Final Reflection

            As the final semester draws to a close so does the final semester of CAS. I can honestly say that I have grown a lot during the whole of the CAS experience. First of all, I committed myself to a sport (Archery) for two whole years. Before joining the CAS program I’ve never shown any perseverance in action so this was a huge improvement for me. Also CAS gave me the opportunity to be a leader. I became the leader of RCCI (Rehabilitation Center for the Communication impaired) In many was this was on the most challenging piece of work I’ve ever done. This was my first time being a leader of a service group and this group allowed me to plan and initiate activities while all the while juggling my schoolwork. It also allowed me to undertake a new challenge. 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. Also, this year for creativity I joined cross stitch and embroidery and set design on the first semester. On the first session we had to plan  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.. 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. Joining these after school activities I learned to think about the ethical implication of doing these activities.

Final Reflection

            As the final semester draws to a close so does the final semester of CAS. I can honestly say that I have grown a lot during the whole of the CAS experience. First of all, I committed myself to a sport (Archery) for two whole years. Before joining the CAS program I’ve never shown any perseverance in action so this was a huge improvement for me. Also CAS gave me the opportunity to be a leader. I became the leader of RCCI (Rehabilitation Center for the Communication impaired) In many was this was on the most challenging piece of work I’ve ever done. This was my first time being a leader of a service group and this group allowed me to plan and initiate activities while all the while juggling my schoolwork. It also allowed me to undertake a new challenge. 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. Also, this year for creativity I joined cross stitch and embroidery and set design on the first semester. On the first session we had to plan  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.. 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. Joining these after school activities I learned to think about the ethical implication of doing these activities.

Final Reflection

            As the final semester draws to a close so does the final semester of CAS. I can honestly say that I have grown a lot during the whole of the CAS experience. First of all, I committed myself to a sport (Archery) for two whole years. Before joining the CAS program I’ve never shown any perseverance in action so this was a huge improvement for me. Also CAS gave me the opportunity to be a leader. I became the leader of RCCI (Rehabilitation Center for the Communication impaired) In many was this was on the most challenging piece of work I’ve ever done. This was my first time being a leader of a service group and this group allowed me to plan and initiate activities while all the while juggling my schoolwork. It also allowed me to undertake a new challenge. 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. Also, this year for creativity I joined cross stitch and embroidery and set design on the first semester. On the first session we had to plan  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.. 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. Joining these after school activities I learned to think about the ethical implication of doing these activities.

Violin

When I first started the DP programme I decided that I wanted to learn an instrument that I really liked. Now I've been playing the violin for more than an year. In the begining of the violin course I had trouble reading the music because I was not used to it. I had piano lessons when I was younger and I drew from the knowedge that the piano sheet music and the violin sheet music are the same I was able to read the violin sheet music. In learning how to play the violin I undertook a new challenge and by doing an hour of violin every sunday everyweek for a whole year showed my perseverance and commitment also in learning the violin I developed a new skill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LifPZ9_WwBM

Archery

 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.

RCCI

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. 

Semester Goals

I'm finally in the last leg of the IBDP program. The last semester of grade 12 and there is still a lot to be done. In order to manage my  time properly for these last few months I need to allocate time for studying and CAS. The end of March marks the end of the CAS program for the 12th graders and by then I have to decide on another service leader for RCCI ( rehabilitation Center for the Communication Impaired). In order to make a good decision I have listed the qualities a service leader should have.

- Attend all CAS sessions unless he or she has a legit excuse.
- Plan and initiate activities and not wait for the supervisor to make a decisions because a supervisor should be just that, A supervisor.
- Be responsible. 
- Someone who knows that there is a time and place for everything. (eg- Wearing offending clothing) 
- Make an attempt to be more knowledgeable about the illness these children have.

With that being said I have also come up with a set of goals for myself for this semester.

Goals For service
- Plan three more trips to the RCCI center.
- Propose a fund raising stall at the food and fun fair ( March)

Goals for action
I decided I'm not going to do football this year because from the experience I got last year, I found it hard to do my work when I'm tired. Instead I'm going to
- Continue Archery
- Go to the gym in order to improve my stamina
- Do yoga
I will blog my experience with the above activities and set goals for them as well.

Goals for creativity
- I'm in cross stitch and embroidery and my goal for this creativity activity is to finish at least one lard embroidery piece.

Semester Reflection

The end of the first semester marks the end of the second semester of the IBDP program for the class of 2014.  As always there are areas I have improved on and areas that I need to continue improving on. For my study habits I start working on an assignment the day that it is assigned so I can manage my time properly but tend to not ask a lot of questions in class and this is something I could improve on. Instead of asking questions in class I could make an appointment with a teacher to meet after class. For my collaboration skills I work fairly well with my peers as I am I a good listener and I do the tasks assigned accordingly however My communication skills vary. My communication in writing is very strong but during oral presentation I tend to stutter a lot because I don’t like speaking out loud so I could practice doing oral presentation in front of someone I trust before the actual presentation. Also in TOK it is required to participate in discussions and I almost never actually do. So for the next year one of my goals include saying at least one thing in every TOK class. My oral communication skills are something that I need to address. In subjects like history I have to be very objective in my thinking because of the topics dealt with this subject tends to get biased opinions. And the Community and service project I take part in, RCCI (rehabilitation center of the communication impaired) made me become more aware of people who don’t have the same opportunities as us.  As for my grades, I think that I can rise up my grades in all of my subjects because I know that I have the skills to do that. For my goals for the next semester I would I like to raise my grades by one level and also address all the areas I could improve on.

Set Design

     Gingerbread house for the play "Hansel and Gretel" primary school play

n 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.

Visit to the RCCI Center

The Thrusday before Ms Nyriz( Service supervisor) and I planned the trip to go to the RCCI center in the following Thursday.We managed to get most of the people in the service signed on to the trip and we left the school campus for the center on time. We reached the service center in about 15 minuites and I'm sure it was an eye opener for some of the new students in this service group. They could finally see the  global importance of this service group because the center it self is not something one would expect from a center to help the children with disabilities. The center is small to say the least but I was pleased to see some new play groudn equipments in the main ground. It indicated progress. Just like how we did in school we took a group of children and played with them. Some played ball, some helped them around the play equipment and others danced with the children. Overall it was a good trip and it ended with a good note. Next session we are going to be bringing the children in to the school on Thursday morning to watch the Primary school play. This would be different experience for the children.

Sneha Infant Home Visit

The Dare2Dream group visited the Sneha Infant Home to interact with the orphans living in the house. These children are children who had been abandoned by their parents so this in itself is an issue of global importance. We brought in toys and bubble blowers for the kids to play with along with a canvas where the kids to place their hand prints in and write down their dream or what they want to be when they grow up. Overall it was touching experience and what saddened me was they were so excited to see us and have someone to play with but it didn't last. This was a new challenge as I was not particularly good at interacting with younger children as I can't stand my infant cousins when I babysit them and I had even told the leader of this group that. In the end I decided to give it a go and it turned out that these children were very well behaved, patient and obedient. This was a surprise because normally one would think that children who were abandoned would have a negative view of the world but these children were so eager to try out new things and play with us and made me like interacting with children a little more from this experience.

Interacting with the Children from the Sneha Infant Home. Photo credits- Harshini.J.Karunaratne

Harshini.J.Karunaratne 

For more information-  http://dare2dreamsl.org/

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.

CAS goals for Grade 12

This last year flew by and now it's time to start a new and set new goals for this last year IB.

Creativity 

- I'm going to try out to become the leader of the after school activity cross stitch and embroidery. The reason why I chose this CAS in the first place is because I love to sew and learning these basic stitches helps a lot when I'm making complicated dresses and costumes. I want to try out to become the leader because I want to explore a new position that I've never been in before and this will help me again experience especially since it's more than likely that I'm going to be in this industry in the future. 

- I will also help out and get involve more in the Dare to Dream project. Last year I designed a banner for the group and this year I plan to do posters because this as close to the real career as I can get right now and it will be great experience for me to be in that position that requires me to keep up with deadlines and specifications. 

Actions

- This year I plan to try out for SAISA Basketball, do do that I will need to improve on my fitness, In order to do that I will go running for 30 mins, five times a week to elevate my endurance and my stamina as basketball will require that. 

- Basketball isn't till October, till then I will continue Archery as this shows perseverance. However because I'm continuing archery I will also need to do yoga to improve my posture as the archery poses can hurt it. 

Service

- As I might become the leader of RCCi sercive project as I've been in this project for four years I am going to try my best to plan more trips to the RCCI center to visit the kids more frequently. I will also try to incorporate more activities other than playing in the gym when the children visit.But this may be challenging because they need their fitness but I've noticed that some children don't run as much and just sit down bored.  So I'll try to provide more activities for them too. 

- Get more involved with the dare to dream project by going to all of the meetings and going to all the project venues. 

Reflection

      This past semester have flown by and from these past four months I can honestly say that I have learned alot and grew alot. First of all in RCCI RCCI is a sevice project I have been in scine ninth grade and I can say from where I have started to where I am now I have changed a lot. In ninght grade all I did was just go to the service do what had needed to do and go back home but this time the service demanded more from me because I am the second oldest student there next to the service leader and the current service leader was preparing me this past four months to be the next service leader. So from that experience I have been exposed to leadership and I can say that I have gotten some leadership qualities like keeping the group in place when they wander off task. Also I am personally close to some of the children that come to play here.

     First of all in RCCI RCCI is a sevice project I have been in scine ninth grade and I can say from where I have started to where I am now I have changed a lot. In ninght grade all I did was just go to the service do what had needed to do and go back home but this time the service demanded more from me because I am the second oldest student there next to the service leader and the current service leader was preparing me this past four months to be the next service leader. So from that experience I have been exposed to leadership and I can say that I have gotten some leadership qualities like keeping the group in place when they wander off task. Also I am personally close to some of the children that come to play here.

     Knitting. I joined the Knitting service group in this last quater because beleive it or not I love sewing and I desgin costumes for my younger cousins in my spare time as a hobby and since this quarter have been so busy I have barely enough time to commit to my hobby so instead I joined the "sewing and embroidery" after school activity in order to continue my hobby

  Archery I am very commited to this sport as I am determined to continue this in the future. It requires a lot of patience ( which I lacked in the begining because I am very immpatient by nature) Also it reqires precision and a good eye to aim and these skills aren't only useful in archery as it could be applied at any given circumstance. Increased their awareness

   My time in RCCI have really opened up my mind to what these kids and their parents are going through. It made me greatful for what I have and it made me think of how many people would actually accept these kids to our society. I have learned that the RCCI school had asked alot of schools to help them out atleast once a week but they all turned them downe because they were afraid of how these kids would act. Our school was the only one that took the risk to help these children and it made me really proud. 

    Undertaken new challenges When the RCCI CAS leader was away because she had examination so I had to take over for the time being and I really learned on what it took to be a leader of a programme. 

   Planned and initiated activities Before April break on the same week the CAS leader was away I had to make the arrangements to buy gifts for the children and make sure everyone knew what they were bringing for the end of year party ( eg;- food, drinks,music...etc) I had to manage my time wisley in order to make sure these things will go smoothly. 

   Worked collaboratively with others Also in RCCI-- I had to work with a lot of people . The more I work with a lot of people the more I am comfortable with working with more people. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities I have been in this CAS group since 9th grade and since then I've gone to every single CAS meeting and since I've started the sewing group I have been going to that too and the same goes for my commitment in archery.  Engaged with issues of global importance RCCI- These are children in need and as I said before not many people wanted to help them because they were afraid and I'm glad to be part of this small percentage who is actualyl doing something to help these children and my time here have made me want to research more about the children with dis-abilities and whethere there are any ways or on going research to help them.. or cure them.  Considered the ethical implications of their actions Archery- As much as I love it as a sport I am well aware of the implications. It is a dangerous sport. For example when I'm shooting I have to make sure there isn't anyone infront of me even if they are a meter away. the same goes for wandering animals like cats or dogs. I don't want to accidently hurt or kill anything. Also my coach had told me to introduce archery to maldives and I had to say no to that because it will go horribly wrong there. Already the country is in political turmoil and people are carrying knives and cutters to inflict damage or kill innocenve. Just imagine what would happen if archery were to be introduced?  Developed new skills - My growing leadership qualities.

Dare to Dream

Dare to Dream" is all about dreaming big, and turning the seemingly impossible into reality. . It's a group started by Harshini Karunaratne and I am a volunteer for the group. I was assighed to design the cover photo of the group's facebook page. Im an aspiring illustrator and this was my first official assignment. I was challenged with finishing this according to the clients specification and I had to manage my time as well as they wanted it finished by the end of the week.

Service Leader

I have been in the RCCI( Rehablitation Center For The Communication Impaired) service group for two and a half years now and I can say that I have learned alot. I'm going to be honest. When I first joined the group as a 9th grade student back in 2011, I was pretty nervouse, because I had never interacted with these children with dis-abilities before. I kept wondering how I would communicate with them and how I will interact with them in the end I managed to pull through. I knew some of the basic Sinhala words ( Language spoken in Sri Lanka ) and there were two children who could speak english but on the days these two children did not come to the weekly play sessions in our school I had to communicate to the children with my basic Sinhala skills and body language. In grade 9 I was just a new comer to the service group, In grade 10 I got used to interacting with these children, Right now in grade 11 I'm the treasurer of the service group and next year I am anticipating on taking over the leadership of the whole service group. Last session instead of playing in the gym we decided to test out the artistic side of the kids as creativity of the mind is just as important as getting physical. Here are some of the impressive paintings they have done.