(The Class of 2023, DP1 orientation trip in Kitulgala. Pic cred: Mr. Duncan.)

Here we are, folks – the final (my 60th) CAS post.

Throughout my time in the CAS program, I have found it as a way to apply my different interests in productive and mindful ways. I found that it has been a way for me to try out different things and put myself more out there during my high school years. As a result of this, I believe I have been able to discover new skills and talents which I plan on continuing as I graduate and venture out into the real world.

Additionally, I think that the CAS program has allowed me to develop my ability to reflect on my choices and impacts – which is a highly useful skill for the future. One of my favourite things about the CAS program is the way in which I have been able to form new connections and figure out my interests more due to participating in a wider variety of activities.

(SGA bakesale – from one of my first CAS posts. Pic cred: The author.)

I think that overall I have been quite consistent with the upkeep of my CAS goals, however, they have definitely become more refined over these past two years. Furthermore, my understanding of the CAS learning outcomes has become increasingly integrated into my day-to-day activities.

LO1 – Strength & growth

Creativity: As I was not able to take IB Visual Arts (and was a bit sad about that!), I focused my Creativity aspect mainly on digital art and journaling. Doing so gave me an opportunity to create art whilst still being productive, and I’m quite glad I chose to do this – my art skills have refined greatly over the past two years.

I have a much deeper understanding of my strengths in art – such as lighting and colours – and what I enjoy doing. Furthermore, my skills in character anatomy and overall sketches have developed immensely. I have definitely seen visible progress when comparing the fine details of my art from 2021 vs. 2023.

Activity: During online learning, it was a bit difficult to apply myself to sports and get out of the house to be active. However, DLP also enabled me to discover aerobics online and do this in my free time – sometimes even during free blocks! I have seen my strengths, both metaphorically and literally, in aerobics and working out. When conducting fitness checks I have come to discover increased overall fitness as a result of these activities – I’m honestly quite proud of this!

My growth was seen particularly when comparing my forms when working out, I have much better overall stances and tend to work out for longer periods of time; starting off with 30 minutes to about 2 hours. Later, after lockdown ended I was able to participate in badminton as an activity much more.

(Badminton cool-downs. Pic cred: The author.)

Service: Consistently participating in Room To Read as the service leader has provided me with a great opportunity to grow as a leader and a person. By organising and leading events and fundraisers over the past few years, I saw growth in my communication, initiative, and personal drive.

During the last RTR service session, I was able to reflect on how much I have developed as a person whilst conducting many RTR projects – such as the secondhand bookstore, the literary festival, the karaoke night, etc. I believe it has equipped me with strengths in forming interpersonal connections and taking initiative in order to support a cause that I believe in.

LO2 – Challenge & skills

Creativity: One of my personal goals for DP2 was to participate in a creative activity that would put me outside of my comfort zone – this found itself in the form of Senior Voice. At first, I was a bit hesitant, but I took the challenge head-on and participated in Senior Voice.

I came to realise that it’s a great idea to always put yourself forward, as I found myself having a great time singing and having fun with the other members – I only wished I’d joined sooner! It was definitely a challenge when starting off in Voice as I seemed VERY lost, but with consistent practice and the support of my peers I was able to catch up to any prior practice that I’d missed.  Joining Senior Voice allowed me to participate in the Spring Gala, and I was equipped with new skills in stage confidence and being more of a risk-taker.

(Senaya and I pre-performance at the Gala. Pic cred: The author)

Moreover, my CAS Project was a new form of photography-artwork that had me outside of my comfort zone in art. I took upon the challenge to create an entire album of 23 artworks (in honor of 2023) of an art style that I had only experimented with before. I gained many new digital tool skills during this process, for which I am quite grateful.

Activity: As aforementioned, it was quite difficult to do team sports and such during DLP – which is why I was ecstatic at SAISA sports starting once more in DP2. Of course, I joined SAISA badminton, which I felt was something in the familiar but still new in the sense that I have not been able to do team sports at OSC (due to COVID and protests).

As I was so used to individual training, it was a change to play with so many people around me, but this was something that was very welcome! Therefore, I was able to engage in this learning outcome by developing my communication skills when playing and by refining my doubles playing techniques.

Service: Being trusted with the role of service leader of RTR definitely made me a bit nervous, as Eleez and I had large shoes to fill after Liam and Zoe. Thus, it was a bit challenging to be in a leadership role at first but over time I definitely got the hang of conducting meetings and going over agendas. I’m quite grateful for this, as I was able to gain these skills – which are essential to many future club and job opportunities.

(Giving the introduction for Ashok Ferrey at the Literary Festival. Pic cred: The author.)

LO3 – Initiative & planning

Creativity: I think that by consistently working on my digital art, I was able to manage my time and see continual development in my artistic skills. By planning when and what aspects of art I would address, usually by watching tutorials and applying these skills, I was able to take initiative in refining my skills. This learning outcome became especially prominent in DP2 when I had to manage my time with various other responsibilities such as IAs, exams, etc.

Additionally, my Creativity sessions in Chinese Culture Club really allowed me to understand how to set aside some time weekly to focus on a creative extracurricular activity. By participating in it weekly, I believe I was able to engage in Chinese culture whilst taking initiative on how I will address my various creative interests and plans in the future.

(Peking masks with Eleez. Pic cred: The author.)

Activity: My participation in an external boxing club definitely allowed me to interact with this learning outcome. Boxing is something that I have admired for a long time, and over the last two years, I would set aside time to practice certain stances, punches, and various other techniques. This is something I have autonomously taken initiative in doing during the DLP times, which allowed me to manage my time and continually plan what I would practice in upcoming solo sessions.

Furthermore, my consistent participation in badminton (both SAISA and in a club outside of school) allowed me to develop my passion in more than one way. I am quite proud of myself for being able to balance both of these activities, and I have learned a lot from this experience – it is something that I will put forward in the future.

Service: Something that was particularly interesting in my Service participation during the CAS program was Reading Buddies. I think that this student-led initiative allowed me to engage with this learning outcome significantly by planning and conducting reading sessions with the 4th-grade teachers. There was definitely a lot of planning required behind the scenes.

It was surprisingly complex to coordinate the sessions sometimes (as we had to align our free blocks with the 4th graders’ reading times), but thankfully we were able to apply and develop our time management skills in order to do this successfully.

(A Reading Buddies Session. Pic cred: Ms. Gurusinghe)

In terms of RTR, the organisation of Karaoke Night enabled me to directly apply this learning outcome. It required many weeks of planning and working together to ensure that this project was carried out as envisioned – and it did!

LO4 – Working collaboratively with others

Creativity: I believe that when developing my artistic identity, I relied quite a lot on constructive criticism from my peers in order to progress further. In this way, I was able to gain perspective and work together with the people around me. I found this highly beneficial, thus after completing artwork I’d usually ask my friends for feedback and concentrate on this in future work. This is why I like to think that my current art style is a mosaic of what the people close to me have told me about it.

Senior Voice was also something that required teamwork, as the ensemble worked together – making sure we weren’t overpowering one another. As I was a relatively new member, I collaborated quite a lot with my peers to ensure that I thoroughly understood the music.

Activity: Boxing was something that relied heavily on the teamwork between myself, my coach, and my sparring partners. In a way similar to Creativity, I was able to gain feedback and work on this in future practice sessions. However, it is important to note that boxing is more of an individual sport.

(Boxing solo practise. Pic cred: The author.)

This was quite different from badminton, which was significantly dependent on collaboration – particularly when playing doubles. Admittedly, doubles was one of my favourite things to play in badminton sessions, as I thrived on the communication and teamwork required. As a result of this, I believe I was able to form new connections with people of different grades and develop my badminton techniques.

Service: I think service was the aspect most prominently linked with collaboration, as the RTR service group always conducted our initiatives with the help of teamwork as a driving force. For instance, during the literary festival, we all had our roles to play and supported one another. Another instance would be the establishment of OSC’s Secondhand Bookstore – which required everyone to work together when stacking books and organizing things. I’ll always remember the RT group and the amazing teamwork that we had, with it we were able to accomplish great things!

(With the RTR group at the opening ceremony for Vidyaloka Vidyala School’s new library, Pic cred: Ms. Lockwood.)

This teamwork was also seen in the Eco-Schools Green Flag Presentation, for which I collaborated with my fellow Biology student, Sara, to talk about Ecology in Biology. It required us to allocate tasks and work together to cover key points.

LO5 – Showing perseverance and commitment

Creativity: I think that in terms of my Creativity, I have been most committed to my digital art, it was one of my goals that has stayed consistent since the start of the CAS Program. Relating to the 3rd learning outcome as well, by planning the aspect of art that I wanted to address, I believe I have shown commitment to this goal.

Additionally, throughout the CAS program, I have focused primarily on digital art – which has been done intentionally as my main goal was to progress in this art form in particular. By doing so, I think that I have seen significant improvement in my digital art, which I will persevere to continue developing in the future as well.

(One of my artworks. Pic cred: The author.)

Activity: Badminton has been something that I have consistently worked on during the CAS program (both inside and out of school), this is due to my passion and desire to refine my agility and strength when playing. I think that by consistently participating in badminton practice, I have made visible progress in these areas.

Furthermore, my hobby of aerobics has been something that I have done for quite a while almost daily. With this perseverance, I have seen much progress in my dancing, flexibility, and overall fitness. Truthfully, due to the fact that I do aerobics quite often, many of my current routines feel too easy – which is why I’m always on the lookout for more programs to do in future sessions!

Service: As a RTR service member for 3 years, I have focused most of my OSC service time as part of this group. In doing so, I was able to gain very deep insights into RTR’s goals and the way we carry out our initiatives. This was highly beneficial, as knowing the ins and outs allowed me to put my all into RTR!

Additionally, by doing things such as the Books N’ Cookies posters outside of school time, I believe that I was once again able to put my time into helping ensure that RTR’s projects are carried out as our group envisions.

LO6 – Global engagement

Creativity: I believe that my CAS Project really allowed me to engage with global concepts of transformation and non-conventional forms of feeling expression. This was seen in the way I configured normal photographs into psychedelic-like artwork in my art album. It also made me reflect on myself and represent the way I have changed as a person over the last few years.

(One of my most favourite artworks from my album. Titled “Dissection Fun :)” . Pic cred: The author.)

Activity: Truthfully, I think that this learning outcome would have been represented more in my Activity section if I was to travel for the upcoming SAISA badminton – but alas, exams are looming closer day by day!

However, I quite like that by applying myself for various sports, I was able to participate in activities that transcend language and nationality. Thus, I was able to form many connections through my integration into activities such as badminton, boxing, and aerobics – and the friends that I have made along the way have been from all over the world!

Service: In service, I believe I have engaged primarily with global issues relating to the disparity in education, literature, and other lack of resources in schools. We, in RTR, concentrate and form partnerships mainly with local Sri Lankan schools, but I think that the work we carry out relate to these broad concepts.

By carrying out fundraisers over the last few years, we have been able to build Vidyaloka Vidyalaya School’s library – which I believe is a large step towards closing educational disparities in Sri Lanka.

(A poster Eleez and I made for Andrew Fidel Fernando’s literary afternoon. Pic cred: The author.)

LO7 – Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Creativity: This learning outcome is something that I had to think carefully about when creating my CAS Projet. Due to the fact that I utilised photographs with people, I had to reflect on asking consent or ensuring that there were no faces present in the artwork. Thankfully, with my art style, this was not too much of a problem.

Additionally, something that stuck out to me was singing “Stand Up”, from Harriet, in the Spring Gala. This really made me ponder on the context and history behind the story recounted, and I hope that the implicit message was able to reach the audience that night.

(Singing in Gala. Pic cred: Ms. Lockwood.)

Activity: I believe that in Activity, ethics was something that I had to consider prior to joining boxing. This was a reason behind my initial hesitancy to join boxing despite my passion, however, after considering its ethicality in a controlled environment, I deemed it an activity with no significant negative impacts. Let the bruises come my way!

Service: In service we have to consider this learning outcome quite seriously, and the way in which our actions will affect our partner schools. Particularly these days, when we teach students of Vidyaloka Vidyalaya School English – it is important to consider our interactions with these students and what impacts they will have.

Additionally, this learning outcome is important when planning future projects, as we want to consider what impact it will have and how the funds raised will be allocated to our partnerships.

(The RTR group with Eleez and Jade missing. I’ll miss this group! Pic cred: The author.)

To sum up, the CAS program has allowed me to apply myself to a broad variety of activities, form valuable connections, and pursue passions that I never even considered prior to DP1. It has been an exciting journey so far, and I’m still in denial that it’s over…

(Running in the #RunningOutOfTime initiative. Pic cred: OSC Facebook)

It feels strange writing my last (and 60th!) CAS post, but to end it off I would like to say that I hope the skill and lessons learned from this program serve me well in the future.

(The Class of 2023! Pic cred: The OSC photographer.)

May the journey continue!