The end has come, the end of high school that is. This post is my final CAS reflection and it is so surreal to me. I remember the week leading up to my first day of DP, I was thrilled, nervous and reasonably unprepared. Since the start of my DP journey I have been reflecting upon many of my non academic experiences, those that keep me balanced. Over the years I participated in activities I normally wouldn’t have and I continued to push myself to overcome challenges all whilst discovering a side of me that was left untouched for many years. It was an amazing experience as I was able to help others and leave a direct impact on the community around me. Although I am left with many unanswered questions about my future, I was able to find my voice and pursue my passions that I will carry on with me as I move on to this next chapter of my life.

I was able to create bonds and form friendships for life through many of these experiences. It was an outlet of sanity in times of uncertainty and stress. Although my CAS days have come to an end, it is not the end of my learning outside the classroom. The only difference is that now, I get to tackle bigger, larger challenges, those that are a part of life, part of being independent. For the remainder of this post I will be going through each learning outcome and reflecting upon a few experiences that directly linking back to the outcomes.

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth 

Self growth was an aspect that arose through every aspect of CAS, in fact there is always room for self development. I was able to identify my strengths through pushing myself out of my comfort zone and taking risks that allowed me to grow to become the individual that I am today. One area where this was prevalent would have to be with the activities component, sports in particular. Sports have been a constant component of my school life, and in many ways it has shaped my schooling experience over the years. I would participate in basketball from October – February and then soccer from February – April . Whenever I was off season I would take the time to train for both of the sports and improve in areas I was lacking the necessary skills, no-one is perfect and as Mr. Turner says “perfect practice makes perfect.” With soccer I was a good crosser, communicator, endurance runner, passer and defender. However, I needed work on my shots especially the out of the box shots. So, before soccer season in DP 2 I asked my previous soccer coach if he could help me train and he helped me improve my technique and made me a better shooter. Similarly with basketball, I demonstrated to have good endurance to able to run up and down court, which was useful during a game situation. However, I needed to improve with my shooting and ball handling technique. In DP 1 prior to the basketball season,  Madeleine and I got together and we would do some basketball drills and work on improving our personal fitness as well. Through which I was able to become a better all around player on court.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Some of the best examples of how I undertook a challenge and developed new skills would be through my pursuits of creativity which I pushed me out of my comfort zone. When I entered the DP program I was determined to come out having tested new waters and reaching new limits, it is safe to say that I did. Around mid DP 1, I decided to code a website for my service group since I felt that not enough people in our community were aware of our efforts. It was a challenging process since I was  forced to teach myself HTML, CS code and some Java script. It took weeks, weeks of stress, tears and determination. I learnt how to create an interactive interface and to fix the finest bugs that would ruin an entire page. I never took myself to be a teach savvy person, but at this time the world is constantly developing and moving closer towards technology making such skills more important than ever. Another example of me challenging myself would have to be when I audition for the secondary play A MidSummers Night Dream. Although I was a theatre student, I had never really auditioned for any roles for any plays. This would be have to be attributed to my stage fright and lack of confidence. Once I landed a role as part of the chorus it required me to sing, dance and act. Through this process I learnt to sing different parts with a group of people all whilst remembering the choreography to go along with it. Nonetheless, each activity that I participated in over the two years allowed me to challenge myself and come out stronger with a new set of skills. In my opinion nobody ever truly stops learning.

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Over the two years I eagerly joined clubs and participated in a range of activities that were offered by my school. However, I felt the need to go outside of the box and to take initiative to create my own CAS experiences. At the end of the tenth grade I was able to work in conjunction with Mr. Lockwood to implement a biogas plant at our school. Although that in itself was a huge step in the right direction, I felt the need to continue out our efforts and to expand the impact our project was having on the community around us. Hence, I was able to create what I call “the primary workshops.” I had to plan and execute the workshops myself along with the help of Ms. Chee Wan since it was important that I was stimulating the minds of the future generation. I had to consider the time frame I was working with and what activities would be suitable for individuals at the young age of preschool. It required me to take time out of my schedule to plan,  to collect the materials and to execute the workshops. Another example of this would have to be my CAS project, done alongside my partner Rashmi. We went through a roller coster of a ride which I explored in one of my blog posts. For this project we explored a multiplicity of plans for potential CAS projects and eventually when we became more realistic with our time frames and resources we were able to execute. I have learned skills that will be highly beneficially for me throughout life and my path to creating a career for myself.

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Each and every CAS activity I participated in required a lot of motivation, perseverance and dedication. It became that much more important during times of high levels of stress when the academic rigor became a larger part of my life, specifically in DP 2. Although my mind was constantly churning with ideas for potential IA’s I always made time to participate in my CAS activities to demonstrate my commitment and to maintain a healthy balance. One of the larger commitments would have to be my service group Care For Paws, it is a group that I have been a part of for four years as I am very passionate about what our group stands for. This group required me to meet with them every Thursday after school, during lunches and at times outside of school. Rashmi, my co service leader, and I had to plan our sessions and we had to place the needs of our service before our own at times. Like whenever we needed to raise funds for our annual sterilization and vaccination camps our service group would host a pre order bake sale. This required the group meeting outside of school in order to bake the cookies and distribute them. This became difficult as the work load increased, but whenever I took a step back to look at the bigger picture it became more apparent to me the importance of the work I was participating in and leading. Hence, I always walked into every session with a smile and a load of enthusiasm to demonstrate to the younger members of the group the importance of being there for the community around us. That is why prior to every meeting we had I made sure to leave my exhaustion and worries behind, so that I could focus on an issue that was greater than me. This learning outcome was also reflected in my primary workshops, quaint quarantine, senior production, sports commitments and more.

LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively. 

There are rarely any instances in which anyone has ever been successful working on their own, it always takes a team. Lucky for me, being the extroverted and talkative person that I am, I didn’t face a lot of difficulty working collaboratively, in fact if anything I picked up on the importance of it throughout my CAS journey. The beauty lies in trying to come together to cooperate and come up with a solution, even in the toughest of times. This resonated with me the most in the aspect of sports, specifically with girls soccer. In DP 2, when I was appointed captain of the girls soccer team, initially I felt the need to solve all the issues alone. However, not too long after I recognized the significance in asking for help and delegating work. This ranged from designing the kits, to coming up different types of warm ups, to hosting the team bonding. On the field, we worked together by planning together strategies before our games, being there for each other and supporting one another. It was my responsibility as captain to ensure everyone was on the same page and to get everyone motivated to do their upmost best, but we needed the team, our communication, to have finished so gracefully on the podium as we did.

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Never in a million years would I have thought that my work, my actions would have impact on issues with a global significance. Frequently as young adults we are told that are opinions don’t matter since we don’t have the experience that many older individuals of society may posses. However, throughout my four years at OSC, in specific the last two years, have proven the norm otherwise. One of the many activities that I participated in that had this affect would have to be the Global Climate Strike. This strike was inspired by the global Fridays For Future movement, where young individuals around the world would come together to demand for a greener and safer tomorrow. Although my classmates and I protested to have small changes made at school, they were changes nonetheless that would help to reduce the impact of global warming on the environment due to fragmented policies. In conjunction with that movement was the biogas plant project and the primary workshops. Both of which also addressed the issues of global warming and the need to reuse, reduce and recycle. I was able to really iterate the importance of ensuring that everyone was doing their part to protect our planet by creating posters with the pre schoolers and placing them above the bins at school, or even by creating paper out of old newspaper with the kids. Another engagement would have to be my service group, Care For Paws where we deal with stray animals. It is heart breaking to see them suffering, but overpopulation and neglect are global issues, issues that Asian countries frequently face. Which makes our work that much more important. Our anti negative animal tourism pledge which collected over 50 signatures addresses the importance of safe guarding the rights of local animals that are frequently exploited. Around the world, across boarders the lives of animals are threatened, but us actively addressing the issues and taking action is one step closer towards better tomorrow. Animal rights has been a highly controversial debate over the years and our service group decided to join it since it is important to give a voice to the voiceless.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

This learning outcome is one that had be considered with each of my activities. This can range from sportsmanship to the impact our service events are having on the greater community around us. With my participation in sports this has been an aspect that I have had to explicitly ensure was considered by my teammates, like when we were losing and how we presented ourselves to the other teams. Moreover, this learning outcome connects quite strongly with the previous learning outcome that deals with and addresses the global significance. Typically when you want to make an impact on something of such importance, global importance, where the stakes are high, there will be a range of opinions — it is the beauty of society. Personally, it was something I endured with our service group’s annual sterilization and vaccination camps. Our camps consisted of us working in collaboration with Future for Vets to combat the issue of overpopulation and neglect, and our approach to the problem was to sterilize the stray dogs and cats. As service leader, I was constantly bombarded with criticism and comments that accused our actions of being unethical. However, in my eyes what would be unethical would be to allow the situation to worsen and have the government kill off the stray animals. Ethics allows us to strip a situation layer by layer and observe the intricacies we would have skipped over. Through my experiences with my service group I have learnt that there is no right answer with ethics, but there is one where the negative impact is less. As a society, we need to consider all the odds to safe guard the environment and to have a positive impact through the changes we make, which politicians and governments choose not to consider. It is when we are dedicated to seeking resolutions that benefit society  that we can be as ethical as we can — the greatest good for the greatest number.

I have to give a special shout out to two groups that I will miss dearly. They are two groups that will always have a special place in my heart: the girls soccer team and Care For Paws. I have been part of the girls soccer team since my first year at OSC, and we have come so far in such a short amount of time. The determination, grit and talent present in that group is something I always admired and it breaks my heart that I won’t be there next year to compete with them. It is safe to say we ended on a high note and I will cherish the amazing memories we made, Muscat was such a lit trip. In addition, there is Care For Paws I have no words, this group is a tight knit family. I will miss eating popcorn with the kids as we eagerly came up with ideas to execute throughout the year. Or even, every time that Rashmi got annoyed at them and I was seen as the angelic service leader that never lost her temper. With that group we have moved mountains and accomplished things not many kids our age have, we have challenged the norm and left a positive impact on our community. Sam and I will always be the legendary baking partners and I will miss each and every single one of them with all my heart. I am confident that they will go on to tackle bigger challenges and make me proud, they are passionate and nothing can change that.

Although I initially dreaded the need to constantly be blogging, in retrospect I am glad that I did it. Once I move on to this next chapter of my life the initial changes will be rough and knowing that I will be able to ponder upon times of comfort will make it that much easier. The last two years of my life have been some of the most rigorous and challenging years yet. I was constantly bombarded with homework, assignments, tests, activities, commitments, and constant revision. There were times when I felt like giving up and slacking off, but seeking comfort in my peers, my parents, my friends and my teachers helped me endure through it all. Something I found to be quite therapeutic was attending my activities as I saw it as a few hours in which I could escape my responsibilities. I am proud of myself for participating in the actives that I did and for constantly wanting to leave a positive impact on the community around me. I can look back now feeling accomplished and amazed of my abilities. This post was an emotional one to write and now that I am moving on to enter the not so popular world of adulthood, and I am more than excited to leave my mark in our global society.