Final Reflections on the 8 criteria

Increased awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth:

I have definitely increased awareness of my own strength in especially in areas such as sports and organising service activities. Taking part in productions such as 'Shanti's Wedding', and really helped me uncover my hidden creativity and has made me aware of what I am capable of, especially underneath the large amount of academic pressure exerted by the IB. I have also been made more aware of areas for growth. This would be in the area of service where perhaps I did not contribute as much as I could have and I still have more to learn in terms of organising fund raisers etc.

Undertaken new challenges:

I have undertaken new challenges such as mountain biking and volunteering to be the master of ceremonies for events such as the talent show and the Oscars 2010. This was also instrumental in helping me achieve the first criterion as it pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me discover a lot about myself. However I was hoping to learn an instruments which I failed to do because of time constraints.

Planned and initiated activities:

I have collaboratively planned and initiated activities such as the climbing of Adam's Peak with a group of friends as well as planning activities for the cricket electives. Pro activeness was not one of my initial strengths thus this has helped me develop this strength.

Worked collaboratively with others:

As mentioned before I worked collaboratively with Ruwinda in the cricket elective and with my friends in organising the trip to Adam's Peak. I have also worked collaboratively with others in coordinating and organising service fund raisers which was a new experience for me.

Perseverance and Commitment:

I have definitely shown perseverance and commitment in terms of sports such as football and tennis and have been rewarded for this, and for the cricket elective. However for the service actives activities I perhaps should have shown more perseverance for my service activities as I changed my service activity midway and despite contributing greatly towards certain events did not contribute as much as I should have.

Engaged with issues of global importance:

Habitat for Humanity helped me engage with the issue of human displacement, and the cancer hospital's children's ward helped me engage with the issue of helping those, especially children who were less fortunate then ourselves having to deal with diseases such as cancer. Going to Hambantota and painting a nursery school that had been built by the school also revealed to me the issue of the less fortunate acquiring an education.

Ethical implications of my actions:

Even small simple activities such as playing tennis with a ball boy had ethical implications to it. Ball boys have to make a living by picking up tennis balls and thus by paying one to play matches with me I have confronted an ethical issue and we both gained immensely.

New skills:

I have developed a large amount of skills especially in terms of sports. However I have also developed in terms of managing my time, being pro active, being organised, and being creative. I I have become a much more rounded person with a more broader set of skills and I now feel much more confident to undertake new challenges in any field.

December

The tennis ball matches in the cricket elective proved to be very successful as not only did it improve everybody's skills but it had also made the elective more popular. This was the last month that me and Ruwinda were involved in the cricket elective and although we failed to achieve our aim of forming a proper school cricket team and organising matches with other schools we are satisfied to have made improvements to the elective in general especially in the area of enjoyment.

I also achieved my aim of making it to the SAISA football team this year meaning that all the practice finally paid off. My aims for SAISA are:

To improve my skills as a defender

To overcome my problem of 'match tension'

To enjoy the experience.

November

This was the month we started the trials for SAISA football and my aim was at first to simply make the team. Throughout this semester me and various members of grade 12 had been organising private football practices in order to improve our skills in preparation for the trials. The practices paid off as I personally discovered that I played better in different positions then what I used to play in. All of us found that thanks to the initiative we took our skills had developed immensely and we were finding good form at the beginning of the trials for the team. It was a successful collaborative effort to better our chances of making the team.

October

These months have been very busy in terms of academics however I have still been continuing with tennis. As well as that Ruwinda and I are still the leaders of the cricket elective and our aims were to organise proper cricket matches against other schools. However this year we realised that most of the members of the electives were young and inexperienced especially when practicing with a leather ball as we soon discovered. Thus me and Ruwinda collaboratively came up with the idea to, instead of playing with the leather ball in the nets, to play tennis ball matches on the football field. This way everyone could get involved in bowling, batting and fielding, could develop their skills, and most importantly have more fun.

September Continued.

The first few weeks of Habitat for Humanity were spent organising a movie night for the primary school. I was achieving my goal to take a more active role in the process as I helped keep accounts in terms of calculating the cost of items that had to be bought such as popcorn, how much they could be sold for and whether a reasonable profit could be made. We also had to draft a letter to the parents of the primary school children asking their permission to send their children to this event. I learnt a lot in terms of organising all aspects of a fund raiser.

The actual movie night took place in the middle of the month and it was a success in that there was a large turnout. We obviously had to clean up afterwards due to the spillage of popcorn but all in all I was pleased that I had been able to achieve my goal.

September

This month I decided to change my service activity from the cancer hospital children's ward to the Habitat for Humanity group. The cancer hospital had been an immensely satisfying service activity activity when spending time with the children. I had also developed my social skills in terms of dealing with people of a younger age group which previously was not an area I was not very strong in. However helping people affected by events such as the Tsunami build or rebuild homes, which was the cause Habitat for Humanity dealt with attracted me greatly as it was an issue of global importance and because there would only be one opportunity to help the people in my own country who were affected by unpredictable disasters such as these. My aim was to play a more active role in the organising of events such as builds or fund raisers when time permitted as I felt that service was my weakest area in CAS.

August

My goals for the new school year are to:

1. Make it into the SAISA football team.

2. Play a more active role in service activities.

3. Organise matches for the cricket elective.

One of the most pleasing developments in for the new year was the opening of the gym, and with it the badminton courts. Thus every Monday we have been organising badminton tournaments. It has been challenging learning a new sport but it was made easier due to the skills I have acquired through playing tennis.