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Reflection

The senior project was supposed to be the last hurdle before the finish line of high school,

but unfortunately, the race ended a couple months early and everyone had to stay home and

practice social distancing. Although I was disappointed about the situation, I am thankful for

what I was able to do and learn from the first part of the senior project. My senior project

question was “Are charities effectively helping people in poverty?” and I researched various

ways charities receive and use their money for my paper. Through my research, I was able to

better understand how charities work and how to discern their effectiveness so that my future

donations would have the greatest impact. The interviewing part of the research process helped

me gain a clearer perspective on the information I was learning, and I enjoyed talking to Danica

Bless from YWAM San Francisco and my mentor Kelly Alexander. I am grateful for the

challenge this research paper presented because it was the longest paper I had ever written and

great practice for college.

My project was to sponsor a child in a third world country through Compassion

International and speak about charity work to Awana club members as a volunteer leader. I chose

Compassion International because it was a Christian charity that I thought effectively used its

money to provide immediate financial support to the poor as well as education, medical aid,

employment, and spiritual care. I was able to sponsor a child named Harambineza Jean Claude

who lives in Rwanda, and my family and I plan to continue to sponsor him until he grows up and

graduates from the program. I wrote him a letter sharing about my life and asking about his, but I

have not received a response yet. While I volunteered with the preschoolers at Awana for about

ten hours, Awana was unfortunately cancelled before I was able to present about missions and
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charity work to the club members. Despite the abrupt end to the senior project, I was still able to

complete most of what I had planned to do and I am thankful for the experience. Using what I

learned about charities, I hope to make wise decisions about how I use and donate my money so

that it will help more people in need.