All posts by cruz95054@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg

CAS

Muay Thai

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The last lessons are about to happen and I feel like t=I can learn more.

Until now, I have been spending time trying to improve my physical conditions doing this impressive sport. I have developed a passion for martial arts during the previous years and now I have the opportunity to do it at school, with amazing partners and amazing teachers. We got the opportunity to develop our own techniques ourselves and also we had some different teachers helping us. Some of the teachers are gone but they left many things to us. I think that one of the most important things that we have learned throughout the whole year is discipline and commitment, starting from our attendance and our attention in every lesson.

There is no doubt that this martial art is complete in terms of physical and mental growth.  It challenges and disciplines ourselves not only during the training but during our life and health

CAS

NCID Cares

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We finished our session with the hospital the last Monday. We talked about what our impact was. We reflected on the thing we have done and the things we would want to do.

During the last session, we had the opportunity to talk to many members of the hospital. They told us how thankful they are with the work we have done and also our impact. They told us that they considered that our group was the best doing the service, that there were other groups, but lacking some commitment. Even when this is not a race and we are not trying to be competitive, I have to say that when they assured that, they make the group feel good about our impact and the things we have done through this whole year helping at the hospital.

We thought about our “legacy” as the generation of this year. We left all our knowledge and proofs of our work on our website (which link is going to be present at the bottom).

I can say we are quite satisfied with our work and we still have many ideas to make things better. Some of us are even looking to help the service the next year in some way.

CAS

IFP – Singapore

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IFP is holding sessions in two different places in South East Asia during the Summer Break. However, a team remains working for the session in September, which will lead the new generation of peacebuilders the next year. This conference will be placed here in Singapore and will use the Dover Campus. The activities we are planning to do will show and encourage the new generation of Grade 11 to become peacebuilders. This conference is going to be the product of many hours of intense work and also the commitment of many of the members in charge of this conference. We all are looking forward to doing our best to bring new peacebuilder to our cause and to create and preserve a sustainable and peaceful future. we believe this is an important step to spread our beliefs and encourage the people to open their minds when thinking about peace.

CAS

BLUE DRAGON

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Blue Dragon was a great idea to help me to focus on the problems related to vulnerable communities.  Since the moment we started, we were actually doing a change in a society already, we managed to bring a group of children from Hanoi. Children constantly living fear in the city and the insecurity in the capital itself. We could work together to bring them to school and involve everyone in different activities. They performed in Culturama, stayed in the boarding house, which was my part of the plan. I arranged meetings with houseparents and people in charge to open the guest rooms and host them.  The time we spent with them was unique and helped us to understand more of them, in a direct way. We had activities to meet them and meet the teachers in charge of them there in Hanoi.

The experience means a lot to each blue dragon in the GC, we are still working in activities to raise funds to make our next step.

CAS

CULTURAMA 2018

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October was an interesting month because of one of the most impressive performances in the school: Culturama. we started rehearsals and I could see the effort by many people who have never danced before. This is why one of the main values obtained in this activity was tolerance. Four different Latin American dances were prepared for the performance. Each dance showed teamwork, which was a key piece to perform.

The most important part of Culturama was the opportunity to work as a team. Some of us knew already how to dance, some of us didn’t, this was one of our main challenges. Especially when everybody is dealing with the stress and the nerves,  as a team we could show our art and passion for something really exciting as dancing.  I would like to highlight the perseverance and the dedication of our leaders. Nothing of this would have worked out without their attitude facing the challenges. Fortunately, the organization for this event was easy, we had fixed schedules. However, the week of the event was stressful and it required more rehearsals. During that week, the commitment of the people was evident, everybody did the best to perform a good show for this event.

One of the most amazing things about this event was to see how the people were engaged in the diversity of the culture. It is amazing how people from different parts of the world admired the Latinamerican culture and had a good time learning our dances..

CAS

ITP

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My progress in ITP has been going well. Even though I came here as a complete beginner, I am capable now to understand most of the things related to the piano. I had been practising new songs and developing my skills as a musician. My strength is my passion for music and my desire to become a great musician is what I think makes me progress faster and firmly. One of the challenges that limited me to learn the way I do now was my time. I had not enough time to practice and that made me show up to the sessions with no practice. How did I deal with this challenge? I wrote down a schedule and now I can identify the time I have and use it to practice. Also, my time during my practical lessons in music class helps me to use my time and focus on improving my skills. This organization helped me to improve as a musician and also helped me to regulate my time for IB. Although I know I never had the preparation as many talented people in the school, I have the perseverance to accomplish this activity. I work as hard as I can to achieve the goal of becoming a pianist. This wouldn’t be possible without the help of my teacher and some friends I know are learning at the same time as me. For the future of this activity, I will work as hard as I can to achieve the main goal showing my commitment and love for this art.

CAS

Dance Showcase – “Uncaged”

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Our Dance Showcase Salsa performance was based on teamwork and dedication. We knew that not everybody has the rhythm and the skills of a professional dancer, that was our main challenge. However, as a team, we could support those who were having problems to make the steps and try to make it as easy as possible to everybody. Even though there were many rehearsals in just a week, everybody could manage to come on time and contribute to get a good performance showing their commitment and engagement with the activity.  Definitely, Uncaged was a beautiful experience full of preparation, dedication, patience and teamwork.

CAS

NCID Cares

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I have never done a service like this. And is one of my favourite activities since the first day I tried.

That feeling every Monday after service is indescribable. I could have had a busy day or a bad day. but going every afternoon right after school is an exciting experience. After my second time, I realised that helping others is what I really like. Every time you go to Tan Tock Seng hospital and prepare food for the patients with your friends in the service makes each Monday special.

One of the main problems of our service is the commitment, sometimes we are just four or five going to the hospital. However, independently of our number, we try to get as much work done as we can, I think this shows our engagement with the purpose of our service, which is: help the people in the hospital in many possible ways.

CAS

IFP

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Some days before my flight I had a conversation with someone from my National Committee. She told me to join IFP. She said is a good opportunity that UWCSEA gives to you. She told me about the importance of learning about peace and spread the concept.

Now I find IFP sessions as a completely wide space to have debates and activities related to our own concept of peace and our perspective in our society and new communities. We talk about conflict and recognise that is something necessary for the development of a society. We also talk about stereotypes and conflict about it.

Go to these sessions and find your friends and more people to have good conversations is something really exciting. Become Peacebuilders, is something that I never thought about, but is something that shows a direct compromise with the humanity, something at a big scale, for a better future  Although the sessions can be heavy for the schedule, is always nice to go and understand peace and conflict from different points of view, independently if we consider them the best thing in a situation.

IFP is not only a bunch of sessions. IFP opens your mind to lead you to peace and have different thoughts about it and the way it develops and works in a society. We are looking forward to using these tools that IFP is giving to us for a sustainable and peaceful future.

CAS

Salsa Class

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Salsa class had to wait until Culturama finished.

Cuban salsa is danced in every country in Latin America, and as part of my culture, is indispensable to learn. I have heard lots of good opinions about the class. and they were right. I consider the salsa class as a space to develop my art and my culture because since my first day here, is difficult to find something about my culture and try to do it.

In addition, I enjoy helping others how to dance. The importance of this is being tolerant, I know that for the people in that class is maybe their first time. So, if I know how to dance, helping others is satisfying.