DP 1 is nearing its end, and what a year it has been. From the highs of DP 1 orientation trip to the lows of bad semester 1 report card in 2022. From the highs of starting 2023 with Week Without falls to get a breather from school life and appreciate our surroundings and friends more, to the absolute dark times in April. But finally, pulling it back together and ending the year with a high note is what best describes this DP 1 year. To consolidate, it has been a roller coaster ride of emotions and experiences – both memorable and not so memorable ones. Throughout the year, I nurtured into a better version of myself, striving for improvement (if not perfection) in various areas of my life.

The Obvious one – creativity

This year I garnered an array of skills and experiences, which helped me explore creativity both tangibly and in a subtle implied sense. The reading buddies, although for a brief amount of time, helped me with public speaking and gave me an early appreciation as to how to coordinate events with teachers (LO2). The latter skill helped me the most this year, for being organized and being ale to communicate to teachers was crucial this year.

I joined EXCO for a very brief amount of time. I wouldn’t give myself as much credit for it (for I didn’t tag along for that long), but I made new friends most importantly through these experiences.

The learning opportunities weren’t just confined to school, for there were also other instances when I was challenged to explore ideas and improve and reflect on various things. Firstly, the DP 1 orientation trip, which helped me believe in myself that I could achieve anything. It fuelled me with the confidence to head start DP1 full of grit and spirit.  And then, we also had the Week Without Walls trip which allowed me to acquire new knowledge about Tamil culture (LO1), and an appreciation for the history of Sri Lanka. My key takeaway from the WWW trip to Jaffna was, never judge a book by its cover. Finally, an internship opportunity in Lanka Hospital, Colombo allowed me to get a grasp of many medical concepts and take first-hand experience of what goes in the working of a hospital. I was able to learn basics about how each department in the hospital is able to function, and coexist with other departments to make a single functional unit i.e. hospital (LO1, LO2, LO3).

At the beginning of the year, my goal was to continue with COMUN till the end of the year to understand UN better and improve my public speaking skills. Unfortunately, I wasn’t part of it for the whole year, but for the time I did manage to be there (i.e. a semester), I was able to plan and deliver on UN day (with Matthew). My earlier CAS post on UN day was all about how I was able to present about sustainable energy sources to MYP5 (LO2, LO3).

THE not so obvious one – service

This year in service we were fully back to the campus, and were able to function effectively. Be it collecting recycled paper, or introducing the idea of food waste bucket, and even reviving the biogs plant. Not to mention the countless trips we made to the recycling centre to discard the recycled paper and cardboard, while placing bets on who predicted the closest to the actual sum of money collected. At the beginning of the year, my goal in service was rather basic, i.e., doing Recycling and Sustainability service every week and collecting recycled paper. But I think this year I achieved much more than that (LO3, LO6).

THE most improved – activity

At the beginning of the year my goal in terms of activity was to play basketball and cricket each an hour a week. I did not continue playing basketball on the same level, but I did follow through my passion for cricket. Throughout the year, I attended various cricket ASAs and even participated in a cricket tournament this April. I even followed up on other modes of activity like going swimming on weekends daily, and even practising for SAISA badminton this year.