A junior senior project is a two year long commitment where we select one of our passions to leave an impression in our community. For me the most challenging aspect was trying to decide on a topic that I was not only passionate about but would also help the community. It was very difficult to come up with project ideas involving, running, neurology, psychology or philosophy. Then came poetry, more specifically slam and spoken word poetry, which was a passion I had and wanted to create a project about at Chinquapin.
I started off very passionate and excited to finally begin my project, but I never expected to have so many obstacles and changes along the way. Many of my planned events failed because either I did not communicate properly or people were not interested or had other plans. But every failure taught me something new, that I had to incorporate in order to grow and try to succeed. My project idea changed every time, alongside my vision. I learned that the vision that I have in my head will always differ from the vision of others.
After failure and failure I started to feel discouraged. After survey and survey, people just seemed uninterested in poetry, let alone Slam poetry. Events would be cancelled, people would lose interest and in the middle of sports season, it became difficult to find an empty slot in peoples schedule. I felt I might have picked the wrong project and that not enough people shared my passion. Then an idea clicked. How can people have a passion or gain an interest without being introduced to it?
It was the week before the quarter ended, where my biggest success occurred. A campfire event. Many people signed up and I was very excited at the possibility of this event being huge. Then a stomach flu spread across Chinquapin and many of my performers were unable to attend or went home. I was devastated, but it was too late to cancel. I already chopped and collected campfire wood and brought the snacks. The show needed to go on.
For the first 5 minutes it was just me, no one showed up. I became more anxious as I struggled to keep the flame alive. Then a wave of people came, teachers, middle and high schoolers. It was a moment I will always remember, seeing people excited to be here. Excited to share and listen, many even requested to stay past 10pm. It is the moment where I realized that I left an impact on people, no matter how small it was, it made all the effort, and time worth it.
We cannot change when disaster strikes, but we can change our perspective.
To all the upcoming Seniors and Juniors. Choose something that you are passionate about, failures and obstacles are not things we can predict. We cannot change when disaster strikes, but we can change our perspective. Do not be afraid to change your project a bit, but try to stay committed to the original idea. Each project is different and will show you the fruits of your labor at different times.
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