(Feature Photo Credits: Ms Dilini)

From collecting paper to going to the biogas plant to going to the local paper shop, recycling been very diverse compared to the other services I’ve done before. As the semester ends, I realized my strengths and weaknesses while being the services and have learnt many new things.

Collecting Paper

Of course, the start of our journey is to collect recycled paper that is in the school and put them in the recycling room, the place to organize them before going to the local paper store.

I must say that going around just to get paper was very fun (especially if you have a good group to go with, it’s very therapeutic).

Local Paper

I’ve only gone to the local paper shop once, but it was a great experience to show me what recycling is really about. Normally we would just collect paper, but we go to the shop after to let the owners buy our paper. Sometimes we’ll get a lot, but other times ….

But in all honesty, it’s a great experience and helped me show this service is really for me.

Biogas Plant

Ah … the biogas plant, the place where we make popcorn, the only reason why some of the middle schoolers want to join this service (You know who you are, I’m well aware).

This is actually a fun process to do, despite using the food waste and the cow dung. We can also measure more much gas we use each time, which honestly make this even cooler to me, it require lots of measuring and a bit of math sometimes (I’m no HL math kid, so I’ll step away from this …).

The popcorn makes the service sessions feel like a reward after spending the days doing what’s needed whether that’s after collecting paper or after going to the local paper store, etc. As a DP student and a potential service leader (hopefully …), I can also say that this is a great part of the service.

Presentation

On the last day of semester 1, I volunteered to help Stefan, Huirong, and Dasha to speak in the service celebration assembly, making me the only non DP 2 student in this service to present.

In this presentation, Stefan and Dasha talked about the achievements we got during this semester, while Huirong and I talked about some sustainable tips people can follow while they’re on holiday.

Coming to think about that, it was low key a surreal feeling talking about things we could do to make our school a more sustainable place.

13:22 – 17:00 for the Best Part 😉

Have I Completed My Goal ?

Along with aiming to be a service leader in DP 2, my main goal was to contribute to the group in any way that I can. I like to say I have achieved it as like I said before, I became a risk-taker and decided to help present for the assembly, something the whole of secondary and many teachers were watching.