On April 30th, 2009, some peer mediators from Hialeah Gardens High had a chance to go to Westland Hialeah High School to be trained to peer mediate. I got a chance to go to this workshop. Even though I had been a peer mediator the previous year this workshop refreshed my mind on what I learned. Also I learned some new techniques. Today in the workshop Ms. Tamika was the speaker and she talked with us about mediation, confidentiality, communication skills, resolutions, different type of conflicts, and finally the definition of conflict. We also participated in some activities such as writing what was our point of view on different conflicts teenagers face and writing some solutions for these conflicts. We also shared our point of view of the difference between court and mediation and we practiced paraphrasing. Finally, we got into a group of four, made up a conflict and two peer mediators practised mediating the problem. The day was very fun and interesting. This made me realize that I do want to make a difference in our school and that’s why I want to become a Peer Mediator of Hialeah Gardens High School. Last but not least, a special thank you to Coach Binder/Trust Counselor, Mr. Napoles, and Ms. Nadel.
P.S. Thank you Ms. Nadel for today =] Also, the significance of this picture was because as gladiators we do care for our school and that is why some of us decided to be Peer Mediators.
April 25th, 2009, was Global Youth Service Day. As a school we participated in Hands on Miami to help on this day. Global Youth Service Day is one of the biggest days where many people come out and serve their community. Hialeah Gardens High School got lucky to have one of the representatives of Hands on Miami, Alexandria Segovia [[my best friend]], at our school. So the day commenced with me waking up at 7:00 a.m. to be at school for 8 a.m. Then we headed to Amelia Earheart Park. From there we signed in and then we chose for our school to all help on the Mountain Bike trail. After we got separated into groups, and each group had a different job. Some people cleared the trails while others put mulch on the trails to make it better for the riders. In my group we had Felipe, who is in a wheel chair, Gilbert Soles, Maricelys Amaya, and me. We got to do a whole bike trail on our own. Although it was challenging helping Felipe maneuver up hills and around some corners but we got through it. I was inspired on how even though he was in a wheel chair, he still decided to come out and help with this hard and physical work. On the bike trail we moved all the obstacles that may affect the bike riders, like twigs hanging from a tree to bottles on the ground. It took us the full three hours to do the whole bike trail, but we finished it. Something that really surprised me was when we were picking up trash and a bike rider stopped and gave us thanks for what we were doing and this touched me. I didn’t think that somebody was going to stop from their time riding their bike to thank us. This was an awesome experience because I learned that team work is very effective on a job. Finally, I give thanks to Alexandria and Ms. Nadel for sponsoring the trip for our school and giving us an opportunity to make the world a better place.
