Creativity

• (LO#1) Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
• (LO#2) Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
• (LO#6) Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Throughout DP I have been improving my art skills in different media including, acrylic, oil, watercolor, printmaking, gouache, embroidery, and sewing. For the first half of DP1, I participated in the printmaking ASA were I experimented with different printmaking techniques. Then in February 2020, I visited SAISA Art in Mumbai, India where I challenged myself by trying a completely new media: Papercutting. I worked with a local artist who taught us new skills. The overall theme of SAISA Art was Zero Hour, we had to create our artwork related to the global issues facing our environment.

SAISA Art

After we moved to online school, I continued to work on my art individually. While I have used acrylic and watercolor in the past, I identified areas for growth and practiced it individually. Additionally, I challenged myself by teaching myself how to sew using a sewing machine for the first time, successfully learning how to do new skills such as sewing an invisible zipper, buttonholes, creating a pattern, and adapt to new challenges. I also experimented with new art media including embroidery and oil pastels.

Activity

(LO#1) Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

(LO#4) Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

(LO#5) Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

At the start of DP1, I was on the school swim team and we traveled to Nepal for SAISA swimming. I took initiative and attended the optional morning practices and I continued training during the October break. While the competition was exhausting, I set new personal bests and earned points for the team to place third overall.

The Swim Team

The next season was Track and Field, my biggest strength has always been middle distance races and throwing events, however this year I replaced by usual 15000m race with a 200m sprint. While this was an unexpected change, my middle distance training and the final kick at the end of longer races benefited me in the 200 as I made it into the finals and in the finals, in the last second I caught up with 5th place and ended up tied for 5th. Before the competition, I attended many additional Shotput practices, identifying to continue to improve my shuffle and technique. During practice, I had reached a new PB and then at SAISA I threw consistently and beat that PB, winning the event, my first individual SAISA gold medal. The relays were an additional challenge as we had to work together to make our changeovers seamless however due to Sheruni’s injury at SAISA we had to change our team at the last minute. For both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, girls from the 10-12 age group replaced Sheruni. Since they were so nervous about running against girls so much older than them, I spent a long time practicing with them and motivating them as a captain and teammate.

We then had a few weeks of Basketball practice before school was moved online, ending my participation in sports teams for the rest of high school. However, I knew that I needed to keep up and improve my endurance, strength, and flexibility. During the lockdown, every night I would do a home workout working on my strength. I also followed a stretching routine that improved my flexibility in order to do the splits. Once lockdown ended, I added evening runs to my routine at a running track near my house. Then as school started again in August, I instead ran three times a week before school with Emily and on the weekend. I was gradually improving my endurance and speed until this routine was stopped as I recovered from severely spraining my ankle and school returning to online. However, I persevered and returned to running and home workouts once I was recovered.

Additionally, I participated in the Duke of Edinborough program where I went on hiking and camping trips. During the hikes, we collaborated to collect the information to complete the route card, navigate, and stay safe. Delegating different roles was beneficial because we each could focus on one task and then come together to complete the route card.

Service

(LO#5) Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

(LO#3) Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

(LO#6) Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

(LO#7) Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

My service group Reefkeepers, focused on the global issue of pollution in our oceans, accomplished a considerable amount despite being online for most of the past two years. We organized a climate strike and neighborhood sweep with a brand audit while we were in person. Once we moved online, we organized a virtual Earth Week, developed a website, and created Green Tips to suggest ways we can be more considerate about the ethics of our actions and their impacts on the environment. I spearheaded the neighborhood sweep and the green tips as a service leader and worked with my group mates to organize the logistics of the action.

I joined Ecoschools, an international program that awards schools for being environmentally conscious and reducing the school’s impact on the environment. As a part of Committee A, I helped organize the meetings with Committee B as a whole group because collaborating allowed for us to brainstorm more ideas. My main task was to manage the communication with the rest of the school community, working together with Talia.

My CAS Project was related to Reefkeepers as I got my children’s book called Rosie the Reefkeeper that was written to educate young children about environmental sustainability. This is intrinsically related to human impact on the environment and how a new generation learns about this global issue.