Final CAS Reflection🎉

Final CAS Reflection 

The activities I participated in during the past two years are as follows,

Creativity (Meditative Coloring, Painting, Crochet, CAS Project)

Activity (Football, Volleyball, Cycling, Workouts, Orientation Trip)

Service (Temple School, Hope for Kids, CAS project)

Trips (Orientation Trip, Week Without Walls)

  • LO1 Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

For creativity, one of the activities I did for creativity was meditative coloring where I had the freedom to utilize my creativity senses especially in choosing suitable colors and color combinations. The outcome was highly satisfactory and encouraged me to try out different styles and techniques used in coloring. Moreover, painting was another activity I was commonly and passionately engaged in. It provided me an opportunity to showcase my creative skills in using the elements and principles of art. I was able to develop different ways in which I could put my ideas on a canvas. Unlike painting and coloring, crochet was a completely new experience to me. However, I was able to get the hang of it very quickly by learning it from my mom and I was even able to knit cute bracelets. Crochet requires a lot of concentration and patience and I could enhance these aspects in myself through crochet. Furthermore, some of the trips that I was engaged in the past two years such as Week Without Walls and the DP1 Orientation Trip also contributed in developing my creativity skills. The CAS project was a significant opportunity for me to portray my creativity in the best way possible as I started to design the senior hoodies for my grade, the class of 2021.

For activity, having engaged in Football and Volleyball, I was able to identity teamwork as one of my strengths as I could interact well with my teammates and work towards our common goal. Overtime, I could also improve myself physically especially qualities like endurance by playing these sports. Moreover, cycling was an activity I really enjoyed doing especially because it was in Dubai and it was with my cousins. Through this experience, I learnt a new mode of stress management by cycling outdoors. Development of strengths through cycling was more successful as I engaged in it quite often because I enjoyed it so much. During DP1 orientation trip, we had the chance of trying a lot of new adventurous activities such as rafting, canyoning and abseiling. These immensely helped me boost my self esteem and confidence. Moreover, these also improved teamwork and team-building skills which were extensively used in order to be successful when trying out these activities.

For service, temple School is one of the long standing projects that I took part in for close to 5 years. I was the co-leader of this service and I truly enjoyed being a part of it. Although there were certain challenges such as language barrier with the kids not being conversant in English and myself not being able to speak Sinhala, I was able to build up on my non-lingual communication skills and deliver the best possible through the service. This enabled me to identify compassion or kindness as one of my biggest strengths. In turn, it also allowed me to expand my understanding and enhanced empathy to serve the kids as productively as possible. In DP2, I joined Hope for Kids service which is similar to the goals and outcomes of the Temple school. In the program Hope for Kids, being able to coordinate activities well was a key quality that was required especially during the pandemic with different logistic issues and hygienic concerns. I was glad to be part of it as I learnt to coordinate well with people.

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

For creativity, learning crochet from scratch was a challenge for me as I have never done it before. However, with extensive learning from my mother and by allocating a sufficient amount of time for the activity, I was able to master crochet to a certain extent. Moreover, designing the senior hoodie was also quite challenging as I wanted a design which impressed everyone.  For activity, the orientation trip was a mix of outdoor challenge where I had to take part in a variety of activities that were very new to me such as abseiling and canoeing. Regardless of the challenges, I was able to do a good job owing to some qualities such as perseverance. For service, the biggest challenge I face with here was the communication with children who did not speak the same language as I do. This allowed me to take different routes to communicate with them effectively.

  • LO3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Generally, creativity experiences were allocated with 3 days in my schedule so that it doesn’t effect my school work. Each semester, I tried to engage in different activities in order to gain varying experiences without limiting myself to activities of only one kind. Similarly, tasks under activity were also planned in an effective manner by allocating sufficient time. I also made sure that the activities chosen enhanced the physical health as well s mental wellbeing. For service, careful planning and preparation are required because it involves the community. We had weekly meetings to set goals for the service ad to work out plans according to which we will be achieving the goals.

  • LO4 Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

For creativity, painting and meditative coloring were the two activities I was truly passionate about. My commitment to these two activities was quite consistent throughout the year. Painting was especially an activity that I loved being engaged in which also had a good impact on my academics as I was taking Visual Arts as a subject in DP. For Activity, I loved being involved in Football and Cycling both of which I enjoyed and took part in more often in the past two years. I ensured that I did not mis any of the football sessions which were held in school before the COVID situation arose. Similarly, I was committed to cycling when I was in Dubai as it gave me a wonderful opportunity perform a physical activity which was both great for health and also gave me a liberating feeling from stress. For service, throughout the two years, I was always dedicated to service and I made it a point not to miss any of the sessions. While being on service and in preparation, I tried my best to deliver great results by working extremely compassionately with the children as well as preparing the resources required for the session beforehand.

  • LO5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

For creativity, the tasks that we performed in Week Without Walls were mostly collaboratively done. For example, my friends and I got together as a team and painted murals along with setting up of a beautiful garden in the centre of Janoda foundation premises. This included painting a rail-track for playing for the children which would not have been successfully done without teamwork. For activity, especially for football and the orientation trip, team work was extremely significant as we all had to support each other in order to achieve a common goal. For service, the objectives of the Temple School and the Hope For Kids projects could be fulfilled because all the members of the service worked together dividing tasks among themselves supported by good interaction between the members which always resulted in a productive outcome.

  • LO6 Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Generally, the CAS experiences were tailored in such a way that mental and physical wellbeing is taken into account. Stress management and relaxation during a pandemic were two key aspects underlying the CAS experiences, especially for creativity and Activity. On the other hand, service was mainly focused on helping the community especially underprivileged. Through service, namely Temple school and Hope for Kids, we could make a significant impact on the wellbeing of the community.

  • LO7 Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions Creativity/Activity/Service

Overall, I learnt so much through my CAS experiences and also found them greatly helpful in maintaining my physical, social and mental wellbeing. CAS experiences also showed me that my life struck a balance between academic and non academic aspects. It is important to note that all of the choices and actions that comprised of my CAS experiences were very ethical as none of them had a grave impact on the individual or community welfare.

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