Interview with Savreen C. (Grade 10)

Tell me a bit about your project – why did you decide to take it on?

Initially, when I was brainstorming ideas for what my Personal Project could be primarily focused on, I knew I wanted to choose something that could be used to help others. I came up with several ideas but choosing to support the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) really stuck out to me. As a kid, I took part in the “Door to Door” campaign held by CCS. Often, I would hear the same response consistently, “oh I already donate to a bunch of these” or “another one?” and this is when I realized that a large portion of people don’t really have a proper understanding of where their money goes when they donate it. I figured that if people were more educated on this topic, it would help foundations such as CCS receive more money to help those in need.

What focus did your project take?

When it came to this project, my focus was rather to raise awareness than money because my thinking process was more so “the more people know, the more willing they would be towards donating in the future.” As people came to my stand, I ensured to thoroughly explain the process of how the money is used, who it effects, how it affects them and how people can take further initiative to help others (all of this was included in the documentary I created as well) while giving them the option of donating money while they were there. 

What did you learn? What was your greatest challenge, how you overcame it, or your biggest takeaway?

“Oh great, we have to do a crazy long project in Grade 10. Can’t wait!” is what I had sarcastically said to my friends back in Grade 9, but little did Grade 9 me know that I would actually enjoy Personal Project as much as I did. I learnt how important it is to not do something for the sake of ‘doing it’ but rather to do something with interest, and the motive to learn or make an impact, and this is a life lesson that will most definitely come in handy when it comes to making decisions about my career in the future. 

My greatest challenge was not communicating, or researching, or constructing my documentary, but rather time management. Instead of spending 30-60 minutes daily on my project, I’d leave it for the end of the week and it definitely piled up with the rest of my school assignments. After spending an entire night without sleep to finish both school and personal project work and being extremely cranky the next morning is when I realized how important it is to time manage and that was definitely my biggest take away.