When I was in grade 12, there is a certain subject wherein we are tasked to group ourselves and

propose a project that is beneficial to the community. After that proposal, we are going to
conduct it in real life. As an initial reaction from some of the students like me when there are
activities, I also protested and complained, thinking that it is so hard to do.

Despite our negative reactions towards the said task, we are left with no choice but to do it since
it is one of the expected outputs of the course. At first, I was so upset and sad thinking about the
possible challenges this task might bring us. But when our teacher announced that we are free to
choose our group mates, my mood lit up. This is one of the students’ happiness, of course,
having the freedom to choose whom you are going to work with. I grouped with my close friends
which also live near our place. The place of residence and my relationship with these people are
very important. For me, you can easily work if you are working with someone whom I am
comfortable with, plus the factor that we have fast and easy access to each other for possible
meetings.

When the class ended, we talked and agreed to do the planning on the weekend in one of our
friend's house. During the day of the meeting, we brainstormed about the things that we want to
do and identified our objectives to have a point of direction in the project. Not wasting our time,
we quickly shared our ideas and recommendations then we carefully chose the best one. We
ended up choosing a project that develops reading and speaking comprehension to some
elementary students and named it “Eat. Read. Speak.”

I never expected it to be that fun. Planning and preparing together with the people that you trust
is amazing. Little by little, I fell in love with our project. I develop a sense of commitment to our
work, enjoying every detail and process. Our project is not easy, it needs a lot of preparation,
effort, and money. But since we are already dedicated to it, it never became a problem for us.
This rather gave us more motivation to give our best because we are thinking about the good
outcome it may bring to the life of the students that we will cater to. We are all willing to do our
assigned tasks with the help and guidance of each other. I was assigned to the budgeting and
preparation of foods for the students and our group. Since we don’t have that much money, I had
to be wise in picking the right foods to prepare that fits our budget. I consulted my group mates
and they gave me their suggestions which helped me a lot.

After all the preparation, the day we’ve been waiting for finally came. The flow of the activity is
smooth, the students are learning and we are enjoying our work of teaching them to read and
speak in English. It is satisfying to see that all of your efforts were worth it. Seeing the happiness
and willingness of the students to learn was really heart whelming.

Our project is successful, we did manage to help increase the students reading and speaking
comprehension even in just a short time. The project that I hated the first time I heard it is now
one of the good experiences that I cherish. This developed not only my skills but also my
relationship with other people. I learned that commitment doesn't happen all by itself, your
choice is also involved. We can’t just decide to be committed, it is a process of building and
cultivating it. And when we develop commitment, nothing is hard for you and your group.