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BPA Retreat
August 24, 2016
Learning Outcomes: Initiative & Collaboration
Learning Outcomes: Initiative & Collaboration
As a new school year, every honor society on campus is entitled to having a retreat to greet its new members. In the Business Professionals Of America Honor Society we aim to have an effective retreat where we can use that time to brainstorm and pitch new ideas, so we can chose one winer business idea and develop it as a business on campus run by us.
In order to prepare for the retreat we had to pair up with a team within the members of the honor society, and think of a business idea that we could implement in the school campus. During the retreat we implemented a "shark tank-like" system, where each group pitched their own idea, and the rest of the class acted as "sharks" or investors. In the end, each person would invest fake money on the business project they liked the most, and the one with more money invested would be chosen as the official BPA business. |
For my pitch in the retreat, I paired up with Camila, a friend of mine. We had a really hard time deciding on what to chose, because we had different ideas as to what we wanted our business to be about. We both naturally thought of doing something with food, due to that it is the easiest and most realistic thing to pursue, yet we weren't convinced with that idea due to that we thought food was an unoriginal topic.
Finally we agreed on developing a business idea that focuses on implementing a salad bar on school. Our school has the reputation of being one of the healthiest schools in South América; nevertheless, no one actually eats the campus food. In order to provide more healthy and tasty alternatives to the students, we considered that a salad bar was a good idea. |
It’s very hard to find salads that everyone likes, due to that we all have different preferences; with the salad bar, we give students the chance to choose exactly what they eat and how much do they eat. By doing this we are empowering students to change their eating habits and delve into a healthy lifestyle.
Kantaya & The Design Thinking Process
March 9, 2016
Learning Outcomes: Philosophy
Every NGO or charity organization that supports a cause, struggles with the same issue:
FINANCING THE WORKS OF THE ORGANIZATION.
Even though the people working for these organizations are working for free, still there are a lot of expenses that need to be covered. In the case of Kantaya, we are in a constant battle, trying to pay for kid’s education. Education in Perú is more of a privilege than a right, and can be very costly for people with low income; therefore in Kantaya we are constantly innovating to find new creative ways to fundraise.
This year in the Kantaya Club at FDR we have created several fundraisers that have helped us to gather funds to collaborate with the organization. The thing is that most of our fundraisers target a specific issue or project (ex: buying new books for the kids), and are not sustainable and profitable enough. Inspired by the design thinking process, Fabiola and Jessica, the Kantaya funders, were determined to find a sustainable way to finance the organization’s expenses.
In order to do that, they came to us, the FDR Kantaya Club members. They wanted to tell us about their initial idea, and see if we could add up to it or pitch ideas of our own. On Tuesday’s meeting, the Kantaya cabinet talked to us about this design thinking workshop with the ultimate goal of incorporating business ideas and financing education. I was immediately fascinated by this idea due to that business is one of my greatest interests, and being able to apply the business concepts learned in class, into a global issue of such significance seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to contribute.
The workshop started with Jessica telling us about the organization’s goals and objectives, she summarized everything we had achieved this year in the club, and talked about what was planed for the future. With this information given, she introduced us to the design thinking process, and told us to apply each of it’s steps to our personal experience in Kantaya. This was not an easy task at all, due to that we are still going through that process, and its always harder to recognize each step when we are currently living them. When this activity was over it was really interesting to share our application of the design thinking process and see how we all had completely different views in how the process related to our Kantaya experience.
The evening went smoothly in a positive environment where we all shared and listened to ideas and proposals with an open mind. It was very compensating to work in this environment due to that all ideas were received gracefully and most of the activities and brainstorming we did was very interactive so that we could build on each other’s ideas. After a series of intense discussions and group work activities, the workshop was over, and we left having contributed with various business ideas and solutions to the fundraising problem. I believe that the key to the success of this workshop was that we always kept a nonjudgmental atmosphere where people felt comfortable sharing their ideas freely. With a positive mindset and good teamwork we were able to find unconventional solutions to conventional global issues.
Learning Outcomes: Philosophy
Every NGO or charity organization that supports a cause, struggles with the same issue:
FINANCING THE WORKS OF THE ORGANIZATION.
Even though the people working for these organizations are working for free, still there are a lot of expenses that need to be covered. In the case of Kantaya, we are in a constant battle, trying to pay for kid’s education. Education in Perú is more of a privilege than a right, and can be very costly for people with low income; therefore in Kantaya we are constantly innovating to find new creative ways to fundraise.
This year in the Kantaya Club at FDR we have created several fundraisers that have helped us to gather funds to collaborate with the organization. The thing is that most of our fundraisers target a specific issue or project (ex: buying new books for the kids), and are not sustainable and profitable enough. Inspired by the design thinking process, Fabiola and Jessica, the Kantaya funders, were determined to find a sustainable way to finance the organization’s expenses.
In order to do that, they came to us, the FDR Kantaya Club members. They wanted to tell us about their initial idea, and see if we could add up to it or pitch ideas of our own. On Tuesday’s meeting, the Kantaya cabinet talked to us about this design thinking workshop with the ultimate goal of incorporating business ideas and financing education. I was immediately fascinated by this idea due to that business is one of my greatest interests, and being able to apply the business concepts learned in class, into a global issue of such significance seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to contribute.
The workshop started with Jessica telling us about the organization’s goals and objectives, she summarized everything we had achieved this year in the club, and talked about what was planed for the future. With this information given, she introduced us to the design thinking process, and told us to apply each of it’s steps to our personal experience in Kantaya. This was not an easy task at all, due to that we are still going through that process, and its always harder to recognize each step when we are currently living them. When this activity was over it was really interesting to share our application of the design thinking process and see how we all had completely different views in how the process related to our Kantaya experience.
The evening went smoothly in a positive environment where we all shared and listened to ideas and proposals with an open mind. It was very compensating to work in this environment due to that all ideas were received gracefully and most of the activities and brainstorming we did was very interactive so that we could build on each other’s ideas. After a series of intense discussions and group work activities, the workshop was over, and we left having contributed with various business ideas and solutions to the fundraising problem. I believe that the key to the success of this workshop was that we always kept a nonjudgmental atmosphere where people felt comfortable sharing their ideas freely. With a positive mindset and good teamwork we were able to find unconventional solutions to conventional global issues.
Painting 101
January 8, 2016
Learning Outcomes: Skills, Profile
This summer I felt the need to use my time wisely and try something new. I have never thought of myself as an artistic person nevertheless I have always seen myself as an art lover. In order to dive into the artistic world and understand the magic behind the paint strokes I enrolled myself in a two month painting course. The course is called "Pintura Libre" which translates to "Liberal Painting". I decided to enroll myself in this course with the purpose of expresing myself throuh a paintbrush and creating something beautiful out of it; I wanted to explore new areas and test myself as to how much I could learn.
Today was my first day in the sixteen-class course. As soon as I entered the room I felt a bit intimidated by others, everyone seemed really experienced and passionate about art. Firstly I was taught how to use the different tools and materials. I was surprised to hear about all the different tools required to paint on a canvas. Next I learned about the color wheel and about the different hues and tones you can create by just mixing the primary colors. Taking into consideration that I hadn’t taken an art class since 9th grade I realized that I had a lot of catching up to do, regarding the drawing and painting techniques.
Learning Outcomes: Skills, Profile
This summer I felt the need to use my time wisely and try something new. I have never thought of myself as an artistic person nevertheless I have always seen myself as an art lover. In order to dive into the artistic world and understand the magic behind the paint strokes I enrolled myself in a two month painting course. The course is called "Pintura Libre" which translates to "Liberal Painting". I decided to enroll myself in this course with the purpose of expresing myself throuh a paintbrush and creating something beautiful out of it; I wanted to explore new areas and test myself as to how much I could learn.
Today was my first day in the sixteen-class course. As soon as I entered the room I felt a bit intimidated by others, everyone seemed really experienced and passionate about art. Firstly I was taught how to use the different tools and materials. I was surprised to hear about all the different tools required to paint on a canvas. Next I learned about the color wheel and about the different hues and tones you can create by just mixing the primary colors. Taking into consideration that I hadn’t taken an art class since 9th grade I realized that I had a lot of catching up to do, regarding the drawing and painting techniques.
Finally I was given some time to experiment with color and create something of my own. Initially I decided to paint a rainbow due to that it was the most colorful thing I could think of. As I started painting the rainbow I realized that it wasn’t challenging enough due to that I was limited with the use of tones and hues. In order to challenge myself more I decided to draw a bowl of fruits. I was not comfortable with drawing fruits at all, and I was completely sure that they would’t look real at all. Nevertheless I still decided to go through with this idea due to that it would give me the opportunity to work with sunlight and shadows as well as shapes and colors. |
Painting The Mural For ICC 2015
September 18, 2015
Learning Outcomes: Collaboration, profile
Who said you had to be an artist in order to join the ICC mural team? This year, I decided to try something new, and help out with the ICC mural. I have no previous art experience, and I don't consider myself an artistic person, still I managed to learn a variety of great techniques and contribute to an amazing mural. Even though the environment when painting the mural is a very stressful and competitive one, the mural team members are always open to new ideas and willing to help. Working in the mural was an amazing experience, looking forward to doing it again next year.
Learning Outcomes: Collaboration, profile
Who said you had to be an artist in order to join the ICC mural team? This year, I decided to try something new, and help out with the ICC mural. I have no previous art experience, and I don't consider myself an artistic person, still I managed to learn a variety of great techniques and contribute to an amazing mural. Even though the environment when painting the mural is a very stressful and competitive one, the mural team members are always open to new ideas and willing to help. Working in the mural was an amazing experience, looking forward to doing it again next year.