Final Reflection

It's getting closer and closer to the IB May exams, and so I now I have to say goodbye to my CAS temporarily. However, over the two years here at OSC, I believe that I managed to achieve all eight of the CAS criteria.

1) Increased their awareness of their strengths and areas for growth

2) Undertaken new challenges

3) Planned and initiated activities

4) Worked collaboratively with others

5) Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities

6) Engaged with issues of global improtance

7) Considered the ethical implication of their actions

8) Developed new skills

At the beginning of the IB CAS program, I chose Recycling as my service. Now, two years later I leave as the old leader welcoming the new ones to take my place. I've tried to attend every session possible and have physically participated in the drop off of the recycable materials ( 5. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities). I chose this as my service mainly because I believe that helping our world takes one step at a time. Right now, my first step is with Recycling (6. Engaged with issues of global improtance).

I've also demonstrated this criteria with my soccer. It was one of my methods of getting excersize and I even particpated in the SAISA team for my school, twice!

I regularly attented practices and games that occured during and before the season. In fact, while playing a match before the second season began, I learnt a lot of what I needed to improve on (1. Increased their awareness of their strengths and areas for growth). Mainly it boiled down to my stamina and so I planned a workout where I would utilize my weights, punching bag, and treadmill at my house. I didn't manage to use the treadmill as much as I wanted, but I used my weights and punching bag on a regular basis ( 3. Planned and initiated activities).

However, after the first season, a majority of the team left since they were seniors and so in my second season of soccer, I was among a number of new teamates. However, we worked as a team and accomplished a lot during our tournament. In fact, due to our strong teamwork and lack of a full team, we were dubbed as the "Iron Men" in the SAISA tournament in Dhaka (4. Worked collaboratively with others).

When it came to taking new activites, it was a little more difficult to accomplish. However, I soon set my sights on the Yearbook activity and the play "The Crucible". In my life, I have never used Adobe photoshop as a serious tool to create something for everyone to see. The Yearbook activity gave me the chance to hone my skills and develop new ones while performing a community service (8. Developed new skills). Also, "The Crucible" was a new activity for me since I'm sort of shy guy. However, I performed the play to the best of my ability and I was pleased with my performance (2. Undertaken new challenges).

I also helped my American community by volunteering at the Haunted House. It was a new, but fun activity which I enjoyed doing so much that I did it for both years that I was here. It also gave me the chance to work collabritively with people from my Embassy since we had to discuss plans on how we were going to really scare some kids/adults. In the end that "/" sort of blurred.

The last criteria that I had to cover was the ethical implications of my actions. Honestly, the only service where this could apply was with my Recycling. As a leader of the group, I had to set an example to the members and so I couldn't slack off or anything. It would have sent a wrong message and wouldn't have been ethically correct for me to sit around and order the kids around. I believe that this showed since we always worked efficiently at each meeting (7. Considered the ethical implication of their actions).

Recycling: Passing The Torch

After two years of assisting the Recylcing service in the school, it's time for some new leaders to take over. At this point, Shin and I have chosen two 11th graders; Alex and Constanze. Now we have to show them the ways of the game, so to speak. First, we have explained to them that Recycling is more than gathering recycable items and taking them to the center. It is also thinking of creative ways to increase awareness of Recycling or by planning projects. Since Recycling is a global issue, we believe that one step to help this planet is to spread the awareness.

Last year, Shin and I created a presentation on Recycling and then presented it to the school. This was just one form of increasing awareness and this is what we explained to the new leaders. Another plan that we had, but were never able to initiate it was to have a meeting with the schools staff. We've explained this plan to Alex & Constanze and hope that they will be able to initiate the plan.

With these new leaders, the Recylcing project should do just fine. Below is a table showing the money that Shin and I earned when we took over the project. We started to lead in 2010 and hopefully, the new leaders will be able to match or even surpass our results.

Soccer Season Over

Well, its finally over. The soccer season this year was shorter than the last time that I had participated in it, but was just as fun and educational. This years team consisted of many new people who I had never worked with before. However, I quickly overcame this and we soon became a strong team.

We left to Dhaka on Februray 11 with only 12 players when we really should have had 16 players. Despite this disadvantage, the teams at Dhaka soon nicknamed us Iron Men for our strong will to win. In fact, on the first day we won both our games. Next day we faced the American Embassy School, who have been the reigning champion of SAISA for numerous years. This fact didn't stop us from giving it our all and we actually tied with them. Unfourtently, the lack of subs quckily caught up with us and we only managed to get 8th place out of 10. However, as a team we did a superb job in the tournament with only 12 players.

After my time with soccer, I managed to increase my skills in the sport. I can now juggle the ball almost 50 times before it drops to the ground. I can also perform the ' Over the Rainbow' trick. This is a new and exciting skill that I managed to develop due to the extensive amount of time that I spent practicing it.