“What feels like the end is often the beginning.”

At the moment of writing this blog, we’ve got less than 2 weeks of high school left. I remember it like yesterday when I first walked the halls of OSC in August 2019 and feeling slightly nervous for the journey ahead of me but also feeling excited for the new experience. Over the past 2 years, we have been through a lot from completing massive coursework to uploading IAs and going for a literal lockdown for almost one and a half years, thanks to Covid-19. This time embraced many highlights and downsets of our lives, with academics and others. And this blog is in fact a true memoir of this time. When I sat down to write my first CAS blog, it took me a lot of time to process my thoughts, communicate my ideas and meet the expectations. I viewed it merely as a task to be completed. But was I wrong! As time went by, CAS brought fun and enjoyment. It gave you the ultimate satisfaction when you publish that first blog. It helped me relieve my stress and encouraged me to get out and play instead of moping around with all the assignments due. Now, as I’ve reached the final stage of this CAS blog, let me take you through a reminisce of my time at OSC.

When I first initiated CAS, my goals for creativity involved performing arts and dancing. For me performing arts was an amalgamation of fun and creativity. It helped me forget about the scientific facts and calculus formulae and enjoy the moment. I was able to successfully complete my LCM Diploma in Speech and Drama with distinction and it works as an added qualification for me. I continue Kandyan dancing on the weekends and it benefits me with a weekly workout. At the beginning of DP1, I played Netball at my previous school but with the Covid-19 restrictions, it had to come to a stop. Moreover, it was really frustrating to not be able to go out for a run, swim, or walk. I tried out different workout routines but was unable to keep up with the time and constant work at school. When things started getting back to normal I was excited to start my dancing lessons, I also ran on the walking path every other day. I could stay healthy and fit and help increase the dopamine levels in the brain. My main goals for service were to bond with my fellow members and actively participate in all the activities. DLP stood against the lively service sessions and we had to meet virtually. But we formulated new ideas and made the most of them.

Overall, these two years have been nothing but enthralling. I have grown as a student and an individual that is now ready to embrace life outside the four walls of high school. I faced multiple ups and downs and learned the essential life lessons along the way. I made new friends both intentionally and by chance. I climbed the steps of high school and waved back at the trail we’ve all left behind. For all of this, I express my gratitude to my teachers – to those who taught me, and to those who didn’t, my family – for trusting me and believing me, my friends – for always sticking by me and finally to OSC – for been that epitome of strength and providing me with ample opportunities to learn and grow.

Let summarize this experience through the following learning outcomes;

• Identify strengths and develop areas for growth.

Throughout the IB diploma, I was faced with many instances where I was left at crossroads, questioning my strengths and weaknesses. One such situation would be my WWW trip to Hambanthota. It was a tiring week of digging and painting. It tested my strengths in working collaboratively, skills of leadership, patience, and communication. Especially when we had to prepare dinner, the whole activity based on our trust in others. In addition, doing exercises at home is something you can lose interest in very quickly. But every day I pushed myself to run another 2km or do 10 more squats. I refused to give up and let my physical fitness get lose. I think it paid up in the day and for that, I am grateful for my resilience and skills.

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

One of the highlights of my time at OSC is when I had to perform at the National Day Assembly. This was a challenge I encountered during my first year. The challenge was to overcome the fear of performing in front of a large audience, the challenge was to perform a piece of standard, the challenge was to prepare myself for the worst to come. I was able to complete my performance successfully and received an appraisal for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another situation I can encounter is during DP1 Orientation where I had to challenge myself to go on long hikes up the mountain ranges of Kithulgala and abseil. It consisted of long hikes on both days through thick rainforests and heavy showers. We also took part in water sports like water rafting and canoeing. For someone whose a novice to this, it was certainly a challenge to put myself out there and keep up with the others. Nonetheless, I am proud to say that I achieved all of them successfully, and looking back I am glad I did so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

I think the perfect example would be how I planned and organized my CAS project. My CAS project was teaching MYP kids the Sinhala language. I coordinated with Ms. Dilini, who is in charge of MYP Sinhala, and initiated a lesson plan to teach them the basic vocabulary and review some lessons. I had to consider the class size, the mental capacity of the students, and their interest in the subject area. A great deal of support was received from both the teacher prior to the lesson and from the students on the day. But I believe that it was the befitting plan and organization that made this project a success. And am once again thankful to everyone who lent me a hand.

• Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

Service is one of favourite parts of the IB Diploma program. Every Thursday we get to spend an extra hour after school devoting ourselves to a better course. As a co-leader of the service group ‘Girls for Girls’, I conducted different interactive sessions for the girls from Emerge Center during my first year. We played volleyball, made bracelets, and prepared tacos and milkshakes. However, during the pandemic, our options were limited, and had to limit ourselves to virtual debates and other creative stuff. As a DP2 student who’s trying to finish uploading all the due assignments in a single week, attending these sessions was a definite commitment. But the enjoyment I received surpassed my exhaustion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

The best example for this is the many IA trips and Week Without walls I have been on. I traveled to Kithulaga from my Biology IA, to Sinharaja for my Geography IA, and to Hambanthota for WWW. All of these were very educational and entertaining to be a part of. But none of these would bring out the expected outcome if it weren’t for the corporative work of the whole group. Whether it came to marking quadrants for biology or preparing a questionnaire for geography or digging pots at WWW everyone did their best collaboratively. This comes to show how as separate individuals we are at most mildly effective but together we can combine our talents to a powerful arsenal of academic excellence, athletic achievement, and community spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

I participated in the Plastic Patrol organized by ‘Reefkeepers’ where we collected all plastic items around the school neighborhood and packaged them separately based on their origin and type of plastic used. The final packages were sent to the mother companies with an awareness letter as a measure of trying to inform them about the damages caused. The plastics that could not be sorted were sent to a plastics recycling center in Colombo. Moreover, during my stay at Hambanthota for WWW, we took part in a beach cleanup at Shangrila. Over the course of 2-3 hours, we collected nearly 15 kg of plastics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, we discuss timely global issues during our service hours, ranging from the legalization of abortions to human rights. These debates help us to be more educated in these aspects and also be aware of the different perspectives of the communities around the globe. I believe these present clear instances where I have engaged with issues of global significance.

• Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

When working with the girls from Emerge Center Lanka we had to consider their background and what is suitable or not. Each of these girls has undergone some kind of sexual abuse in their early days and even a brief mention of this could be quite sensitive to them. Thus, we had to take into consideration their side of the story and continue forward with the little information we possessed.

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With that, my time at OSC has come to an end. All those times of coming to school early to gossip, doing missed homework at break, almost skipping lunch because we were gossiping, and staying after school for no reason at all will all be over; they will be missed, more than I count for but they will always be treasured as my best time at OSC. As I started off this post saying “What feels like the end is often the beginning.” It is true! After we leave OSC most of us will probably leave Sri Lanka soon and seeing our friends chilling at the locker benches every morning as we walk to school will soon become a memory that we will learn to appreciate. The year-long friendships and warm hugs will be missed; teasing each other till there’s no more; burning up labs and just messing around will be missed; and most of all we will miss the company, the different characters that emerged throughout the years and the laughs we had. But as we leave here with all these memories, universities and colleges await us with a whole new life filled with similar fascinating events and memories. So this is not the end but in fact the true beginning!!

 

This is a time of looking back on lessons learned,

adventures shared, bright moments filled

with special meaning.

A time for saying goodbye to all friends,

to good times you’ve known… a time for

packing away memories, treasures for tomorrow.

A time for looking forward, a time to set new goals,

to dream new dreams, to try your wings, and see

what lies beyond.

Source: High school

 

Till we meet again;

Imandi Wijayaratne

With anxiously waiting for 4 months for summer, our hopes were drastically ambushed with Covid-19 domineering our lives and the entire world, we were all stuck in our homes with very little to do. After the Distance Learning Programme implemented by the school came to an end with the school year ending, I was extremely happy to have a few days off of school work. Despite not been travelling to and fro from school, the DLP was quite tiring as we had to strain our eyes in front of a screen for hours. So I was happy for the vacation and spent a lot of time watching movies on Netflix, reading books and hanging out with friends. However, as we started off last year the EE deadline was approaching and I had to abandon myself from all distractions at least once a week. Since I had completed my outline before the summer, I only had the mere job of writing down my essay. But as I sat down in front of my computer on the 20th of June, my mind was completely blank. It took me a couple of days to figure out how I was going to start my essay but after the first two lines were there all of the rest flowed through. Each week I spent one day to write my EE which helped me finish my draft sooner than I expected. The last week before school started was me all editing and re-editing my draft. And soon enough, I was packing my bags for my senior year. 

I was a little anxious to be back at school for my last year at OSC. There was a set of protocols that we were informed of that had to be followed at school. Most involving sanitisation, physical distancing and wearing masks. It was a challenge that all of us was going to get used to.

As I walked to school on the 12th of August 2020, I was wondering if this year was going to be the same as last year. Should I expect the same from myself or should I aspire to be more? That brought me to work up to my goals this year and also to reflect on my previous goals.

Creativity

This year for creativity, I am hoping to keep Performing Arts as my main focus. But with the current situation, several protocols have been adopted that prevents us from engaging in actual performances. However, we have been putting our ideas into work by producing our own play. I have also signed up for teaching new kids and organizing workshops for them. For the past few weeks, we have been doing several ice breakers and introduced them to the different form of performing arts. All the students are talented which makes it a challenge to come up with activities for them that would both entertain them and also full fill our purpose. Since the new recruits are not categorized according to age, I found that some of the students I teach are also older than me. Which I feel is also a huge challenge to not consider the age gap during class and prove yourself worthy of your position. So during the next 3 months, I hope to work to the best of my ability and work cooperatively with the other teachers and at the same time improve myself in every aspect.  Apart from that, I hope to continue with some of the art projects I started during the summer. With Covid-19 leaving us a lot of free time at home, I found myself in a new interest in colours. So I’ve been making different things using waste and painting them. I also tried doing some actual painting, which I have to say wasn’t much of a success. So my goal is to complete a big wall decoration make of recycling newspapers and paint before December break.

I believe engaging in some creative activity helps to reduce our stress at school and at home. With starting school as seniors, DP2 brings a lot of work and assignments that require frequent revision. So with meeting all the deadlines and IAs due it really adds up to all the stress. So for me performing arts and handwork aids me to take my mind off the school work and enjoy myself.

Activity

As part of my activity this year I will continue with Kandyan Dancing. It is a bit strange to be dancing with 2m distance between you and also coming to class on separate days. Nonetheless, some functions and concerts have been cancelled this year so we are left off to improve ourselves for the competitions. This year my main goal for dancing is to stay fit and improve muscle strength and coordination. We have been having dancing practises thrice or twice a week to catch up with the time we have lost so I think it succeeds to keep me fit for now. Also during the DLP season, I and my family decided to go for runs and walks every evening and we continued it during the summer as well. However, now since the school finishes late I have less time to get home and complete all my school work. So we have pushed it towards the weekends. But I often play badminton with my sister. Overall, I hope to continue these till next year and be fit and healthy.

Service

I have been a member of the service group ‘Girls for Girls’ for the past year and we’ve been engaging in a lot of activities with them from cooking to playing sports. We have been working with groups of girls from Emerge Center, which is a rehabilitation centre for sexually abused girls. Our main goal is to build awareness within our community about these impacts and help all the girls around the country to stand strong. But with the limitations that come with Covid-19, the service sessions have been cancelled for a few weeks and interactions with outer institutions has been prohibited. So when the group meets I hope to discuss with the others and come up with different ideas to approach our aim. I also wish to conduct an online campaign or social media account to make awareness within our society. Throughout DP 2 my goal is to work collaboratively with the leaders and accomplish our aims.

 

Learning outcomes:

• Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.
• Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
• Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

The last year, as the juniors of OSC, was a very special year in my life. It as filled with crazy and compelling adventures along the way. From being one of the new kids to become almost a senior, I have learnt and gone through many things from the variety of subjects to all the activities and service.

The journey as a gecko started for me on the 6th of August 2019 when I entered the OSC main gates for the orientation for the new kids. We were given an overview of the school and the diploma program and taken on a school tour. On that first day, I never realized that someday these walls and these people would mean so much to me. OSC made me grow not only as a student but as a person accomplished with discipline and flourished with the skills I had and acquiring new ones along the way.

My first expedition with the DP was the orientation in Kithulgala. It was a really good trip filled with fun and thrilling activities. We engaged in many activities over the course of 3 days spent at Borderlands Kithulgala. It was very helpful for me to get along with the other kids and teachers in my grade. When the first month of DP ended like that we were extremely happy for a moment only to be met by piles of work and assignments in classes. The following months included some other fun activities like the sports day, UN day, Science trips, WWW etc. Overall it was a great year and I think I was able to get the most of it.

CREATIVITY

This year for creativity, I was a member of the Advocate at school and attended performing arts and dancing outside school.

I along with the other members of the Advocate organized the annual contest for poetry, prose and photography. It was a lot of work of collaboration and perseverance but I enjoyed working with them and had a lovely time. I also improved my literary skills on the way. Dancing is always fun and this year I’ve been attending regular practices. I was able to discuss with Ms Fleming and perform at the school during the National Day assembly. It was a big challenge for me. I have danced plenty of times either in groups or with my partner but this was the first time I danced solo in front of an audience of about 500 people. However, I practised for about 3 weeks straight so I can reduce the probability of forgetting any steps. It was a really good experience and was amazed with all the appreciation received afterwards. As for performing arts, I spent the last year preparing for my diploma but unfortunately with the current situation the examination was postponed. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun and got the opportunity to engage in different workshops.

ACTIVITY

My overall goal for activity this year was to stay fit. And I believe I was able to fulfil that. During the first season, I played volleyball at school. Being a novice to the game of volleyball, it was quite hard at first. It requires a lot of stamina and concentration. Ms Kelly and Ms Chandler were really helpful in teaching me the correct techniques of the sport. I did badminton this year for the second season and I really enjoyed it. It has always been a sport that I was interested in playing. Playing badminton requires commitment, collaboration and communication. Especially when playing doubles you have to make sure that your partner is aware of what is happening and you have to work together.  I enjoyed playing badminton and I am looking forward to playing again next year.  Apart from this, I went for jogs during the weekends and did stretching at home as it helps with dancing. I also joined up for Zumba at school. Since I loved dancing it was a bonus achievement as it helped me to stay fit while doing something I love.

SERVICE

Last year for service I signed up for the service group Girls For Girls. It is a service group that works to the empowerment of women around the world. This year girls for girls has accomplished many things and we have been very happy with the progress that we have made. Since each service day is assigned to a particular group member I had to initiate and plan an interesting and suitable session for the girls from the Emerge Center. This is one of the things I like about our service group. This allows all the members to know how a undertake a challenge and successfully face it. This also teaches leadership qualities and time management. We were able to do wall climbing, make milkshakes, play sports, watch music videos, sing-along and I enjoyed all our service sessions. With the current situation, we had to push down some of the activities planned but next year I hope to organize a dance session for the girls to teach them some of the basic steps. This is something I learned the girls loved to do. I also hope to have a women’s week at school where we could work towards our goal as a whole school.

Apart from this I also participated in my first and last Week Without Walls trip to Hambantota. Here we worked with the Janoda foundation, where we taught pre-school kids for 3 days. It was a lot of work but at the same time, I was glad that we were doing a service to the village. We also built a mini-railway for the kids and then conducted a beach clean-up with the Shangri-La.

Overall I think this year has been both successful in CAS as well as academics. I’ve always loved the blogging aspect of CAS and can’t wait to start the new school year as the seniors of OSC.

This year is my first and final week without walls, I was put in the Housing and Habitat group to Hambantota. The group was lead by Mr Rossberg and Ms Fleming. At Hambantota, we were to teach a group of preschool kids and also to build them a railway track to play on. And then finally, we were going to do a beach clean-up at the Shangri-la. So before going on this trip, there was a lot of planning to do.

There was a lot of planning required in order to make sure that kids won’t bored or distracted at the same time. Mr Rossberg said that the teaching time is one and a half hours. At first, one and a half hours is not much, but when working with small kids who are from ages 3 – 5, they can get distracted pretty quickly so it can be really hard to keep them engaged the whole time. So my team including me, Hamda, Oliver and Arav tried to choose activities that are fun and also time-consuming. Before we went on the trip we were able to come up with 6 activities.

• Spider-web ( Children would pass around a string in a random manner by introducing themselves )
• Number match ( Teach numbers from 1-10 and do a matching activity where the children would match the numbers with objects )
• Basketball ( Children would stand in a line and try to throw the balls from a near-by basket to one that is further away )
• Colouring ( Children will be given printed pictures for colouring. )
• Paper plate crafts ( Children will be designing a paper plate with pictures and drawings. )
• Writing a letter to parents ( Children will be designing and signing off their names in a pre-written thank you letter for their parents. )

 

DAY 1

We left OSC at 8:00 am hoping that we’ll make it to Hambantota around 12:30 pm. It was about 225 km from OSC to Hambantota and around 10-15 km to the Janoda Foundation which was going to be our lodgings for the first 3 nights. After we got to the Janoda foundation we had lunch and had about half an hour to settle down before we were taken on a tour around the Hambantota area. We visited an old British ruin and a beautiful beach with an amazing view. Then we went to Mattiello Towers; which is a prison that was used in the old days.

Later we went up to Bundala and looked at some wildlife; saw some monkeys, lots of birds, 2 jackals and 3 crocodiles.

Once we finished the sight-seeing we headed back to the foundation where we got time to shower and clean up and get ready for dinner. After dinner, we had some time for the lesson planning to make sure that we have everything ready for tomorrow. The groups were divided in a way so that every group had a Sinhala- speaker. As one of our classmates were sick and couldn’t attend the trip we had to re-organize our groups a bit but it was sorted really quick. We had everything prepared ( thanks to Hamda ), so it was quite easy for our group, we just relaxed after our group was approved by Mr Rossberg and Ms Fleming.

DAY 2

The next day we were woken up by Ms Fleming at about 6.30 am and we were supposed to be ready for breakfast by 7.30 am. The scheduled teaching was going to start at 8.30 am. We had breakfast and headed to the garden. The kids were saying their prayers they were all lined up with flowers to welcome us.

A few kids were crying hanging onto their parents but most of them were happy with bright faces. It was a pleasing sight to our eyes. We started the day off with some activities outside, the teachers were singing and dancing around the garden and we joined them and did exactly what they did as somewhat of an ice breaker and so that the kids will warm up to us and would want to work.

Just as planned, we started off with the spider web. We wanted it to be an ice-breaker for the children.

My group doing the spider-web with the children.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming After that we gave them some printed pictures for them to colour. The colouring went well than we expected. They were so excited and concentrated on doing their best.

When they were finished with the colouring we displayed them on a notice board and then we did the basketball game. This activity didn’t last that long as the kids were too excited to play with the balls. They started to get more excited in the balls than in the actual game. Then we let the children play in the playground for about 15 minutes until it was time for their break.

Once the teaching for the day was done we started working on the mini-railway track at the back of the school. The boys started digging the ground to place the blocks of wood in while the girls started painting the blocks.

After about an hour of work we had lunch and then continued the work right after. The first hour of work before lunch was the hardest. Everyone was trying to get a grip of the work so it was a bit tiring; and the bright sun wasn’t much of a help. But the session after lunch was much easier and we were able to do more work than we expected. I also helped with the digging for some time. Doing this type of work really helps us appreciate the benefits that we have, but experiences like this are valued highly because it teaches you the aspects of labour and poverty.

Labour and poverty are huge issues that not only Sri Lanka but many countries all over the world are facing. Experiences like this help us get a better understanding on how hard people in rural areas work in order to make a day’s worth of pay. Then we had dinner and some time for lesson planning. Once it was approved, we had some free time where we just hung out together before we went to bed.

 

DAY 3

We were woken up at 6.30 am again and we had to get dressed and ready for breakfast by 7:30 am. As the day before, we walked off to the school to start the teachings. The day started off with rain so we couldn’t engage in any outdoor activities with the children. We started with the paper plate crafts. We gave each student a paper plate and different shapes cut out of coloured paper. I did a sample craft along with them too. The children were very interested in this activity and it was fun to see them engaged in the activity happily.

After this, we did the number match with them. First of all we revised all the numbers with the children and then asked them to match it with the number of balls. Finally, we gave thank you cards that were prepared by us for them to design. They drew various designs on the cards and signed their names. We asked the teachers to send the cards with the students to their parents. This closed the curtains for our last teaching session with the kids. The children gave us flowers as parting gifts and it was an emotional event. We had so much fun with them and it was a great experience.

Since we finished off most of the work on the previous day we didn’t have much left to do. So a few people worked on completing the mini-railway, some worked on the mural and the rest painted one of the walls in the preschool. Once the work was done we visited a local potter. We witnessed how the traditional potter threw pots by spinning the wheel. It was mesmerizing to see the woman shaping and creating a pot out of a clump of clay. All most all of us threw pots on the wheel as well. Even though it doesn’t seem that hard watching at it; but once you sit on the spot and hold the clay in your hands you feel the difficulty.

It is not easy to shape the pot as the slightest mistake can ruin it. However with the help of the pottery lady I was able to throw a pot out of the clay.

After we were done at the potter’s, we bid good-bye to the potter and his wife and headed back to the Janoda foundation. It was our last night at the Foundation so we prepared dinner by ourselves. We were divided in groups and each was assigned a task. My group consisted of me and Anish and we and we had to prepare the sauce for pasta. Preparing the sauce was quite easy. All we had to do was chop the garlic and onions, fry them and then add the canned sauces. The sauce came out pretty well and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner.

 

DAY 4

The next day was all about final touches. After breakfast at 7.30 am per usual we dusted off our beds and cleaned our rooms. Then we cleaned the wooden blocks as they were covered in mud. We also did second coatings on the mural.

Once everything was done and dusted we were ready to leave to Shangri-la when we had to look for a lost ball. Every one searched for the ball because or else Mr Turner would have been so mad. After about an hour of searching, we found the ball and at last, we were ready for Shangri-la. We thanked Mr Gamage and the staff of the Janoda Foundation and bid good-bye. We reached the hotel at about 11.15 am so we had about 45 minutes to relax and get ready for lunch and the beach cleanup which would be followed after. 

After a delicious lunch, we went to a beach near-by to clean it up. The beach doesn’t look polluted at the first sight, but once you go further you start to see how the fishermen and the locals have put so much trash there; from clothes, bottles, fishnets, food wrappings to the most random things. The beach clean-up wasn’t as much tiring. To be honest I think I enjoyed most of it. It was a really good project because as Mr Pulinda told the locals don’t bother cleaning the beach as much as they do in polluting them.

We were done with the cleaning by 4:30 and we headed back to the hotel and we had downtime till 7:00. So I chilled for a bit in the pool and then had a long hot water shower before heading for dinner. After dinner, we watched tv for some time and then talked about random stuff until I felt sleepy. So I said good night and went to sleep realizing it was the last night of the trip. The next morning we had a bit of a sleep-in. We had breakfast and were ready to go back to Colombo.

This was one of the best trips that I have ever been on. The people were so nice and we were able to bond over many things and it was amazing. We made our own jokes, went nearly five days without our phones and did lots of work which we were very proud of. We had two really good supervisors who were a lot of fun and supportive. I enjoyed this trip very much. It was a whole new experience for me and I loved every bit of it. Everything went well and overall I was glad to be on this trip. This was the perfect way to end my Week Without Walls experience!