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.