Final Leadership Reflection

     When I first decided to direct a play for my Leadership Project, I envisioned that I would be able to write a small script and have a couple of my friends act it out with me. Today, though, I know that I am more capable of achieving what I want than I thought before this project. My hard work and all of the effort that my crew members put into this production truly paid off since not only did the audience enjoy its outcome, but we were also proud of ourselves for putting on such a great show. I got so many positive comments about how funny or interesting my version of The Cat in the Hat was, and I am sure that the beautiful performance that my helpers and actors put out there deserved all of them. My parents and peers are proud of me for going through all of this work and not giving up when things went wrong, and this has raised the confidence I have in my abilities by a lot. My main goals were expression of talent and creating a benchmark for the school, and this project has done a great job in helping me achieve them. I am very thankful to all those that have helped me, and I am positive that this play has created a new image for all of my actors since others can now realize what they are capable of.
    
     The few things that I feel went wrong with this project look pretty minor now that the final performance seems to have gone so well. The biggest change I would make if I could do this project all over is begin to use all of the time during rehearsals and dedicate them purely to working with the actors. When rehearsals first started, I paid more attention to finding something for the volunteers to do and left my actors to work by themselves through the script. Even though the actors all turned out to give an extraordinary performance, it was my duty as a leader to make sure that I didn't leave them alone while I made sure others were busy. A solution to that would have been if I had one of my helpers pay attention to the volunteers since they also knew the side-jobs that had to be done by the volunteers. In the end, I started staying more with my actors as well as dedicated a few special days after school to just the characters since I owed them that, but I wish I had done this from the beginning.
   
     Also, I had been really worried from the start that we might not be ready to perform on the day that I had arranged (or today) because we weren't prepered, and that worry almost became a fact. Until Tuesday of this week, I was really stressed about the confusion between actors concerning their roles and positions during the play, but as Wednesday night's rehearsal came along, I started to see everyone connect with each other through ideas. The previous line mix-ups and stage-bumps went away after that, and I realized this would only be a successful play if everyone worked together and listened to me. This realization pushed me to come to Thursday night's rehearsal even though Natalie was leading it because I wanted to see my actors communicate without worrying about anything else. My presence made a big difference, and I can now see how efficient my leadership skills make me.
    
     My next step as a leader would be to take on a bigger project revolving around something I enjoy because that seems to motivate me. Although I can work with projects that don't interest me much, I am able to express my skills as a leader best when I have fun with what I do. Not only is working with my talents a thing I want to do again, but I would become a much better leader if I learned how to demand more from my group. My biggest weakness is that I am passive when it comes to leading; I tend to take more work on myself than give work to others, and this can be very negative since those "helping" take this for granted. When I do the work that I originally assigned to someone else, that someone else most likely is going to start expecting it and I will end up with more to do. This happened with my volunteers because I kept letting them do whatever they wanted during rehearsals, and that increased the load on me without getting any other work done for the group as a whole. Next time I lead, I want to make sure that effort is demanded from the very beginning so that I never have to go through that kind of stress again.

Here is some of my play...Enjoy:)

Final Reflection for Aidan (Blog #4)

     Aidan's project went very well overall, but I was often confused about my part in it. Whenever I talked to Aidan, it was a bit unclear of what he wanted me to do, and so I ended up either guessing about my task or pondering him with questions. Aidan was no doubt a good leader in the sense that he was willing to take time and answer questions I had, but I feel that there would never have been a need to ask so many questions if I was told what to do in the first place. It seems that Aidan never told me what was going on and how I could help, so there were multiple times I thought I was doing nothing to assist him. I don't want to label him as being unclear, since he was most likely keeping me away from the work in his project because of my already busy schedule, but it would have been much better if he had updated me on things.
     There was major task that I was assigned to for this project, and that was to come up with ideas that Aidan could add to the manual he was creating, and I did exactly that. Since I didn't have very much else to contribute to, I made whole lists of ideas for him, from making examining the wiring to observing him experiment with the sound system. He accepted the ideas I gave him and said he would make sure to consider them, but I haven't really been able to see any of the actual manual yet (I am not even sure if he wanted to continue that idea or not). I feel that it is not at all my fault for knowing so little about what was going on during this project since I did what was asked from me as well as asked about things that stumped me. I sometimes felt that Aidan didn't even think that I was involved with his project even though I told him about my progress with the manual every couple of days.
     Although I think that I wasn't able to do much for this project because of the lack of knowledge for it, I have a feeling that all of the goals originally planned for it have been accomplished. The main goal was to fix the problems of our sound system, and that all was done almost right after Aidan started his project. I learned much about the sound equipment when he told me his process so that I could note it down, and when he was setting up mikes for my play project later on. This was a good experience for me since my dad is a computer engineer and he is always telling me to take a closer look at how things work; I am much more interested in technology now that I was before helping with this project. The accomplishments that this project has done are going to helpful for people who want to work with our troubled sound system in the future, and I know that our group has done a great job in repairing because I was able to compare how the system worked before and how it does now.
     I think that I could have had a much bigger part in this project than I was given, but considering what I have been able to learn and what Aidan was able to get done, my contribution doesn't seem so small after all. I just hope I was helpful to Aidan, otherwise I wasted both his time and mine. Aidan just needed to let me know what my part was more clearly, and I should have done a better job scooping out my tasks (even though I might have gotten on his nerves if I asked more questions than I already did); I should have tried to find things out myself. 

Final Reflection for Hiren (Blog #4)

     Hiren's project was not only a cool experience, but it was also very fun and I was able to show a little bit of my creativity with it. In the end, the biggest thing that I did for this project is that I made a poster by myself for an inspirational concept that I had chosen, and this was very fun for me. I am not too artistic of a person, so it was also a bit challenging to create a product that would be good enough to hang up somewhere in the school. I spent all weekend one week cutting, pasting, writing, and coloring a poster about "being a good role model", and even though I wasn't too fond of the end-result, I was glad to know that Hiren liked it. I chose this specific topic since role models are a big key to not only getting guidance for the future, but also in advising one on how to become a better leader oneself.
     Hiren was a good leader to me and his other helper because he constantly updated us whenever something in his project changed, and he always showed us examples of his own posters to get ideas from. He was very supportive as well, since he knew how time-consuming my project was, if I told him that there would be certain days where I couldn't help him with something, and I think that was very unselfish of him. I do want to state that he can be somewhat critical, so there were many times where he unwillingly put down my work, but it didn't really hurt me since he is my cousin and I am used to his criticism. On the other hand, though, his criticism was constructive, and so it inspired me to make my poster so incredible that even he wouldn't find any flaws in it; he can be a true motivation, and I truly respect him for that. Hiren is a type of leader that doesn't fall behind in getting everyone on track, but he is also not one to push his helpers when they are busy with other things.
     I thought that my role in this project was pretty minor, but I seem to have done more than I think since this was a busy yet simple project to conduct. I did everything I was told to, and my limited time in and out of class for this project motivated me as well to finish the tasks he assigned to me before he asked for them. I went through with all of the tasks that go along with being a helper, doing the things I was asked to as well as asking my own questions to avoid misunderstandings. I feel that this project turned out very much how I expected it would:  with colorful bursts of creativity on paper that helped me discover that such small things like posters can be noticed and help change how others think. I always scouted the hallways for new posters that Hiren periodically put up, and I have to say that even though I was involved with parts of their creation, the things written on them where pretty interesting to stop and read.
      All in all, it appears that all of the goals we had set as a group for Hiren's project have been met since none of us ever failed to create inspiring posters or do our research about whether others are actually taking away from our work. We all successfully worked together as a team, never having any disputes, mostly since this was a project about expression through artwork. I feel that these posters are helpful for those who read them because they are well-written and have the ability to remind people about the brighter side of learning life's lessons. As I previously stated, my limited time available for this project was my main concern, but I was able to pull through all clean since Hiren or other members of our group would tell me if something was needed of me.

This project was very fun! Here is a picture of the poster I created:

Leader of Project (Blog #6-Optional)

     It is only a week or so until the date of the performance, and I have to say that I am very impressed with the effort all my actors are putting into learning their lines. So far, though, the volunteers and Hiren haven't started to construct a stage set, and that gets me worried even though the design we have chosen for the stage is extremely easy. Hiren has been coming to all rehearsals to help me, but Jenni, Camila, and Aidan haven't been showing up because of other priorities. Camila feels sorry for this, so she and Jenni have decided to hold a session at her house where all of the volunteers can meet up and start (maybe even finish) the construction of the set. Even though the load on my shoulders has lessened because of this, I am still worried about the small things not falling into place on time. Seeing many potential problems that can occur on the performance date, I have used the advice of those involved to find solutions for them. For example, my actors are a bit afraid that they won't be able to memorize all of their lines, so the whole group had a vote on whether we should have an open-script play where the lines are read directly off of the scripts to make it easier for them, and we came to the conclusion of that being okay. To make it look more professional if we did this, we have decided to add some small comedy bits that have interaction with the papers in the hands of my actors.

     At the time to buy last-minute things, there is much going on with volunteers being selected to bring in certain items, and I have stressed this enough with them, NO LATER THAN FRIDAY OF THIS WEEK! I went shopping with my mom this past weekend looking for the costume of the fish (Andy Beal), and it took us hours to find anything like an Ariel dress, but it was relaxing when we finally did. I primarily worry at this point of people forgetting to bring things in and my having to go to the stores with barely any time left (along with the set construction of course). In order to make sure that my volunteers and actors have as much possible time as I can provide to practice and arrange, I have gotten the gym for everyday during lunch next week instead of every other day, which will be very helpful.

     In order to publicize this event, I have asked for your help, Ms. Fitz, to let other teachers and staff at our school know about the event. I am extremely happy to find that the entire Leadership class will be attending, and I just hope that seating is not a problem for us. I have to let all of my crew know to inform their sixth period teachers about missing class and such so that there is absolutely no misunderstanding.  I can't wait to see the result of all of our hard work, but I am very freaked out about the hundreds of things we still have to accomplish in a week for a successful performance.

     Lastly, here are some pictures Hiren took during rehearsals. Enjoy!:)

Actors and I turning our backs on the camera (except for Andy Beal)

Actors and I actually looking while rehearsing (except for Natalie Cullinan)

Volunteers minding their own business and eating lunch

(P.S. I will talk about my fourth and fifth milestones in my reflection post since they haven't happened yet.)