by Xiomara Rojas-Asqui, LearnServe Alumni Ambassador

Good Evening, My name is Xiomara Rojas and I attend School Without Walls. I was a LearnServe Fellow — sitting in your place just one year ago — and have had the pleasure of serving as a LearnServe Alumni Ambassador this year.

I came to Learn Serve last year as a fellow ready to do something on Illegal Immigration and came out with a venture called ReThink UR Trash. My venture rallies for recycling in D.C. Public High Schools and this year has been focused on School Without Walls. We have relabeled the recycling bins, gotten the custodial staff to support us, and attended two protests against the Keystone XL Pipeline. I was able to build my venture thanks to all the lessons covered last year about team building, budget, action plans and really get motivated to keep going by the wonderful guest speakers. At the same time I learned about social entrepreneurship and its importance, something I never really thought about and being part of.

This year as a LearnServe Alumni, not only were the lessons I learned from last year reinforced and strengthened, but I was able to really see the importance of getting the young people involved in social entrepreneurship. We have been told many times that we are the future. But at the same time as teens we are seen as irresponsible, carefree individuals. By being part of LearnServe you all have shown that is not the case, that we can be leaders and make change. I ask that you all believe and embrace that leader in you. Do not get discouraged if your venture is slow in the beginning or does not go as planned. As we have heard from other leaders it took some years to really get into that launching mode and then boom. I also want you all think about some wise words from Scott. He told me once that as chaotic as the world is, if nobody had taken that first step — where would we be? I want you all to take this at a more personal level and think about what if I had not held that workshop? Or a clean-up? What if those students were still ignorant about the harmful chemicals in that beauty product or those teens did not have that basketball tournament to stay away from the streets.

I hope you all enjoyed your time as fellows. And I hope all of you will stay involved, by becoming ambassadors or coming out to the events and service projects for next year’s fellows. LearnServe is a great family to be part of and as members of this family, do not let go. The same goes for parents. Keep supporting your LearnServe Fellow, and I hope you will continue to support LearnServe which is also your family.

Next year, I will be headed off to Lafayette College as a Posse Scholar. LearnServe prepared me for the Posse Scholarship Program, which will cover my tuition for the next four years, and offer additional leadership and mentorship opportunities. I am going to miss my LearnServe family as I head off to college, but I know that I am taking with me everything that I learned — and that I will continue to spread the message of leadership, entrepreneurship, and community action on campus. And of course I will come visit when I can!

Thank you, Fellows, for your enthusiasm. Thank you, Ambassadors, for being awesome. And thank you Eric, Scott, Maisha, Jeremy, Shayla, and Sabine for all your support, leadership — and also your awesomeness. Thank you!

When I heard the words “elevator pitch” during our meeting two weeks ago, I immediately imagined standing center stage in front of a hundred judging eyes with nothing but note cards, a microphone, and my boots (which I would be shaking uncontrollably in). What happened during my pitch was nothing like that.

Before the day we were to do our pitches, my partner, Henry, and I practiced multiple times via video chats. After a lot of editing, re-editing, and re-re-editing, we still felt like we weren’t adequately prepared, so we agreed to arrive early to practice. When I showed up at GW a half hour early, I expected no one to be there. I was dead wrong. At least ten of my fellow Fellows were there, already pitching to each other in a circle. I feel bad admitting this, but during the previous meeting I took assurance from the realization that practically no one was prepared. If no one else was ready to present, why should I be?

But when I arrived, the pitches were perfect. The people who had arrived early had clearly been working on their speeches. And so I joined the circle and listened to my fantastic friends work together to make small tweaks to their pitches. After a couple of minutes of listening to rehearsals, Henry showed up and we went into overdrive. We practiced a couple of times while simultaneously consulting others on our wording and assuring our friends that they sounded great.  Soon, the rest of the crowd showed up and the world seemed to split underneath my feet.

All of the pitches looked and sounded stunning! Why had I not anticipated this?! I looked around and everyone looked effortless. I was also really surprised by how much everyone was helping each other. They could all have been in the fetal position worrying as much as I was, but instead of doing that they were all listening thoughtfully to each other. The moment I realized this, my expectation of what the elevator pitch would be like changed. I knew that there would be no judging eyes, especially from my peers. I was no longer nervous because I knew that even if I failed miserably, my friends would still support me. This epiphany took a load off of my shoulders. I was no longer nervous or shaking in my boots- instead I was truly excited.

I practiced with Henry thirty or so times with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. I listened to the other Fellows’ pitches so many times that I had them all memorized.  We then lined up and entered the room. Everyone gave their pitches as fantastically as they had in practice. When Henry and I pitched our venture, I did feel a bit nervous, but I attribute that to the three cups of coffee I drank earlier that day so that I could function for a full 12 hours. I think we did well. There were a few slip-ups here and there from everyone, but we were all able to finish our pitches. After only a few months as a LearnServe Fellow, I can see how much we’ve all progressed. I can’t wait for our meetings to start again!

We are excited to share with you the results of what has been a productive, inspiring year! Thanks to your collaboration and support, we successfully strengthened our signature LearnServe Fellows and LearnServe Abroad programs, while working with our Board to build a new vision for the future of LearnServe International.

Read the 2010–2011 Annual Report (PDF).

I am by no means a good painter, yet this past weekend on the first LearnServe service day I found that that does not mean that I can’t help people by painting.

I arrived at the meeting place for the trip a few minutes late, however luckily for me I was not the only person who had trouble with the metro.  Once all 8 of us who were signed up for the service day had arrived, we walked to the Sharpe Health School.  The school looked old on the outside, however it did not look more downtrodden than any of the other schools surrounding it. After I signed in and had my second breakfast, bagels and orange juice, I quickly looked around the school and saw what the problem was. Although this school supplied children with special needs with the resources they needed, the school did not seem like a happy learning enviroment.  We were herded into the auditórium and told about the murals we would be painting to remedy this.  The Fellows were allowed to choose which mural to paint, and we decided to stick together and work on the aquarium mural.

This was the first time in a number of years that I actually got to do a creative art project, and  as I did not want to make the octupus resemble a turtle or the other way around I decided to paint waves. I found even this difficult, accidentally painting the turtle and Octupus blue a number of times. Despite this, we managed to finish the mural with time to spare and so some of us decided to check out the other murals. Where before the walls were bare, the whole school was now covered with murals of fun animals and other designs. I was amazed at how different the school not only looked, but also how warm and inviting it felt.  Everytime the kids come to school they will be greeted by the smiling faces of cartoon characters.  We helped out with another mural, talked with Scott and took a picture.   A couple of us made decided to go to Chipotle afterwards, which Scott says happens after every LearnServe event.

This service day showed me that anyone can help the community, no matter their skill set, and I am now going to make sure I utilize everyone who is willing to help with my venture. The sevice day also taught me how  important appearances can be.  Although we only changed the appereance of a few walls, the murals change the whole vibe of the school.

This was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in a long time and cannot wait for the next service day.

At the October 20th LearnServe meeting, appropriately titled “Finding Your Cause”, the Fellows talked about the issues we are concerned about and what we want to do about it. We then filled out a form that helped us organize our thoughts about our cause. After completing the form we discussed our ideas within our groups. We then participated in a “speed meeting” activity where we met with another Fellow and briefly talked about our ideas.

I really enjoyed listening to my peers and learning about the great ideas they had. It was interesting to see how widely some of our ideas varied. Likewise, it was also helpful to discover whose social venture ideas were similar to mine.  It was also beneficial to listen to other people’s feedback on my idea for my social venture.

My idea centers on the issue of children living in poverty in most third world countries. Children all over the world enjoy playing sports and participating in other recreational activities. However, many of them don’t have the proper resources, such as clothing. On the other hand, many of us are blessed with the opportunity to play on our schools’ teams or clubs. Each season, we receive a team shirt or jersey. However, we rarely wear the jersey after the season and it hangs, forgotten, in our closets. My venture would gather the sports jerseys we no longer wear to be donated and essentially “recycled” to others who need it. I also hope to raise more awareness about these underprivileged children in my school and community through fundraisers, clothing drives and video announcements.

Overall, I really enjoyed this LearnServe meeting because it was the first time we discussed what we really want to do for our venture and what social change we hope to bring about. It was very productive and it helped me get to know the other Fellows in my cohort better. We also got our very own LearnServe business cards which gave me extra enthusiasm for starting my venture!

Here’s the direct link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ggrebski/LearnServeZambia2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKb83t-W8JXoeg

Direct link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cie-wis/sets/72157626958422397/

Direct link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cie-wis/sets/72157627047454282/

The LearnServe retreat was one of the most formative couple of days I think I have ever experienced. When we arrived at Chevy Chase High early that Saturday morning, we were mere “acquaintances”. We were not comfortable around each other.  Sometimes we failed to remember names and used phrases like “oh that girl who is wearing the green shirt.” The unexpectedly cold weather and freezing rain not only forced us to huddle together in order to keep warm but also forced us to break down the personal barriers that previously existed between us. Between helping each other overcome our fears of vicious cabin spiders and heights on the high ropes, we went from “those kids” to the LearnServe family. Now we are more capable of helping one another develop our ventures and discussing issues openly without hiding who we are. The past few days truly required us to cooperate, communicate, and provide moral support. I can honestly say that the retreat has transformed me into a better communicator and a more open minded leader.