Hi everyone! I’m Sarah Hammond and I am a Senior at BASIS Scottsdale. I will be majoring in Computer Engineering next year, although I don’t quite know what I want to do with my life yet. But for now, I’ll be volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, working to create a youth outreach program.
As for my life outside BASIS, I have a dog named Loki, a lizard named Mory, and a large collection of very friendly minerals. I enjoy reading, singing, and hiking. This blog will document my journey into the future (aka the next four months) as I explore the world outside school (wow it exists???) and learn more about myself (which is scary). -SH
Hi Sarah (and Loki and Mory)! I am really looking forward to reading your blog each week. I have worked with Habitat for Humanity in the past and it truly is incredible to see the final product and how grateful the family is to have their own home. Since you will be looking at the best methods for youth outreach, I'm curious, what inspired you to work with Habitat for Humanity?
ReplyDeleteThank you Ms. Conner! I've also really enjoyed volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. My Mom used to volunteer with them quite frequently when I was little, so I was always around their projects which was always a fun experience. When the Habitat for Humanity club started at BASIS I joined and have been volunteering ever since, which inspired me to do this project.
DeleteNice job, Sarah! First, I just wanted to say that I really loved the way that you designed your blog. It's so organized, and the design is very you, I think. Second, I'm glad that I'm the not the only one who's a bit clueless as to what they what to do with their lives. It'll be okay, since a lot of us are in the same boat. Lastly, I think it's wonderful that you're working with Habitat for Humanity, since you were one of the original members of the club at school. It's great to see you taking a school extracurricular and turning it into senior project. I know you haven't started the project yet, but do you have any guesses or predictions about what you think the most effective way of persuading volunteers younger than 15 is? Looking forward to seeing how your project unfolds!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kiri :) I'm hoping we can create or implement some more fun projects for younger kids like the gingerbread making contest we do at BASIS every year. Habitat for Humanity already has a lot of possible activities that just need to be spread around to more of the clubs which will hopefully make them more likely to participate when they are older.
DeleteHello Sarah! I really like the topic you picked for your project; I think it is too common for charitable organizations to not fully utilize all the volunteers they get. Habitat for Humanity does some amazing things, but by having better youth outreach they might be able to do even more.
ReplyDeleteHow exactly do you plan to see if better outreach "has a positive impact on the organization as a whole"? Are you going to use a survey, talk to Habitat for Humanity management, etc.? Also, what jobs can the children under 15 have?
Anyway, nice project, and I hope you are able to help Habitat for Humanity make more effective use of its volunteers!
Hi Serena! Thanks, I;m also pretty excited about my project. I'm not entirely certain what my internship is going to involve; I'll find out more in the coming weeks, but I have a few initial ideas. I might try to survey the existing members of Habitat for Humanity to find out the age they started volunteering and their initial reasoning to see if any became involved at a young age and continued to volunteer. Of course, in an ideal world, I would judge effectiveness by following children who were involved at a young age and seeing how long their involvement lasts, but this will not be possible in this short a time. It would also be interesting to see if younger children are successful at fundraising, and if so, how much they raise.
DeleteHi Sarah! What an exciting first post! The setup of your blog is so nice that it looked like a professional was at work. I am thoroughly impressed with the effort you put into this blog. Can't wait to see more!
ReplyDeleteAs Kiri also pointed out earlier, I am glad someone is taking up the task to finally give the lower-schoolers in our grade something to do rather than just attend the meetings. I know they have much more to offer our club, but their are so many restrictions on age limit that it's almost impossible for them to do anything.
For my question, I wanted to know what potential ideas you have to offer for the younger volunteers in H4H? (I know in our school we had the Gingerbread House Competition, but what other ideas did you have in mind?)
Great first start Sarah! Keep up the amazing work!
Thanks Robert! I remember how frustrating it was for all of us when we were in the Habitat for Humanity club but weren't old enough to volunteer. I think a lot of what I will be doing is giving presentations at churches and school about Habitat for Humanity and its goals. From talking with my On-Site Mentor at Habitat, it seems like one of the most successful activities would be similar to the ginger bread house activity, for example, making houses out of Popsicle sticks, which would be coupled with the presentation.
DeleteHi Sarah! I am really excited to see your posts each week and learn what life outside of school looks like for you! I'm a sophomore in high school and I want to know how a senior project looks like. I really love youth outreach programs and community service!-Ismail Hamed 10th grade
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm excited to see how it turns out as well.
DeleteHi Sarah! I am so excited to follow your research project over the next 10 weeks. It is so amazing what you are doing but do you have any specific ideas for the youth outreach program? Do you have a main goal that you want to achieve with the program that you want to create? I can't wait to see what you going to do with this project!
ReplyDeleteMadeline Burns
Thank you! I think that the main goal of this project is to make youth outreach more systematic, so that there is something to do for every age of volunteer, and that these activities can be found and organized more easily. Hopefully, by the end of this project, it will be possible to organize a Youth House, which is a house that is completely fund-raised by youth volunteers.
DeleteHello Sarah, I'm Zand.
ReplyDeleteI really found your project interesting and fun. First off I would like to congratulate you for picking a research topic which improves our community and makes a positive impact on the lives of others. With that in mind, I only had a couple of questions, of which I hope will improve my understanding of your project. Now, are to you focusing more on employeeing those under the age of 15, and the positive impact they have, or the manual labor of producing a home? Or both? Thank You for considering my comment/question. Thanks, keep up the great work.
Thanks! The project is focusing on finding activities for children under 15 that will allow them to participate in Habitat for Humanity, possible by fundraising, or possibly by advocating. Hopefully, these activities will make them more likely to continue working with Habitat for Humanity as they get older.
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