¡Ayuda a Cajabamba, Ecuador!
- Blake Knipple
- Mar 28, 2017
- 9 min read
Blake Knipple, a sophomore at Poudre High School, is fighting for a change in the struggling community of Cajabamba, Ecuador. To do this, he has organized a trip for personal project (IB) with his youth group, where he is determined to help make a difference.
Section A: Investigation
For my personal project, I decided to explore the topic of mission trip preparation and organization, especially having to do with another country and language. I did this because my youth group is taking our first international mission trip and I wanted to be an integral part of making it happen.
For my goal statement, I took into consideration what I wanted to accomplish during the mission trip and before we leave. My goal statement is “to be able to help a struggling community in Cajabamba, Ecuador by preparing my youth group to serve the community to the best of our ability while getting materials needed for the community”. The global context I chose for my project was Fairness and Development and the exploration was “imagining a hopeful future”, “sharing finite resources with other people”, and “the relationship between communities”. “Imagining a hopeful future” corresponds with our desire to improve the lives of the people we meet, both spiritually and economically. “Sharing finite resources with other people”, will be accomplished as we distribute goods and services to the people we encounter. “The relationship between communities”, will be the development of relationships with the people of Cajabamba, Ecuador. It is my hope that these relationships will allow us to continue to help these people in the future. The greater purpose of my project, or the principled action, is to serve a larger community by learning through doing and experiencing. I chose this because by teaching my youth group basic Spanish and organizing fundraising events, I will be preparing us to serve a large community in Ecuador. Through fundraising and learning together, we will also become closer as a group, therefore furthering our ability to positively impact the people in Ecuador. My inquiry question is “How can we develop a hopeful future for struggling communities in Ecuador by creating a relationship and providing resources?”. It is an important question to consider in general because I believe we have a moral obligation to help others struggling and in need, if we can indeed successfully contribute to improving their overall well-being. This connects to the world beyond my project, as we will traveling outside of our community to help others in a different part of the world. This question has stayed relatively consistent throughout my project because the goal of bringing supplies and fundraising to send us to Ecuador has stayed consistent from the start of the project to now.
I had very little prior knowledge about fundraising and helping organize a trip before my project. I did have some prior knowledge in Spanish which allowed me to be comfortable teaching it to my youth group. The reason that my project has been as successful as it has been is because of my youth leader, Kevin.
For my project, I used a variety of sources. These included a Spanish vocabulary list, emails from Marco, my connection in Ecuador, an information packet from my youth leader, and a team-building book. I addressed most aspects of my project through this research, except the planning for the fundraising which I did with the help of my youth leader Kevin.
I used many sources to help me investigate the topic of fundraising and organization, as well as Spanish and team building. For the fundraising aspect, I looked into shipping the goods we collect over to Ecuador. I emailed Marco, asking him about shipping requirements and fees. This was a very useful source because it gave me the information that I needed from someone who has dealt with shipping things internationally. For team building, I used a book that Mr. Malone loaned me. I evaluated the source but didn’t end up using it very much because while fundraising and meeting together with my youth group, we became closer and got to know each other quickly. For the Spanish, I evaluated my vocabulary lists from my Spanish class. They were very helpful with proper spelling, but didn’t tell me what I would be using specifically for Ecuador. For the organization, I evaluated the mission trip information form given to me by Kevin. This was helpful in seeing what I needed to accomplish at the beginning of the project.
Section B: Planning
The design criteria I created for my final product included donations and clothing to ship, proof of teaching Spanish, and proof of team building. Since making this at the beginning of my project, it has changed a little. Kevin and I talked, and instead of shipping the donations and items that we gathered from the clothing drives at each church, we are going to send each participant with an extra carry-on and put the items collected in there due to high shipping fees. The proof of teaching Spanish is shown through my Spanish presentation at one of our meetings. The proof of team building is shown through the fundraising and collaboration we have done as a group. All other forms of my criteria have stayed the same. These criteria meet my highly challenging goal statement because of the extensive time it took to plan and prepare fundraising events, the effort put into making note-cards for every participant on the trip, and the time spent at the fundraisers and meetings.
My research guided me in changing my design criteria to better fit my project. For example, emailing Marco and learning info about shipping from him helped me realize that we would need to find another was to send the collected items to Ecuador because of cost constraints. With the help of Kevin, we then came up with the idea of using extra luggage to take the goods over.
Overall, I used my process journal to document the important stages of my project. In my process journal, I recorded all the meetings that I had with Kevin, as well as my own ideas for fundraising and teaching Spanish. As you go through my journal you can see the development of my project. My journal starts out with entries on fundraising and organization, and then once those have been taken care of it shifts to the Spanish portion of my project. My journal was effective in keeping me on track throughout the entire project.
I demonstrated self-management skills throughout the project in several different ways. Through collaboration with Kevin, I showed that I can come up with ideas and help make a positive impact on the organization of fundraising and the trip itself. Through personal organization, I show that I can handle working on my own to complete necessary goals so that my project and the trip planning could move forward smoothly. My time-management is reflected in the work I completed on the project within the time I was given, not just at the very end. I reflected on my work and contribution to the trip and saw that my motivation really made what I did worthwhile. All these examples demonstrate my self-management skills during my project.
Section C: Taking Action
The process that brought me to my end product took a lot of collaboration with others. It took a lot of communicating back and forth with Marco to see what was most beneficial and necessary for the trip. It also took a lot of communicating with Kevin to organize the fundraisers and find times to meet about other aspects of the trip.
My final tangible product consisted of different events and activities that provided our group with fundraising opportunities. My final product was the fundraisers that Kevin and I organized, as well as the money we raised from each. As of Wednesday March 22nd, we have raised $3400 at the tables set up at each church and around $4000 with other fundraisers and meals the youth group has put on. We have also gathered donations in the form of clothing, school supplies, etc. at the tables to send to Ecuador. My final product is also the notecards that I made for everyone going on the trip. They were color-coded for different situations and took a lot of time to put together.
My final product met my original goal based on my design criteria to a large extent. Through my project, I taught my youth group basic Spanish as shown through the notecards I made, gather materials by setting up the donation tables at each church, and team build by interacting at all the fundraisers and functions we attended together. The only part that didn’t exactly line up with my original design criteria was the team building aspect. I felt that through interacting at all the fundraisers and discussions at all the meetings we began to naturally grow as a group, making it unnecessary to do additional team building activities.
One example from my overall process that demonstrated many different skill sets was when I collaborated with Kevin to decide how we were going to send the donations to Ecuador. I showed critical thinking when I asked Marco about shipping costs. I displayed problem solving when Kevin and I thought of other ways to get the donations to Ecuador. I showed creativity when I suggested that we take the donations with us on the plane. Finally, I transferred knowledge with Kevin and Marco during this stage of my project to make sure that everyone was informed and knowledgeable about the situation.
My communication and collaboration skills improved through this project because of how much I needed to use them. Having to email Marco due to the distance between us required me to communicate effectively to be able to stay in touch with him. Whenever I was confused or needed clarification, I didn’t hesitate to ask Marco or Kevin which shows the use of my communication skills throughout the project. I had to collaborate with Kevin while organizing all the fundraisers, and after the first couple fundraisers I felt more comfortable working with him.
Section D: Reflecting
I think that the quality of my final product compared to my design criteria would be relatively high. I thought that I met all the necessary components of my design criteria, such as the Spanish teaching and fundraising parts. I think that part that I fell short at was the team building part. I didn’t spend much time on this part because after the first couple fundraising events it didn’t appear to be necessary. After seeing everyone working together at the fundraising booths and the Wednesday night dinners I began feeling a sense of community within my group and felt that team building was happening already. I feel very proud of my final product. The Spanish notecards that I made took a lot of time and effort, and I was happy to see everyone using and enjoying them when I presented them. I was blown away with how much money the tables made at each church and how many donations we have received through them. The reason that I am proud of my project is that I think that I had an overall beneficial impact on the organization of the trip itself. If I could do something differently about my project I would have created a bit more Spanish work for my group. I think that more basic Spanish would be beneficial for everyone attending the trip.
I think there are many ways that I can answer my inquiry question. My inquiry question is “How can we develop a hopeful future for struggling communities by creating a relationship and providing resources?” I think that I provided resources by collecting donations through the tables at every church. By fundraising I also meet this goal because by receiving money I contributed to sending my youth group to Ecuador and bringing help and resources with us. I also answered this question by teaching my youth group Spanish. With the ability to communicate on a basic level through the whole group, we will be able to make meaningful relationships with the people we meet.
I have learned a lot from my project in many different topic areas. Doing this project has taught me how to successfully organize and plan fundraisers, while communicating and collaborating with others who are knowledgeable in this field. It taught me the importance of time management and organization when planning for large events such as mission trips. Teaching Spanish taught me that language acquisition is difficult, and lots of preparation is needed to do it successfully. My chosen global context is Fairness and Development. This project has prepared me to further my understanding in this global context when I go to Ecuador with my youth group this summer.
I think that I grew a lot over the course of this project. As a student, I had to manage my time to a high degree to balance my regular course work with this project. It helped me develop persistence and determination because I had to keep pushing through all the obstacles of my project. I further developed the learner profile trait of communicator through this project. By using a variety of people and forms of communication with all of them, I learned the importance of communication and used it frequently. I also developed the learner profile trait of reflecting. Being required to look back on my actions and how I carried out the project has helped me to realize the importance of reflecting and reviewing my actions so that I may improve them as a move forward in my learning.
Support Blake and his cause! Contact him at 49363@psdschools.org for more information. Please remember we are good people, do not spam or send hateful messages.