The CAS program has been an integral part of my education, challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and explore new experiences that have helped me grow as an individual. Throughout this journey, I have planned and set my CAS goals and explored my creativity, service and activity through various extracurriculars. I have reflected on my personal growth and learning. 

The CAS program has allowed me to explore different areas of interest and develop my skills and knowledge outside the classroom. Over the past two years, I have dedicated myself to achieving my CAS goals and have indulged in several activities outside of my comfort zone. 

Through my experiences, I have learned the value of hard work, dedication and perseverance, which will undoubtedly serve me well in my future endeavours. Overall, I am grateful for the opportunities the CAS program has provided me, and I look forward to continuing to grow and develop as an individual. 

This blog post will be a final reflection on how I achieved all the learning outcomes during my journey at OSC. 

 

LO1: Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

The constraints of online learning at the start of the DP1 semester made it difficult to explore different learning outcomes; however, it gave me the unique opportunity to explore and understand my strengths and develop in areas of interest. For example, I saw the circumstances as a chance for me to develop my musical practice. The piano was an instrument which I had taken up a long time ago; I decided to practice more to fuel my passion and also learn new things like transcribing notes by ear, which was something I had little experience in. 

Furthermore, because I participated in sports a lot this year, I got the chance to discover passion and strength in areas I didn’t consider previously, like track and field. Shot put and discus, as well as sprinting, were two areas in which I saw relative strength in hence, I decided to commit to track in season 2 of SAISA to work on polishing and refining my existing skills. 

 

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

Season 2 of SAISA and Block 2 of activities was a difficult time because two of my extracurriculars clashed: Track and Production. Both were also of equal importance, considering I was a named role in the school play and I was also a part of the senior girls’ team in track, which had fewer people than the rest of the subgroups. 

Because of the clash, I had to make sure to demonstrate equal dedication to both activities by dividing my time accordingly and also consulting with the relevant teachers. Luckily, I was not alone, as there were a few people on the team who were also taking part in the production. This clash taught me a lot about time management as this was also a critical time in our DP careers, considering we were doing IAs and learning crucial parts of our respective syllabi. 

 

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

My service has given me many opportunities to work on brainstorming new project ideas and planning different sorts of events. For example, through the people in service, we birthed the idea to host a Karaoke night which was quite successful in raising funds for our primary partner school. Furthermore, travelling has also provided me with the opportunity to explore and try more unique things. 

 

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

Because I have been involved in many seasonal and long-lasting extracurriculars, I have demonstrated perseverance and commitment. This is especially for the case in the sports in which I have participated, namely, volleyball, track and field and basketball. Considering I am not on the travelling team for basketball due to timing issues with IB exams, I do not have much reason to show up to practice; however, since it is a sport which I have slowly gained a passion for, I want to improve on my skills despite me not travelling. I have also shown commitment to my love for acting by participating in ISTA (typically a tether student exclusive event) and being in the school play. I also participated in some activities which I was not directly related to, for example, I volunteered to help for Housing and Habitat’s annual Home Run event. 

 

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

Collaboration may be observed in several contexts; however, for me, it would have to be for sports and service. At the very start of the school year, I took part in volleyball, which taught me a lot about the importance of support in achieving goals as a team. As a team, we grew a lot together as we understood each other more, which was beneficial to our later success in the tournament as we managed to put up good fights with all our opponents. 

My service also showed me the importance of working collaboratively to achieve goals. Room to Read during this senior year has been the most productive it has ever been as we initiated new events, developed several projects simultaneously and took the initiative to connect the community more to raise funds for our partner schools. The service has also taught me why it is important to function as a team. Since we are quite a tight bunch, discussions are genuine and productive. 

 

 

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

Acts of service are something which I perform outside of my allocated service hours. Being from the Maldives, of course, makes me very conscious about environmental matters and my waste. Hence, when I visited the Maldives, I decided to do beach sweeps on some of the local beaches I visited. I thought this would be a good initiative as it also sets an example for everyone else. 

And also, of course, my service focused on education issues and access to resources to develop literacy skills. I believe that our list of partner schools proves us to be a very helpful and resourceful service as we have aided schools across the nation in Sri Lanka’s many provinces. 

I also was presented with the opportunity to dress up as OSC’s gecko mascot for the baton relay run by EcoSchools which aimed to inform policymakers at COP27.

 

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

As a person who is very connected to nature, specifically the ocean, I have realized the importance of not damaging marine and coral life, especially when diving. The environment has been one of the many things I learnt more about in my DP career being an ESS student and also a former member of EcoSchools. 

Understanding what damage we do as humans, not only to large ecosystems but also our own, was something we learnt to take action on. 

All in all, CAS has been a great experience, pushing me to try new things and also improve in things which I’ve already done. Special thanks to Ms. Lockwood as my service teacher, my coaches (Ms. Kelly, Mr. Turner, Ms. Sue, Ms. Sriyani and Mr. Poulus) and of course, Mr. Lockwood for guiding me for the past two years.