Just about ready to go!

As we reach the end of the exam period, which caps off a tremendous school year at Queen’s, both QHO educators and Queen’s students alike are asking themselves the same question: WHERE HAVE THE PAST 7 MONTHS GONE!? The time has flown by and we now find ourselves on the cusp of what will be an extraordinary journey.We, the Belize secondary team have spent the past 7 months preparing for the next 6 weeks of teaching. Practice teaching on a weekly basis both within our secondary project and with the rest of QHO at large, have helped develop our knowledge base and hone our teaching skills. These practice teaching sessions combined with some very insightful teaching lectures, organized by our wonderful QHO Education Directors, have been fundamental to our learning and preparation.Over the winter, we spent a significant amount of time improving our mental health lesson plan. As peer educators who focus on health, we felt as though we needed to improve the quality of our mental health education portion. With the help of Georgia, who got trained with the Mental Health Awareness Club, we were able to prepare, what we feel like, is a very useful mental-health teaching platform.Aside from lesson planning, we also spent a significant amount of time fundraising over the winter. Some of the more notable fundraising events include GLO for QHO, the QHO craft sale and selling balloons during Kingston’s Santa Claus Parade. My favorite fundraising event was QHO caroling. The Belize team caroled all over the streets of Kingston spreading Christmas cheer for all to hear! Fortunately the Belize group was graced with the hidden talents of our very own Lisa Minutillo who showed us why she’s known as the songbird of our generation!On Saturday we head out for Belize City where the secondary team will spend the night and then head out for Dangriga on Sunday. After teaching in Dangriga for two weeks, we will head back to Belize City for two more weeks and then finish up in Orange Walk for our final two weeks of teaching.Can’t wait to start!Thanks for reading and remember that we will be updating blog posts at least twice a week, so be sure to stay informed!Adios and much love!Evan, Emily, Georgia, Lisa, and Meg