Final CAS Post

25 April 2021

After two years of the Diploma Program, this will be my last post. I don’t believe I will continue my blog after graduation, which is now only a month away. My first post was on the 16th of September 2019, and since then I’ve participated in and organized a variety of events and activities through which I’ve grown and improved my life. Looking back at the goals I’ve set and recalling the extent to which I have accomplished them, I am confident in saying I have exceeded them. On top of this, I consistently had to overcome challenges, push myself to do better and persevere, learn new skills and practices, and learn lessons that I will carry with me into the next stages of my life.

Creativity

Learning Outcome 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

I saw this outcome in two parts: identifying strengths and weaknesses, and finding places to grow. This was something I aimed to do everywhere, be it in class, on the basketball court, at home, in my creative activities or after school at service. I think the best example of how I evaluated myself and chose what I needed to work on was during the production of Oliver! I had acted in several plays before this, but it was only on Midsummer Night’s Dream that I began to take acting seriously. This was, in part, due to my time in the theatre program, but I also ended up thoroughly enjoying acting as Demetrius the year before. When we were given the lines for auditions, I practised all summer, signing Fagin’s song and reciting his lines. I must have done it hundreds of times because my brother had memorized them second hand. I realized my need for improvement in acting after the first play, but when I didn’t land the role I was hoping for I was crushed. However, the silver lining was the role of Bill Sykes instead. At that point, I began taking the play, and acting as a whole, far more seriously, more than just a hobby or an ASA. I used countless strategies for the more technical aspects of my performance, like learning lines, and spent hours researching and reviewing the character, inspirations, how this version would act in this new environment, etc. I think my performance and growth can be modelled by two things: the review of the play as a whole by Sunday Times Sri Lanka, who said that as Sykes I was “harsh and sinister”, and “captivated the audience with [my] presence”, and the fact that I felt there were still things I could improve with my performance. Oftentimes, I leave theatre performances feeling that I gave my best, even if I knew I might not have, but my recognition that I wanted to keep going, keep trying new things, keep refining and exploring the character, showed me that I had done far better than any of my other performances because I was invested. I knew what I could improve, and I did, but I went further to desire more opportunities to develop my character, one I hadn’t anticipated I’d be when I began, and one that I was completely new to and afraid of when I first was told I’d play him.

(Playing Bill Sykes at the Senior Production, photo credit unknown)

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

The best example of my undertaking of challenges and development of new skills come from my time in Lockdown, specifically with the creative activities I began. When I started my CAS blog, my goals for creativity were limited to the Senior production, and while I accomplished all of the goals I set for it, I couldn’t begin to imagine the other activities I would try and eventually come to enjoy over time. We spent five months in Lockdown in 2020, and over that time, I started several new hobbies, activities, and practices, none of which I had done before. Every time I took it upon my self to learn the basics of whatever activity it was, and I grew independently, eventually growing these attempts into skills. For example, the little tasks like reading books started as something to do in my spare time, but since I started reading books I had meant to for years, I can proudly say the stack next to my bed has almost halved. I started practising Russian, and I am once again able to have full conversations with my mother in Russian. I even watched a movie from my childhood completely in Russian, an animated version of Treasure Island made in 1988, Остров Cокровищ. I also have found meditation to be a massive improvement in my life. It has improved my sleep, my focus, my happiness, my anxiety, my stress, everything. The biggest challenge by far though, and the skill I am most proud of, as a result, is those of playing bass and guitar. While I am nowhere near an expert, I began with absolutely no knowledge of either instrument. I learned the absolute most basic lesson in each and took it from there. I practice almost daily and can play two songs almost entirely, although I am still working on the flow and tempo. It also makes me very happy to play riffs and melodies I am familiar with. One of the best parts has been finding new music and going to learn how to play it. After the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, I immediately went to learn At the Speed of Force on guitar, and my continuous growth and development have allowed me to learn how to learn.

(Practising the guitar, screenshotted from video taken by my brother)

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience 

I have mentioned this before, but my CAS project became a perfect blend of opportunities to learn new skills and improve old ones. One thing I had to learn to do was initiate and plan the photo shoot. In team settings such as this one, I was used to working together on each separate aspect rather than dividing and conquering, so my total control and responsibility for the shots and locations I organized were something I had to learn about. In the past, I have planned work, but this was mainly presentations, debates, essays, and other less active experiences, and I had carried out other people’s plans during events like the Food and Fun Fair. I had even contributed to the organization and establishment of some other CAS experiences, but in no instance was I the sole leader and organizer for a singular experience. This opportunity forced me out of my comfort zone, surprisingly, into somewhere I still felt fairly confident in my abilities. The experience was my own, and I knew the locations where we were shooting. I knew the people I was working with, I knew the kind of shot we wanted, I knew my role outside of this leadership. I knew where to source and how to use the materials, and most importantly I knew how and when to take control of the situations. This experience taught me not just how to organize experiences and events, but how and when to be a leader.

(Helping Ashvini practice a pose, photo taken by Rukshi)

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

Working collaboratively is something I do fairly often. I was aware of the benefits of working with others before I was even aware of the learning outcomes. One might think that the best examples of working collaboratively, and the best examples of the benefits that come with it, lie in activities like team sports like Basketball, or working in the Senior Production. This assumption is not incorrect, but I found a unique example of working collaboratively in my time at ISTA taps: Kuala Lumpur. Before I signed up for the experience, I assumed that it would be an opportunity to work independently in improving our theatrical skills as individuals, simply in a group setting. While this was a reciprocal product of our learning at ISTA, my group specifically learned mostly how to work as a team. All of my best memories at ISTA include other people. For example, over the lessons we had with our instructor, we slowly developed dance-like routines in groups. Our focus throughout was physical theatre, and we each were able to find our own talents and apply them to our performance while simultaneously learning new techniques. On top of this, we had to constantly practice and refine our routine so that everyone had their place, and so that there was synchronization, with each of us trusting one another. I found it rather interesting that, by the end of it, I still did not know much about any of my group members, and yet I felt like I could anticipate their movements in any theatrical piece. We had other opportunities to work in groups at ISTA, and even then we learned more about working collaboratively. Each of us had to jump into a task independently so that we could invite the other members to follow. When we performed, we had unspoken trust between each other to continue building performances off of what was given to us by the last person. I found these kinds of understandings and trusts to be completely new, but ever interesting and useful in my future work.

(Trying a physical exercise with Darren Scully, photo taken by ISTA photographer)

Activity

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

I have already covered this outcome with my learnings in creativity, but I also made great strides in being active as well, especially over the Lockdown. Similar to my creative activities, I had never worked out independently before. It was up to me to research what exercises I could do in my environment, what would be best for me and my body, what my goals were, etc. I had to research, learn, and improve my workout routine and myself throughout this experience. Furthermore, these exercises and the commitments I had to remain fit and healthy were challenging in and of themselves. Before DP I had no incentive or drive to be active, let alone fit in my own time. Trying out for the basketball team the first time sparked something in me that ended up becoming vital to the acquisition of my activity goals over the Lockdown. Making the team the following year also drove me to fight harder when I felt like giving up. Learning how to do something which I had little incentive to do in the first place, and remaining committed enough to turn it into something I now consider a skill was something I did not expect to happen at all.

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

As I just mentioned, activity was where I had the most trouble, and, therefore, the greatest struggle, in remaining committed. Perseverance was the idea I always had in my mind whenever I did any of the activities that I didn’t enjoy. Frankly, the enjoyment of creative activities is largely what drove me to keep doing them, and while I cannot deny that working out and living a physically healthier lifestyle both through SAISA and general exercise has made me feel better all around, I still have to struggle to finish. SAISA is the best example of this. I first tried out in grade 9. The coaches then were much more focused on the team’s physical health and prowess than their ability to play the game, and this was not something I expected. The training was relentless and, at the time, one of the most tiring and toughest things I’ve done. I always had the idea of pushing myself and of simply willing myself through the physical pain. We did countless hill runs, wind sprints, passing and running drills, all of which were tough to learn and tougher to finish. In the end, when they were announcing the teams, I found I didn’t make it. However, I had already grown such a strong idea of determination, I wasn’t willing to give up. I practised basketball every day at break and lunch, playing with my friends no matter what. I practised my shot, my routines, my position, everything. When SAISA season rolled around in grade 10, I was ready to try out again. Once again, I pushed myself to and past my limits. I had the driving thought of perseverance to push me through everything. And this time, I made the team.

(SAISA Boys Basketball team 2018-19, photo credit unknown)

Service

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

I want to immediately address that I am not completely confident that my work in my service, Housing and Habitat, has had a global impact. However, I know we have had an impact on a local scale. This is not to say that the issues don’t have global significance, as the service itself derived from an international group with the goal of building homes for the less fortunate, but our group specifically has always been focused on improving things locally. I hoped to become a service leader this year, but with the increasing amount of work, and eventual wall we ran into with the Lockdown, I am glad that I chose to continue where I am. I did achieve my other goal, of becoming a more involved service member. I did this mainly through the Home Run and my other, general, contributions to the service as we worked. The Home Run was also a great example of engaging with issues of global significance. I designed the posters for the fundraiser, arguably one of the most important jobs as it was the only way we advertised for people to come, as well as participated in creating and laying the route for the runners. With the guidance of the service leaders and the teacher overseeing the group, I was given some basic guidelines on what the poster should include. I created over 12 different posters, many wildly different, many with tiny, but vital, changes. Without the posters, I think it is safe to say that we would not have had as many people come to the Home Run that year. Furthermore, the posters I created that year became the foundation of the posters and advertisement style of the service the next year when our teacher left and we had a large shift in priorities, method of helping the community, and general role as a service.

    

(Home Run 2019 posters, designed by me)

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Housing and Habitat was also a great way for me to recognize the impacts my actions would have. On a simple, but ultimately large, scale, if I slacked off and failed to build many chairs, the school we were building them for would be without enough chairs for its students. As a result, I, along with the rest of the service, was directly responsible for the deconstruction of palettes and the building of the chairs we eventually donated. On a smaller scale, however, we always had to deal with questions like “Who do we help next?”, “Do they even really need it?”, “Where can we safely source materials?”, “Where can we ethically dispose of waste?”. It was largely up to the leaders to come up with answers, but as a group, we always were willing to provide our own input and insights. These small questions can compound, and if many are answered incorrectly, we can end up doing more harm than good. Thankfully though, we always had resources and people to reach out to and were always able to find the best, most ethical and environmentally safe way to do anything.

(Housing and Habitat group 2018-19 at the Janoda foundation, photo taken by Ms Amanda)

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