Hello!
I’m Teia, I’m 16 and currently in Grade 11, and I’m going to outline my CAS plans this year.
In terms of Creativity, I’m planning to take my Grade 8 ABRSM Piano Exam in July, and therefore will be taking private piano lessons (ITP) at school throughout the year. Through this, I would like to increase my already existing skills in Piano as well as challenging myself and broadening my repertoire of pieces (playing pieces from womxn/ethnic composers, for example). Grade 8 is a challenge, and with all my other activities this year, I feel that the stress could pile on, but I have developed a practice schedule outlining total 3 hours of practice each week at specific times (Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday) to establish a routine in which I can maintain my practice. I would like to prioritise my piano playing over my classical guitar classes (which I am also taking weekly on Sundays) due to the pressure of my Grade 8 Exam. To challenge myself further, I would also like to try to overcome performance stress through performing in school music exhibitions such as ‘Unplugged’.
When it comes to Activities, over the past few years Dance has become an outlet for me to build confidence in my body and sweat out the stress of academics. I attend dance classes almost twice a week at Studio De S in Singapore, sometimes learning entire choreographies with formations which requires careful coordination and collaboration with lots of new people (from lots of different age groups and ethnicities). Now, I would like to bring my love for Dance into my activities at school through Culturama and Kahaani. If I have time, I would also perhaps consider auditioning for the Dance Showcase! I would like to attempt harder and harder choreographies, as well as improve my own coordination and technique to build confidence in myself!
Lastly, when it comes to Service, I would very much like to continue being the Chair of Ladakh GC (a student group that focuses on giving underprivileged children in the Northern Indian community of Ladakh a quality education), and I am very much looking forward to being the Head of Communications for the Service and Sustainable Development Executive Committee. I have had many leadership roles in the past, but I believe that my nervousness still gets the best of me sometimes, and I would like to learn more about different leadership styles and how I can best encourage effective collaboration within the teams that I lead. I would like to be seen as a compassionate, empathetic and adaptable leader! I would also like to go to Ladakh for Project Week (if it happens this year) and engage with the community that I have been fundraising for for the past 2 years in an even more personal manner. And within my CAS projects, I would like to put emphasis on the idea that the decisions I make are based on the needs of the community, rather than for my own skill gain or advantage. I want to raise awareness about tokenism and how it can be so incredibly destructive for CAS experiences.
Over the course of the next year, I’m really looking forward to meeting my future self, and truly introspecting on how my extracurriculars are going to change me as an individual.
Thank you for reading!