IB Final CAS Essay

            The IB required CAS program at the International School of Kenya has given students such as myself the opportunity to be engaged in both self and community based events. These activities have been designed to effectively build upon student’s goals and enhance social interactions and cooperation with community based projects. This has been the case for my 12^th grade CAS experience as I have built upon my ability to be engaged in different events.

I have worked towards reaching my personal goals in the area of CAS’ Action requirements. Despite my physical injuries, I attempted to join the ISK football season in order to be physically involved in ISK’s sports department. During the tryouts, I severely injured my ankle, preventing me from being able to join the team. This also meant I was physically incapable of joining the Track and Field team which I had anticipated to join. For this reason, I joined Mr. Quinett’s Advanced PE class during in-school hours, which allowed me to make a personal fitness plan. I took up this plan and have carried it out throughout the year in and outside of school. My goal was to enhance both my strength and cardiovascular performance. I thus planned to use the school’s facilities to carry out my Hypertrophy (muscle growth) resistance training program whilst running a minimum of 4 times a week at home on my treadmill. Using my personal plan I motivated myself to thoroughly stay in shape. I had exceeded my expectations as I had managed to beat my all-time best mile time record (5:56) which I had attained back in 2007 with a new time of 5:40 during this year. I have learned that through vigorous training and extreme perseverance, you can outdo yourself to exceed your goals and expectations. After having reached my mile time, I learned that more than 50% of the effort comes from mental willpower. I have found that this is actually a valuable life lesson. I had lost most of my physical capabilities prior to my pursuit but I was able get into exceptional shape again. Two individuals who supervised me during this pursuit are Mr. Quinett and my mother who often motivated me to get back on the treadmill. My mother and I have both been actively engaged in our training due to her frequent involvement in physical activity. What I have learned during my trials and my supervisor’s input are therefore the two most aspiring factors in attaining my goals.

Creativity has always been an attribute of mine, which I aspire to practice. For this reason, during the start of IB, I took IB SL Art even though I already had sufficient classes. This was because I took it for my own enjoyment and attempt to excel in the area. However, my IB classes were too much to handle, leading me to having to drop the class. Nevertheless, I had sufficient substitutes to fulfill my artistic likings. This also includes my interest in music. I have played guitar for around 6 years and since then I have been involved in various music projects such as multiple bands and performances in and outside of school. For IB CAS I have learned a lot about performing live. This is because I have participated two years in row in the ISK Talent Show. As a “front man” I have come to realize that I quickly take the role as a leader in my musical projects. Leadership has in this sense become one of my recent qualities as I feel like I fixated on the sound I wished to produce as an entire band. By playing in front of the entire school I have also managed to overcome my stage fright. Performing has never been a quality of mine, making this an exceptional achievement. Through playing with different people including my brother, Namin, Hunter, Cole, and David, I have learned a lot concerning playing with different musicians. Through composures, covers, and improvisations, I have learned how to play collaboratively with other people.

My community service was mostly based on volunteering for random events and activities, most of which were stationed within school bounds. The main implication of such activities is to offer oneself for actions of selflessness. I like to think that I have effectively demonstrated this behavior. This I have done by aiding various groups such as the entire senior grade and Artsco in maintaining events such as the Fringe Festival and the PTO picnic. In the near future I hope to be part of some globally based groups and actually plan and lead projects similarly to what I do in the creative aspect of my community service.

I find that I have learned a significant amount during my participation in the CAS program. I have undertaken new challenges, worked with peers, aided groups, developed new skills, and even taken the position of a leader in my musical projects. I am thus very content with what I have managed to achieve in my pursuit in community service as it is an essential part of an IB student’s arsenal.

Final Reflection - ISSEA Activity Volunteering (Service)

After having volunteered for the Fringe Festival ushering, Artsco had asked me to do facepainting during the Saturday of the ISSEA tournament week. I have take various Art classes in the past, so I felt confident to be able to do facepaint considering that I have never done it before. We attended the stand the entire afternoon but to our surprise, few people wanted to be painted during the day of the ISSEA finals. This proved to be a difficulty as we only made 300/=. I thought the activity was a good idea as no one could have known that it wouldve have been unpopular. We considered that the problem may have been that there was a lack of advertising as many may not have been aware of our stand. We therefore made an attempt to advertise by making banners and telling people to spread the word. Nevertheless, no new customers arrived.

Final Reflection - Fringe Festival (Service)

I heard about this opportunity through friends as help was needed by Artsco to usher and maintain the Fringe Festival. I therefore stayed after school to voluntarily help out Artsco untill 8pm. The night was comprised out of a number of small student organized drama productions. As an usher we had to help people find their way around campus to the destinations of the plays. This was required as the plays were well spread out and it was quite dark during this time. I also got to see some of the drama productions of the night. This event showed me the practice of voluntary work. This is what community service is as people give up there time to help in community projects. I think this was the most valuable lesson learned during this time.

Final Reflection - Composers Club (Action)

After having played in the Talent Show, Namin and I realised we wanted to start composing songs. Thus we joined the composers club. We also invited David to play with us. Since Namin and I have been playing together for quite some time, we think very alike when it comes to music. This however led to some minor complications concerning David's vision and he desired different things. This led to some awkward moments at first but after some time these issues were resolved. We quickly made a song from scatch with all of our input. Composing is something I have done only alone, making this experience especially significant as I normally dont compose with other musicians. To my surprise, we had little trouble concerning any conflicting thoughts on our first song. I am thus looking forward to playing at the village market

Final Reflection - Personal Fitness Program (Action)

With help from the ISK facilities and sports department I was able to effectively build my physical fitness. I have been doing the 1 semester Advance PE course twice now with Mr Quinett, enabling me to have completed a full year of inschool fitness. The program made during the course is what i had taken outside school bounds and have continued to do at home as well. This way, I have managed to develop a sense of principle and consistency in my life by being practically my own motivator when it comes to physical fitness. One of my objectives was to beat my best mile time (5:56) which I had done in 2007. This year i managed to beat that with a time of 5:40 which is only 20 seconds away from the school record (5:20). While reaching this goal ive realised that persistance is the main factor in reaching your goals. Getting the time I got required me to have a lot of mental willpower as I found my self on the verge of breaking up. This also applies for my resistance training workout. At the beginning of the year i was able to chest press 200lbs once, but by the end of the year I successfully did 10. This shows definite improvement on my part.

Final Reflection - ISK Talent Show (Creativity)

This was my second ISK Talent Show performance in two years. I have learned a lot about the way to effectively practice with a band. During the actual performance, i managed to drop my guitar pick as well which led to some minor complications during our song. Nevertheless, i picked it up and jumped back in the song. This experience has also taught me to get over my stage fright. Im not a performer by nature, which made this exceptionally hard for me. I also realised that since the talent show, I have managed to mess up less during live performances. Ive also learned that being focussed is key to play consistently. The experience has also enabled me to get to know David's way of playing. I had never played with him prior to the Talent Show and this experience has allowed me to get to know another local musician.

Final Reflection - Football Tryouts (Action)

My objective during the football tryouts was to see where my physical capability was currently at. I found that the various exercises and training procedures were quite doable. I was thus happy to find out that I was still capable of playing in terms of my cardiovascular performance. I was also finally able to see my friend in action on the football pitch for the first time in four years, this too was very pleasing. However, nearing the end of the practice, I performed a slide tackle in an attempt to steal the ball. On collision with the ground, my ankle twisted, something I had anticipated. One i got up, i found that i was unable to walk. As a result, i sat out the remaining time of the practice. I have no regrets concerning my attendance as I had found what I was looking for: my physical capability in terms of my ankle. From this point forth I knew I had to find a substitute for regaining my physical fitness. Despite my disappointment, I had found what I was looking for.

Final Reflection - ISK PTO Picnic (Service)

 The experience has taught me how to effectively work with the rest of the grade in organizing the event. This was one of the first opportunities our grade had as seniors to act responsibly to work together to maintain the event. My responsibility was the hannah stand. Nevertheless, the two women who were suppose to do the art were not there. This lead to some minor panicing. However, we quickly started collaborating about what to do next. After having made multiple calls, they finally showed up.My peers and I continuously found ourselves being various problem. However, none turned out to be a significant problem. From the experience I have learned how to cooperate under pressure and to effectively find a solution when put under such stress. Overall, I thought it was fun to maintain the various stands and being part of the entire event. In the end, the entire picnic turned out to be a great success.

Service – ISSEA Activity Volunteering

During the first week of March 2012, the ISSEA boys and girls basketball tournaments had come to ISK grounds. The tournament started on Wednesday and ended of Saturday when the finals would take place. I was asked by Artsco to come on Saturday to do face painting during the ISSEA finals. I accepted and thus came to school on Friday. We maintained the stand for more than 3 hours but only made 300/=. To our surprise, few people wanted to be face painted during the ISSEA finals. Nevertheless, other activities were present during the day and resultantly made the day quite a success.

Action – Advance PE and Personal Fitness Program Update

The Advanced Physical Education course only lasted for one semester. However, during the second semester, I realized that I wanted to partake in the course again to continue my in school fitness program. I therefore gave up a free block of mine to continue my fitness program I had composed during the previous semester. Subsequently, I have maintained my personal fitness in and outside of school. I have also been measuring various indicator of personal health including BMI and Body Fat %. I had also reached one of my personal fitness goals during the first semester. My best 1 Mile run time was 5:56 which I managed to get in grade 7. However, my program has allowed me to beat that as I managed to get 5:40, proving the effectiveness of my efforts and my program.

Creativity – Composers Club Update

David, Namin, and I are still very busy composing our music for the composers club. We have nearly completed our first instrumental piece as it is around 3 minutes long now. We are finding that we are making continuous adjustments to our song in an attempt to finalize it. We also want to quickly start making our second composure. This however is easier said than done because making a base guitar riff is quite complex. We are to meet with Gaby soon to show what we have so far for the composers club. This is because a concert is to be scheduled some time in April at the Tapas Bar in Village Market. We therefore are going to meet with her as soon as possible to show our composure.

Service – Fringe Festival Ushering

On Thursday 23 February, the ISK drama department had organized the Fringe Festival. This was a collection of short plays written by individual drama students which were performed on two separate nights. The two nights were the 23^rd and 24^th of February from 6.30 to 8pm with an entrance fee of 100 ksh. Artsco was asked to help with the event by ushering and managing the individual plays. I heard about this opportunity which led to me to helping artsco during the event. The festival was organized by Ms. Hargreaves and told the volunteering ushers what to do during the event. We were led around the school and were shown all the different locations of the plays. The volunteer turn-up was quite big leading to me being assigned with the role to walk around school and redirect lost people to the plays. We were also allowed to watch the plays while at the same time managing who went in and out during the plays. Having talked to the attending people, they found that the plays were extremely well done, thus making the night an overall success.