Camping and long essays

Hey. These are all the questions and requirements that CIE had for me. The whole process took me about 4 days to complete. The demanding word count took a lot in me and I had to think deep. I did enjoy writing and making essays since it also gave me time to think about my own identity about my aspirations and goals. I'd decided to compile all of it here for memories sake.

Why do you want to participate in the Camp Exchange USA Program? *

I'd like to join Camp for the experience. Being able to go to a different country, meet different people and interacting with them excites me the most. Building new relationships, having new friends and making new connections with people makes me feel ecstatic every time. The fact that I would be working with people that have different cultures I am able to explore and learn new things and that is something I find interesting. You get to discover, practice, understand and know people. There are plenty of places waiting to be discovered. Other than that, an exiting factor is how you could learn something from other people but at the same time, you can share your own culture with them. The cultural exchange really helps us be knowledgeable and appreciate the different cultures from all over the world. From food, religion, traditions, language, there is plenty of things to unearth and explore. Other than that, being able to teach kids is something I look forward too. I love kids and I also love sports. Being able to teach my passion like soccer to kids is close to my heart. The dedication, experiences and the love that I put into this sport is what I want the kids to feel whenever they learn this. Seeing little kids learning and enjoying soccer makes me nostalgic. Soccer for me is more than just a sport. It taught me how to be disciplined, courageous, brave, and valued the importance of teamwork and camaraderie which I hope I can impart to these kids. Overall, learning from other people at the same time sharing my own experience as well is something I look forward too.

What contributions do you think you can make to campers and fellow staff? * I will do my best in giving my full-on effort in whatever that requires of me and more. I am generally an optimistic and enthusiastic person who does not easily give up on certain things. Usually, I'd keep my head high despite all the failures and continue to do what I can to solve a problem with a positive attitude. Through this, I can influence people to be more resilient and have that positive mindset. At the same time, I am a fast thinker. I can find and critically think of ways to solve a problem or a situation. Next, I would say I am a friendly person and an includer. I make sure everybody is part of the group and that nobody is left out. I am an open-minded person and I reach out to those who are generally shy or feel like they are an outsider. I believe that everybody has the right to voice out their ideas. Being able to connect people by finding commonalities is one thing I can do for us fellow campers and staff to help one another in working as a team. Other than that, I am also a peacemaker. I don't like conflict, therefore, I do all that I can by seeking out and understanding each side of any arguments and being able to find a consensus or a common ground for agreement. With this, I can help and understand those who have disagreements and I try to solve them as harmoniously as possible. Finally, I believe that I am a person who observes people. People's style, motivation, strength, skills, and personalities. Through these observations, I am able to find out how I can bring the best out of that person and how I can build on their individual strength and help each other collaborate as a stronger team. I think I have good socials skills and know-how to build relationships to form a strong team together.

Please provide details about your leadership experiences, community involvement and volunteer experiences. * A notable volunteer experience I had was the recently concluded South East Asian Games here in the Philippines. I volunteered to be a sports liaison for fencing. I was assigned to the country of Cambodia. As a Sports Liason, I had to be present in the entire duration which was around for a month. This includes inside and outside the fencing area up to their hotel. Despite the hotel being far from my house, I'd make sure that I'd be there before breakfast and text the coach ahead of time for any updates. I'd need to take care of their schedules, events, activities. From their transportation the hotel to the stadium and their entire meals. To be honest there were times wherein the transportation was late due to the traffic as well as the food. After a few days of adjusting, I was able to make sure that the transportation and food was on time through coordinating and texting the contact personnel. Despite the language barrier, I was able to communicate and understand them quite with the help of google translate. Being able to volunteer and helping my country host the SEA games was rewarding despite the stress that was given to me. Other than, I also take part in soccer tournaments and became a captain. I made a team to compete for a tournament and made sure that everybody gets to play an equal amount of time and everybody was accommodated. While the games were quite competitive I did my best to make the experience a pretty fun one. Back in high school, we were sent to a less privileged area to help them. Overpopulation of water hyacinths are evident in Cardona Rizal, although most of the people that live in this area are not very knowledgeable of its uses. What we did was interview the community to provide them enough information about the production of charcoals from water hyacinths and to make use of such knowledge to make aware of this process throughout the community. The overall experience taught me how to communicate and understand the needs of the people.

Please share as much as you can about your experience working with children. How many children, how often, ages, activities etc. * Back when I was in high school, we were all required to teach public schools in less privileged areas. This was called Tulung Dunong. Every friday of an entire semester we would go to this place to teach. A lesson plan a week before was needed for us to use. This consisted of prayers, activities, the lesson itself, games and things that are needed to get their attention. We taught kids around 10-14 years old and each student had around 4-7 kids to teach. We had a choice of either teaching math or English and I chose English. Despite the difficulty in learning English, I made sure they were able to understand the lesson well in a fun way. There were times that I needed to get their attention, therefore each session I made sure that our activity had games or an incentive in order for them to participate. Towards the end of the session I give them HW about the lesson that day and make them summarize what we have learned. Other than that, we had to visit a province in order to help them in any that we can. We were all sent to one family and had to settle in their place every week. Our family had 3 kids and usually, we would go to with them in order to get to know the place more. They were around 8-9 years old. We'd usually ask permission from the parents if we needed to do something. Our overall experience there was a lovely one because we really got to connect and engage with the kids there.

Please describe a situation in which you have needed to adapt to changes outside of your control. How did you handle the situation and what was the outcome? * Being a student-athlete has an abundant amount of responsibilities for me to take care of. From being barraged by the heavy schoolwork and the early morning and afternoon training I do the best that I can to balance all of these. There are times wherein training would take longer than usual or school work was needed to be done outside school. The ability to be able to handle that type of stress and do all of these tasks in a calmy manner helped me get through those days. One particular situation in which I needed to adapt was when I volunteered to be a Sports Liason for the South East Asian Games. I was under the team Cambodia. I had to schedule their food and transportation each and every day. However, there were things that were out of our control such as when the bus arrives or when the food arrives. Despite messaging them hours before the time that the food or transportation was needed there were times that it would be late. During these moments I do my best in reading and analyzing the situation and checking what is the next best course of action. I message the coach and reassure that the bus and food would come soon enough. I try to tell them this in a calm manner despite them being impatient. I message the food or bus to be a bit faster and I'd usually ask for updates every now and then. As the days pass by, I always review where the situation what happened and try to fix the mistakes or find ways to avoid them. Eventually, I was able to improve the time of delay of the bus or food through texting or calling directly the contact personnel. Honestly, the job was stressful, especially when the coach and players are directly asking you where their bus is or where the food is. However, despite it being out of my control I do my best in what I can control and try to manage the situation as calmy as possible.

Please share some additional details about your future career goals and plans. * My future career goal is to become a student jock which will hopefully lead me to become a newscaster. However, I still take an interest in becoming a coach for my beloved sport soccer because I'd like to teach what I am passionate about. Being able to join a summer camp in the US is a huge step for me because it will expose me outside my comfort zone. My goals such as becoming a student jock, a coach, and a newscaster all require interaction, communicating and working with other people. With summer camp, this will hone my skills in speaking and collaborating with people As I said, teaching my passion which is soccer is also in line with what I have planned for the future and I believe that through this camp I am able to fulfill this dream.

Please provide additional information about your previous experience with camping and outdoor pursuits. * I'd say I am a pretty adventurous and outgoing person. Like my family I love to travel ! We've been all around the Philippines from north to south. I went to Banaue Rice Terraces, Pagudpud, which all of them had a fair share of exploring and hiking to do. Recently, I finished the spartan race! My course is Bachelor of Physical Education, therefore, I needed to take camping levels 1 and 2. My group's first station was the first aid and briefing station. Here we were taught how to take care of people knocked out, how to cure a hangover, how to save yourself first and more. Then we headed on to different types of stations from playing frisbee, obstacle courses, team building, paddle boarding, and swimming. The second campout was in Batangas. We had our first activity which was learning how to CPR. Then, our first event was the archery range. Here we figured out how to use a bow and an arrow whilst being safe. Safety was the number one rule here hence we had protocol and rules the same with the other activities. The following events were flag football and softball. While learning the rules of each sport we were able to socialize and play as a team. We needed to communicate and play as a united front to win against the opponent. Next, we had a rifle shooting. Again, safety protocols were needed to prevent any injury or harm. Then we had our trekking. The journey going to that beautiful sight was worth it. Thankfully my campmates accompanying made the long walk a bit lighter through conversing with one another. The final destination which was the Lagoon was the relaxing part. This part gave me a sense of relief and fulfillment because after the past tiring days my campmates and I were able to cool down and swim. This was truly heartwarming because I saw how everyone genuinely enjoyed swimming. This perfectly concluded our last campout and showed how if you work hard for something towards the end the reward would be there.

Please write a few paragraphs telling us more about yourself, your background, interests and hobbies, and how you came to apply for the program. What would you like to share about yourself and your culture while at camp this summer? What are your personal goals while at camp? How will this experience fit with your lifelong goals? * Understanding. Throughout all the years I wanted to understand. From the moment that I was born plenty of questions circulated my head, with simple questions like why the sky is blue? Why leaves are green? I came up with an answer to these questions. From day-to-day experiences, there is bound to be a question or two. As days build-up to my age now, my questions start to be more sophisticated and mellowed. With all that is happening to the world, I get more curious every day. Let it be from culture, religion, or language. From what I learned to understand you need experience, and the best way to do this is through traveling. Adventure. I always wanted to venture out into the world and explore. Due to soccer, I was given a chance to go to Barcelona. The climate was peculiar to my skin. It took me days to adjust to the cold and breezy air. As days passed in my stay in Barcelona, I continually learned something new. I learned that soccer will always be Barcelona’s culture. Soccer for me will always be my passion and sport, Barcelona would be the perfect place for me, but little did I know soccer for them is life. With every town we surpassed, there is bound to be a football stadium. It would seem unusual if one kid would have a basketball rather than a football. Like my coach said they eat, sleep and live with soccer. What I can take away in my journey to Barcelona is my love for the word culture. Culture will always be a part of the world. Culture will always be my continuing fascination and interest due to the different varieties and backgrounds in which it came from. Culture will always satisfy my curiosity around the world. Love. From what I understand love is the reason why my parents continue to work for the betterment of my future. Love is the reason why God sent his only to Jesus to be our salvation and all. Other than culture, religion is one of the biggest parts of people’s lives. It has always driven people to find meaning in life. Religion is a system of faith and worship and is a set of beliefs in each person. My appreciation of religion was when I went to my friends “praise and worship”. I was hesitant at first since I was a Catholic Christian joining a different practice from what I have. I knew this would be a whole new experience for me. As we both got into the Regis and the elevator I was shaky and skeptical. As the elevator went “ding” a group of people welcomed me as I exited the elevator. Whilst I was trying to catch my speedy friend to get a seat, a band caught my attention. In the back of my head, I asked: “Why is there a band in a religious gathering”. Not that it's bad to have one but I’d find it unusual since in our church it was all too quiet. People were singing pretty loud and were brought by the music the band was playing. Right there and then it hit me music. Music is their form to show their love to God. Music brings them and unites them as one voice to express their undying thanks and worship to God. With their hands up, silence hit all of a sudden. The pastor speaks the word of God and I see everyone’s head bowed down. What used to be a loud room turned into a peaceful and noiseless place. Plenty of people feeling and reacting to what the pastor was saying. I felt how people take in their emotions and show their faith to the Lord. Religion for me always be life-changing. My understanding of religion is it drives people to change for the better, to find that one meaning, to answer the question “why”. Adventure, Love, Culture, Religion, are meaningless words without having to experience them. Words that I’ll never truly understand. I believe my strength is my curiosity and my undying will to understand. To understand the things around me. My friend named Queen was the one who introduced me to camp. A place where you could teach kids different types of sports and a place where you can meet various types of people. This caught my eye instantaneously. Being able to travel, learn new cultures and things. I thought to myself how I should not let this opportunity pass. I asked for an orientation and said how perfect was this for me. If I were to share about myself and my culture in this summer camp it would take a long time. From my experiences in school as a student-athlete, my religion, the Filipino culture, and my entire life which I'd be happy to share it with anyone. My personal goal in this camp is to expose myself and have the chance and use this opportunity to meet and make new connections. Be able to impart my skill set to the kids in camp and finally to enjoy my time in camp. This will certainly fit my lifelong goals because my goals consist of working and socially interacting with people. The best way to do this is by going to a different with different people and different cultures. The ability for me to adjust to any type of people, situations, cultures can surely help me achieve my goal. This camp is one huge step for me to take to achieve that goal.