Diabetes | Exploration

“Shooting our short film.”

Round 4 exploration was a really big time for me finishing the last time in school for a while due to the Coronavirus. The project taught me so many new skills and lessons. By spicing up this paper, I decided to write it in an interview way. I hope you will have a great time reading this experience.

Have you ever see anyone who is experiencing diabetes?

The term diabetes has always found its way coming back to me, and that is when I got so passionate about learning about it. My grandmother was a diabetes survivor, she passed away two years ago. It was painful to watch her last moment, with her legs swollen and the blindness blocking her sight from seeing people she loves. There are certainly more people I knew that have diabetes, but most of them lost the battle with it.

What is your round 4 exploration?

It was one of the senior impact projects which are a requirement for graduation. The mentor with my team, which is around 12 people’s has decided to work on spreading awareness about diabetes. It was a seven weeks project, and as several weeks flew by, I was amazed by the quality of teaching that the mentor has put on to the class every day. She was always making sure everyone was on task and explained carefully about the goal of the exploration. By the end of the seven weeks, we have to create products that will share with a various organization that is working on diabetes in Cambodia.

What did you do for the project?

The final products that the members voted for are making a banner, making a short film, and creating podcast episodes. Without hesitation, I signed myself for making a banner. Making a banner was quicker than I thought with the help of my teammate researches and the time I put in designing the final products. Once the banner team finished, I picked to join the podcast team and help them write an episode about diabetes myth. Writing is something I have always love, but when I started writing a podcast script, I was confused by the consistency and putting different flavors into the host speeches. There were also challenges during the writing because I need answers from a diabetes expert. That didn’t go as plan since there were no responses back from experts I’ve reached out, so I found an alternate solution. I researched the answer and checked it with my facilitators. Finally, when I finished the episode, I was proud of what I have learned so far, and it increased my love for writing scripts. After a whole hardworking session on the school campus during the first few weeks, we have to go down to a province in Cambodia to film our short film. It was two days with determination, we tried to get every scene and with good quality. There were challenges, but we nailed it. The hardest part was working with our actor. They are not someone we know, and they have never involved with any acting experience before. But we were astounded by how much they learned about acting and helped us finished the film in just two days. We couldn’t thanks them more for their generosity. 

How much did you learn and explore?

This project has made a huge changed towards my perspective and action. When round 4 arrived, I have noticed a slight change with my self-awareness and how much the core values make me grow as a person. Especially, seeing the values of determination and stewardship is growing inside me. Everything I worked on, I put all the energy into it because I was driven by the hope, hoping that one day all the works that I have to contribute will make such a huge impact toward the country. Diabetes is a very common disease in Cambodia. People tend to forget about their diet because of the need for sweetness and delicious food, plus with tiring working time. Unfortunately, some people get diabetes since birth because of genetic. In either way, you can prevent the serious effect of diabetes by balancing your diet, exercise more, and do a monthly check on your health every month. It was a very good time reviewing all the basics of diabetes I’ve to learn before and continue to do so educating myself about this public disease that people overlook. Besides learning about diabetes, and all the science lessons. I did learn new skills such as directing a short film, being a camerawoman, editing film, and writing podcast episodes.  

Final message,

In conclusion, I am so proud to be a part of this project. I was inspired by accepting the decision people make for me because others see me more in what I needed. This project taught me to be happy in taking chances and never make assumptions about anything I will take a part in. It was very unique and fun learning, I learned more diabetes, changing my perspective, helping my family to exercise, and spreading awareness to people I know. Besides, I found love in film making. I am so thrilled about growing older and having new passion along the way of this highschool road.

Important Note:

(I couldn’t attach any of the final products yet, but once it is done checking from the organization we are collaborating with, I will add it to this paper as soon as possible.)