Nakano 1

Yasmin Nakano
ENC 1101
November 6, 2017
Where Education Meets Collaboration

High school gives us the opportunity to make connections and well prepare yourself for

the next step: Adulthood. While making those preparations, I learned that working

collaboratively with my peers and mentors would help me strive as a student. As discussed in

Donna Kain and Elizabeth Wardle: Activity Theory: An Introduction for the Writing Classroom,

an activity system is a group of people who share a common object and motive overtime, as well

as the wide range of tools they use together to act on that object and realize that motive (p.397).

In high school Ive experienced many activity systems but the two that have stood out to me the

most has been the Pre-Collegiate Minority and National Honor Society clubs. When joining a

club, you are signing up to work with other individuals to work towards a specific goal that is

acquainted with it and you work that whole school year doing it, so you learn a ton about how

working together can benefit your long and short-term goals.

Pre-Collegiate Minority is a club that sets student in a pathway to successful to become

college bound and takes the initiative steps to allow a student the opportunity to take advantage

of all the resources the school has provided for them to have a smooth sailing pre-and-post-

secondary college experience. This club was created by Marsha McBryde, a guidance counselor

at Winter Springs High School. Her goal was to get students to become more motivated in taking

the next step towards their future, while providing the necessary resources that this discourse

community needs. When you go on those trips, not only are you visiting the potential university

or institution that you might attend, but you are getting a feel of what environment you are
 Nakano 2

looking for, meeting with different programs, while exploring the variety of different majors

there are available, making connections early on and having that extra advantage over most of

your peers because you are gaining first hand insight. Before these trips, you are taught on what

questions are appropriate to ask, how to approach faculty and to conduct a little bit of research of

the university or institution before you get there so that you dont seem lost and to also show you

are engaged.

When participating in a club that is about being pro-active in preparing for college, you

are going to go through pros and cons of course. Pros that are dealt with this is the support

system that you have by your side because no matter what, they are there for you and are

ensuring that your every need is met. Resources are a big plus as well. You get to meet with

guest speakers that can give you knowledge about a career path youre interested in as well as

providing internship opportunities that can be both paid or unpaid depending on the company

and what they are looking for. SAT and ACT preparatory sessions, constructive help on

admission essays, assistance on FAFSA and Bright futures along with many more assets can

benefit students. Although this seems to sound like an amazing organization, there is one big

flaw that sets them back from achieving this goal for all the students that first signed up to be in

it. Having meetings only once a month was a detriment. This gave a lot of room for students and

their peers to forget what was talked about in the previous meetings, time to slack, not use the

resources wisely and it seemed like each time there would be a meeting held, less and less people

would show up even after they already paid to become a member. Dont get me wrong, the

people who actually took time out of their day to take it as serious as it is, gained many skills that

I am sure they can use today and in a lot of things later in the future; I know that I sure do. But
 Nakano 3

those who slacked off before they could barely even begin, lost a ton of valuable information that

could may or may not have potentially had an easier junior and senior year of high school.

The National Honor Society, best referred to as NHS, is known to be the most prestigious

thing you can be invited to and accepted into in high school. Students that are invited to apply

any time after their freshmen year but usually towards their junior and senior year and is known

to have an outstanding educational record, volunteer work and recommendations from current

and previous teachers and faculty. This club combines academics, discipline and your

involvement around the school campus all in one. This is an organization also provides many

leaderships roles such as President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary etc. You can run for

either of these positions to gain more of a responsibility towards making the club run smoothly

and planning events that all the members would like to be a part of. With everyone contributing

to their fair share of work, not only does it keep the club living up to its reputation, but volunteer

work is always accomplished.

To kick things off, this club runs from many voluntary work. Every quarter you are

required to obtain at least two service hour projects. Every informational meeting that is held

(every two weeks) provides dates and locations to a new project. Many popular ones include a

marathon, homeless shelter, food drive, and creating care packages to first world countries that

are in need or depending on what is going on in the news, care packages also to our fellow states

or even nearby cities. When you become a member of this community, you are signing up to be a

part of something that you will never forget. Everyone works together to ensure a common goal

of giving back. This comes in all different forms of physical works. We worked diligently to

partner up with other companies that had the same vision as ours, and set up dates that would

make it possible.
 Nakano 4

Throughout some of my experiences with the National Honor Society, I was able to

experience incredible things. Some of community services hours that I participated in include a

food drive where we collected all the canned goods we could and donated it to a charity that

distributed it amongst families that were in need of food and other supplies. With all of us

combined we got to feed 231 families in indigenous countries. There was also a service for St.

Judes Children Hospital. We gathered a bunch of arts and crafts supplies from art supply stores

or whatever was laying around our homes to each create something that a child could keep and

boost their motivation, spirits and esteem. I personally made a painting that included children

seated in a classroom and added a goodie bag with a few little toys and some school supplies to

try and teach them balancing school work and play time. I got pictures sent back to me of those

who received my gift and the feeling that you get inside when you see something so little have

such a big impact on another person. NHS taught me that doing these little acts of kindness here

and there not only helps those around you doing it with you, to come together, but you are

making yourself feel good by doing good to others.

Being involved with these two specific clubs I think have made an impeccable difference

in who I was entering senior year of high school, to who I am now living life as a freshman in

college. Activity theories and systems can be played out in several different ways and to me so

far, these were the most important. My last year of high school turned around for the better and

has affected me in a positive light. I could take the resources that were provided to me by the

Pre-Collegiate Minority Club and plan out the next four years of mine and some of my peers

lives and get accepted into the top school on my list all while I still use some of those skills now

in college. The National Honor Society was more about giving than getting, but I definitely got

something thing out of it as well. There are many clubs that are associated with collaboratively
 Nakano 5

partnering with charities that are on campus and bringing some of my previous work ethics to

these new clubs will allow me to continue what I left behind. As a college student, you begin to

realize just how independent you really have to be so learning to work together with others to

both succeed at goal whether its long term or short term will help out both parties. We are all

here to graduate and whether working together is in ones favor or not, this is necessary for a

student to obtain. Being able to do it in the past, I am sure I can continue doing it now too.