Year's Reflection

I think that I really embraced the principles of CAS this year. I worked hard to involve myself in a broad range of activities, and I really enjoyed it! My work with RCCI was really challenging, forcing me to go outside of my comfort zone and really be a risk-taker. The important thing when interracting with the RCCI kids is that you lose all of your embarassment and just go as silly and fun as possible - they love it! Sometimes it can be hard to stay so enthusiastic, but I think learning to do that is an important life skill. I had never done anything like this before, so it was a completely new experience for me, although one I plan to continue next year.

Through Pinhole photography, I found an entirely new way of looking at the world. Taking a photo where you have to sit and wait for 40 seconds teaches you about the way time influences your perceptions of things. Pinhole photos also have to be more considered - given the effort, you can't just point and snap! This is the type of creative process that yields the best results for me - the more I think and prepare a peice, the better the end result. Unfortunately, the Electives program is not running next year at our school, and so I will be unable to continue this activity. However, I am hoping to use some of the techniques I learned here for some of my Diploma Art work.

Participating in the production of the crucible was as much team work as it was creativity. I felt that here was probably one of the areas in which I took an 'unofficial' leadership role. We were part of a group of both Grade 11 and Grade 12s, and I made sure that I was always as enthusiastic and commited as possible, to set a good example. I really value the friendships I made during this production, as well as the opportunity to 'get into someone else's skin' and the thrill of performance!

Finally, I have made a fairly big effort in terms of Action this year. I participated in swimming and basketball SAISAs, as well as the Habitat for Humanity fund-raiser run (not documented, but i did it! I was the 1st high school girl!!). I am most proud of the fact that when I was not involved in SAISA, I made an effort to keep active - I rode my bike, I swam, I went on various active holidays with my family. I know that this is a really important area for me, both in terms of physical and emotional well-being. I am much happier, and more able to deal with stress, when I am doing regular excercise.

At the beginning of the year I set some aims I did not complete. These were taking Sinhala and piano lessons, and continuing rowing. Unfortunately, I was unable to take up rowing here as the Colombo Rowing Club was rather unhelpful, and transport would have prevented me in any case. I was also unable to take Sinhala lessons. I did try to organise this, but it kept clashing with my basketball trainings so in the end I decided that I didn't really have the time (I was also involved in the Crucible at that point). Finally, for piano, I have not had the time to organise lessons. However, in this case, the cloud has a silver lining! I have actually started playing quite a lot on my own, and taking real enjoyment from this. Given that this is an unstructured activity that I do not want to set goals for, I will not be including this in my CAS blog.

My main and most important goal was to get as much out of the CAS program as possible. I think that I have definitely acheived this goal. I have kept up active, creative and service activities throughout the year. I have attended reuglarly everything that I commited myself to. I set goals within the individual activities and I tried my best to acheive them, and I tried new things. The only thing I have not really succeeded in to an enormous degree is leadership. I hope to take a more active leadership role next year in RCCI. In conclusion, in terms of CAS, my Grade 11 year was very satisfying, rewarding and enjoyable!