Things I’m Looking Forward To
Alyssa Pendon (she/her)
Editorial Team Member
Winter is HARD. Especially when you live in Illinois and the weather sucks.
Here are some of the things I’m looking forward to. Because I think we should focus on the good things in the world, especially in our political climate right now.
Business Professionals of America (BPA) State - February 26th-28th
This year, I qualified for BPA state! BPA is an academic club where high school students across the country can compete in different business related events to gain more experience and network. My friends and I placed 2nd in “Global Marketing Team,” in regionals, where we created a ten-page marketing plan for a fake app. We then presented this plan to our judges. The first day of state I basically get to do nothing and eat food, and then the second day I compete and get to hang out with friends. No matter the outcome, I’m ready for the experience!
2. Photovoice Project
I’m a part of the Teen Ambassadors for an organization called Cerbin Teen Goodman Institute (CGTI). It’s a nonprofit underneath Illinois Association for Behavioral Health (IABH), which is dedicated to educating and supporting youth with their health. CGTI is an annual summer and winter conference I attend every year, and I have the privilege to help plan both events! IABH also has multiple programs besides CGTI that support youth (most notable Operation Snowball) and the Teen Ambassadors always help out with a project created by Focus Youth Gambling Prevention, called Photovoice. In Photovoice, we attend four different sessions led by one of the directors of Focus Youth Gambling to understand how and why gambling negatively impacts our communities. At the end of the project, we find examples of gambling in our community and display them during the Operation Snowball Spring Showcase and Awards. I participated in this project last year, but I’m excited to participate again! I think it’s really important and an issue I don’t think about too much. Last year I couldn’t attend most of the meetings so I couldn’t gain the full experience, but I will be able to attend all of the calls this year.
3. 200-meter track
Next week, I get to run on a 200-meter track for the first time! Typically indoor tracks are only 160 meters (don’t ask me why because I don’t know), so we have to run a weird amount of laps during indoor season. Once we get to outdoor season, it sometimes can be a hard jump especially when you get used to the 160 meters inside. But I’ve never ran a 200 meter one, so I’m excited to see how that feels. It also means that my 400 that I typically run only is two laps around the track, and not the usual 2-and-a-half laps.
4. Cultural Fair
My school is hosting a Cultural Fair this year! I always remembered about different cultural celebrations when I was younger, but after Covid, my high school has never had another one. The principal student advisory group really wanted us to have one this year, so it’ll take place across a whole day (which is not too long since it’s during our District Improvement Day) and students can visit different language and cultural club tables and learn about them. For the cultural fair, I get to run the French table all by myself! Although it seems daunting, I’m excited since it’ll be a fun opportunity and I will miss class. I’ve been taking french for three years and I enjoy helping out whenever I can. Periods are only 35 minutes during that day so it’s not like I’d miss that much anyways.
5. My Operation Snowball chapter is more active this spring!
Mentioned previously, Operation Snowball is an organization dedicated to educating and empowering youth about their mental health and drug prevention. Our main activity is a three-day retreat we host in November, and normally we don’t do that much throughout the year. I’m the director for our chapter at my school and it’s my favorite activity at school without a doubt. This year we have a lot planned for the end of winter until spring. For example, we're finally doing our staff applications in the spring, so we don’t have to rush to get all our staff in the fall semester. We’re also going to have our Paint Party with the Art Honors Society and a yoga session for students during lunches in March. Tentatively, we might have a women-focused workshop during lunches as well. My adult directors are also working on having Operation Snowball adult staff (that work for IABH) to come and give us training as well! I’m excited to see what our chapter can accomplish this semester before we start my last year in the fall.
Winter sucks, and there's a lot of things that scare me like the ACT, AP exams, and becoming a senior at the end of the year. However, I can still appreciate all the fun things and opportunities I get to participate in!
