Golden Key AXON 2012: Part 3

Miss our earlier post on the Golden Key AXON 2012 project? Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.
Guest Blog from Thuy Anh, Ngo: Personal Reflection continued
Last week I talked about the planning that went into Golden Key AXON 2012. After one month, the six service projects were completed.  They were titled The Wheel of Time, Nurture the Seeds, Bookaholic Sharing, Green Ideas AXON 2012, Good Action – Great Meaning and The Colors of Youth.   The Wheel of Time’s goal was to bring about enthusiasm for learning history by taking tours to museums and other interactive educational experiences.  Nurture the Seeds taught martial arts to a group of orphaned boys, helped to improve their diets and more. Bookaholic Sharing collected books and sold them to college students and community members at a cheap price with all proceedings benefiting libraries at the children’s shelters. Green Ideas AXON 2012 organized activities for people in the community to learn about different (and sometimes artistic) ways to recycle items.  Good Action – Great Meaning created a video to promote responsible and environmentally-conscience behavior in public parks. And finally, the Colors of Youth organized a day for children from two different foster homes to meet and to participate in educational games so the children could build new friendships.

  After this month, the six groups of students gathered in the Closing Banquet to present and reflect on their service work and to celebrate their success. At the Closing Banquet, the students made posters that showed photos of their activities and prepared slides to present their objectives, actual activities, fundraising efforts and results. These presentations really touched everyone’s heart because of the amount of work students were able to complete within such a short time, the impact of their service on their target communities, the creativity and dedication that went into organizing their activities and especially the lessons they had extracted from their experiences. They really strengthened my belief that Vietnamese youth possess great potential that can be unleashed when given the right opportunities.  Our project aligned well with Golden Key’s mission to unlock the potential of its members.  I am excited to plan AXON 2013 and improve upon what we have already done. We will invite high school teachers to play a more active role in implementing service learning projects, present more practical social issues to students and work toward maximizing the students’ learning experience.

The experiences with Golden Key AXON 2012 were among the most meaningful memories for me. I have gained greater knowledge about service learning, improved my leadership and teamwork skills and developed a more optimistic attitude toward the potential of youth and their sense of community. I was able to feel the strength that came from being able to connect and collaborate both locally and internationally. Such strength really backed me up as I overcame challenges to successfully launch Golden Key AXON 2012 in Vietnam.  I am very thankful to my professors at Trinity University, to the individuals who inspired and encouraged me, to my teammates for their commitment and faith, and to Golden Key International Honor Society for supporting and believing in this initiative.
About the Author: Thuy Anh, Ngo double majored in psychology and math at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. While in school, she was very active as the Treasurer of the Golden Key chapter and the President of the International Club for two subsequent years. She loves working with other people as a team to bring forward events and activities that can meet particular needs of the communities, including both the Trinity and the San Antonio communities. After graduation, she wanted to continue serving her communities in Vietnam and AXON was born out of such aspiration. She enjoys traveling and is currently pursuing a career in teaching.