Looking back, I still cannot believe all that I have done and accomplished in PLP. To me, joining the program was single handedly the best decision of my life. I will always remember going down to Hanford Washington, in my first week of being in the program, and seeing the nuclear reactor that produced the plutonium to go into the making of the first A-Bomb, Little Boy. That was my first taste of the program, and an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.
However, since then we’ve done so much more, just recently coming back from cuba. In many ways, this program has taught me that there is so much out there to learn and experience in the world.
Beyond gaining a strong love for travel and adventure, PLP has taught me what it means to be a leader and a strong team player. Over the past two years we have struggled with some extrememly tough projects, but we’ve always been able to work together and come out with a completed final product. Both times we attempted the class movie projects, we were under extremely tough timelines, and although we may not have completed each production to full satisfaction, we got it done, and handed in superb quality of work. Earlier this year, during the filming of our “Locked In” production, I stayed at the school until 8 at night for nearly two weeks straight. I was the one constantly pushing people to work productively and effieciently, and I think that’s one of the major reasons we were even able to get it done. We had a 17 day timeline, and I showcased what it meannt to be a team player by staying there to film and clean up every night, sacrificing my own time, while many people rarely showed up at all, to get it done.
In my blog post I wrote that: “Although we finished our movie on time for the due date (barely), there were many many long, frustrating days, where we stayed at the school from about 3:00 – 7:00, that we had to endure to get it done. As a main actor and an essential part to the continuity of the film I literally had to spend every single day after school filming for almost two weeks, and we almost always went over schedule because the directors were indecisive and people would talk in between each shoot. As a main actor I was one of about 7 key people that stayed almost every single day.” In this quote you can sense my frustration, but I think it more so showcases my will and devotion to be a strong team member even when everyone else lacks the same sense of commitment.
Other areas that I have shown strong leadership and dependability as a team player have been during exhibitions. When putting together our “Canada in the 1920’s and 30’s” exhibition last year, we had less than a week to put it all together, yet we got it done and it looked great. Maria, Kirby, Luciano, Chloe, and I worked extrmemely cohesively together to build our props in under three days, and put it all together in the gym in less than 3 hours. We had our lines completely memorized and our costumes all together by the time people were coming in. This just goes to show how much a team can accomplish if everyone is always working diligently and carrying their own wait.
Furthermore, in PLP, on top of what it means to contiribute as a team player, I truly learned how to express creativity in my work like never before. I remember my first blog post we were tasked to come up with our own inquiry question, in relation to Canada in the 1920’s, and answer it with a visual that we made ourselves.
Coming from the linear normal school system, where I was used to answering point form questions out of a textbook, I struggled immensely with this seemingly daunting task. I remember it took me a full weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, starting at 8 in the morning, to write a 300 word post and make a 4 minute iMovie. I struggled so much to grasp the concept of what a blogpost was supposed to be and what I was supposed to write about that I was seriously considering if PLP was for me. However, after that I began experimenting with my posts and trying out all sorts of different types of formats for my visuals. Through doing this I was able to become more and more creative with my work, and I was also able to slowly improve my writing. A few of my most notable, creative visuals are below.
Coming into PLP, if you had told me that I could hand in a rap or a goofy satire as a school project I would have questioned it. However, PLP exposed me to a creative side that I had no idea even existed.
On top of unearthing my creative side, PLP has really improved my public speaking skills and showed me how to be personable with strangers. My first public speaking experience in PLP was when I Presented my “History in 5” video to the school board of directors, along with Zak, Michael, Jayden, and marley.
I remember being extremely scared to talk and answer question on a panel, but little did I know that it would be far from the last time that I would have to do that. Since then I have participated and volunteered at many other PLP events, speaking on behalf of the program. On top of that, over the past few years I have really improved my social skills through conducting interviews with strangers on all sorts of different field studies. The most recent example however, of how PLP has coaxed me to out of my shell, was at the last exhibition when we were forced to talk to random parents, ask them questions about their life, and convince them to do an interview with a grade 10. Through all these experiences I may not have thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I walked away with a new found confidence and ability to uphold myself in a social setting of strangers.
Finally, throughout this year in PLP, In terms of my school work, I truly improved my time management and organization. With the new baseline, challenge, honours system, it really forced me to take responsibility of my own learning, as there was no particular timeline to hand in work. Unlike most people, I handed in most of my blog posts at the end of each unit, so that I could complete the challenge or honours, and not be super stressed when the end of the year rolled around. When we were assigned the Think, Fire, and Facilitation, everyone else was drowning in work, but I found it extremely manageable as I had already completed the work up to that point. Overall, I think organization and time management are good skills to poccess before heading into university or going into a career, because it is only bound to get tougher from here on out as I gain more and more responsibility.