Header image by author: Mountains, fields and a fishing boat in Dambula.

Nearly 2 years ago I began the DP Program, and with it began CAS. In my first post I set out multiple goals for the first year, and did so again when beginning the second year.

The whole 2 years has been filled with challenges and accomplishments. The biggest challenge was without a doubt the Covid-19 pandemic. Ever since March of 2020 life has been turned upside down, and now I write this exactly one year later in March 2021, and though life has returned to some degree of normalcy, there is a long way to go before life is fully back to how it was before.

However, CAS still continues. Looking back before COVID, to the majority of DP1, I completed a lot of my CAS goals before the pandemic and lockdown hit. In DP2, though difficult, I did still achieve my goals.

Creativity

My goals for the Creativity aspect of CAS was COMUN. This was my first year of COMUN and I was excited to try it out. That first year in COMUN was very successful. I achieved the goals of attending all sessions, participating in the practice debates and final conferences, plus made a successful presentation on gender equality on our school’s United Nations Day. Furthermore, I was runner up (and was very close) to the best journalist award during the final conference. Away from the goals, I also was a part of Duke Of Edinburgh, and earned the Bronze award and am on course to earn the Silver award.

MY DP2 Creativity goals weren’t as surefire as doing COMUN. COVID was still rampant in Sri Lanka, and though it had calmed down and we were back in school for a few months, my goal for Creativity was to just explore, and see what I could find. One thing I did was speak at a charity event, specifically the 17th anniversary of the Karuna Trust. I also helped organized OSC’s COVID-19 Fundraiser, and this was my CAS project (will go into more detail later). There was also our school’s Week Without Walls trip (WWW), which was a great learning experience about Sri Lankan culture and nature, documented through photography. I stayed up to date with Creativity during lockdown, as I spent time doing some gardening at home, plus learned how to play poker. Finally, I completed a Harvard Computer Science course during the summer, which was a great learning experience, and made me very interested in Computer Science.

Overall, because of CAS I have done many diverse activities throughout the 2 years, a few things I may have not tried before.

Activity

In terms of Activity, my original goals from DP1 were all sailing based. They were all just attending regattas and the Sailing Nationals, plus getting on the podium a few times. I also wanted to represent Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi for the Regatta in October. I achieved all of these goals, plus I covered Activity through DP 1 Orientation and Duke of Edinburgh hiking.

In DP2 my goals were to continue sailing, though I knew it would be limited due to COVID, I did attend the Navy Cup and Sailing Nationals. Furthermore during WWW we did biking and hiking, covering some activity. Once lockdown lifted my family and friends also did some backpacking in Knuckles. This was a very fun trip, and my first time properly backpacking.

For Activity, CAS has been a method to document all the activities I usually do, from sailing, biking and hiking.

Service

Finally, for Service my goals in DP1 were to attend service, collect recycling, go to the recycling center to manage how recycling waste is handled in school, and also become service leader. I achieved all of these goals, and more which I didn’t expect. For example, for COMUN we did a massive donation to a local school using materials from the COMUN session from the previous session, which weren’t used. This was a massive donation to the school, from stationary, bags and cutlery. During quarantine my service ranged from helping around the house, but also planning for the COVID Fundraiser. On our WWW trip we also did service through visiting, interacting and playing with kids in a SOS village in Anuradhapura. We also donated a lot of materials to these kids.

In DP2 service continued both online and in-school, and the goals were similar to DP1, but also included organizing Earth Day events, which unfortunately was not possible due to going back into online school. However, I did also do my Capstone project on tracking electricity at home, which was very interesting and I know lots of people learned a lot of new information from this project. Finally, my speaking at the charity event was also an act of service.

To conclude service, it was very successful, and I am happy with the many different things I have done from outside of our mandatory service at school.

CAS Project

Link To Post

An important aspect of CAS is the CAS Project. My project was the COVID-19 Zoomathon Fundraiser. My main role in this fundraiser was in organizing and helping with the livestream. At the end, this was a very successful CAS Project, seen in how we raised over LKR 750,000, and how I was an integral part of organizing this event.

Learning Outcomes

Throughout the CAS journey we have to hit multiple learning outcomes, and through all of my different activities I have achieved each one. Below is a short summary of a few of the aspects covered by multiple activities.

1. Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

  • CAS Project: Live stream organization and working with a team skills
  • Sailing: Learning and developing sailing skills
  • Recycling Service: Leadership skills
  • Charity Event: Speaking skills
  • Duke of Edinburgh: The many outdoor skills needed for Duke of Edinburgh (eg: Map and compass reading)
  • COMUN: Journalism and presenting skills
  • Computer Science Course: Computer science skills

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

  • CAS Project: First time organizing a big event and fundraiser
  • Sailing: My first international competition, and continuing to sail in Sri Lanka.
  • Charity Event: Speaking in front of a crowd
  • Quarantine: Learning new games (poker)

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience and;
4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

  • CAS Project: Being a big part of the whole organization process.

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

  • CAS Project: Working with a team
  • Sailing: Being a part of the Sri Lanka national team
  • Duke of Edinburgh: Working with a team to learn the necessary skills
  • COMUN and WWW: Working together to organize items to be donated.

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

  • CAS Project: Addressing and helping those who have been most affected by COVID-19, a worldwide pandemic.
  • Recycling Service: Addressing garbage and food waste issues, plus electricity usage and proper disposal of waste.
  • Charity Event and WWW: Addressing poverty and the underprivileged.
  • COMUN: Discussing, debating and writing about worldwide issues

7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

  • CAS Project: The money donation to UNICEF
  • COMUN and WWW: The donation of supplies to the underprivileged.

And this was my CAS blog, a truly unique aspect of the DP program, and with skills which I will remember in the future.

The End