all of us attempted to go to bed, although it was quite difficult to quiet down 30+ people. After a short night, for breakfast, we ate a piece of banana cake and had a glass of juice. At 7:30 it was pick up time and everyone went home.
For this project in particular, it was all up to the year 11 group to plan and initiate our own activities which we would introduce and take part in later that evening. WIth a lot of individual input from members of the group, including myself, we chose the best games and ideas to be included in the event. It was quite rewarding to see everyone enjoying the activities we had planned, and it has given me more confidence to put forward more ideas the next time I have to plan something with a group.
Although we had just planned this activity within the school, it had a greater global importance that helped people outside of school. Hopefully we got enough positive feedback this year so that more people will e interested in doing the sleep-out next year, because it was really a very interesting and worthwhile experience.
Throughout the night we played many games including murder in the dark and capture the flag which was followed by dinner consisting of soup and a piece of bread. We also had two speakers come in who were the founders of The Manna Soup Kitchen and have been feeding the homeless for over 25 year. It was truly an inspiration getting to hear there stories and experiences. When it was time to go to sleep, we organized our cardboard boxes into our sleeping arrangements and all of us attempted to go to bed, although it was quite difficult to quiet down 30+ people. After a short night, for breakfast, we ate a piece of banana cake and had a glass of juice. At 7:30 it was pick up time and everyone went home.
For this project in particular, it was all up to the year 11 group to plan and initiate our own activities which we would introduce and take part in later that evening. WIth a lot of individual input from members of the group, including myself, we chose the best games and ideas to be included in the event. It was quite rewarding to see everyone enjoying the activities we had planned, and it has given me more confidence to put forward more ideas the next time I have to plan something with a group.
Although we had just planned this activity within the school, it had a greater global importance that helped people outside of school. Hopefully we got enough positive feedback this year so that more people will e interested in doing the sleep-out next year, because it was really a very interesting and worthwhile experience.
Learning Outcomes
You need to plan and initiate your own activities.
During this activity, planning and initiating my own activities probably played the biggest role, and was the most used in this particular activity compared to my others in my CAS programs. This was because us year 11 CAS students were completely in charge of all the planning, including the advertising, setting up, the food and organizing the activities and games throughout the night. At first it was quite overwhelming when realizing how much had to be done in a limited amount of time, yet after dividing the jobs and responsibility between the group, we had created a sort of system in which everyone was happy in what they were doing. This way, I learned to increase my time management and to work more efficiently.
During this activity, planning and initiating my own activities probably played the biggest role, and was the most used in this particular activity compared to my others in my CAS programs. This was because us year 11 CAS students were completely in charge of all the planning, including the advertising, setting up, the food and organizing the activities and games throughout the night. At first it was quite overwhelming when realizing how much had to be done in a limited amount of time, yet after dividing the jobs and responsibility between the group, we had created a sort of system in which everyone was happy in what they were doing. This way, I learned to increase my time management and to work more efficiently.