November 6th, 2020 – Jimena CAS Journal Entry

CAS Journal Entry #55

When I reflect back to how things were, in CAS, a year or a year and a half ago it made me realize I was terrified. I was terrified of how Julie and me, two teenage high school students, were ever going to plan a CAS experience and make it a success? At the beginning of my CAS experience, I have to admit, I wasn’t the most positive or optimistic person ever. I always thought I was incapable of making something big and successful for the school because I genuinely thought as a highschooler it was too much work, and the students lacked motivation, so what was the point? I also was terrified and couldn’t stand the fact of communicating and talking to adults in general. Especially with my CAS mentors (a.k.a Geneva) and/or with the school administration or any third party that could influence my CAS project.

However, even though those were two things I wasn’t very good at the beginning of CAS, I was still able to learn so much from both my projects and from the CAS experience in general. I learned that teamwork is key for things to go as planned and a success. I learned that when helping out with Día de las Mascaradas, that without the help of everyone involved, the event would cease to exist. I also learned to trust my gut and be confident, and get rid of all that emotional baggage that made me feel “incapable” of doing big things for the school. Both of these learnings have taught me how to be a more active and dynamic person. “Chispa” as you would call it in Spanish. And I believe it has turned it into a strength that I have grasped over time.

These things that I have learned definitely helped me with the yearbook. When starting the yearbook I was scared that it was going to be a failure, that it wouldn’t be available on time, that people wouldn’t have money to buy it, and many more things. However, I decided to be positive and put all of the best I could into it, take risks, and hope for the best. After all, things happened for a reason. I was able to put my communication skills with adults into place (since I had to contact and deal prices for the yearbooks with people at La Nación), I was able to be grateful for the teamwork involved with the production of the yearbook since without the team this wouldn’t have happened, and finally, I learned to trust myself. Tell myself that everything was going to be fine. And things did end up being fine, the yearbook was a total success!

In the end, now that I’m almost graduating school, I reflect on everything that has happened in almost two years and I realized that I am grateful for the way things turned out in the end. I am definitely not the same person I was at the end of 10th grade or the beginning of 11th grade. I have grown and matured, and now I feel like with this newfound confidence and appreciation I am capable of doing great things in the future.