AIDS Walk 2014
I. Project Overview
Why I chose this project
I chose this project initially because my principal asked me to lead it. She knew that I participated in similar races and have also fundraised for charitable causes in the past. I also wanted to expose students to the greater Los Angeles community as part of a large event such as this one. I wanted students to have the experience of volunteering their time and effort for a good cause, and I also wanted them to gain a greater awareness of issues and needs in the broader community.
Project Plan
When I began organizing for the event, I planned to recruit a group of students from each academy of our school to represent Locke at the event. I also hoped to recruit enough adult chaperones from the different academies and to coordinate the logistics of the day, despite never having actually participated in AIDS Walk. This included communicating with the AIDS Walk representatives, registering for a Locke Team, and securing transportation to and from the event.
Summary
After a month of preparation, the event went off without a hitch! There was space for all 50 students on the bus, with no one being turned away. The students all had a great time. Everyone completed the 10K walk within about two hours and even received a certificate of completion and a goodie bag. We returned the the school on time with no injuries or students lost. The students were excited to have joined so many people from all over LA and learned a lot about the many communities that came together on this day, and also about the cause that they helped represent.
II. Main Activites
As coordinator, I enacted the following:
Preparation
- Registered team with AIDS Walk, communicated with staff to secure individual registrations and work out logistics
- Coordinated with contacts at 4 Locke academies to recruit students school-wide
- Coordinated transportation, permission slips, and communication with students and staff leading up to event
Day of Event
- Met with chaperones early to discuss logistics of the day
- Accounted for all students, shared ground rules/expectations for trip
- Met with AIDS Walk contact, registered students at event
- Completed 10K with the students!
- Accounted for all students at arranged meeting location
- Saw students safely picked up back at Locke
After Event
- Thanked everyone involved including students, chaperones, and AIDS Walk staff
- Shared pictures from event with all students and staff
- Had students share what they learned and what they enjoyed about the event!
III. Reflection
Challenges and Successes
My role throughout the process was to coordinate our participation with the event from start to finish. I was responsible for everything from recruiting students, to communicating with parents, students, faculty, and AIDS Walk staff. My main challenge was coordinating with all 4 academies, specifically trying to keep an accurate count of how many students were actually interested in attending. At times, we had over 50 kids signed up and at other times we had well under 50 kids. Luckily our preparations and communication payed off, and the expected number of students showed up that morning, filling up the bus without having to turn anyone away. The successes included the seamless execution of the trip, the fact that all students completed the walk, the excitement and fun that the kids had during the entire time, and finally the exposure and experience that the kids had with the community and the cause.
What I would do differently
Now that I've successfully coordinated AIDS Walk once, I would recruit twice as many students the next time using testimonials and pictures from this year's AIDS Walk! I would also get the students involved in the fundraising aspect of the event, whereas this year we didn't participate in fundraising because we had our hands full coordinating the logistics for the trip alone.
IV. Connection to CAPES (California Administrator Performance Expectations)
