Organ Donation

When one of my friend’s mom suggested us to do something regarding Organ Donation and its stigma in India, I instantly knew I wanted to do it.

Since then began brainstorming of ideas and research on what Organ Donation exactly meant, and what was the best possible way to execute it. My friend Vinit and I were both involved in initiating this experience for ourselves and few of our other classmates. After intense research, we realized that stigma against donation of one’s organs was more in India, but was still present around the world.

Hence, we decided to script a short play on Organ donation, act it out and upload it on social medias so that it could reach maximum number of people.
However, due to lack of knowledge about direction and acting, it didn’t go well, despite weeks of hard work. It really brought our moral down, and we wanted to quit. But we knew, how important this was. Through our efforts, even if one person’s life could be saved or enhanced, it would all be worth it. We motivated each other and came up with the idea of drafting a script for a street play and act it out on one of our city events called “U-Turn”.
We had only about 2 days to execute all of this. Urgently, we encouraged a few of our friends and made a team of 5 people. We drafted the script and practiced continuously and we very excited to perform.
The biggest challenge I faced was when we had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning and reach the venue. My parents were not in town, so I had to rely only on myself to wake up in the morning on time. Once I did, I felt the hardest part was over, but it had just begun. It was raining cats and dogs, and our play was to be held in open. We called each other with great apprehension. All of us supported each other and decided reach there on time, and see what happens next.

Luckily, the rain eventually stopped, and we started enacting our streetplay. People stopped to watch, and many even walked away in between. We felt really bad, but we kept on going and performed it atleast 15 times that morning. We got 30 people to pledge their organs, and that made it worth it.

It was wonderful and challenging experience that taught me that if you stay committed to something, you will always succeed, sooner or later.

 

Garba Fest!!

Garba Fest was the first Navratri event which was organised by my friends in school.I volunteered for being the co-head of the food department and I also managed to help the decoration team for making Rangoli which is a sand art. It is made on this occasion as it spreads positivity and adds beauty. The challenges which I faced during the presentations was that I wasn’t able to coordinate with my partner as whenever he did some work, I wasn’t informed which became a problem.However, we then divided our work in a way that both of us know what we are doing and the work gets completed on time. It was my goal to help as much as possible and manage the work well so that we don’t have any problems at the last moment.

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My skills helped me a lot to work cooperatively with others and help them whenever needed. I am very nice in arts and I am very cooperative. Using these skills I thought I did my best in my job of managing the food department. It was a great experience as it was the first time I had taken leadership. It built my confidence and taught me how to manage a sector of an event. The task was not easy as I had to decide upon a menu which everyone liked. But I think I managed to complete my task in the best way possible.

Plantation – Cas Reflection

One of the nature clubs in my city decided to organize an event where they invited people to help plant saplings in an effort to combat climate change and increase air quality in the city. I participated in this event as well. This activity gave me the opportunity to contribute in making the world a greener, healthier, eco-friendly place, for which I would like to acknowledge Nature Club for taking us to Kendriya Vidyalay School in Piplod on the 4th of July, 2016. For this event, all the participants had gathered in the morning and tools and saplings were provided to us by the organization. The main job for us was to plough the ground, plant the saplings in them and add soil back to support the plant.

 

I was very inclined to participate in this activity because of what I have learnt in my environmental system and societies classes. One of our discussions was about how the environment was being destroyed by human activities such as deforestation and this really motivated me to bring a change in our society.

 

Although the activity seemed really simple and easy to me while registration, during the activity I found out how wrong I was. The activity became really challenging because of the unexpected heavy rainfall. Due to the rainfall everything got really muddy and it also made ploughing very difficult. We had to work really hard to get the water out of the holes we created for saplings. That is when I realised about my responsibility of as a citizen of the place I live in. I couldn’t believe I was contributing in making that location greener. This responsibility made me continue planting more saplings one by one, regardless of the rain.

 

To conclude, this event not only helped me realise how big changes happen by making small contribution, but also taught me the skill of planting trees properly. I am grateful to Nature Club as they are involving local people to engage in such significant issues of Surat.

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Monologue Competition – Cas reflection

In the first week of August, 2016, I had participated in a monologue competition that was organized in our school. The competition required students to select and prepare a monologue of their choice and then to perform it on stage in front of all the teachers and students of IBDP. For my monologue I choose one of Hamlet’s soliloquy – “Am I a coward?” by William Shakespeare.

 

Before this event, I had never voluntarily registered myself in a competition where I was required to be on stage. This was mainly because of my extreme stage fright and lack of confidence. Ironically, it was because of stage fright that I participated in this competition. I participated because I wanted to get rid of my stage fright and I knew the only way to do that was to participate more and build my confidence. I thought this would help me take a step towards my goal of not being afraid to go on a stage.

 

Not only did this activity helped me reduce my stage fright and build confidence but it also helped me improve my voice modulation. Although, I did not win the competition, the genuine appreciation from my friends and teachers helped me realize that I am not all that bad at drama and stage speaking. If I put more efforts into this activity, I would surely be able to completely get rid of my stage fright and increase my confidence level drastically.

 

This activity proved to be really challenging for me because in the beginning I was really bad at acting and one of the main criterias of this competition was showing emotions matching to that of the character’s. However, from a friend, I got to know that practising in front of the mirror and recording yourself are some very good ways to improve your acting. This is how I overcame my weakness and was able to deliver a pretty impactful monologue.
At the end of the competition I felt really proud of myself as I had done something which I was way out of my comfort zone. It was definitely a great experience for me.

Harness your passion- Dance (Garba) _5-7-15 to 5-10-15_Activity

 


One thing which I am always ready to do is to dance. One thing that I will never stop loving is dance.


Learning a new style has always been my area of interest. As one the Indian Festival (Navratri) was coming, I got an opportunity to learn Garba- an energetic folk dance of Gujarat.

I have always seen people doing Garba and also tried itdsc_0056 myself. Therefore, I knew some basics of it.The moment I started learning, I started loving it more. We learnt different numbers of Garba, 32 which has thirty- two steps and 12 which have twelve. As I knew some basics, at the start it became for me to learn but later on as the steps became longer, it became difficult to mesmerize them with perfection. After learning the majors, we started to dance on fast beats which were challenging at the start but eventually I accepted and adapted the course.

I actually developed the technique to flow with the flow, like the lachak (suppleness) which was not an easy part for me. I learned that by practising the dance style on a daily basis. I was enjoying every moment but then diminishing marginal utility happened. And I was losing interest in the latter weeks. Although I made sure that I learned variations in hand moments which kept my interest; helping me to stay committed to attaining practices daily.

The after effect of learning Garba was the one that was like a cherry on the cake. We organized a Garba Fest in which I could implement my new learning and it helped me to cherish every moment to the fullest.

Street Play- Awareness about Organ Donation at U-Turn (Creativity/Service)

This activity was a group initiative. It was a street play done at U-Turn to spread awareness about Organ Donation. Basically, our main motive was to inform people about the importance of organ donation and persuade them to pledge their organs.

 

The preparation for this activity wasn’t very great. But enough for us to perform on the day. We planned to shoot a documentary at first, then finally decided to take U-Turn as an opportunity to get more people’s attention. We wrote the script in 2 hours and spontaneously, called two of our friends to help us in replacing the other actors. The hustle was real and intense, we did have some experience with handling pressure, but it did get onto our heads, later.

 

This group project was a collaborative work with Riya, Aarsh, Ronak and Vinit. We all had a reasonably decent experience with street plays, and hence, felt little confident that we would pull through. It was challenging for us, but in the end we did grab enough people’s attention and got pledges too. I wouldn’t say our activity was a complete success, but it was a great learning experience. People didn’t listen to us at first, but that didn’t stop us. We repeated the play over and over again to get more people.

 

Because we worked collaboratively, we got ideas and help from each and everybody. This issue has a global significance, as people all around the world face problems with transplants. We wanted to bring a change locally. By doing the play, we also did not want to hurt anybody’s self esteem or feelings in any way. We took into consideration that we go by the code of conduct and not hurt anybody in any way. Language and body language was a difficult hurdle to cross, but we worked pretty well and did it.

 

This activity, all in all, taught me to work well under pressure and overcome fears for a good outcome and experience. It was a fun, short CAS experience with a lot of learnings.

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Vocals Inter school Competition

This activity was mainly to take a step ahead to places or events where I can upgrade myself, develop areas of growth, take challenges and take full advantage of my strengths. I was selected to represent my school for inter school vocals competition. Personally, I think I don’t have confidence in myself which is what pulls me back from doing things by which I can define myself.  I am a good singer and I am always recommended to select the songs from Shreya Ghoshal albums as people say my voice is very similar to her voice.PICTURE

 

First I took part in inter house competition where I was awarded the second position, after this achievement I gained confidence and started preparing for my inter school competition. During my practices I had severe throat infection which was a major drawback, because of which I lost all hopes of winning.My confidence level had become even less than before. However, I took it as a challenge and started working upon my song and had put all that it takes to perform better. I was proud that I didn’t give up, although I did not win but I think the most mandatory thing which matters is that I participated. Due to my throat infection I used to practice more and so that I don’t screw up on the day of competition. I was committed towards my duty and went to practices outside school as well so that I could improve upon my mistakes.

 

It was very important that I work cooperatively with my teacher. My teacher (Somnath Sir) and I made sure that we point out every mistake that I made and work on it so that it doesn’t make my performance weak on the day of the competition. I just knew that I cannot let this opportunity slip away from my hand so I worked with full dedication. I have a stage fear which has always been a reason of me having less confidence. However, by this activity I was able to work on my stage fear, it helped me improve upon my stage fear. I got really nervous when it was time for me to present my song and there were places where I made mistakes but it did not sound that bad. I was happy that I at least made an effort to participate.

Overall, I think that apart from the challenges I faced I was able to define myself, and develop the areas where I need to work to some extent.

 

French ISA Trip

The International School of Ambey hosted a french and Spanish language competition in Ambey Valley, Lonavala. I participated in the poetry reciting competition, Face Painting, storytelling and stall decoration. The biggest challenges faced were that when we went to this trip we had just started learning French and it had been just 6 months of us learning French and our competitors were at the advanced level.Some were learning French since 7 years. However, I made a goal to participate and attain an experience which would also help building more knowledge.

img_20160116_124857633For the poetry competition, my goal was to develop my public speaking skills, confidence and throughout the competition I focused on understanding french.i think I did well because one of my strengths are that I can learn things very quickly. We didn’t get much time to prepare for my poetry, i had to learn it in a day. However, I think I performed quite well.

My friends and I spontaneously gave our names for the face painting competition as we wanted to explore and learn as much as possible. I think the selection of judges was not right as they had selected people who didn’t have any background of French language. I felt that my art piece was very good and different than others. I felt that it was unethical of them for considering their students and giving them the first rank. we were not even considered. But, i think i will prepare well for the next time.

For me it was a wonderful experience because it gave me a good opportunity to make good connections with my French teacher and know her better. I also made great memories with my friends.

Activity 8: Surat Ultimate Open

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The SUO, Surat Ultimate Open, is a Frisbee tournament our school organizes every year. This year it was on the 5th and 6th of December, 2015. The school gave the students the opportunity to lead, collaborate and organize this event on a large scale. Our heads, Khushi and Pranjal, divided us into different departments, according to our strengths. I chose to opt as a volunteer for the Registration department where I was, originally, assigned the duty to make announcements, check all the arrangements, distribute some gifts, collect score cards, and help people in case of any queries regarding the schedule of the event from all over India. There were 4 fields and two people were assigned to photography on each field. One day, prior to the tournament, I felt like I had no work except learn the rules of the game, since my job was to handle all the tasks on the present day. However, I had no clue that how hectic my schedule was going to be on the 5th and 6th of December.

5th December

We, Aashna and I reached the event venue, KG Farm at around 6 in the morning. It was chilly and foggy. We discovered that the tables for registration desk and food were dirty. I was disappointed. However, we knew that we couldn’t keep them dirty because it would only spoil our schools reputation. So, with full spirit, we started cleaning the table. This was something new that I had done. It was a last minute crisis. After clearing everything, we discovered that the prints of schedules weren’t giving to us. The participating teams asked us various questions regarding their match times. We had no answers for those questions. After making multiple calls to Khushi and Pranjal (who were the leaders and participants of the FS SUO Girls team), we answered all the queries. It was challenging, but that is what we learn. I learned that on the present day, I have to stay mentally and physically prepared for such chaos. We gathered all the registration dept. members and delegated work to each one of them, calmly. People were coming and going, inquiring about the matches. The desk was very busy. I made announcements regularly, about the information about the matches and about lunch. I soon realised that everything was a mess because everything was organised and categorized properly. We were given some folders. We decided to divide all the folders into categories such as spirit forms (filled), spirit forms (unfilled), score sheets (filled), score sheets (unfilled) and such like. Allocating it efficiently made our task much easier. This gave me the confidence to tackle all the problems that would come further ahead.

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6th December

The next day was equally busy for me. This was a changing experience as I have never talked to so many people, let alone make announcements on the mic about the upcoming matches. Directing people to the places that they were required to be, sending the score keepers to the match and answering people’s queries were in my job description, and I wanted to give my 100% efforts. I met new people, from different cities, from different countries. One participant was from Texas, and we interacted with her about differences and similarities of her studies and our studies. It was a different experience altogether.

We were a large team. The main ingredients for making an event successful were working like one unit, and helping everyone do their work properly. If the volunteers under us would stop working properly, the event would become more chaotic. Many a times, we had to argue with the volunteers under us so that they could function properly. Shouting and screaming gave me the feeling of working like a head. In the end, I realised that I had to change my behaviour from an arrogant person to confident, optimistic person. Probably, this change in behaviour and attitude towards volunteers will help me immensly, as a leader in the future during organising different types of events.

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Therefore, I was content with my contribution as I was able to successfully work in a large group. I was also able to manage the inflow and outflow of players and the allotment of score-keepers on KG Farm ground.

 

Tree Plantation

I had never indulged in tree plantation activities before. This was the first time I was contributing to the environment, and I must say, it was indeed fun.  It changed my perspective about nature.

I enjoyed visiting serene places and enjoy its pleasant air and nature, however this opportunity of tree plantation made me realize my responsibility as a citizen of the place I live in. This CAS activity gave me the opportunity to give my little contribution in making the world a better, green place, for which I would like to thank Nature Club for taking us to Kendriya Vidyalay School in Piplod on the 4th of July, 2016.

Initially, I wasn’t going to take part in the activity because of my mindset, but the whole experience of planting trees was much more than that.  The thought of taking a step towards making environment an ideal place encoruaged me.

When I was about to reach to the place early morning, it started raining, and my little excitement for the activity was vanishing. I knew I couldn’t let this rain be an excuse of my absence. I thought it was destiny who wanted me to realize the importance of tree planting. The greenery of the place made me realize that the world was becoming a place of concrete buildings instead of lush green trees. I could instantly connect with the changes happen in the society around me, and how it was unethical to make jungles barren for our purposes and seize their beauty.

I could say that even though the rain made it worst for us to plant trees, every bit of hard work was worth it. As soon as I started transplanting the plants into pits and then filling them with mud, I could feel the sense of responsibility of making a very little, but significant change to the society, with respect to an issue of global significance.

Other than being a responsible person, I learned the art of planting and fixing the mud with a shovel and spade.

At the end of the day, I was glad that I was able to contribute to nature’s beauty.

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