CAS Goals DP2

August 20 2020

DP2 is likely the most challenging year of high school, but finding a balance between work and everything else (creativity, socializing, activity, service, etc.) is key to having a successful year. I aim to focus more on my academics this last year, but I would still like to participate in CAS activities to keep myself balanced. To do so, I will try to keep my goals flexible and easy to adjust so that I can have more time to focus on schoolwork, as it is something I hope to improve.

Creativity

• I will be practising the bass guitar. The frequency is undecided, but every other day seems reasonable.
• I will also be doing daily Japanese lessons with Duolingo.

My father plays 3 different instruments (guitar, bass and the drums), and while I like playing the drums and have enjoyed some piano lessons, I felt that I could do more. After moving into my new house, I found our Ibanez bass while unpacking and placed it next to my desk. Recently I picked it up and looked up the bass tab to the What’s New, Scooby-Doo? theme song then tried to play it. I did it again the next day with another song and quickly began enjoying it.

Similarly, I felt during the summer break that I could be challenging myself mentally more often and decided to try learning a language. While some other options were to practice Russian or learn German or Arabic, I opted to practice Japanese, as I already find the language and culture interesting, and have visited the country several times. I began with 10-minute sessions every night before bed, then pushed it to 15 minutes and now I am doing 20 minutes, but I hope to upgrade my account to premium in order to increase the amount of time I can spend on it and the number of languages I can practice.

I would like to point out that I undertook these activities over a portion of the DLP and during the summer, but eventually stopped. I am resuming them in order to challenge myself regularly and to demonstrate perseverance and determination.

Activity

• Hour-long workouts twice a week
• Eventual SAISA Basketball training

I have always liked being physically active but with the pandemic stopping most contact and activity, and out of respect for my and others safety, I haven’t been able to do as much. With no workout equipment at home either, I don’t have many options when it comes to being active, other than bodyweight workouts which aren’t a long-term solution. Today (8/17/2020) I will buy a set of dumbells and perhaps a bench in order to do more versatile workouts at home. I was able to do pullups at my old house with a horizontal stairway railing, but since my recent move, I have nowhere to do this exercise, excluding the tops of some pillars in my living room which I can grab onto and pull myself up. Hopefully, I can start using my new equipment soon. I plan to have my workouts on Tuesday and Friday, perhaps after school.

Also, once SAISA training begins again, I will take part in Basketball training again. It is unlikely that we will travel, but for now, I am participating more for the fitness and less for the tournament, even though I still enjoy the sport. Basketball training may affect the days I do my workouts.

Service

• Housing and Habitat

In the Housing and Habitat service group, our goal is to repurpose old materials to build and provide chairs to schools around the country. Last year, we focused on taking apart wooden palettes then eventually moved on to building the chairs. This year it is likely we will have ore focus on building chairs and modifying wood to use for the chairs, however, our goals might divert to something slightly different in light of the virus. Considering Housing and Habitat is a service that requires minimal contact between people, I doubt there will be any reason not to take part.