At the beginning of DP1 my CAS Goals were as follows:

Creativity:

– Maintain mental tranquility

– Reflect internally

Activity:

– Motivate teammates

– Teach my knowledge

Service:

– Play a leadership role

So, how well have I achieved them?

Creativity – My creative actions have actually helped me far more than I initially thought they would, particularly within the pandemic. Coloring became surprisingly useful as a tool to unwind during the pandemic when I was stuck at home and unable to see anyone other than my family, I used coloring to take my mind of the ever-changing circumstances and recover quickly from cognitively draining work. In this, I believe I did reflect internally, particularly with what I drew, as drawing things such as landscapes of particular places or particularly inspiring figures made for interesting internal ramblings.

Activity – Whilst I was unable to play volleyball this year, activity too has been far more useful than I initially thought. As mentioned in previous CAS posts, I found exercise bizarrely useful for school, as the invigoration I got from physically exerting myself made me more productive. I achieved both of my goals however, whilst volleyball was still possible, as I found our season as a team to be highly successful in cumulatively growing and improving in a relatively short period of time.

Service – Service was by far the most hard-hit region of CAS during the pandemic, however, with the recent reinstatement and adaptation to online service, I feel I have successfully achieved my goal of taking a greater role in the group. Recently I have been in charge of coordinating responses to the RCCI group and recording reflections on our meetings and how we planned to achieve set objectives. As such I have become a more important member of the group. This has been an exciting task, as being involved in planning has given me projects outside of school to take interest in, which I find diversify my thoughts and make me generally more engaged in whatever task I am engaged in.

Overall, CAS has provided me with excellent tools for individual reflection, which have proved highly useful in both my day-to-day activities and school overall, and which I plan to continue to use going forward.