Service Project
Who did I work with?
My service learning project was a project in which I volunteered with the deaf and hard of hearing community in my home, Nairobi, Kenya. I began this process in September of 2024 by reaching out to a variety of different organizations that work with this community. From there, I got in contact with the Deaf Kenya Film Festival. They are an organization based in Nairobi whose goal is to empower deaf filmmakers and actors by hosting an annual film festival in December.
LINK TO THEIR INSTAGRAM
What did I do?
Upon getting in contact with them and informing them of my skills, I was appointed as their marketing advisor. To help them with promoting their organization, I first created a website that showcases their work and advertises their film festival. Then, I printed out 50 t-shirts incorporating their logo to be sold as merchandise in the lead up to and during their 2025 film festival. Finally, I recorded an interview with their CEO, Simon Adem, in which I asked him questions about what the DKFF does as well as questions about the deaf and hard of hearing community in Nairobi as a whole. Moving forward with the project, I will compose this into a promotional video that can be linked to the website and their social media, serving as a form of marketing but also a way of advocating for the community.
LINK TO WEBSITE
Mastery Project
What was the goal?
A mastery project is a project that is part of THINK Global School’s curriculum, involving a self-directed year-long project focused on one skill that the student achieves at novice, specialist, and mastery. For my mastery project, I aimed to host a TEDx event with the theme "Learning Without Limits: Empowering Change Through Innovative Education"—a platform to explore the power of unconventional learning. As the event’s Primary Organizer, I aimed to inspire people to embrace lifelong learning, push beyond their comfort zones, and turn the impossible into reality. Along with my executive team, we recruited speakers who are current THINK Global School students, alumni, and external speakers. The event aimed to showcase a variety of topics through TED talks, such as "Service as a Form of Education," "Decoding the Academic Industry to Push Change," "Why You Need to Do What Scares You," and "Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning." My ultimate goal in hosting this event was for the TED talks to inspire the audience, leaving them with a sense of empowerment and a plan of action. I wanted people to walk away knowing they have the power to shape their own educational journey, regardless of where they are in life. Beyond the event, I hoped the message of "Learning Without Limits" would reach people of all backgrounds, regardless of resources, motivating them to create change in their lives and the world.
What did I do?
Leading up to the event (beginning in May of 2024), I engaged in a series of tasks to prepare for the event in depth, including taking a Project Management Course and hosting weekly meetings with my executive team (three staff members from my school) in which we focused on things such as budgeting, creating a timeline for the event, and creating application criteria. In addition, I researched and took extensive notes on the TEDx guidelines, ensuring that I was meeting all the requirements for being the host of an event of this scale. I also focused on the skill of networking by communicating with external staff members, vendors, caterers, and venues. Furthermore, I created and sent out an application to THINK Global School students and alumni, and communicated with the applicants moving on to round two via a tedxtgs email address.. I then interviewed the applicants with my executive team and informed them of their selection or rejection via the same email address. I then partook in marketing through creating digital invites, a website for the event, and creating a poster advertising the event. Finally, I communicated with external sources about their involvement as external speakers over the course of two months.
Despite all this work, there were several roadblocks with this project brought on by concerns about the scale of the project by my school’s administration that arose in April of 2025. After a year’s work, it turned out that I was not able to host this event as a TEDx event. So, we pivoted the entire event, and instead, I began planning a much smaller, most cost-friendly, internal THINK Global School event. The theme of “Learning Without Limits” will remain the same and so will the speakers, but it will be a much more intimate event hosted in Florence, Italy, on May 29th, 2025.
