Zoo Corps Involvement

As many of you may know already, I am an active Zoo Corps member at the San Diego Zoo where myself and other teens volunteer their time to spread awareness of a variety of topics to the general public. Just today I was there and I took both a written and oral test. I think that both of these went pretty well, but I have yet to learn the results. Anyway, I got involved with this program partly because it was related to wildlife and the zoo, but mostly because I wanted to explore my passion of leadership and public speaking. More on  this coming soon:)

Speaking to a Group

We all know that at some times speaking out to a group... whether it be friends, family, classmates, or any type of organization. I myself love to speak to people and I highly enjoy public speaking. I know that not everyone is an extrovert (such as myself), in fact, there are many introverts out there. Verbal communication is a huge part of social interactions in our lives. How hard would it be for you to go to school/work/wherever all day without speaking to anyone, even your pets. Think about it. For some people it wouldn't be very difficult, but for others you would need to enforce things such as duct tape to reach that goal. If you want to try this you can google day of silence free the children and register... but I don't feel that many could achieve that. But, even a few hours with a sponsor can help. Seriously, you can make a difference by getting a few sponsors... and not speaking. Whoa! Huuuge tangent. Back to public speaking. I find that speaking in front of your peers/people that you know can be much, much, much scarier than speaking in front of those that you don't know. This can be due to the fact that you know that it can live with you if you mess up and such. I have lots of experience in public speaking: in the 5th grade I gave a 'vote for Maya' speech (I lost the election if you're wondering), in 6th grade I gave a speech on 'better education' for a rally, 7th grade I wasn't in much, this year (8th grade) I am the vice president of the Music Club on campus, was president of FPSI (future problem solvers international), and I am involved in Zoo Corps (a post for another time). Personally I like to be involved in things, and being involved in activities and groups requires speaking - often to a group (whether it be large or small). Here are my tips for public speaking:

• Know what you're going to say
• Practice your entire speech
• Imagine your entire audience with underwear on their head/standing in their underwear! Yes, an oldie but goodie (it works)!
• Speak clearly
• Try to maintain a steady pace
• Enunciate 
• Try to use positive words and get your listeners to see the bright side of whatever you're talking about
• Project your voice
• Smile!!!:):):):):):) This cannot be stressed enough!
• MAKE EYE CONTACT!!!
• DO NOT: mumble, act like you know everything in the whole wide world, or talk for too long, cross your arms, sway or rock (distracting), look nervous

If you follow these steps you should turn out just fine:) 

*the eye photo is for EYE CONTACT:)* 

Cool Question Contest

Hey! All of you creative people out there: I have a challenge for you!At the end of each interview that I complete I want to ask a really cool question about them. Such as:

• Who would you love to have dinner with, living or dead? 
• If you could be anyone for a day... who would you be?
• If you could steal someone's wardrobe whose would you steal from? 
• If you could live anywhere in the whole wide world where would you live?
• What was your most embarrassing moment of all time?
• What is your favorite ice cream flavor, etc.

Please, bring your creativity and help me out. Or, if you like one of the questions above then which one do you prefer? Thanks so much!!! The winner will be thanked repetitively and will know the response to the question first each time someone is interviewed:)

Next Steps

My next steps are going to be to develop a list of questions for my interviewees and to try to set up these interviews with people. I am also in the process of composing letters asking both Michelle and Barack Obama for interviews. If they respond yay! and if they don't, then they don't. To clarify, these would be email correspondence interviews, not in person because these are two VERY busy people, if you know what I mean. The LEADERS of a NATION, that's pretty huge. I'm hoping for the best though!

Definition of a Leader

lead·er  

/ˈlēdər/

Noun The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. A person followed by others.

Synonyms chief - head - conductor - guide - director - captain **again, courtesy of google**

The Definition of Leadership

lead·er·ship  

/ˈlēdərˌSHip/

Noun The action of leading a group of people or an organization. The state or position of being a leader.

Synonyms guidance - lead - direction - management - command **this is google's definition**

People I Would Like to Interview ~ Suggestions Welcome!:)

•         Dr. Cabello (leader of a school)
•         Pastor Trish McCrae (leader of a church)
•         A teacher (leader of a classroom)
•         My parents (leaders of a family)
•         Cecil Steppe (Former leader of Urban Corps and other organizations)
•         The mayor (leader of a city)
•         The president (leader of a nation)
•         Samaya Elder (leader of the student body)
•          John Agoh (leader of Free The Children)

·      Suggestions welcome!:)

All About Me, Maya Gabby!

Hey! My name is Maya Gabby. I’m a bossy 13 year old (soon to be 14) that loves to run, read, and lead all sorts of different groups! I am obsessive about my grades and crazy about my two dogs (and my tarantula)! I am the class clown and the first (or maybe second) picked for team sports in PE. I dislike mustard (and mustard yellow) and Randal from Monster’s INC. seriously frightens me. Yes, an animated monster created for a PG movie scares me. I’m on a mission to show the world leadership through a regular ole 13-year-old girl’s eyes. I want to learn more about being a leader, and in the process become a better leader myself. My bossy side is about to be transformed into my leader side. New, improved, and on its way to helping others become better leaders as well. 

What? Why Leadership?

So, it’s just a regular Wednesday, as usual. I’m riding home form school in my car and I start a conversation with my mom about my seminar symposium project. A seminar symposium project at my school is a project that all of the seminar students at my school, Roosevelt MS, must complete. Each year we must do a project on the theme that is introduced. A short history…

6^th grade: Everyone was split up into groups of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders and given a topic to create an imovie on. It was a DISASTER because of my group’s lack of effort, and the challenges we faced along the way. On the other hand, I was the leader and I felt that I did all that I could to make the project the best that it could be.

7^th grade: Exploring your passions. This was an individual project that consisted of picking one of your passions and pursuing it. I chose entomology and created a picture/informative book on entomology (the study of bugs) and bugs from around the world. **See Attached**

8^th grade (present): Exploring your passions again! However, this year I chose one of my other passions, LEADERSHIP! In fact, that’s what this blog is all about!

Anyway, back to my conversation with my mom… So, I wanted to start a blog. At this point, I didn’t know what my blog would be about or anything like that, but I wanted my final product to be some sort of educational blog.

Mom:  Okay, but what would your blog be about? Music? Track? Literature?

Me: No, no, no. 

Mom: What about leadership?

At this point I’m completely hooked.

Me: But what would my blog actually be about?

Mom: Well, you could look at different leadership positions, literature on the subject, conferences, what it means to be a leader…

Me: Mom, you’re a genius!

As our car drive continues we discuss the logistics of the project and I am super excited! I often visit NPR.org as soon as I arrive home so I proceeded to hop on the computer. The first article that caught my eye was “In Animal Kingdom, Voting of a Different Sort Reigns.” It sounded interesting, so I clicked on it. My first response was OMG! It’s a three part series on leadership. Yup, that’s when I decided to create this blog. This is my niche. I’m a leader all day long!

**Link to article: www.npr.org/2012/10/24/163561729**

Leadership

Hmmm… what comes to mind whenever you see or hear that word? It’s different for everybody. For me, it is what has inspired me to write the blog – stay with me.