“Achchi, I’m taller than you now!”
– All the kids in my service on our first day back from summer vacation.
How time flies.
I can remember the first time I signed up for service, how I pleaded with the service leaders of Care for Paws three years ago to let me join their team. I remember the desperation in my voice and how badly I just wanted to get in. it might sound ridiculous but being my first year in OSC, I always felt like I didn’t truly fit in. Nowhere, not even in badminton, did I feel like I truly belonged. But on that day we were introduced to the school’s service groups, I knew instantly the one place that would feel right: Care for Paws. When I was accepted into the group, I instantly made friends with people over our shared love for animal welfare. Our service didn’t really do much, which sucked to be honest because our group was the only service group in OSC that was actively involved in animal welfare. But our service leaders and basically our entire group didn’t really do much and the year just kind of went by. I really did like my service but in my core, I was disappointed: I wanted to do something. So, I made a resolution that by the end of that year, if I got the role of service leader, I would definitely change that.
That was three years ago. And look where I am now.
If you know me, to any level, you will understand why my service group, the first home I built in OSC, has a special place in my heart. Disara and I basically built our reputation from scratch. In our first year as service leaders, we got the OSC Community service award and trust me, we worked our hearts out to achieve it. It was great that Disara was as passionate about the service as I was and we built our little family, with a young team that, to this day, hasn’t changed much. And I am glad for that, I really am.
But the time is coming for Disara and I to step down and for a new wave in service to come to light.
Disara and I decided at the beginning of this year that we would start delegating tasks much more this year to our service members while keeping an eye out for prospective service leaders for the next year. I have been so busy organizing the upcoming year that I haven’t had time to reflect on how everything I love in high school is coming to an end. Whether it’s with sports or music or even service. Everything I looked forward to, for the last few wonderful years of my life, I’m having to say goodbye to them, one way or another.
A part of my heart breaks at that thought.
With that said, Disara and I have had more of a hands-off approach to service this year which took a while for our service t get used to. Our first project this year was the animal rights awareness day campaign that was only partially successful, given how October 4th was UN Day so advocating for animal rights on that day was not really easy. but we still organized a purple ribbon hand-out to anyone who wanted to show their support for animal rights. However, a pledge couldn’t be carried out this year, which I do think was a drawback from having that hands-off approach.
However, I think I made it quite clear how the project didn’t go as planned to our service members who also felt the need to be more active in their participation this year. I am expecting better things from the upcoming pre-order Christmas bake sale this year, which is also off to a slow start but I do hope the pace will pick up. I am realizing that majority of the work so far had been handled by Disara and me, for which I am proud, but I am also not liking the way things are going so far, so I might end up pushing my teammates to be more proactive starting now till December. Because we seriously need to pick up the pace.
In terms of delegating work, we have spoken with our service teacher, Ms. Francemone, and allocated specific jobs for specific members of our team. For example, I am currently teaching Sam how to handle the logistics of our service and how to work with the business office to keep track of our money. Christopher is currently in charge of most of the advocacy part of our service, with the development of posters and bulletin notices left for him to sort out. Chloe is put on handling communications and organization of events alongside Yangki. Josh and Iason handle everything from distribution of information to developing content related to specific projects while Miku is put to work with them to keep them in check while Thomas is put to work alongside Christopher on advocacy related tasks. This delegation of work is the most appropriate for our young service who, we believe, are still too young to handle every task on their own. They’re the most competent and hardworking service members I know but they are young and full of energy that sometimes, they get carried away and lose focus. So delegating work is really important to ensure that our service works as efficiently as they can.
Anyways, many changes have been made in service but I know these kids are more than capable of handling all the challenges Disara and I overcame over the past three years. Of course, we are always playing the supervisor role and making sure everything is carried out correctly, but this hands-off approach is both good for them and for us and I know we all will benefit from it in the long run.
But really, time sure does fly and writing this post made me realize that.