This year was a great learning experience, both inside and outside of school and academia. Looking back on the first ever CAS blogpost I made, I know that I’ve come really far but this is not the end 🙂
Creativity
This year, my main objective was to get in touch with my creative side- something I haven’t really been able to do before. So, I focussed on working on my Visual Arts skills with Ms. Morgan the 1st and 2nd ASA blocks and by the end of it, I was surprised by how much I’d learnt just within 4-5 months. Throughout the course of this activity, I wanted to work on improving my speed and quality of work, something I was able to do by the end of it.
Throughout the year, I’ve also been working on giving my TCL G4 Electronic Keyboards exam in November, 2019 alongside my TCL G2 Electronic Keyboards Theory exam which is also in November, 2019. It has been a wild ride. It was difficult, but I’m getting better at it. I love playing this instrument but the material just keeps getting tougher. I’ve learnt how to deal with it and just use my frustration as a drive to work harder and better- an approach that surprisingly is working. It requires a lot of Commitment and Perseverance too, something I was struggling with initially, but I could work through it.
Apart from this, I’ve also taken part in Small Bites because I’ve always been passionate about food. I was keen on expanding my knowledge and learning more from here mainly because of the cultural differences and the variations that brings into food and when I came to know that our school offers it as an activity, I went for it. This activity really helped me learn some basic survival cooking skills and I look forward to practically using my knowledge soon.
Activity
I believe activity is really important when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. It does keep you in shape physically but it also has many cognitive advantages. For this year’s activity, I chose to do Wall Climbing in the first block of activities.
I did Wall Climbing this year because I love it. I have a weird fascination with Wall Climbing. I make sure to do it whenever and wherever I can. When I got to know that our school offers it as an ASA, I grabbed the opportunity. My main goal was to increase my physical agility because wall climbing is a full body workout. At first, I noticed that it took me a lot of effort to get to the top but as I kept going, it became easier. Also, please do not underestimate the energy it takes to get to the top. It sure does look easy but it really isn’t 🙂
After Wall Climbing, I chose to do Zumba in school while doing swimming outside of school.
Service
My main objective is to always help people. I have always been aware of the stigma that is associated with mental health and I want to do my part in making a difference. So last year, when our school had introduced a new service- “Peer Counseling”, I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. I have had a wonderful group of people working with me including Ms. Fleming, our school counselor. Our main aim as a group is to spread awareness and help everybody around us. We try and promote communication and expression amongst peers and hope to see a change for the better in the future.
During the first semester, we wanted to help our peers with issues like stress, anxiety and depression- issues that have been on the rise amongst teenagers. So, to get familiar with this, we started to learn how to be an active listener. We learnt the benefits and the methods so that we could put it in practice, if necessary. It was very fascinating because it taught us so many things that matter while having a conversation with someone- that we never know was important. My personal goal during the first semester was to build our service up such that it has an impact on each and every student and teacher in this school, before I leave- since it is relatively new.
During the second semester, the Peer Helpers wanted to work on magnifying the impact we wanted to create on the OSC community. We did this by leading advisories for MYP2, MYP1 and PYP5 and also took part in the Tech Talk, which was scheduled for parents, in February. Giving seminars and presentations constantly as a part of the process has helped me work on my communication skills. I feel like I can present my ideas to an audience better than I could prior to joining this service group. It has also helped me improve my social skills because we have had to interact with kids of different age groups and make them understand our objectives. This has also helped me improve my thinking skills because sometimes, I’ve had to think on my feet while presenting to the students. One thing we could continue to work on, however, is better advertising. So, that is our goal for the next year.
Overall, This year has been a success for CAS, I enjoy CAS and the blogging aspect of it and I cannot wait for next year. My final and last year of school. DP2, here we come.