CAS 2017

The concept of Ride with Pride is really interesting. It was Cyclothon for spreading awareness about breast cancer. It was organized on 6th  March 2016. Being a girl I believed it was kind of a responsibility to make people aware about breast cancer and so I decided to volunteered in the event and help my peers who were organizing this event so that I can help them (as they were facing a shortage of volunteers) at the same time help them in spreading awareness about breast cancer (engage myself in a issue of global significance).

I volunteered to help them at registration desk and other jobs (small tasks as the major ones were handled by big and experience people that were appointed on that day) on the event day that like spreading leaflets about why this event was organized and what it aimed. But as we were doing this job, I realized that people that are participating in Ride with Pride were more interested in cycling and not only this, we saw few people throwing away those leaflets.

This is one of the ethical concern I came across because the organizers thought that everyone who is participating might be interested in gaining knowledge about breast cancer and so they printed a lot of leaflets but as mentioned above none of the participants were interested (in being aware about the cause) so there was a lot of paper wastage. On the registration desk I was not working alone there were three more people with me so we divided our work so that we can cater to all the participants properly and as fast as we can. One of us was registering participants on the spot and another was making sure whether the participants that have come to participate in the event have already registered or not.

Though the event was a big  success but it might have failed to achieve its aim which was to spread awareness about breast cancer. But the good part was that a lot of people participated in the cyclothon which in turn helped us raising a good amount of money for donating for breast cancer patients (as per my information). Also everyone at the event enjoyed the event thoroughly including me.

.

The concept of Literature and Humanities Fest was introduced this year in our school. the basic concept was to promote literature and humanities through varied fun activities. I organized two activities one of them was “Scrabble Wall”.

I am not really a fan of scrabble nor am I so interested in literature. This was the first challenge I faced  because I had to devote my free slots and play time to pull off an activity that I was not interested in or passionate about so this thought of me giving up my free time in a thing that did not interest me hold me back from giving my 100% towards organizing this activity. I had to pull this thing of with a partner so it was necessary that we coordinated well. But because she was in 10th she was busy most of the time as she had her boards this year. Initially, we weren’t able to put our best efforts. So there was a lack of coordination among both of us that delayed our work and made me anxious and at times, I messed things up. once I made a mistake while preparing the posters for our activity and once my partner had the duty to prepare charts for scrabble wall which she forgot and hadn’t done it like we planned and so we had to do it again. But then my partner made me realized that it wasn’t too late and we can still put up good activity.

After that I think we were able to coordinate well with each other because now that we understood each other we were able to divide work in such a way that it does not affect our other stuff (like at times when we had to meet our mentor teachers for updating and discussing our progress I volunteered to go alone as she had few tests during that time which were important for her and sometimes she did extra work because i had to complete some urgent submissions)  and tried to give our 100% and  also gave our free time not only at school but we also did few things from home as well and completed our work before our deadline. After going through this I had realized that how important teamwork is and how necessary it is to understand each other in order to ensure that the things go smoothly and as planned.

The second challenge was that students weren’t really interested in the fest like me but were dedicated towards earning points for their respective houses (the only reason so many students showed their interest in Lit.Hum fest) but the activity that we were organizing wouldn’t help them earn those points as it was a fun activity and so it was very difficult to convince students to participate in it. As a result, it was not a big hit initially nor in the later stage but after some time we received better responses from students than earlier as our mentor teacher Smruti ma’am started playing herself with few of her grade 12 students which encouraged others to come and play. earlier when did not receive any response I panicked and was really sad as it was the very first time I volunteered to organize something on my own and it failed. The idea of failure highly demotivated me but then I realized that it was my first try (we all learn from mistakes right!) and now because I have experienced it once I will have a good idea how to go about organizing an event.

The kids from grade 7 and 8 didn’t quite understand it and were playing it their way. I didn’t try to stop them because at the end what would matter is that they had fun (right!). And once in awhile a lot, them cheated as well in order to win those badges that we gave to those who win but again it the aim was that these kids should enjoy so we gave them badges even though we knew that they cheated. So this was like an ethical issue.

Planning this event was a challenge for me because I haven’t done anything like this before but taught me few things: I learned to keep calm in situations that are not wanted and handle them wisely and smartly. Overall, I am satisfied with my performance.

 

Art and Craft in one such thing that I love doing. I and one of my junior were in charge for Organizing Card Making Workshop in Creative Mela. Even though not everyone was excited about the Creative Mela because they had to give up their precious weekend but I was actually very excited as card making is something I love doing and I did not mind giving up my weekend for this.

As soon as I was given my activity that I had to organize (Card Making) I started planning about what was I going to teach those who will opt for my workshop. A lot of ideas started flooding my head at once. In this process, I tried something different that I hadn’t done with quilling before (hence trying to expand my knowledge about quilling and experimenting with it). I had planned a lot of things but then I was informed that we had very limited time so that actually reducing my enthusiasm (But then I convinced myself every little activity is worth your time and deserves the same excitement if you enjoy doing it).

I faced a challenge as well. Like all tasks were equally divided between me and my partner but unfortunately, she failed to teach and every one of them, I tried pushing her to do them but it didn’t quite work so at last out of frustration I informed the event coordinators about the same. They gave her a warning but even then I had to complete my work as well as hers. So I had to put double efforts and give more time ( taking away my studying time sometimes). But on the event day, i think we worked together well as we divided the kids into two groups and managed them pretty well ( Because even she realised it won’t work now if she didn’t work sincerely and helped me considerably well in pulling off this workshop)

There were several activities like card making organised in Creative Mela whose main purpose was to teach these students something new and hence help them develop a new skill but then there was this kid in my workshop and in my group who didn’t actually do anything by himself. Even Though I told everyone they had to do everything on their own but I did all of his work (because even after telling him or forcing him he didn’t do anything so I had to do it for him as he a so stubborn that he wanted to something different from everyone else so I think I was partial as  I did all of his work and at the same time did something different from what other kids were doing). This was an ethical issue that I came across.
But lastly what mattered was that I as well as students in workshop all enjoyed thoroughly and everyone learned something new and I also covered three aspects of my CAS that were Activity, Creativity and Service ( Because we had put our time and efforts for organizing this workshop for these students as well as helping them in developing a new skill without getting anything in return by volunteering for it)

 

 

As an ESS (one of our IB subjects) student I am well versed with the current environmental conditions on Earth and therefore the importance and the exigency for afforestation. The government of Gujarat initiated a project to build “Artificial forest” in Vansda. The artificial forest was named as “Janki van”.

We started off at around 7 or 8 in the morning and might have worked for around 4 to 5 hours approximately. We started with getting briefed about how they had planned to plant trees around that patch of land and how things were supposed to be done.

We were soon divided into two sizeable groups and as soon as we started our respective jobs starting with planting saplings and then later going on other activities like watering the saplings, adding fertilizers and covering them I realized that planting seeds were not a child’s play. It needs proper skills to accomplish this task properly ( for instance: the saplings should be watered correctly, The saplings should be planted perpendicular to the ground or right amount of fertilizers should be given). It was very tedious and strenuous task and however I knew that planting is something that does not belong to my comfort zone (as I don’t like working in soil especially wet soil and water) but then I made myself understand that few tasks should be done not because one enjoys doing them but because that are essential, crucial and of significant value.

Through this, I learned to step out of my comfort zone for things that were necessary without considering my personal benefits. This plantation activity forced me to believe that no task is small or big and hence made me respect the workers working (changing my ideological belief that planting is an easy job) with us because I now knew how difficult their job. There was one instance when I was so tired and frustrated as it was a very tedious task and I was exhausted that just wanted to skip the responsibilities given to me ( like at time of helping the other group in their jobs) so i out of vexation i did not do the work like it was supposed to be done (placing plants at  proper distances from each other) but then I reminded myself that this was a blessing in disguise ( as it would help us in future) and not only this but also how important teamwork is and that worked an incentive to help my peers who were as tired as me. This also portrayed our commitment towards our job as even though we were tired we continued doing our job in order to accomplish our objectives and took very limited breaks.

At one end we were doing something good for the environment but at the same time the plastic bags that were used to transport the saplings that we planted were going to be disposed of somewhere. ( This is another ethical issue that I came across because at one end we plant trees contributing to the environment and at the other end we dispose of plastic we will cause more harm to nature)

At the end what mattered was that It taught me few very important lessons of my life and also helped me it completing two criteria of CAS (activity and service).