• What is your goal for CIC moving forward?

Maren- To be able to help as many oppressed people as possible. Anyone who is underprivileged. I want to do fun things for the community but also seriously give back to the community.

Juliana- So for CIC moving forward, I really wanna get SLA really involved in community involvement and I feel like there is a little group of people at SLA that tend to volunteer but I feel like SLA be a more volunteer based school. I hope to broaden our horizons and to get everyone more interested and make our values more known so more people can volunteer. We need to educate these kids that just don’t wanna volunteer and make them do it!

Alyssa- My goal for CIC moving forward is to reach and impact many people's lives, it doesn't matter to me so much what we are doing but who are helping and whose lives we are leaving an impact on.

Octavain- To encourage others to join the club, basically setting CIC future existence in stone. Also to gain more leadership skill, which in turn would be a huge asset to my future career.  

Kimberly- I hope that CIC lives on for many years after I graduate. I hope they are able to come up with creative events and are able to grow the student's engagement. I believe in my staff so much and am so proud and thankful that they have agreed to keep this club that I have worked hard on alive.
 

• What issues are you are passionate about changing? Why?

Maren- Anything that has to do with colonialism, racism, sexism, gender binary… anything under that umbrella that is formed out of hatred and white supremacy. I think that is the source of all problems and capitalism.

Miguel- I think, in the beginning of the year, we just wanted to have more diversity in our volunteering events and we were very passionate about helping people that are really in need and not just working at like marathons and stuff like that which are still important but focus on the community itself. One thing I was very proud of is the bake sale we did for the immigrants who did not have lawyers and the organization that raises money for them so I thought that was very interesting, important and current.

Octavain- I lean more on the animal abuse side, but if I have to choose others my next two would be racial segregation which in some ways would tie into my last issue which is emotional and physical harassment. To sum that all up, bullying basically.

Juliana- I am passionate about the homeless crisis in Philly especially. Also, criminal justice, I feel like there are a lot of opportunities for people who have served sentences cannot access and I would love to help with that, generally, I want to help with decriminalization in general.

 

• Why did you join CIC?

Maren- Well it’s because Kimberly was like “hey, do you wanna join CIC?!” and I was like “yeah, that sounds great!” First of all, I thought this would be a really good club to be apart of for my college resume. Also because I love volunteering, like organizing and seeing people's faces light up when we help them, doing interviews, or whatever it is! I like all that stuff! So I just decided to continue.

Miguel- I joined CIC because I always loved to volunteer in middle school. I did an organization called stay true and I really wanted to continue that in high school.

Octavain- First and foremost, this was the only club that was able to actually capture my interest and made me want to willing stay. When it comes to other reasons, like I said before, I believe the skills i'd gain while attending this club would be incredibly beneficial to the skills needed for my future career goals. 

Juliana- I’m not so sure I would have joined and volunteered if I did not know people in the club because it can be kind of scary but I joined in hopes of liking it and in hopes I will get something out of it.

Alyssa- I joined CIC because I wanted to help others and because I liked to volunteer. At first, it was more about the volunteering hours but now it has become something that I am involved with because I know that my peers and I can really make a change and help people and I think that's a great thing to be a part of.

 

• How do you see yourself as a leader moving forward?

Maren- I just want to try and get the club out to more people and I know that is a really hard part of this is making all these things accessible and wanting people to be engaged in service is really hard! I feel like I wanna be someone who can show people that its really worth your while to help other people and it’s not only gonna help them it is gonna help you. I wanna be a fun, but firm, leader.

Miguel (the question for him was about his leadership in past years since he is a senior)- At first, it was kind of hectic since we started out as volunteer members which was easier since there is no planning involved, you just go to the events. Kimberly did most of the work respectfully but I tried to help you out the best way I knew how and try to be there for the events I was able to.

Juliana- Well, I am pretty good at compromise and not carrying an entire group but working all together. I hope to grow my leadership skills.

Alyssa- Moving forward, I can see myself as a leader of CIC by being a spokesperson and really getting the word out about CIC and reaching out and talking to people to try and get them involved in our club, and get people to learn about our club and what we are trying to do.
 

• What do you want to learn from being on the CIC staff? 

Maren- I hope this is the first step in a long line of service and community melding. I want to get out of it some leadership skills, some connections in the service world in Philly and have some opportunities to do some fun things before I graduate.

Juliana- I hope to grow my leadership, collaboration, and connection skills, by reaching out to organizations. I want to be more responsible.

Octavain- Experience. 

Alyssa- There is nothing that I really want to get out of CIC accept the opportunity and ability to help others and really make a difference/change in our community and help those inside of it.

 

• How do you think CIC club impacts Science Leadership Academy?

Maren- I think it is one of the clubs at school that people say “Oh, anyone can join. Whoever you are, you should join” because anyone can participate in what we are doing and anyone can benefit from the things that we are doing. I think it is something that SLA should do more of. I mean we say “oh, we are really community minded, were getting out there and doing the work” but not a lot of people even want to do that and it is frustrating. This is a club that’s actively attempting to do that at least. I feel like we're trying to actually uphold the mission of SLA.

Miguel- I think CIC shows SLA ways to give back. SLA is about caring and community and CIC embodies those values and I think we try to spread those out across the Philadelphia as a community.

Octavain- It most definitely provides students with a team to actually attack current actions/events that they'd consider a problem, making their willingness to act upon their feeling more strong. 

Juliana- It gives SLA kids a lot of opportunities to do something for the greater good. They are able to do some productive and proactive. You also get to put it on a college resume and could even build internships and relationships through volunteering.

Alyssa- I think that CIC club impacts SLA because it gives people an option to make a change in our community. There are so many schools where there aren't clubs like ours and the students don't know how they can help but our club gives kids that option to help and we show them how they can do it on their own as well as with others.

Kimberly- CIC club is important at SLA since it is a real-world reinforcement of the core values and gives kids the access to make a change in their communities. It allows SLA students to understand, empathize, and educate themselves about those less fortunate than them and feel passionate about changing the world they live in.

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• How do you think CIC club impacts Philadelphia?

Maren- I think that we do a lot of things in Philadelphia and I think it makes people happy when they see teenagers volunteering and doing service, like “look at you teenagers up on a Saturday morning!” We help to do what we can to help keep some of the organizations in Philly running and help them moving forward. Events like MANNA, marathons, HRC… we do what we can to help. It’s not a big role but we are the people they need!

Miguel- It impacts Philadelphia because we are genuinely trying to help people and I think we try to help individuals that are in need.

Octavain- When it comes to Philadelphia, I could most definitely say that it does show that the possibilities are endless. Providing teens with a perfect way to execute their ideas while forcing them to be social which, of course, is always beneficial. 

Juliana- Through CIC, we have all these kids who actually help! Where would the AIDs walk or HRC be if the group of SLA kids didn’t come? At some of these events, we are the only group, otherwise, they rely on “free lance” volunteers. We make a pretty big dent in the volunteer community.  

Alyssa- CIC club will impact Philadelphia because we are trying to make a difference in our city and really leave an impact on the people's lives by tackling issues in our community and helping those who are in need.

 

• How will CIC be better with you on the staff? How can you make it better?

Maren- What I will bring to the table is my love for the arts. If possible, I would really like to have more art focused organizations that we can work within the community. Maybe in the new location, this can mean making a really nice drawing to put in the office or like a welcome poster. I really feel like we can be doing more to beautify our space as it is.

Octavain- I would say with me but that's too vague. I most definitely have the ability to find cool events that'll test others limits and devotion to the club.

Juliana- We can have a lot of fun with advertising and events, I’m really excited to venture into that because I know one of our biggest goals is to hammer it in and be like, VOLUNTEER!

Alyssa- I think that I can make CIC better just by trying to get us involved in more longtime partners so that we can have long term and consistent volunteer events, as well as other things.

 

• What has your new leadership position been like?

Maren- It’s been really cool! Kimberly has been very helpful in helping us adjust and we don’t have as much of a reach as you do, yet, she has been teaching us all the resources and all that stuff so that’s been really great! It is kind of scary because like you are leaving and you have been with it for a very long time and you are leaving it with us and trusting us to uphold the meaning of the club and the integrity. So I am a little worried that it won’t work out but I am going to try my darndest.

Juliana- So, it has been really cool and fun to see what it is like and to get a peek into what next year will look like. We are learning what all our responsibilities are, we were just kind of thrown to the ringer and it it fun and exciting! I do think we are being prepared in a good way, not just starting next year being clueless.

Alyssa- Right now I am only a sophomore so I haven't completely taken up my leadership position, really I am just trying to learn from those around me so I can learn how to lead so that when I do take up that position I can do a good job.

 

• How has CIC impacted you so far?

Maren- It gives me something to do sometimes on the weekend and overall makes me feel really good! Like when I log in my service hours I think to myself how great it is that we do this and it is a little bit of a confidence booster. It is another way to help people which is really what I want to do and that will help me later in life.

Miguel- Personally, CIC allowed me to see different walks of life, different people, and many organizations that are doing good things and being able to help others and the variety of ways you are able to give back to the community.

Juliana- I have developed some nice relationships with the people and organizations we have volunteered with. We have just learned to do so much fun stuff! It is so lovely! It warms my heart to know that I did something to help other people. I went out of my way to make a difference! It makes me feel like a good person. You could just sit around all day and just do nothing but, you know what, you wake up at five, go help at the AIDs walk, you get breakfast, then you can go home because you did something for the community! CIC has filled me with a good sense of confidence and I just feel so much better about myself now that I have volunteered. Even next year when I’m a leader I’m gonna feel that way!

Alyssa- CIC has impacted me because it makes me feel like I can really make a difference in my community. It has made me realize that things that may seem like small jobs of us are greatly impacting and helping someone else in our community or even outside of it.

Kimberly- CIC has made me the person I am today. It was the first time I was able to be a leader and I worked as hard as I possibly could to make this club possible. There have been many ups and downs but overall, I would not have changed anything about my experience. I learned more than imagines about other people's situation and realizing the magnitude of complex problems in our world. I was able to meet so many people, make so many memories, and overall, become a better person. CIC gave me something to be passionate about and this is just the beginning of a long life in service work. It also just makes you feel optimistic and confident about who you are.