Project Blog

In August I had the most amazing idea of what to do for my project; I thought it was going to be very easy. But it turned out to be very complex. There are many things that I had to do to accomplish what I’ve accomplished today. Time management was a great factor for this project, luckily by next semester I shall not worry about college applications. Nevertheless, I’ve grown so much with this project. I’ve never thought what guys out of school thought of girls that attend college level schools—naïve. Throughout my project that’s been constantly behind my head. And that has caused me to improve my project, to get everything out of the way. Some topics are very racy, but so is life. We encounter all the topics that we’ll be talking about in life, so if we encounter them in life, why not talk about it in school? The main reason why we attend school is to learn new things, to know and learn about everything. I’ve learned that many girls don’t have the basic conversations with their parents, that such talks are “awkward”. This club will be very helpful for all the girls; they will improve their everyday lives.

My “planning has been enriched” plenty, for us girls that have had the talk with their parents is not always enough. There are other things that people encounter every day, and you learn from nothing but pure personal experience. That’s when one tells friends about the incident, and that’s how other people get informed.

I honestly can’t wait to start having meetings on January, and impact the community! Daniel Pink was right, there has to be a motivation in life. Everyone has a different motivation. At the beginning I had no idea what was my motivation. I didn’t think I had a motivation, but that made no sense, how can one live without a motivation? I always thought money was my main motivation in life. But with this project, since money is not involved at all, that made me realize money wasn’t my motivation.

Changing people’s lives in the smallest possible way is my motivation. To see their faces when I was right; to see when what and where I’ve guided them was the right path makes me so happy. It keeps me going. And that’s what my project does, it improves girls’ lives and makes them happy.

It’s such a great feeling to see what two people can do with motivation, help, and research. To accomplish all the plans I have in mind for my project I’ll follow the timeline that I’ve designed. That way procrastination will not catch up to me, and I shall be ahead of the game. And my project will turn out to be as planned.

Sentence

The Ladies of Chinquapin, with a college level, educational meetings, prepared girls for a greater future in life.

Procrastination

Liszette and I have been very diligent, we have been working on our timeline to help us schedule and have us on track of the stuff we need to do and accomplish at a certain time. Our goal has been to have at least eight meetings before we graduate: May 24th, 2012. Starting on January, not so far from now, we shall start organizing our first meeting. Yay! I'm so excited, it's incredible to see how far we've come and finally have our first meeting. We are hoping for the best. Even though, after coming back from our amazing trip at Washington, D.C. we've slacked off just a bit. Procrastination is something we are trying very hard to avoid. With college applications due on Dec.1st and finals coming up our work has been delayed quite a bit. Our entire schedule has been quite hectic we've managed to put ourselves together through this hard times. Our website is looking great, and we are now currently working on a presentation.

Personally, I'm having trouble finding interesting books* that not one or two individuals want to read, I want at least more than half of the Chinquapinian girls to like the reading selections we choose. I'm a very open-minded individual, and I wish for everyone in our club to try to be the same. Therefore, I want everyone to be comfortable with the reading and with the conversations involved with the reading and the club. Any suggestions with the readings I could have us read?

*books - short readings, not very long novels.

Excitement

I have nothing else to say, but how excited I am for this project. Procrastination has caught up with us, but we are working hard within the time given to us. It has been so hard for us to keep track of the deadlines that we had set for ourselves; with Finals, College Applications, and other school work is hard to keep track of our project. For future reference to future Senior Chinquapinians: DO NOT leave this project for the last minute. This project needs plenty of devotion, time and dedication. When December comes all you're going to be worried about is Finals, College Apps, and homework. No time for Senior project? You'll have to learn to manage some time in so you can do this project.

Nevertheless, I'm almost done with my timeline-- which is looking very well so far. All my meetings will be taking place during P.E. The way I've designed my timeline is to where we have a meeting once a week, every Tuesday. I think we can work with that schedule.

Under Control

If I have mentioned before, Kathy Heizerlin was the founder of the Women's Group at Chinquapin; my goal is to do as much as she did when she was the leader of the club. Last year (2010-2011) some faculty members tried to bring the club back; it was a total failure because of the lack of responsibility and timing. Nevertheless, Liszette and I have come to a possible schedule: at least two meetings per month starting in January during PE time. That way, at least for the end of this year we will have ten  meetings. There will be faculty members involved like, Susan Davis, Dorothy Scrutchin, Cristina, Leslie Tamez, etc. Also, Jackie Ayears from Girls Inc. has volunteered to help us out with our project. Amazing blessing we've had with this awesome club. Now we need to take charge and accomplish these goals we have to reach and accomplish. the only issue I have encounter has been the transportation arrangement for the trips that I have intended to make. I'm not sure if the school will be willing to lend us the mini-school-buses or we have to car-pull. That has been my only concern so far. I also want to clarify that I don't want to make this club mandatory, I do wish for every Chinquapinian girl to join, but they will not be forced, it's they choice.

Girl Power

I want this club to change lives, and improve the Chinquapin Girls' morality, and help them in their daily life improvement. What I have intended for this club to do is to let the girls know that they're not alone. They don't have to feel awkward within themselves. I want them to be comfortable and know if they can't have a sex talk with their parents they can come and have those talks in our club. My partner Liszette says, "We should have four of seminars and each will focus on teaching about one of the following: Self Esteem, Sex, Success and Etiquette. I want to focus on these topics and have the ladies informed on how to have a higher self esteem, use protection, strive for their goals and act during formal events. Learning these skills are essential to their futures." My colleague is right, we need to inform these ladies the importance of their actions. Many of us are very stressed and a simple comment can bring our self esteems down, or at our age (14-19), the T.V. commercial ads that promote run way models, and tell you what to eat can also bring us down, for we think that that is how society wants us to look. Sex: can be quite controversial, in some cases the Chinquapinian girls can't even have a decent conversation with their parents about sex. I think that everyone at this age should be somewhat informed about sex, the contraceptives and abstinance. If they can't have a simple talk with their parents, where can they? This is where our club comes in. We can talk about anyting and everything. Success: is such a great topic to talk about. Everyone wants to be successful, but many of us have no idea of how to reach these goals. And ediquette, we need to learn how to properly behave as we get older and we go to interviews for anything. Girls need to know the appropiate dresscode and if they get invited out to eat like a Galla, they need to be taught the right form of self-presentation. There should be no shame if a girl doesn't know a thing about these four things. This is why we are going to come and unite to inform ourselves about important things that will be used in our everyday life.

Ladies Need to Take Charge

Sheryl Sandberg, the lady above inspired me so much. She explains how many women in this era want to be productive and take charge in their lives. How they fight for what they deserve and for what they've been thought in school. She explains how many women, in past years didn't really want to do much, they didn't fight for the higher working positions they would be please with what they would get. Leaders-- women taking initiative to do something great. This video inspired me to talk to this with the Ladies of Chinquapin for my Senior Project. We've been very lucky to attend such a great school, we're young educated ladies who only want the best for our future. We don't want to depend on anyone else but ourselves. And many haven't gotten the chance to get educated and informed about these things. We have the power to be the next leaders in our world. If many were to stop and reflect on this, they would realize that we can become the next Women President.

Women's Group Project

The Chinquapin School has always been a place where everyone is very close to one another. Many have each other to express their feelings to their friends, specially the guys who board there. We girls leave everyday, and even though our friends are here, we are just so busy we hardly have time to talk to anyone about anything. We used to have the Women's Group two years ago, and with everyone being so busy they neglected the club; rapidly dissolving. When I was in 10th grade, there was only two or three meetings in one year. Technically, it was two, for the first one was introduction and the purpose of the club. We have Young Women's Group, which is only for the lower school girls. I've been told that this group is very helpful and it makes you connect with the other girls in school. I want the same thing for the upper school girls. We are transforming from young immature kids to getting a sense of what life really is about--maturing. 

This will be very useful for all the upper school ladies at Chinquapin. I can have the Ladies from the Junior League of Houston come over to give speeches and get the meetings going with a constant flow. I can also have some of the staff members of our school participating in this club.If field trips are allowed, I was thinking of all of the ladies involved with this club having a fund raiser to cover for the costs of such trips. I've looked up affordable places and Discovery Green is open for the public, no cost at all. Nevertheless, I hope this project ends up to be a success with the help of my classmate Liszette, whom I have partnered up with to make this project successful. The Ladies of Chinquapin shall soon come back to our community. 

             

    I can be contacted at:

    Cell Phone: (832) 343-5320 

    Address: 3806 Lila St. Houston, TX. 77026

    Email: yatzell@live.com

    Website: http://www.wix.com/marielyatzell/ladiesofchinquapin

    Blog: http://ale-badillo.blogspot.com/

    Alejandra Badillo