Blog # 13: 20 Percent Project Final Presentation

     This is the video that I made to present as the result of the 20 Percent Project. After working on this project for an entire school year I made a video to represent my work. The original idea for the project was to create a documentary on my experiences in the pro-life field. However, I was unable to do all the things I had hoped I could do. I had originally hoped to visit pregnancy centers, attend workshops, visit abortion centers, get testimonies, and create a documentary for my project. My project took an unexpected turn when I decided to create a new group on campus called Students for Life. I worked for about 4 months to go through the application process and to plan the group. I had hoped to do other things but the application process took a lot longer than I thought it would. Although we are not officially a group on campus we have come a long way. I am really proud of the end result of my 20 Percent Project because I would consider it a success. Thanks to the help of my friends, teachers, principal, parents, and Students for Life of America I was able to create this video. This video is a reflection of the journey to form Students for Life and the people that have helped and inspired me. A big thank you to all who have inspired me! 

Blog # 12: One Week Left!

     The end of the 20 Percent Project is very near. After working on this project for the entire year I will get to present to the teacher and the entire class what I have done. The purpose of the project was originally to make somebody's life better. I'm not exactly sure if I did make somebody's life better but I do know that I inspired others. As the project comes to an end I realize that I really shifted a lot from my original vision of the project. I started with the idea that I was going to visit a lot of places, meet a lot of people, and gain insight on the pro-life movement. I wanted to visit a lot of places and videotape a lot but it turned out really hard to attend events. My busy schedule and lack of transportation to places prevented me from doing as much as I would've liked. Although I might sound like I didn't achieve my goal I would say that I exceeded it. I did something that I never would've thought I could do; I started a club called Students for Life. Students for Life is the final result of my pro-life project and it is the best thing I could have done. 

     I am really proud to present the end result of my project as a club I started. The problem that I faced last week was figuring out how to present the project. I knew I wanted to do a video but I had no idea what I wanted to include in it. Once I came up with the idea it took me a while to put it into action. The problem that I had this week and that I still have today is getting the video clips for my video. I began to practice recording on my video camera with my friend but after entering the SD card in my computer I realized that my computer could not view the videos. I could hear the audio but I had no visual. It took me a long time to figure out alternative means to recording. It was something so simple that turned out to be so complicated. I am currently using my dad's tablet to record. I have begun recording the people I want in my video but I still have a lot more people to record. My challenge the week before the presentation is to create the video.

Blog # 11: Result of Flower Sale

       

  On Mother's Day my mom and I spent the day selling flowers at our church St. Justin Martyr. It was really nice because it was our bonding day together. However, we had a huge lack of volunteers. I was not the main organizer for this event so I only asked a few people to volunteer since I thought that other people were going to be there. When I got there only two people were there. Throughout the whole day we only had a total of 5 volunteers. We were able to sell a lot of flowers throughout the morning but we had a lot of flowers leftover. I was really disappointed by the lack of participation. Although we made good profit I believe we could have done better if more people would've been there. To be honest this discouraged me a bit. However, I took it as another motivation to continue what I'm doing. I want to continue to inspire others through my work because the reality is that we need more active pro-life believers. 

    

     Apart from that I have a lot of really good news. A while back I submitted an application to have my blog a part of prolifeblogs.com and I got a notification that my blog was added to their website. I was really excited about this because it meant that my little blog could have the chance to reach a broader audience. The blogs there are really good and its just amazing to see my blogs name on there. Another amazing email that I received was the confirmation of the Survivors Training Camp during the summer. I got the packet to fill out now. I'm really excited to be attending a pro-life camp in the summer and I am very fortunate that I got a spot. The past week I came up with a really good idea to do for my project and I need to start taking footage. My project presentation is going to be absolutely amazing!

Blog # 10: Three Weeks Left!

     I have been making progress but I just realized that I am running out of time. I am excited about the progress but feeling a little cramped on time. I need more time. I have about two weeks to present the project and although I have done a lot of small activities I don't have any real hard material since I haven't taken many videos or pictures. The biggest step in my project, which was taking the initiative to start the group, took a lot longer than I expected. It actually took up about two months of my project. I am super excited that the paperwork has been sent but I am anxious to get a response back. I really wish I could have the club approved before the presentation but that is highly unlikely. I am very optimistic about the club getting approved but I do dread that the application will be denied. Either way, I have to think of something else to do for the presentation. I have a couple of ideas but I need to pick one and figure out how to do it.

     However, I have an upcoming event. On May 11th I will be selling flowers outside of mass at my church for Mother's Day. A lot of mothers give up their babies for abortion but we want to celebrate all the mothers that said no to abortion. All of the profits of the flower sale will be going to pro-life pregnancy centers. This will be considered the first event of Rebels for Life. It is an example of further activities we will be doing. I hope we can raise a lot of money!

Happy Mother's Day to all those who chose life. 

   

Blog # 9: Improvement & Progress = Success

          These past few weeks have been absolutely busy and crazy. I'm actually surprised that I am able to find enough time to do pro-life things. Despite the craziness I am really excited about my progress. Last week I signed up for the Survivors Pro-Life Training Camp over the summer. The cost is $425 for 12 days of this pro-life "boot camp". I am really excited to be attending an actual camp and I was very lucky to have my spot reserved in time because as of now the spots are completely filled. I am hoping that this camp will show me what I am meant to do in the pro-life movement. I am also working on getting better in contact with pro-life organizations so that they can help me out. I am planning to take the diapers I collected to Casa Teresa on May 1st. After that I am also planning to visit another pregnancy center and volunteer there. 

     Time is coming up fast and I realized that I have to present my 20 Percent Project in a couple weeks. I know that I am going to do a video but I don't know what I'm going to include in the video. I haven't really taken much video of what I have done so there isn't much. I really need to get my creative juices flowing and think of the format of the video soon because I'm running out of time. Hopefully Rebels for Life will be an official club by then so I can present that.
     An update on my club Rebels for Life is that it was finally approved by my principal and it will now be sent to the district for approval. I had a meeting with him and 3 other of my friends on Friday to talk about the club. After us explaining the details about the club he gave us 100% of his support. I am so glad that we were able to work this out. I really hope the process doesn't take that long so that I am able to include the club in my presentation in May.

Blog # 8: Planning

     I would like to start off by saying that things have been going really good lately. I have been doing a lot of planning for my pro-life group at school. I had been working on a pro-life video to display on the school announcements and I was finally able to present it to the club at yesterday's weekly meeting. They all gave me very positive feedback and supported me. Now all that's left is to get it approved and put it into the daily announcements. I am a bit worried that they will deny the video because we are technically not an official group. Not being an official group really discourages me sometimes because it limits me a lot in what I can and can't do. There are a lot of events that I want to do and I really can't do them on campus. My very next step is going to be to check up on the application for the group. I was told that it would take about a month to get the club approved by the district but I am afraid that the application hasn't even been sent in. I will not be very happy if I find that to be true. Either way I know that I will be able to have a group eventually by the end of the year and in the end that's all that matters. 

     So far I have two events coming up soon. The first one will take place on April 19th at Casa Teresa. Casa Teresa is a place where women are able to go and receive housing, food, clothes, and prenatal care. It is a really good place and we will be going to deliver diapers. A little while ago I hosted a diaper drive with my church and we were able to raise money as well as diapers. We will then be taking the diapers and the money to them as a donation. It will be a new experience for me and anyone else who accompanies us because I have never been to a pregnancy care center. The second event will take place at the Christ Cathedral on April 26th. It will be a meeting with the pro-life ministries of the Diocese of Orange. I was invited to this event by the pro-life coordinator in my church. So far I have a couple people signed up to attend this event. I am also hoping to have any members of Students for Life attend this group. 

     I have a lot of work to do and I am willing to work harder. I will start planning the meetings on Thursdays to make them more effective so that we are more prepared when the group is official. Below is the clip that I am hoping to get on the school announcements.

Blog # 7: A Work in Progress

     I am really excited about forming my own group on campus. It feels really good to be doing something different for a change. To be honest I never though that I would get that far, but thankfully I have. I just recently made contact with Students for Life to talk to them about my group. I sent them an email and I received a response from the West Coast Coordinator of Students for Life. She expressed to me her excitement to begin working with us and she seemed just as happy as I am to be working together. We are currently working on scheduling a day to have a pro-life training. I need to coordinate a day that will work for the other members in the group. She did mention, however, that the training would have to be via the internet because she will not be in the area for a while. Along with the training she will be sending a starter activism kit and I will need to fill out a group form to send to them. A little obstacle right now is that I am somewhat limited in what I can do on campus because the group is not official yet. I need to do a check up to see how the process is going to make the group official. Other than that I would say that I am doing some significant progress. 

     An upcoming event will be taking place Saturday March 19th at St. Boniface Catholic Church. It will be a prayer vigil coordinated with my youth group at my own parish. We will stand outside an abortion clinic to do a silent protest in prayer. This event is taking place due to the 40 Days for Life. The 40 Days for Life is a nationwide campaign of prayer to end abortion. I am hoping to be able to attend this event to support the youth against abortion. I will definitely make sure to take lots of pictures of this event. 

Blog # 6: Lack of Planning

     I was unable to attend the UCLA Leadership Summit and the March for Life due to lack of organization. I did not plan ahead of time and when the date crept up on me I was unprepared. I was disappointed that I was unable to attend because it seemed like a really good opportunity. However that experience taught me an important lesson about organization. I Learned that I need to step it up and start planning out what I need to do ahead of time. My teacher seemed to have the same idea because he had us make a schedule about what we are going to do with our projects. My schedule was a little vague but it did help me organize myself and start thinking. I now have a better idea of what I want to do and what I need to do. 

   

     Lately I have been working hard on my future group Students for Life. At our last meeting on Thursday we began brainstorming ideas for the group. We decided that we need to start promoting the group on campus. Promoting the group is crucial to success because we want to get as many people as possible. So far to promote the group we came up with the idea of selling bracelets, making shirts, making a video, and hanging posters around campus. We realized that we have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of major issues that we need to discuss and one of those is that we basically need to figure out a structure for the group. I have a lot of work ahead but I am happy where we're at right now; we are where I never imagined we'd be.

Blog # 5: Upcoming Events

     I have been trying to get more involved in pro-life activities but it has been a bit hard. So far most of the work that I have done has been on my own account. Although it is good for me to do my own activities I feel that it is also important for me to be involved with other professional pro-life organizations. I want to be recognized by other organizations to gain connections. As a result I have two upcoming events: the March for Life and the UCLA Pro-Life Leadership Training.

     

      The March for Life will be taking place on March 15th at Encino, CA. I had heard of this event years ago and I had always wanted to go. The main purpose of the event is to spread awareness about abortion in the community. I could either be a walker or I could even volunteer to help out in the event. I would love to attend but it will be quite tricky considering that neither of my parents have the physical health to attend an event that long. I will try to attend if I find someone else to accompany me and if not I will attend the UCLA Pro-Life Leadership Training. 

     If I am unable to attend the March for Life I will be attending another pro-life event on March 15th. I will try to attend the Pro-Life Leadership Program at UCLA. This event is something that I think will benefit the group that I am trying to form because it will teach the other leaders and I what is necessary to make the group Students for Life successful. It is most likely that I will be attending this event. However, I better figure it out soon so that I can sign up for the event that I want to attend. 

Blog # 4: Paperwork for Savanna Students for Life

     I have actually been very busy the past few weeks so I had procrastinated on getting the paperwork for the Pro-Life club at school. The paperwork is very simple and basic but there was still some minor details that I had to figure out. I was finally able to get the signature from the future club adviser just last week. The next step is to type the club purpose so that I can turn in the paperwork. I plan to have the paperwork turned in no later than March 12th because I want to have the club running as soon as possible. I'm still not sure how hard it is going to be to make the club official. For the application I need to have the Principal's signature as well as the Assistant Superintendent's signature. After that I am not sure exactly who has to make the group official. In other words I still have a lot of work to do.

     To promote the group my next step is to create a Facebook group to spread the word out about the group. My friend will actually be the one primarily in charge for the media for the group since she is a passionate pro-life leader as well. I am hoping to use the power of other social medias as well to help spread the word. I will be contacting Students for Life of America to tell them about our progress and to ask for help to start the group. I am really optimistic about the pro-life group but at the same time I am afraid that the group will not be a success. All I can do is pray for the best. 

Purpose of Savanna Students for Life:

"Members of Students for Life will work to save the lives of those threatened by abortion. The respect for life will be promoted and encouraged among those who share the same life concerns."

Blog # 3: Students for Life

     I had been thinking for quite some time to create a pro-life group at my school. I got even more inspired at the Youth Rally for Life and I decided that I was going to make one. However, the fire of the rally went away and I forgot about my idea. The idea returned to me when I received an email to participate in the Pro-life Chalk Day. The Pro-Life Chalk Day did not inspire me to start the group but rather it led me to a link to Students for Life. 

     Students for Life inspired me to begin the group because they offer a lot of help to students that are pro-life. I was very excited because they could support students with things like workshops, flyers, guest speakers, and even financial assistance. The main idea I liked them was because they would give me a more direct path to follow and a format for the group I was to create. I was so excited and after doing my research I was sure that I had to make this happen. I messaged my two closest friend and told them what I was planning to do and they completely gave me their support. Then I realized that this was a really good idea in my head but in reality it would be a lot more work than what I thought. 

     I knew that the main obstacle would be to overcome the controversy faced by the school. I knew of a teacher that was in charge of a club called Rebels for Christ and I decided that he would be a good choice as an adviser. I needed to make sure that I had some support from a teacher in order to make it happen. I had procrastinated a while and I finally made the decision to go talk to him on Thursday because he was having his regular Rebels for Christ meetings. I received so much support and positivism from him that it really made my day. He gave me absolute support and said it would be wonderful to have a pro-life group on campus. After school my friend even went to pick up the necessary paperwork. 

     The next step is for me to contact Students for Life and see if I can gain their support to make our group official. After that I need to begin spreading the word around campus to encourage people to join the group. Once that is settled I will get the signatures and turn in the paperwork to start the club. I have a lot of work ahead of me to make this work. 

Blog # 2: National Pro-Life Chalk Day

     On February 6, 2014 National Pro-Life Chalk Day impacted many sidewalks with their pro-life messages. I learned about this event through an email and I decided that it was easy, cheap, and something that could really have an impact. I go to a public school in which the worldly desires overcome those of morality at times. I knew that leaving a pro-life message on the floor would at the very least awake the issue of abortion in some students' lives even if just for a second. I first made sure to research my legal rights in order to avoid an unpleasant confrontation with the school.
     I gathered my chalk and my friends and headed out to my high school on February 5th at around 5:30 p.m. to begin chalking. It was a pretty thrilling and exciting experience to feel like we were doing something different for a change. It felt good to stand up for what I believed in. We avoided chalking on the campus but we made sure to write on the most heavily walked sidewalks around school. We did a lot of small drawings but we also did some big writings. We all left feeling pretty accomplished that night at about 7:30 p.m.
     I could barely sleep that night imagining what would happen the next day! Overall we did not hear any comments about what was written on the sidewalk. I had honestly expected to hear a lot more talk about the chalk on the campus but I heard none. Then the unthinkable happened; it started to sprinkle and later to rain. It hardly rains in Anaheim and I was honestly disappointed to have the rain wash away our work. My dad brought up my spirits by telling me, "Even if you impacted one person, it was all worth it." He was right. I know that we made a difference and in the end that's all that matters.The school better prepare themselves to see our writing soon!

Blog # 1: Youth Rally, 9 Days for Life, and Diaper Drive

     My pro-life activism has increased ever since I attended the Youth Rally for Life on January 18th. I would like to start off by saying that the Youth Rally for Life was a wonderful experience. There I learned the importance of activism. Kristina Garza, director of Campus Outreach, challenged us by telling us that it was not enough to say that your pro-life. I was able to gain a lot of information as well as get in contact with a lot of Pro-Life organizations. I also got the chance to listen to the beautiful voices of the Jacob and Matthew Band live for the second time! I was glad to see a good amount of youth from my church St. Justin Martyr attend. I know they enjoyed it as much as I did!

     The same day that I attended the Youth Rally for Life I also began the prayer vigil 9 Days for Life. 9 Days for Life was a prayer vigil from January 18th-26th. The vigil could be done via email, internet, or an app. I downloaded the app and each day came with a dedication, prayer, reflection, and an act of reparation. I particularly liked the act of reparation because each day it challenged me to do something new. For example, some of the things I chose to do were learn about a 20th century saint, pray a rosary, clean a room without being told, or say a special prayer. It felt good to do prayer for a change as it is crucial to the pro-life movement. 

     In an effort to challenge the youth at my church I asked a very special favor of them. I am part of a leadership core team at my church which is called Anchor. During our weekly Tuesday meeting I asked each to bring a pack of diapers. I could tell by their faces that it was strange so I quickly explained that it was to help support the Pro-Life Clinics. Pro-Life Clinics were created to help out women whom had once considered abortion. Simple things like diapers are necessities for women with newborn babies. Providing diapers can aid them by reducing the cost of diapers. I am hoping to have a van full of diapers to drive to the clinic soon!

Week 9: Almost There, Youth Rally for Life

     The day is almost here! I have been waiting for the Youth Rally for Life for months and months! I know that the Right to Life League of Southern California has done a lot to prepare for this event and I give them my deepest thanks. The speakers, the music, the testimonies, and the youth are all expected to be wonderful and I know that they will exceed my expectations. However, I have learned from past experiences that nothing is ever what it seems. Every single one of the religious conventions and retreats I have attended have turned out to be completely different than what I expected. Therefore I expect the same results from the Youth Rally for Life. 

     Part of me can't help to feel anxious and a bit nervous. Nervous because I'm not sure what will happen or exactly how things will turn out to be. Anxious because I have been waiting for this event for a long time. However, almost everything is ready for this Saturday. I have the youth representing St. Justin Martyr Catholic Church, transportation, registration, and video camera ready. All that is left is the last few applications and an SD Card for my video camera. I am so ready for whatever awaits me at this encounter and may it help in my fight against abortion!