CAS 2017

CAS as a core component of DP is something that has helped me realise that there is more to life than just studies. Because it was compulsory, I did things that I didn’t know I was capable of. It made me caring, balanced, and someone who takes chances and initiatives.

Over the course of about one and a half year I have either initiated or taken part in many different activities but some of them were such that gave me a sense of pride. Those two activities are the garba fest which was a one time Navratri celebration in our school, and ASTH which was initially a small idea which gave rise to an activist group working for the welfare of others. Both these activities were initiated by me and I think this is why they are very close to my heart. Also these were not meant only for CAS; I did them for myself which is why they are different from all other activities that I have done.

Garba fest was initially just a fund raising event but as we started the planning things and organising stuff we got so excited that our motive was not only fund raising but also giving the students of fountainhead school an opportunity to celebrate a much loved event along with all their friends and teachers. The first thing that I learned was that organising any event is hard work however the fruit is always rewarding. I developed the skill of working under pressure, and because this was the first event that I was organising the pressure was higher than ever. I am glad to have done atlas one fund raising event because nothing compares to the smiles on excited faces of underprivileged children when they see new things being bought for them.

ASTH started with a small idea of four friends wanting to do a flash mob on independence day to spread a good message in the society. The first flashmob that we planned was just the day before we performed it. But the MOST important part of this first experience was the thrill and satisfaction it gave me. It felt so good to be able to gather as much crowd and help spread a good message in the society. We never planned for this one flashmob to turn into 2 or 3 flashmob. It was the satisfaction that all of us got that motivated us to that this a step further and give this thing a name. We came up with the name ASTH as an acronym for A Step Towards Humanity and turned this into an activist group on the social media.

While doing all of these activities, the most difficult learning outcome to achieve was the one about considering the ethics of our choices, especially in ASTH, because we took up various societal issues and it was hard to consider how different perspective could offend some people, however I am proud of the fact that we managed to pull it off. This also made me want these experiences in my collage life too, because I never want to let go of that proud feeling I get when I either help someone or help the society grow. It has made me take a decision that I will continue to work on ASTH and probably turn it into an NGO, so that it doesn’t just stay as a school activity.

 

Trekking has always been one of my hobbies because it gives me a chance to be close to the isolated part of nature in this world. So naturally I couldn’t miss the school trip we had.

I went on a school CAS trip to Naggar which is the capital of Kullu. There I mainly did trekking and adventurous activities like skiing and snow tubing. These activities were mainly for my personal development. 

Initially I thought that we won’t be able to have fun like we did in all our other school trips because it was a CAS trip. However when we got there, the pleasant atmosphere and the beautiful view changed my mind.

Waking up early in the morning was really hard as it was so cold but the view from the castle was BEAUTIFUL. Also the early morning short walks really put me in a bubbly mood. I had been trekking all my life but this was my first trek after the 3 year break I had taken so I was not in practice, which made the uphill treks really difficult. 

On the D-day of the we did a lot of exciting activities like skiing, snow tubing and shopping. I had tried skiing for the first time and it was the most amazing thing I had tried there. First of all I couldn’t walk because of the cold and heavy shoes. When I fell down in a funny position I laughed so hard that I couldn’t stand up even with the instructor’s help. It was one of the best moments I had on the trip.

Even though this trip was not as great as our last trip was, which included water sports, I did have a lot of fun.

Proposed Activities	Description of the activity	Components (C/A/S)	Duration with start date and end date	Learning Outcomes	location
Bal mela	This year I volunteered for the category of running stage. The running stage team created a playlist on which we made the underprivileged kids dance. It was quite a workout and we also had to spontaneously create steps which require a lot of creativity on our part.	Creativity, Activity, Service	2/13/2016 to 2/13/2016	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions	In school
Organizing a Navaratri fest	Swani Shah and I will organize a celebration for navaratri wherein we will invite children from different schools to come to FHS and play garba. People will also be allowed to Keep stalls for a fee and all the profit will go for activity 5	Creativity/ Service	start: 15/8/15 end: 16/10/15	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively	In school
Plantation Activities	Go to Janki Van and help the workers there to plant trees and plants.	Service	start:18/7/15 end:18/7/15	LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance	Outside school
Teaching the children who are less fortunate and can not afford of study in schools (Activity 5)	I will go to a place where there are many temporary houses near capital greens and gather the children who are less fortunate and teach them english and make them do some fun activities. I will also use the profits that I have earned in the garba fest to buy books and stationary for the children there.	Service	30/10/15	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions	Outside school
Volunteering in MUN	I will be a part of the OC and help in either in the finance department or in the some other department like logistics, etc	Creativity	start: 30/10/15 end: 1/12/15		In school
Shree nandan school	i went to a school called Shree Nandan with my school mates . It is a school where kids, with difficulties coping up mentally, were guided and nurtured. The first thing that we did was learn about some of the problems they had after which we went upstairs with them to pray. After the prayers the kids were divided into 3 groups and the ones with children who had the most difficulties were sent upstairs and that was the group I chose. We had to make them play simple games dealing with alphabets, shapes and numbers, and we had to try and talk to them and keep them busy doing little tasks that enhance their cognitive skills.	Creativity, Service	8/6/2016	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions	Out-of-school
ISA- French Fest	Initially I only planned on participating in the singing competition that I won but after going there I also took part in various activities like tableau and face painting on the spot which needed immediate collaboration and quick planning.	Creativity	1/14/2016 to 1/17/2016	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively	Out-of-school
Flash mob	We (avina, sakshi, vidushi and I) decided to turn it into out project after the success of our first flash mob on 15th august on religious disputes. we are going to perform flash mobs on various festivals like janmashthmi and world eradication of poverty day and every performance will include a message we want to pass on to the public. We will call for volunteers for each performance seperately. Every performance will include a main dance followed by skits, a song and a host performance. Initially we are going to do it in the malls and the school after we will perform on streets.	Activity/ Creativity/ Service	14/8/15	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions	Outside/Inside school
Naggar trip	I went on a school CAS trip to naggar which is the capital of Kullu. there I mainly did trekking and adventurous activities like skiing and snow tubing. These activities were mainly for my personal development.	Activity, Creativity	12/26/2015 to 1/3/2016	LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process	Out-of-school

Video: https://youtu.be/LwZaGYG22po

ASTH: A Step Towards Humanity

Organisers: Avina Agarwal Sakshi Agarwal, Unnati Agrawal and Vidushi Gupta

ASTH is an activist group that engages in various activities for the welfare of the society. Up until now this group has performed flash mobs in different public places and gatherings, and on different issues like women empowerment and the importance of education for all. Also this group has been a part of fund raisers and has been involved in teaching underprivileged kids.

In our very first attempt at a flash mob, we made a lot of mistakes, mainly because it was a one day plan. Initially I was really against the idea of doing a flashmob in a MALL on such short notice because we had nothing in place, no idea, no dance, no resources, no people. We had come up with this idea in our meal breaks on 13th august for crying out loud. In short, the idea seemed impossible and REALLY intimidating. it took a lot of convincing, at least on my part, to go through with it and after a while I was like we’ll just do what we can, we had nothing to lose.

As we planned to do the flashmob on the independence day we thought of some themes that we could work on, because our goal was to create awareness about a social issue as well as nurture the patriotic fire within people. Completely unsure of the possibility of this plan, we started searching for videos of different flashmob along with jotting down possible themes. Religious disputes was one theme that we thought would suit our purpose but we had to keep in mind that we were catering to the general public and we couldn’t offend anyone’s religion or point of view. Therefore we thought of choreographing a dance that that portrayed unity among different religions. Dance is one area that I was strong in and the prospect of choreographing a dance was exciting for me. 

On 14th of august  we rounded up a few of our close friends and family members who agreed to dance with us on such short notice, and met at one of our member’s house to learn and practice. It was hard to teach the dance to everyone as not all of us were skilled dancers, but we did it. Also we wanted to present an original dance, so I used my skills in dance to do exactly that and it worked out beautifully. I was glad that I got a chance to use my skills and develop them too, as I learned to choreograph theme wise.

When the time came to actually present the flashmob, all of us were really scared as we had to perform it in front of an unknown crowd, however once we started we just concentrated on our performance and managed to pull it off. Even though the performance was not really great it was good considering the time we had and the efforts we put in. But the MOST important part of this first experience was the thrill and satisfaction it gave me. It felt so good to be able to gather as much crowd and help spread a good message in the society. I felt like a truly responsible indian citizen.

We never planned for this one flashmob to turn into 2 or 3 flashmobs. I think it was the satisfaction that all of us got that motivated us to that this a step further and give this thing a name. We came up with the name ASTH as an acronym for A Step Towards Humanity and turned this into an activist group on the social media.

This again motivated us to do the second and the third flash mob. We had our second flashmob on 5th September, on the occasion of Teacher’s day and Janmashtami.  This I think was our best flashmobs because it was a combination of a lot of activities like fund raising and teaching the underprivileged. As it was Janmashtami, one of our most beloved and fun-filled festival, we had to have an extremely power packed performance to catch people’s attention. And again I had to choreograph the dance along with one other member of our team. We tried to incorporate the fun element in our dance, and to say that I was happy with the result would be an understatement. This flashmob, I think was the best flashmob in terms of energy, coordination, fun and teamwork. Also because we included a dance by the underprivileged kids and collected about 5000 for them.

While teaching the underprivileged kids we had to really consider even action we took and wether it was ethical or not, because we couldn’t shout at them or be rude even unknowingly. They never had the chance to really learn dance or anything before so it was difficult get them to actually learn the steps, let alone coordinate. This taught me patience and the skill of teaching. However it was another type of fun experience altogether. Also the smiles on their faces made me forget anything that irritated or angered me during practices, because they made me think that it was all WORTH IT. The actual performance was really power packed and AMAZING, and it was what really motivated me to think of the future of ASTH and made me want to continue it.

The 3rd flashmob was on the theme of women empowerment. GARBA!! <3<3 I could swear that this is one of the best and the most fun kind of dance there is. I thought; what better than to perform that, as it will instantly catch everyone’s attention. This time we had chosen skilled dancers only as we wanted it to be well coordinated and perfect, and because it was going to be performed in our school. I am thankful that atlas here the audience was receptive and excited, unlike in all our other flashmobs.

Overall I couldn’t have asked for a better feeling in this world than that of the satisfaction and pride I felt after finishing the flashmobs. Also I distinctly remember, that at the end of our 2nd flashmob, an old lady signalled me to come to her and said “There should be more youngsters like you. You are doing a very good job”. I can not describe how proud I felt of myself at the time. I REALLY hope that this group and this ideology never dies down because I intend to make it big and widespread.