Presentations

            Tonight during class everyone has to do a presentation on the topic that they chose for Project 3.  I’m doing mine on the Appalachia Service Project; it’s a mission trip that I go on every summer with my church.  We help rebuild and restore houses along the Appalachian Trail.  I don’t have my entire presentation thought out just yet.  I know that I want to share a video with them that my brother made for ASP a couple years ago. He made it for a contest, and I’m in the video (so look me up (; ).  I also have this idea of playing a situational game/ activity with them that I’ve played on ASP before. What it is is you’re given a family, complete with names and ages.  Your job is to put yourself in their shoes.  Beyond that, you’re given how much money you make in a year, what your jobs are, and what kind of house you live in.  From there you’re given different situations that are common to the people of Appalachia.  Some of these consist of family members getting Diabetes and not having enough money to pay for treatments, people having the black lung (which is common in the older folks because many of them used to work in the mines when they were younger), flooding and not having enough money to pay for the repairs, etc.  The activity is depressing, but it really puts you in their shoes and gives you a sense of what they have to deal with every day, and how they need our help.

            Those are just two ideas I’ve been throwing around.  I might present some statistics as well.  It isn’t necessary showing them pictures, because there will already be some footage of us doing work on the job site, along with some photos in the video.  I’m trying to keep the presentation light and fun.  I’ll show the video first (to help explain exactly what ASP is), do the situational activity, and then present the statistics last.  When I was first thinking about what I should do for the presentation, I was getting nervous.  I strongly dislike talking aloud in front of people, and I had no idea what I wanted to do.  The more I thought about it though, and wrote this to you all, the more relaxed I became.  Plus, I’m extremely passionate about the Appalachia Service Project.  As long as you’re passionate about something you’re presenting, it won’t be difficult to talk about.