Project Description

4-H youth learn life skills while also learning what it takes to be good citizens and communicators so that we can become contributing adults within our communities.

This year, local 4-H members would like to get together and compile photographs taken by several 4-H members and graphics into a hard bound book that will be utilized as a marketing communication piece to further the 4-H program in San Bernardino County. We want to learn how to produce top-quality photographs and graphic pieces while exploring and capturing our creativity. We feel that this is a unique way of enhancing our own skills while at the same time producing a product that will be used for years to come. This project requires team-work, critical thinking, and partnering with a diverse group of peers.

In summary, the memory book was created to show youth in action emphasizing citizenship and leadership. The book will be presented to youth organizations and elementary schools in order to recruit new members and change the stereotypes of 4-H. Best of all, 4-H members learn journalism skills while researching and developing the book!

Project Description

Most people are under the misconception that Germany is a Christian country. Unfortunately, they are mistaken. Even though 65% of the German population claims to be christian, the actual percentage is lower. A majority of the population only join a church because they get a tax reduction. The harsh reality is that it is extremely difficult for a teenager to live out a Christian life. Sprachcamp is a place for high school students that are Christians and even non-Christians to come and build new relationships. High school students come from all over Germany to grow at Sprachcamp. The students look forward to constructing new friendships with other kids their age who are going through the same challenges in life. Sprachcamp provides the campers with counselors who always create a welcoming enviroment. There are two separate groups of campers. After one week of camp the second group arrives. Each camp is a week long and invites a hundred kids to come and share the Sprachcamp experiences with us.
Another benefit to Sprachcamp is that these German kids are given the opportunity to improve their English. The staff at Sprachcamp is filled with both Germans and Americans. The teenagers love hanging out with the Americans and getting to know more about the culture. The campers get to experience cohabiting with the American staff. English classes provide an understanding of grammar and an exploration of the language to the students. Each student is placed in a language group with their level of efficiency in English. These groups play games in English and opens up different conversations which develops their vocabulary. At the same time, conversing with the Americans helps their accents and fluency. We teach them song lyrics and create music videos for each language group, which allows the German campers to think in english in a fun and unique way. The fascinating fact about Sprachcamp is that not every camper that attends knows English. We are communicating with these students by breaking the language barriers. They understand our love, friendship, and compassion and it reachs out to them.
At Sprachcamp there is such an intimate bond between the Germans and Americans. Camp is a truly remarkable concept, because it reaches out to these kids to such a great extent. Most of these teenagers have had a hard life, some of them have lost their parents in the last couple of years. This camp means so much to them, because they know that they will always have friends across the world and a place where they are accepted for who they are. Sprachcamp is really somewhere where these German students find comfort. A majority of them have a difficult time scraping up the money to go, the price for a week of camp is only one hundred euros. However, one hundred euros for one family can be a couple weeks worth of food, or money saved up for gasoline. For families to be willing to give up their money to send one child to camp for a week, that just demonstrates how much this camp is worth.
I have an intense passion for this camp. I am aware that I am merely a teenager, but I have huge ambitions. I am compelled to expand Sprachcamp and reach out to more teenagers. My first time at Sprachcamp I was suprisingly embraced. I am half African American and half Chinese. I was absolutely terrified about attending Sprachcamp, because of Neo-Nazis and being persecuted. Then I realized this is so much bigger than me. These kids taught me self humility and the importance of serving and loving others. My heritage helps me see the camp at a different perspective from the rest of the staff. I can see how accepting these students are by the way they embraced me. A couple campers told me that I was the only African American person that they had ever seen in person, and that they loved the fact that I was there. I have a burning love for this country and it's people and I want to do anything and everything that I can to give more teenagers the oppurtunities they deserve.

Project Description

Help Build a Global Community.
---description in progress---

Volition was started by Amberjade Mwekali Taylor and Trey Eaddy and is based out of Charleston, South Carolina. The Project's purpose is to further global communication and understanding, first on a mircro-level, with the intentions of progressing to a macro-level.

Volition, as a word, is a cognitive process where an individual decides on & commits to a particular course of action. It's defined as 'purposive striving' & is one of the primary human psychological functions. Volitional processes can be applied consciously, and they can be automized as habits over time. With the project, we are trying to explore the connections between strangers & neighbors through alternative means of communicating a theme or position.

Through making some form of mixed media compilation and offering it up as a single unit, we attempt to get strangers & neighbors to consciously commit to becoming a part of it's message, and to create their own.

All funds (grants, donations, revenues) for Volition go to two orphanages (in Kenya and India) with whom we have personal connections.

Funds care for about 50 orphans who have lost their parents due to the HIV/AIDS crisis at Mbitini Emmanuel Orphanage in Mbitini, Kenya. Our goals for Mbitini are proper nutrition, safe and comfortable dwelling, clean water, sustainable gardening, artistic development, and support for education/future employment.

ORPHANAGE IN INDIA

The Project's goals include organizing art exhibits and recording compilations to encourage community involvement; field recordings of both music and natural soundscapes in the United States, Israel, Kenya, and India.

Help infect the global cociousness!

Project Description

At the beginning of my freshmen year, I decided that my high school needed to jump onboard the movement to institute recycling programs at schools.  Through a lot of hard work and determination to get the program going, it was finally adopted in March 2007.  The biggest challenges of starting recycling were monetary matters, disfavor, and communication.  There were some people who didn't believe recycling would make a big impact on the environment.  When those people found out how much paper we saved from entering our dumpster, they were definitely surprised how much recycling was going to waste.  The persons who were concerned with monetary matters soon realized that recycling saves the school money, because our waste pick-up is priced by the pound.  Communication is key to getting any program up and running, but especially one that requires so much thinking through.  Lots of time was spent running around and searching for contacts and personnel.The effects of our recycling program are numerous.  The environment has been relieved of yet another endangerment and the people who volunteer to do the recycling get a feeling of gratitude when they realize the impact they're helping to make on our society.  The school also is able to put recycling on their accreditation that's coming up.  The feeling of spreading so much awareness about recycling and actually <b>doing</b> something about it is phenomenal.