CAS 2017

CAS has been one of the most amazing parts of IB, it was like a stress buster. The fact that IB promotes extracurricular activities with academics encouraged me to strive to work harder. The balance that it created in my life during the two years was great, I could enjoy both extracurriculars and academics both. I have frequently heard my friends from other schools complain about the workload at school, but I feel happy to have CAS which made the most important two years of school memorable.

Speaking of CAS, the first activity that comes to my mind is our CAS project. It was an event me and 2 of my friends organised. Although, it looked like any other event in town but the hard work and energy that it took is unforgettable. It is one experience which in which we had to do jobs like getting the government permission, editing the hoarding, etc. It marked our transition to adulthood in our society. CAS has given us such opportunities that has made us a better person. This event has made me realise the fact that things might look simple, but in the end you’d know that ‘it ain’t what I thought it was’.

I have been taught the IB learner profiles since I was in the 4th grade, but I never really cared about them until now. The learner profiles have moulded me into a better individual, CAS has opened the plethora of learnings in my life. I have learnt to become sensitive by caring for people who are less than me, I have fought my shyness by becoming a communicator and speaking my heart out. Suddenly, I could see that I have become principled after the activities, because even though they are extremely simple they teach us a lot.

During the past year while doing CAS, I’ve learnt a lot about me. Earlier, I thought that I am a very rigid person who is not very open to changes, however, in the process of completing the learning outcomes, I met so many people which helped me in adapting to changes quickly. One thing I learnt about others is, that they are equally struggling to achieve what I am and that I should respect them as much as what I want to be respected as.

These activities clearly helped me understand others better and know myself. There were times when it was difficult to manage CAS and academics but eventually it helped me manage my time in an efficient way and that’s a huge change that I see in myself. In particular, the learning outcome (LO 3) about initiating and planning was a little difficult to meet because it is pretty easy to tag along with friends and participate but to organise it yourself it a task.

I will take this experience forward and help others make this world a better place, it’s not only the huge problems but even the small ones are of true importance and my goal from now in life is to contribute as much as I can and participate in activities that make me a better person and also improve our world.

A few of my friends organised a Kabaddi Tournament in school, they followed the usual protocol by having the auctions for making the teams, etc. I participated in the tournament as Kabaddi seemed to be a very interesting game, also the Kabaddi World Cup endorsed frequently and it just made me feel like that I should participate. Fortunately, this opportunity helped me in achieve various learning outcomes for CAS.

I am not a very sporty person but somehow Kabaddi seemed fun, as it included using power and agility. I feel my strengths was my power and ability to catch hold of people, but, I wasn’t very quick, because of which it was difficult to raid. These things helped me focus on the first learning outcome. Similarly, during the activity I faced a few challenges, like working together as a team, or getting blamed for someone else’s mistakes but ultimately it was a learning process. Towards the end of the tournament, I tried to learn tricks to raid, which allowed me to score points for our team.

There were times during the matches, when it got extremely tiresome. However, I kept the spirit going on and always helped my team score points. This proved my commitments towards the activity, irrespective of disinterest in physical work, I continued to play which motivated me to involve in various other games.

Kabaddi is a group game and it is very important to play it as a team, to consider every player’s weaknesses and strengths. I always took steps which benefitted the entire team. There were times when I had to do things which other players asked me to do but that was for the greater good. This shows the significance of teamwork, the team can cover up for the weaknesses of one player and show it’s best. Kabaddi taught me a lot about working collaboratively.

I had a fun time playing the game and will definitely participate again if I get the opportunity too.

Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit is a platform for students to come up with sustainable ideas to fight common problems in the country and the world. Students from different schools not only from India come together to produce ideas. The basic concept was that random students share ideas and form a group and the rules are that not more than one person from a school can be in the same group.

My friends and I attended the summit, and we were all part of different groups, I was in a group with three guys from Jordan and a girl from Turkey.  

The TEAM

This summit helped me in cover various learning outcomes for CAS, and the learning outcomes achieved were:

Learning Outcomes 1 and 2 were achieved by involving in an activity which was very new to me. Working with people with entirely new ways of thinking and coming to conclusions. During the activity I realised that I was great with leadership skills, as I brought together the entire group. However, I think that I should improve my communication skills, because I used to keep ideas to myself and not putting it across. Speaking about the challenges faced during the activity, was to come up with an idea which was suitable. Also, before we formed groups, we were taken to Dharavi which is the biggest slum in India, I found myself a little uncomfortable by being there due to the extreme smells and dirt, however, towards the end we learnt a lot and also started to adapt with the place. One of the greatest skills I learnt was to make new friends, I am shy otherwise but it was fun meeting new people and learning things about their life and culture.

Learning Outcome 4, the activity required a lot of commitment, we were supposed to not only design a digital model but also make one in real. For a very long time we did not have an idea about what exactly should we do but we continued to brainstorm ideas to persevere our goal. Towards the end we were given an award for the most innovative project, the hard work which was put into the entire activity proved to be of great help.

Learning Outcome 5, this was very important as we were working in a group, all of use were from different countries and because we had to select one problem, it was difficult as everyone had different ideas because of the geographical differences. Once, we finalised on the idea, we split the work. This was extremely beneficial as work was done efficiently. Few of us were making the presentation and the others were helping with the model. Our project was called “Mai Mumbai”, mai in Arabic is water, we made a solar still to provide clean water.

The entire activity was based on providing clean water to the slums of Mumbai which lacked access to portable water, for which we designed a solar still, which is a very economical model. This helped me in achieving the 6th Learning Outcome, as we looked at sanitation and health as a issue of global significance. The model we made is as shown in the image below.

The activity required us to take ethical considerations, the model we made was supposed to not only economically sustainable but also environmentally. By considering the environment we ethically make a decision which just doesn’t look at profits. Another consideration was, when we went to Dharavi, we had to behave sensitively with people living there by not judging or passing comments about their lifestyle.

Every year we go for a 7-10 day trip from school during winters, this time we planned to go to Naggar, which is a town near Manali, Himachal Pradesh. Usually these trips are planned by the school however, this a few of my friends and I planned the trip with the help of one of the adventure tourism agency in India. During the trip we did a lot of activities such as skiing, trekking, yoga, etc.

This trip was not like the other trips because this trip did not start from the day we boarded the train but 2 months before that, since the time we started planning for the destination. The process was full of arguments and disagreements, however, the trip turned out to be one of the greatest, it not only was full of enjoyment but also helped me fulfill most of the CAS learning outcomes:

Learning Outcome 1 and 2, all the trips that we have taken from school have trekking, although, this one had a lot of steep and long uphill routes, which was very exhausting, this allowed me to develop my trekking skills. I have helped in organising a few events earlier, however, while we were planning for the trip a lot of disagreements were raised which lead to some problems however, because I had been a part of organising committees before, I knew how to deal with a few people, but an entire class was a huge task. So we looked for a few solutions and resolved the problem.

Learning Outcome 3, as we initiated the activity by taking up the task to plan the trip for our entire grade, which included, deciding on a place, booking the tickets and hotels, etc. However, this process was made easier for us as an adventure organisation “Connect with Himalaya’s” supported us.

Learning Outcome 4, this was one trip which required a lot of commitment throughout, even though people opposed with what we proposed, we did not stop working at new ideas. We tried to find balance and to give the best idea. Even during the trip, trekking for long distances or steep hills was difficult but I continued towards achieving my goal and completing the activity.

Learning Outcome 5, this was one of the most difficult part of the trip, the fact that everyone has a personal stand, and yet to come to the same decision is a task. So we were going for a morning walk, there were 2 ways that we could take, however, even though it was such a simple task people argued to go either left or right. Similarly, while planning the schedule for the entire trip there were conflicts but at the end we learned to compromise as that is the only thing that is going to help us all work efficiently. After, all the yays and nays, we finally came to a perfect conclusion and could enjoy our winter trip.

Learning Outcome 6, the trip was to a place which wasn’t a touristy place, so there were places which were only used by the locals. However, Connect with Himalayas took us to those places which weren’t open to the tourists like a nearby village. During these trips we were strictly asked to not litter and not insult/comment about the way people live. People in India are known for littering, littering is a very important global issue in India. By keeping in mind not to litter we added to making India clean.