When I knew I would be attending Sage Creek, the Genius Project was in its early stages of life. The first senior class was working on their projects when the class of 2020 were just freshman, wondering what out projects would look like throughout the next four years. I watched Natalie Goins start the now infamous "Shadowcats" program and was luck enough to help her sister, Audrey, take over the program for the last three years. Natalie and Audrey created something new and brought new life to Sage Creek. I wanted to create something like that, something that involved communities outside of our own and build long lasting relationships. This is how I landed on "My Life, My Story".
At this point, anyone reading knows the format of my project front and back. And while it took two years to complete, I grew and learned so much about myself and about the impact of the Genius Project in general during that time. Sage Creek students are honored for their Genius Project achievements at the annual Genius Project Symposium. It allows a handful of selected students to present their Ted Talk style presentation about their project to an audience of family, friends, and community members. I was lucky enough to be on the technical side of the symposium last year, handing microphones back and forth and keeping the line up organized. While doing this, I saw the impact the Genius Project has on the community. While select projects are showcased on stage, many more are presented after the show outside the PAC. I saw parents and students asking seniors about their experience learning a new language or learning how to bake, and saw that the Genius Project is so much more than a project to complete by graduation. It allows students to find something they love, but never have time to explore and to explore it. I learned so much about my leadership style and creativity that I'm very glad I know going into a performing arts major in college. The Genius Project is such a unique experience and I'm so excited to see how my peers are honored for their hard work this year.
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When I started writing blog posts, I knew one would be dedicated to the amazing people who helped me through this journey. This is that post and while it would be impossible to thank everyone who helped me along the way, I would like to highlight a handful that stood out to me and made this experience as impactful as it was.
To start, I would like to thank our senior volunteers from the Carlsbad Senior Center. Noyita, Jan, Mary, Rina, Cliff, and Lynn shared parts of their lives with us and with the community. Their presence on the interview day made me so excited to get to work. I am also so glad they got to see their stories come to life. I am so glad to have met and worked with all of them and the only reason this project achieved my goal is because of their participation. Next, the people who made my vision come to life. Audrey, Luca, Abby, Priya, Mirella, and Nina, thank you all so much for letting me utilize your amazing talent. These Sage Creek students made me so proud of our school and our drama department. Goodness knows I threw a lot at them throughout the two months we were working together, but they always took it with adaptability and excitement. What they did meant so much to so many people and I'm so grateful they wanted to work on this with me. I was luck enough to have the most amazing adult support I could have asked for. Thank you Mrs. Alberts for bouncing ideas off of me and always being there when I had a question or needed to work out an issue. And thank you Mr. Manente for being my accountabilibuddy and for being so supportive of my project. I'm very glad I had these two educators on my side. In addition, the generosity I experienced from the Carlsbad Senior Center was amazing. Thank you Jennifer Burros and Margaret Hammer for all of your help and support from advertisement to the final performance. The encouragement I received made me realize I wasn't the only one who wanted to show these stories to the community. The Genius Project thrives with teamwork and collaboration. It can be scary reaching out to so many people at first, but in the end, you will create a network of amazing people that will be able to help you get closer to your goal. And everyone will benefit from that. As many Genius Projects do, I encountered many bumps in the road. The project I ended with was far different from the one I had begun working on two years prior. Accepting this change and making many adjustments was difficult at first, becoming easier as time went on. It is only natural for one to want their initial vision to come to life. My initial vision became much too ambitions very quickly.
My first draft of the structure for my Genius Project saw 10 Sage Creek Drama students interview 20 seniors, 10 from a senior center in Carlsbad and 10 from a senior center in a different city close by. I wanted to have two versions of the performance so I could share the experience with as many communities as possible. I tried very stubbornly to make this happen, but in the end, it was just too much for one person to orchestrate. That was the first major change. I was now only going to have one version of the performance. While this was the first thing I had to change, it would certainly not be the last. However, as I continued through my process and made changes like only using six student and senior volunteers to only having one showing of the performance, I became more willing to compromise and shift the vision of my project. The final product I ended up with still had all of the core elements I knew I wanted on my first planning day. I created a student to senior connection, I helped spread stories, and I brought the community together. Even through challenging spots, those goals had still been achieved and my project was a success. This journey began sitting in the corner of a Starbucks, trying to come up with something I wanted to contribute to my community. My Girl Scout Bronze Award project worked with women and children and my Silver Award worked with upper elementary aged children. I wanted to switch up the demographic I would be working with and landed on senior citizens.
Welcome to my first Genius Project blog post! Over the past two years, I have been lucky enough to partner with members of the community to create a project that I am very proud of. Hours of hard work and dedication led me to create "My Life, My Story," a verbatim style theatre experience that utilized the real life experiences of senior citizens right here in Carlsbad.
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