Miracle Party Reflection

The plan of this activity was to meet the requirements for my gold award by working with the organization called Dream Day of Cape Cod. The main idea was that we would create a Holiday Reunion weekend for the families who had attended the summer camp. However after this event was over and done with we found out that this was not a large enough event to count as a gold award. This created a huge amount of difficulty. Not only because we had to create another even but because our advisor was not very good about replying to emails, or helping us out. Which was completely frustrating. After many many obstacles we have finally made plans to make a Public Service add for the camp but this will not be accomplished until later into the spring. This activity taught me how to plan and manage activities. With the holiday weekend I was in charge of 25 families and their activities for the weekend. I really had to make sure that we had all of the materials we needed and that there was enough for everyone. I had so much responsibility, and I was able to come through with everything. Also since the weekend was broken up between Missy Carley and I and we each had our own different tasks it was very vital to work together to make sure that everything coordinated together. We also are not always able to meet all together and being in the process of trying to plan the P.S announcement so communication and working together has been vital. Having to work with Kathleen and all of the issues she gave me, really taught me how to work with people that might frustrate me and work around it. From this weekend and the preparation for the add I have learned a lot about responsibility and myself. I have also learned that my time management is very weak, but with the preparation for the add I have been better about communication and time management. This activity was extremely valuable to me because getting my gold award is a big accomplishment in girl scouts and it something I really want to go through with. Also I was extremely happy to help these families out. This weekend and this camp is a place for the families to have fun and get away from all of the stress that he disease has placed on the family, I was very glad to be a part of that. The goals were very high goals to accomplish but they were not set to high, in fact they were all met. Well the add still has yet to happen, but with the completion of that the goals will have been met. If there had been better time management from the start, there may have not been that issue. The largest difficulty was the communication and Kathleens and Janes confusion. I would hear one thing from one source, and something else from the other. I should have just talked to both instead of assuming that one was telling the truth. This activity helped to make me more aware of the hardships that families face with diseases and it also showed me how important a family support system really is.

Horse Back Reflection

This activity is a big part of my life. I have always loved to ride and it something that has helped to make me more responsible. When I first started this activity I was half leasing a horse named Danny and I planned to show him and eventually own him. However these goals became impossible for me. Money and time became a large issue and I had to give Danny up. It was one of the hardest decision in my life, but the fact that I was able to make that choice because of me and my family really showed how I was growing as a person. This activity really helped me become more responsible since I was taking care of a horse. Even when I gave up the lease, I was now using other peoples horses which also made it so I also needed to be very very responsible. Being at the barn always presents challenges. Ridding is one of the most difficult sports I have ever done, and trying to learn dressage has presented me with more challenges then I ever would have imagined on and off the horse. A horse has a mind of its own and when your ridding it can present many different scary issues. However I have progressed throughout the years and I now have so much confidence when I ride that when my horse starts to misbehave i laugh the majority of the time. Also ridding takes up a large amount of time, which can be frustrating when it comes to balancing it with work and school. For example when I gave up Danny I questioned if I wanted to give up ridding in general, if it was going to be to much for me. However I stuck with it, and I am glad I did. I am still ridding even though CAS is over, and I will be until I leave for college. However this summer I will go and ride Training level tests. The goal that I set for myself to ride a first level test was defiantly to high now that I am not ridding Danny. However, if I still was the situation may have been different. I had difficulties with time and scheduling from being sick and school. However I have been making up lessons and when IB exams are over I will have a lot more free time. I was able to benefit others, especially my friend Ellie. Ellie has hurt her knee and cannot ride so there has been many times that I have ridden her horse to help her out. This activity had made me learn about the importance of time management and made me so much more of a responsible person.

Destination Imagination Reflection

Destination Imagination was one of my favorite activities and over the last two years I really wanted my team to do the best we possibly could. I really wanted to have both of these years to have a huge success and make a name for the Sturgis team. This program introduced me to so many things I had never done before and created more challenges for me than I could ever imagine. When we had to create a structure out of balsa wood that was something that no one on my team had ever done before. We tried to learn so many different methods but in the end our choice of glue led to our structure only holding 10lbs and it wasn't to successful. Another huge challenge was trying to create a puppet. My team kind of went overboard with the idea of trying to make it flip upside down, and that created a lot of issues for us. However I wouldnt take any of it back, it was a blast. Throughout all of these challenges I learned how to do so many new things. I learned how to build a set, i learned about structures, and I learned about puppetry. Overall my team interactions were like a good roller costar ride. There was defiantly some conflicts with time conflicts, and some lack of initiative from team members. However we were able to work it out for the best. This activity was a huge influence on my life actually. When I finished my recycled materials dress I decided that fashion/costume design was my calling in life when before this I wanted to go into law. It was defiantly a huge change.. I ended up applying to all art schools for Fashion Design. Even some things that were done for DI or inspired by DI were in my art portfolio. My college essays were all about that dress and my influence from that program. Also my team members became some of the best of my friends, and I know that this activity meant a lot to all of them. The goals for this activity were not to low at all, because there was so much to learn and develop. Not only did I learn a lot and go through a lot of changes but I grew as a person and found out a lot about myself.

Holiday Stroll Reflection

For the holiday stroll I was in charge of the cookie decorating table. I love working with kids and it was a really fun job to do. Also we got to dress up like elfs which I had a fun time with. The main goal of this event was to create a fun event for the children that came to it. It was also a good opportunity for Sturgis. At my table there was informational packets about the school and the IB program. Sturgis has had many rumors travel around about it, and some parents addressed me about these rumors. I was able to talk with them about how much I like the school, and set them straight about what they had heard. What I said about the school was very important since it was influential to the public that I was talking to. It had a lot of ethical implications in the eyes of the schools reputation. Also there was a large amount of students working the event and we all had to do different pieces of it. In order to make it a large success we had to work off of eachother. Also we had to make sure that we coordinate with the event it self, as well as the other organizations on main street. The basic idea of the event was that it was a scavenger hunt and we were the end of the puzzle, if we hadn't had worked with the main event it would not have been a success. The goals I set for this activity were met perfectly. This activity meant a lot to me because I love working with children, and I had a huge blast doing it. The children that came to the event had such a good time and it was very rewarding to see how happy it made them. I had such a fun time making cookies with the kids. From this event I learned how I really am a representative for my schools reputation all of the time, even if it is at some holiday stroll event.

Chili Reflection

For this activity I was making chili to raise money for Prom. I had never made chili before so this was something very different for me. During this activity I helped to cook the bacon, cut the stakes, and makes sure everything was added to the right pot. I was also going to be one of the people who drove the chili back to the school. There was a large amount of people helping out at this event and I felt that we were all able to get along very well and assign enough people to each role to have everything done efficiently. Making chili was so much fun and I was glad that I did it. This activity was important to be because I am excited for prom, especially since it is on my birthday, so I want to help make it as awesome as possible. This activity was a huge challenge for me because I don't do a lot of cooking, and I had never made chili before. Since I had never made chili for me this was defiantly a new skill, and I now know how to make chili. I tried my hardest however to make the chili and was really happy to learn something new. This activity benefited other because it helped to raise money for the Junior/Senior prom, making Prom a better experience for all. The goals were set not to high, since I had never done anything like that before. There wasn't really any difficulties since all the ingredients and directions were already where we needed. Well driving in my car with all of the chili was difficult because I had to make sure that no chili spilt on my car. I felt the activity went over really well. Personally before this I never really liked chili, but now I do. Also it really helped with my ability to learn how to cook, and has made me inspired to cook more often.

Art Portfolio Reflection

Since I was not in an art class, but applying to all art schools, I was completely on my own for creating an art portfolio. I ended up joining a figure drawing class outside of school to help me learn how to draw. However I couldn't just submit artwork from one medium so I had to trust my abilities to create something new. I had a few pieces already done that I wanted to submit. I had created a dress last year that I was very proud of and was able to put that into my portfolio. This activity was extremely important to me and I had to put everything I had into it since it would be a huge deciding factor into the college I got into. Not only was a nervous about getting in but the majority of the art schools I got into were some of the toughest to get into, so I was taking a great risk. I had to really think about where my strengths were and find ways to improve them. I took different types of art that inspired me and tried to use that medium to create my own art. I found out that I was very strong when it came to collages and more textual things. My weakness was sketching and painting. I took the figure drawing class to help develop my drawing skills. I had not done a lot of work with charcoal before and I was able to make a lot of pieces to help to contribute to my portfolio. The pieces that I made were something that I would have never imagined my self creating before. With this new skill I started to become aware that I had a lot more talent than I thought and realized my strengths. I set high goals for my self but I was able to accomplish them. I would have never expected that I could create the portfolio that I did. Even though I was applying to art schools for fashion I began to become more interested in art and realize how much potential I really do have as an artist.

Soccer Reflection

This was my last year in soccer and I really did want to score one last goal in this season even though I am a defensive player, however even though that did happen I was very happy with this season. When I went into this season I really wanted to try and help be a good role model almost for the younger members on the team. I also wanted to help them feel more comfortable with their transition into Sturgis. I became very close to a few of the underclassmen and any that i passed by in the hallway I said hello to. Also during drills I spent a lot of my time helping out those who seemed to be struggling and giving them pointers on how to do certain things. Also I became very clear where I needed to grow as a player. I worked largely on trying to increase my left foots accuracy and ability. Also I wanted to become a better defender. Even though my left foots accuracy progressed extremely slowly throughout the season my defender skills increased largely. For the most part many of the offensive members on the other team were not able to get passed me. Also I learned many different defensive plays that I will hope to use if I end up playing college soccer. I persevered in the activity and went to every practice and played in every game, until I became sick. At the last week of soccer I got mono, which was a big damper on the season since I had to miss the last week of the season. It was really sad since I was to sick to even go watch the games. One major difficulty i had throughout the season was my knee. I had always had problems with my knee but as the season went on it only got progressively worse. It got to the point that I could not play full games because my knee would give out and start swelling. This activity really helped me to see the importance in team work. I had always felt like a strong player, but I had never focused so largely on all of the different plays and strategies that could make the team stronger no matter the different abilities. If i do end up playing a sport in college or sometime later in my life I will really be able to take what I learned and apply it.

IB Conference Relfection

For this activity I was instructed to talk to Sophomores and their parents about the IB program. My goals going into this activity were to help to inform the students about the IB program, I really wanted to encourage them to try the program. However I was realistic and told them that it would be very difficult and a lot of hard work. It felt really good to answer the parents and students questions. I was happy to share my experience for the benefit of others. I was very careful to what I said because I didn't want my personal experience to overly influence them however. I thought that if i joked around to much about how hard it was I would be giving the wrong impression and could make the student make the wrong decision, which would be unethical. Also by promoting the IB i was promoting a program that dealt with global issues. I wanted to help stress how the IB is a global program and forces its students to look at issues with a larger perspective that just the one that their own culture has placed on them. This has been very personally influential to me and I wanted to share its importance to others, which I felt that I did accomplish. I felt that the goals were perfect for this activity. I did not have any difficulties since I am personally very comfortable talking in front of a large group of people. The only difficulties I had was with the parents meeting, in trying to find a way to be honest about the stress and the work load with out stressing out the parents. There was this one mother in particular that kept saying her daughter had a bed time and she didnt want her up to late, or how could she access her daughters due dates. She was frustrating me because she was making it hard to stress the important of the students role in time management, and how that makes you grow, since she was trying to take control of that daughters role in her education. One thing that I learned from this activity is how to talk to a large group in a professional matter to express what I want to express.

HorseBack 3/29

Today I rode rebel, and we worked largely on my test for showing this summer. There was also a clinic at the barn, that I wasn't ridding in. However Rebel was going to be ridden in the clinic later that day. My ride went extremely well, and the canter work that I had done was some of the best that I had accomplished lately with Rebel. After I rode I took rebel out on a trail. When we were on the trail there was a huge puddle that I was trying to avoid, but Rebel ended up jumping into it. He got stuck up to his knees and his white legs were dyed black. In a clinic it is considered rude for the horse to even have a speck of dirt on him. Even though I was not ridding in the clinic later it was my responsibility to clean his legs off, this took me at least an hour.

IB Conference 3/18

Tonight I talked to the parents of the sophomores about my thoughts on the IB program. I basically told them the same experience that I had to share with the parents, and did my best to be honest without exaggerating or making the program seem harder than it truly was. The parents had a lot of questions I did my best to put my opinion forward in each questions, especially when it came to sports. One parent said their student was nervous about playing a sport during the IB program. I told her about how my junior year I decided not to play a sport because of that reason and i regretted it. I also told her how I feel more focused and determined to get my work done when I am on a sports team. This seemed to reassure the parent and her daughter, and I was happy to have done so. At the end some parents came over to ask questions. I had one mother come up to me in particular, since her daughter is interested in art schools. She asked how the IB helped me and how my course choice affected me. I explained to her that I did not take art at the IB level but took theatre instead, which hindered but helped me at the same time. But I also told her how many art schools recognize and love the IB and all the ways it helped me. She seemed very satisfied with the answer I gave her, and it made me really happy to share my experiences for the benefit of others.

Miracle Party 3/17

Finally my group has started to make progress on how to continue on this event. Carley after a month of trying was finally able to get a hold of channel 17 and schedule a date for us to film. Upon hearing this I called Kathleen if this date would work. Missy had recently emailed her informing her of our plans. Kathleen then informed me that she has to pass it by the board first, and her board meeting is after the date that we had scheduled with channel 17. So now we are just waiting for the board to get back to us and then we can attempt to move forward again. She said she would e-mail us with the results, and that it would either be at the end of the week or the end of the month.

Horse Back 3/21

Today i was unable to go to the barn because I am sick with the flu. This is actually very upsetting because my friend Ellie called me last night informing me that I would be ridding her horse Essie for her in front of a potential buyer. I was pretty upset that I could not help her with this since I am sick.

IB Conference 3/15

Today I talked to the sophomores about the IB program. I thought it went fairly well, and I did my best to answer their questions. I basically told them that the best way to decide their future classes is to really talk to their teachers and see what those classes entail. I also tried to stress the importance of picking a class that your really passionate about, not just something you are good at.I talked about how in my sophomore year I had a 98 average in physics, and took it because I thought it would be easy for me, and now it is one of my worst classes. I also told them about how theatre was something I was passionate about, but I never really understood how hard and how much work it was truly going to be. I gave them the advice on how to important it is to start your EE essay during your junior year, or else you will dig yourself into a ditch. One last thing I stressed was how important it is to eat healthy, and that i noticed my senior year is when I ate the worst out of all my years in high school. I tried my best to voice my personal opinion and answer all of the questions to the best of my ability. The sophomores seemed to leave the meeting with a better understanding of what they were about to embark on.

DI 3/14

(<- Missy and I's costume and crazy make up)

Yesterday was the Regional Competition at DY Highschool, we placed 3rd out of 7 teams and also revived a renaissance award for out puppet. On friday night the entire team stayed at my house so we could work on last minute things, like finishing the head of the puppet (as seen in the pictures). We ended up not getting to bed unitll in the morning, which lead us all to being very exhausted the next day. However we were able to get everything done that we needed, and we were a lot less stressed going into the competition then we originally thought we would be. WE arrived at the tournament in time to do our Instant Challenge (IC). An IC is a challenge that is given to you at the tournament, and I am not allowed to say what it is until after memorial day weekend. However what I can say is that we had some difficulties, but overall we worked really well together and did a pretty good job.

We spent the rest of the day sitting in a hallway with our set rehearsing lines and making last minute changes to our set. We preformed around 4 and even though a few things didn't really go as planed, we were all very satisfied with our performance. It was one of my favorite DI moments, we all burst into laughter at the end. The audience really seemed to enjoy it.

Horseback 3/14

Today I rode my friends horse Essie. My friend has knee problems and can't ride right now so I was helping her out by ridding Essie for her. I haven't ridden in a while do to some issues with work and my crazy busy schedule, however I just recently quit my job, so i'll finally be able to focus more on ridding. My instructor and I had a conversation about what my plans for my last summer at the barn will be. I told her I do want to show this summer, so she is having me memorize tests for the shows when I am not at the barn. I will most likely be showing Rebel this summer, but today ridding Essie helped me a lot. Essie is a more experienced dressage horse and I can focus more on my own body when ridding rather than having to help the horse understand what is going on, like I do on Rebel because of his lack of experience. I rode for about an hour today and did a lot of canter work.

Destination Imagination 3/3

Destination Imagination 2/2

We have started to hold meetings and have already begun the scrip writing and set design. To the left is the beginning to a puppet we are making.

Miracle Party 2/12

I was finally able to make contact with Kathleen and come to an agreement on how to finish out the award. My girl scout group is going to produce an ad on the public service station to promote the camp. While Missy and Carley run the cameras I will be the 'talent' on stage.

Art Portfolio 01/5

http://stephfratusartportfolio.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

this is the link to the portfolio I am sending to Parsons, it does have the full versions of my figure drawings.

Art Portfolio 01/03/09

Not including the drawings from my figure drawing class, and a view other pieces, these are the pictures of my pieces that I am choosing from to send off to my schools.

Horseback 1/3/10

Today I rode Rebel and we did pole work on caveleties (which is what the picture to the left is). We would trot through the poles, and then canter directly after. This is extremely hard for the horse because it forces them to pick up their legs, and use their hind legs when pushing off into the canter. Since rebel is still being trained in dressage he is not very good at this, and it is extremely hard for him, and he does not like it very much. The beginning of my lesson started off rocky, and rebel bucked a lot, at one point he kicked the wall. Ive gotten a lot better about handling horses when they start to put up a fight during my lessons. It doesn't scare me anymore, in fact i normally laugh when it happens. After Rebel got over his issues the ride went really well. We ended the lesson with a very strong trot and canter, and it is clear that Rebel has improved his gates greatly since I first started ridding him.