Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity. If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.

One of the other ASAs I signed up for this year is “The Advocate”. It is a literary magazine that is organized by the school. Every year The Advocate holds a literary competition under three categories namely “Poetry, Photography, and Prose”. Each submission is judged by a board of experts formed by the teachers of the L&L section at OSC. The best are then published either digitally or manually. Our advertising was done mainly through emails and the morning bulletin board. We also displayed posters around the school. With constant reminders, the students submitted their creations at the start of the October break.

In total, we received about 50+ submissions from all categories. The submissions were then judged by the teachers and three winners were selected from each category.

This was a really good experience as we, The Advocates, planned everything together with the help of Ms De Jong. We are currently working on the awards for the winners. There are some limitations as we are unable to spend a lot of money on gifts but nonetheless, we are doing our best to appreciate their talent, hard work, and dedication.

So far, through the Advocate, I learnt how to organize a competition. What the basic necessities are for such a competition and what supplementary areas should you focus on etc. I learnt how to discuss with the other members collectively before arriving at a decision. And most of all I met a lot of new people at school. So, I hope to work with this ASA group for the rest of my school years spent here.

Unity is strength…when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.

UN DAY 2019

We celebrated the United Nations Day 2019 on the 4th of October 2019 at the school premises. This year the UN Day was celebrated under the theme of ‘Gender Equality’. As per the custom of OSC most of the students dressed up to represent their own nationality.

As DP students we were given the opportunity to do presentations for each grade. We were divided into groups and we presented under different areas. Grades 6 and 7 focus on Education, grades 8,9 and 10 focussed on the Gender wage gap and the DP  students focussed on Human  Trafficking. It was a really good experience as I got the chance to move with the OSC students.

Throughout the past couple of weeks, we worked on our presentations in our groups of three. We discussed what we were going to say, the activities we were going to do, etc. My group consisted of me, Lithira and Johail from MYP5. The speciality of this presentation was that it wasn’t merely a session where we just kept on talking and sharing our views on a particular subject. It was more active where the students actively participated in the discussion. The students engaged in a poster activity and later debated about the pros and cons.

It was so nice to see how intrigued the kids were and how much they made it an enjoyable morning by paying attention and contributing positively to the lesson.

 

 

After the morning presentations, we had our assembly and then we moved into our favourite session which was the food fair. Food varieties from all around the globe were available for the students and we had a lovely time trying out new food.

 

This activity helped me with the presentation skills, which I believe is very important when you are in OSC. But most importantly I am now aware of the different nationalities that live in the school and how we should work together as one. It also gave me a sense of all the uniqueness of global cultures. It was really amusing and I think it is the best way to celebrate the last day of school. I’m longing for UN Day next year.

 

 

Creativity

• Performing Arts

In my opinion, creative activities are the best way to relieve stress. For that purpose, I do performing arts at Mystical Rose International Institute in Rajagiriya. My goal is to participate in talent fiesta and examinations and achieve international awards. I’ve been doing performing arts since I was about 10 years. I started performing arts not for stress relieving but with the entire purpose of having fun. It provides you with so many chances to have fun and enjoy yourself. You try to act out some celebrities, you have group plays, you play games, you organize drama competitions, you rehearse for talent fiestas day and night….and it’s so much fun. But also on the way you get to learn about famous playwrights, their motivations and also about the great literary eras. And all these years I’ve participated in so many events and learnt many things regarding drama and theater. Through this, I’ve also learned to balance my life in a productive way and manage my time accordingly. And I’ve made new friends; new connections. So I think that it has helped my social life as well. I’ve won many awards for poetry, public speaking and theatre. I have also been a part of plays like ‘The Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Horton’. Moreover, I have been engaging in individual acting including Shakespeare. I ‘ve completed up to Grade 8 in LCM exams and currently, I’m working on my diploma in Speech and drama. I will be taking my exam in 2020 and I hope to prepare well and do my best. Although I started performing for fun and pleasure as time passed it has become more than that. Now it has also become my stress reliever. With the increasing workload each year I sometimes found it hard to attend all classes and there was a time during which I had to temporarily stop performing. I have to say it was one of the worst moments. Afterward, I felt more stressed. That was when I realized that doing what you like relieves your stress. I started performing again and it certainly helped me. During acting, you don’t think about school or homework or due assignments. You enjoy the moment. This year as I joined OSC, it was a whole new world for me. The work was different, the school hours were long, we got a lot of homework and I almost felt like giving up. But performing arts helped me to relax my mind and laugh my head out. Once my mind was relaxed I was able to do all the due work. I suppose that this situation will prevail all this year along and aid me to do my DP1 well.

 

• Traditional dancing.

Other than performing the other thing I enjoy is dancing. I study Traditional dancing. It is also considered as an icon in Sri Lanka. My goal is to do well at traditional dancing in par with my academics. I’ve been dancing since I was in grade 3. I have participated in school concerts, other events and competitions. I studied dancing as a school subject until grade 9. I had to stop dancing for one year when I faced my G.C.E Ordinary Level examination because I had a very tight schedule. But now I’ve started dancing once again. I love dancing so I hope to continue it alongside my studies and all other extra-curricular work.

 

Activity

• Netball

In my opinion, engaging in some active work is the best way to stay healthy. So including ACTIVITY in CAS is a good thing done by OSC. I engage in Netball. My goal is to get better at playing Netball and to attend practices every month. I played for the school Netball team in my previous school for about 3 years. I’ve also competed against other Sri Lankan schools at National Netball Championships. Through the years I’ve learnt many things from Netball. As to how to accept victory and defeat in the same mindset, respect others’ opinions, leadership qualities etc. It is a lovely sport that is quite popular in Sri Lankan schools. I attend practices once a week and sometimes I’m unable to make it cause of school work and other things. So my goal is to attend practices regularly and eventually become better at it. Moreover, I play a field position so I am trying to improve my shooting skills as well. I think it will benefit me cause by then I can play any position in the game. Playing Netball has also helped to improve my physical fitness and stay healthy. Considering everything I think netball has rewarded me of which I have been unable to keep account of.

• Traditional dancing.

I think dancing also comes under activity because dancing requires a lot of hard work, dedication and practice. As a young girl, I love dancing and enjoy it. But even still there are some times you just can’t take it leisurely. Sometimes dancing becomes a sport, where you have to do your best to keep it going. e.g. Concerts. And in addition, dancing has also worked for me to stay healthy.

 

Service

• Girls for Girls.

Since this is my first year at OSC, the concept of service is quite an alien for me. But it is a really timely thing considering the current situation. And I find it really interesting because I have always enjoyed voluntary work. I joined the service group “Girls For Girls”, where we help and care for the sexually abused girls. As a group we play games with them and do whatever they seem to enjoy. And it is amazing how something small like designing a T-shirt can bring so much pleasure for them. So as for this year, my goal is to participate in every session and extend my fullest support. We have service sessions every week and I hope not to miss that. I really enjoy doing voluntary work. The opportunity to do so in my previous school was limited so I wish to get the best out of this. Since I enjoy these activities I think I can do my best to support the other members. I think we can work together to help the needy and also to improve our society.

Also one of my other goals is to bond with everyone in the service. As I joined OSC this year (2019) I don’t know most of the students. I think this is a good opportunity for me to make new friends. I believe that working together is the best way to get to know each other. So I hope that by the end of this year I would have made a lot of new bonds with people.