CAS GOALS
Over the next two DP years I will be taking part in the CAS program, in which I will be fulfilling creativity, activity and service components outside of the school day. Although I have been taking part in all three components before the DP program, my CAS blog provides an opportunity for me to reflect upon my experiences. The goals that I am aiming to achieve for the different components of the CAS program are:
GENERAL GOALS
My main priority for this year is to be organised and manage my time. I am aware the DP courses are more difficult and probably more stressful than the MYP; therefore, finding balance between school work and other activities is going to be a challenge for me. Through managing my time, I hope to be able to fully engage in all of my CAS activities while maintaining good grades and homework for school.
CREATIVITY
Voice:
Although I have taken singing lessons outside of school, I have only been a part of the singing ensemble in our school called “Senior Voice” for two years now and am planning to continue for my next two years until I graduate. We meet once a week in order to perform (usually) four songs during our performance in the Spring Gala in April. During Voice we are separated into different parts that sing separate harmonies, pitching correctly is a challenge for everyone as you have to listen to your own voice and not anyone else’s. Therefore, one of my goals would be to develop skills in pitching correctly for my part during the Spring Gala performance. The way that I can achieve this is through practice but also learning to read sheet music would help me a lot in pitching correctly for my harmony. Hopefully this will also help me increase my confidence levels in singing as well.
ACTIVITY
SAISA Swimming:
Although I enjoy all sports, I would consider my favorite sport as swimming. Swimming has always been an important aspect in my life as I grew up training and competing since I was six. When I moved to Sri Lanka, I learned that the competition we could compete in was the South Asian Inter-Scholastic Association (SAISA). SAISA is an association of 11 schools in the South Asia region that come together to compete in sports or to attend music and art workshops/celebrations. I have attended six SAISA swimming competitions in five different countries and each meet is always exciting to take part in. My goal for this year in training is to come to every optional morning practice and push myself harder in terms of building endurance, fitness, speed and better technique. I also want to try and be more involved and act as a role model for younger kids on the swim team. During the competition my goal is to get top 3 for my main events (100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 50 free and 100 free), top 6 for my other three events and hopefully personal bests for all of my events.
SAISA Track and Field:
Track and field is a sport that I decided to join in 4th grade as it was open for primary school students to take part in a local competition. I found out quickly that I was not naturally an exceptionally good at track and field but in every training, I still tried my hardest. By 5th grade we old enough to join the 10-12 age group of the SAISA team, after training for a couple of weeks I had been told that I made the team. I knew that I had barely made the team, but I was still excited to travel. When I reached SAISA I was faced with reality when I came last place for a majority of the events that I took part in. I have to admit that I was tempted to quit but instead I decided to keep working at it and have now gone to six SAISA track and field competitions and win high jump once. Although I mainly do field events, in training this year I want to develop more speed and endurance to try and help our relay team and improve my technique for the field events. I am hoping to achieve this through more practice in the morning and possibly afternoon fielding practices. My goal for this year in competition is to come top 3 for all of the field events (high jump, long jump, shot-put and discus).
SAISA Basketball:
I started playing basketball in middle school with my friends in an after-school activity called “Fun Basketball”, after this I decided to try out for the SAISA team. I have now been a part of the SAISA team for four years and have improved over time as a basketball player. The major challenges that I faced over the basketball season in previous years was using the skills that I have within a game situation effectively and staying calm throughout the match. My goal for this year is to try and develop the skills I know and to also learn new ones but to also learn more about different plays that our team can use to get past the defence.
Scuba Diving:
After I got my PADI scuba diving license 3 years ago I have done multiple dives within Sri Lanka since then. The experience of going underwater and being able to observe whole ecosystems that are unique to the oceans is something that I really enjoy doing. Although recently I have gotten busier and have neglected setting time aside for scuba diving, therefore my goal for this year is to complete at least 2 dives.
SERVICE
ReefKeepers:
ReefKeepers is a student led service group dedicated to advocating for awareness and reducing plastic use within our community and beyond, to help protect the oceans. I was inspired to join this service group after our school trip down to the Hikkaduwa beach in Sri Lanka, when scuba diving it was clear to see the damage that was being done to the corals as a majority were bleached. As well as that, we saw large amounts of plastic in the ocean as well as even more on the shore. Now I have been a part of this service group two years and this year I have become the co-leader of alongside my friend Alex. My goal for the ReefKeepers service group this year is to come up with creative new ideas and initiatives to reduce plastic use within our community in order to eventually have a plastic free campus. Eventually we are also hoping to expand from our school community and reach out to a larger audience about this issue.