Final CAS Reflection for DP 1

DP 1 final CAS reflection

The 1^st year of the IB Diploma Program is coming to an end within the next week. Despite Einstein’s theory of ‘Time Dilation’, I must agree that time went really fast this year that it’s hard to believe that I’m finished with 50% of the IB Diploma course. DP 1 began with very enjoyable moments such as the orientation trip at borderlands, then physics trip at Norton, Sri Lanka where we practically studied energy production through water flows, and ended with the last week without walls of my school life at Sri Lankan Highlands. Afterwards DP 1 picked up a strong pace in studies and assignments and tests were rapidly increasing. However, at the end, in terms of a learner I have expanded my knowledge spectrum in several fields of education which developed me a lot as a learner.

As a summary I felt DP 1 was a tough year because it’s when the most syllabus of the IB is covered and my decision of my higher level classes choices are still unchanged from 4 higher levels but now at the end of DP 1, after experiencing all my higher level subjects, I am clear about my classes and will take actions soon. Other than education DP 1 gave me many chances to work in teams, know more about my peers, and to learn and take help from my peers. I think these factors of team work, knowing each other, and learning from each one another are some golden aspects which will help me be successful in the journey of IB. Now I will reflect on the CAS blogs I’ve posted in DP 1 in creativity, action, and service.

Creativity

In my journey of DP 1 COMUN played a heavy role for the ‘creativity’ aspect in CAS and that’s because I played the role of Deputy Head of Technology in COMUN 2019 in which I had many creative approaches. An approach to creativity in DP 1 began with UN Day which was hosted at the Overseas School of Colombo by Colombo Model United Nations. In UN Day I was working the tech team on managing the opening and closing ceremony with lights, PowerPoints, and sound management. Then I was also a representative with Tavin to present the theme of Green Technology to 8^th and 9^th graders. The tech management and presentations demonstrate the skills and recognizes the benefits of working collaboratively. Click here for more.

The creative tasks I did here were developing my PowerPoint handling skills along with photography skills. Then I continued my creativity by showing commitment and perseverance in CAS experiencing as during the COMUN Delegate Workshop I had to manage stage management such as sound and light. Towards the late 3^rd quarter od DP 1, I was involved in the COMUN practice debates as the Deputy Head of Tech in which some creative tasks I was involved in was creating the COMUN ID designs, along with working with the Head of Media, Milo with photography and editing. Click here fore more.

Tech Team at work. Taken by Taneishq

Then the last and final creativity involved in COMUN was with the COMUN Conference held for 3 consecutive days in which I focused on commitment and working collaboratively with the tech team. For the 3 days I was involved with photography with Head of Media, Milo and editing pictures along with adding watermarks, then for the opening and closing ceremonies I was involved with the Head of Tech, Anuda, and Deputy Head of Tech, Youghi, in working with presentation setup, sound, and light management. I also got a chance to use a Ronin for video recording which was a great experience. Link for COMUN XXV blog.

At the conference. Taken by Deputy Head of Tech-Youzhi

My other approach to creativity in DP 1 was working as an event crew for Girls SAISA Volleyball which was held at Th Overseas School of Colombo. The creative tasks I did included several departments such as photography, live streaming, and updating scores on the website. During event crew my main objectives were ‘Identify own strength and develop areas of growth’ and ‘ to show commitment and perseverance’. Regarding these objectives I was able to develop my camera skills of photography and live streaming, along with technical skills of updating scores on the SAISA websites. Event was a commitment for 3 consecutive days of the tournament in which I was committed. Link can be found here.

Author handling live stream camera. Credits: Savindi

Week Without Walls was an marvelous experience to discover Sri Lanka along with being creative. I went to Highlands which focuses on the central province of Sri Lanka in which I demonstrated engagement with issues of global significance and the challenges have been undertaken, and developing new skills in the process. During the trip I was able to develop my photography skills specially with landscape photography, night photo shoot, birds, and frogs. During the 5 days out of school I was able to demonstrate some creative photography techniques by the using different features on a DSLR camera such as shutter speed, frames, and lighting, along with my phone’s camera. Link to Week Without Walls.

2019 Highlands Group. Photo taken by Mr. Lockwood.

Action

I began season 1 of DP 1 with participating in volleyball for 3 months in which I developed my athletic skills and team work.  Volleyball was a new sport which I tried out in DP 1 and I enjoyed a lot, mostly because we had a strong team bonding and everyone socialized with each other. During the session I was able to identify my own strengths and develop areas for growth because for the 1st time I played as a setter or a libero player on the volleyball team during practices and practice matches with other schools. For volleyball I have a long blog which summarizes my whole experience in volleyball. Click here for more.

During practice. Taken by the author

In season 2 I participated in football which is my primary sport I always play. Football season went for another 3 months which were held on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. I had been playing football at my school since the past 3 years and I’ve always stayed committed to it. In DP 1 I played as a right back along with sometimes center field. I really enjoyed the practices with the team and the matched we played against other schools. During practices besides being on the field and performing I was also able to reflect with the team on how we can improve as a team, personal improvements, and what to do next. This demonstrates the skills and recognizes the benefits of working collaboratively with members of the soccer team.  Click here for more.

Author playing forward from defense with Josh. Photo credits: Disara Samayawardhena

In season 3 I tried a new activity of Track and Field  which was my 1^st time attempting track and field. Track and field contained hard work in which I was in action almost every minute of track practices because we were constantly working on our speed and long distances. The practices were held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays in which I was focused on demonstrating that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process. The challenging part was the hard and sore trainings because I had a day to recover for the next session along with maintaining my studies was a challenge because it required a lot of mental strength to study after a hard track session. Link to track and field- Track

Sprinting practices. Taken by Savi

Service

I am a part of the recycling and sustainability service group at The Overseas School of Colombo. In DP 1 I was able to accomplish some goals which I thought in my sophomore year of designing a T-shirt for our service and sell them. From 1^st semester of DP 1 I was busy with taking a step towards designing a t-shirt which was also aimed to spread the message of reducing ecological footprint and adding our service’s objectives of  reuse, reduce, and recycle. From this message i wanted to demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance. The process took 2-3 months because it was redesigned couple of times because I wanted the design to be attractive to people and to clearly bring up our message. This demonstrated how I initiated and planned a CAS experience. In early semester 2 we were able to print these designs and began selling, besides that I was able to work with Devin on his Waste Management project in which I contributed by creating logos for the bins. Another highlight for our service was environment day in which our service group and Reef Keepers organized it. Our goal for environment day was on improving our school’s impact on the environment. In order to increase the awareness my service group did a skit focusing on waste management as the school and Reef Keepers did a skit on ocean waste management. Also on this day our t-shirts were introduced in the community and we recognized the members of our school who work towards the maintenance with the t-shirts. This year we also introduced the bio gas plant by Disara which is a next step towards using waste as a useful fuel generator.

Flyer of our t-shirt.
Designed by the author