Hi everyone! My name is Arti Darke and I go to Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley. Today I was the leader of the day and being the shy person that I am, I honestly did not believe that I could take on this huge responsibility but I powered through with the help and encouragement from my fantastic peers. I had the responsibility to wake the students up, make sure they had their supplies, keep them updated on the day’s schedule and activities and to make sure they were all safe at all times. The job was interesting and very refreshing because it was something I’ve never done before. I believe that the experience I’ve gained from being the leader of the day has helped me become a better global citizen and leader.
Today we started off knowing that as Americans we are privileged when it comes to education but today we delved into the roots of what it means to be educated. In our seminar group, we agreed that receiving an education brings individuals success,equality and opportunity. To me, that is why education is so vital; it opens so many doors for people that otherwise would not be accessible. The fact that through this program, a high school student from Castro Valley can teach English and have the opportunity to offer open doors for other people who are so passionate about learning and the fact that I can impact and make a difference in their lives brings me utter happiness. I was most surprised by seeing my peers also being incredibly enthusiastic and excited about this insanely rewarding job too, it is a feeling I just can’t describe. I felt like I was seeing the future leaders of tomorrow shape together right in front of my eyes.
Today we also visited a preschool. to get to the preschool we took a the crazy city bus.the bus was packed and hot but we all managed fine and we reached our destination safely. when we walked through the gates of the preschool we were swormed with smiling kids. we were so excited to see them and they were equally excited to see new faces. we played with them, took tons of pictures of them and some even took pictures of us.after meeting the kids, we met the founder of the preschool and asked her what she whould like for the kids. she said that she would like educational tools for the kids and more things the kids could play on. so for our Community Action Project we plan to make educational murals so the kids can learn letters,numbers and shapes and to make a recycled tire structure playground to play on. latter that day we went to our first tutoring session! after a hard day of working on our lesson plans we finally could meet our students. at first we were very nervous because we thought we wouldn´t be able to communicate well but that all went away after seeing how eager our students were to learn. we played games and had introductions.We´re so excited and motivated more than ever to start our Community Action Project for the wonderful kids at the preschool we visited today and to teach English to our students at the University of UNAN.
Although I was incredibly scared about being the leader of the day, at the end of the day I am sure that this was an experience that I needed more than anything and I am so ready to take on the role of being a global leader. I want to help offer tools and services that can lead people to success, equality and opportunity because that’s what everyone deserves and if this small girl from little ol’ Castro Valley ever wants to change the world, “my weapon will be education,” according to the great leader, Nelson Mandela.
Thank you for reading!
-Arti