RCCI new semester

Last week we kicked off RCCI with a good start. Everyone who had signed up for RCCI came on time and it went pretty smoothly for the first day of RCCI. I learned that being leader involved a lot of work. I have more commitments to this service group than I did before. For example I had to plan and meet with the PE department to make sure that we have all the equipment for Thursdays.  Undertaken new challenges - Being the leader of this service group is most deffenitly a new challenge for me, Because I have to make sure that the gym is booked for every thursday, Find out if the RCCI kids are coming every thursday by calling the center on Tuesdays. That in it self is quite a challenge because I don't speak Sinhala but I learned the two basic sentences to ask whether they will be here or not. I also had to book the art room for next week's session. I wanted the next session to take place in the art room because it would be a nice change from the every week gym sessions.  Shown perseverance and commitment - I started RCCI in 9th grade so this is my fourth year in RCCI, Now that I've been appointed leader of this service group I need to show even more commitment by coming up with new ways to help these kids. I've already thought of some things we could do for their center itself. Such as raising money and buying new play equipment for their playground as it's been five years since they've bought a play equipment. The least we could do is paint and revenue their play area as this is an area they venture in regularly everyday.  Engaged with issues of global importance One of the best things about being in RCCI is knowing that I'm giving back to community and it's one that's looked over a lot. OSC was the first school that accepted the kids because all the other schools were afraid on how to interact with these children with disabilities. Developed new skills, taking over the leadership role in itself is a new skill. It's a good experience for me because I found that I quite enjoy being able to make negotiations and decisions with the supervisors. 

Archery

I have started Arhery again after two months of no practice. In the beginning of the year I had trouble forming the appropriate shooting techniques but now my coach had told me that my technique has improved but I strain my muscles way too quickly making me stop the training halfway because my arm and back muscles let out. I need to train my back muscles so that it can sustain the strain of the string and I did to tone my arm muscles so that I can hold onto the bow for a long period of time. Undertaken new challenge- I do regular cardio everyday but now that I know that in order to shoot better for a long period of time I need to streanthen the core of my back muscles and arm muscles in order to get the full benefit of this sport.Shown perseverance and commitment - I've been doing Archery and going for regular practices for an year now and I'm not planning to stop after I've graduated because I've grown in to this sport and I want to horn my skills even more in the future. Developed new skill- When I first started archery I could only shoot from 10 metres but now that I can shoot a target and group the arrows at one point fairly accuratley I've been asked to shoot from 30 metres because that's one of the rules in archery competition. If I'm able to do just as well from 30m as I did from 10m I could possibly join a national competition.

Set Design

For this semester I decided to take up set design. This year we are going to be making the set for the Hansel and Gretel play of the primary production. I thoroughly enjoyed the first session because it combined all the aspect I wish to do in in the future. The backstage theatre world is where I feel most at home at and making the set for a play is a good step for me. This activity requires to work collaboratively with others to ensure the success of the final product. From this activity I learned that there is more to a theatre production than just acting and the people that are behind the scenes does just as much work as the ones in full swing. So I am glad that I took up this activity. This will be a good experience for me.

In the first session we had to plan the the set. Each of us got to design the "Candy house" of the story Hansel and Gretel. We only have 7 weeks left for the production so we are on a tight shedule especially since we are only going to be meeting Tuesdays after school and commitment to the activity is really important.  Also this is a new challenge for me because I had no prior knowledge that this industry requires to work on tight shedules but planning around and managing my time is one of my strengthens.

Last session I learned to quicly apply papier machier and I will have to continue to apply this new skill throughout. Concerning the set itself I considered the ethical implications of this process. Every year there is going to be a new play and every year new supplies are bought for this particular play.I'm going to ask the supervisor to keep the set pieces of this play for next year so we can re use the set and make necessary changes.