Aveek's CAS Final Interview
18 months of hard work will change a man for the next 18 years.
18 months of hard work will change a man for the next 18 years.
By the end of the process, especially for our team, there was a huge sigh of relief and intense reflection on the journey we had been on for the past couple of months, just trying to get the mind-numbing press agency-level work done. Looking back, a huge amount of collaboration was shoved into this project because not only did we have to connect with our teams own members, but had to coordinate with other teams such as photography and even answer to the chair at the same time! Truly a test of our multitasking and adaptability.
Even some fun along the way?
Yes! of course. During the photo sessions when some people didn’t show up, we had free time to kill and since it was the last shoot on a Friday, nothing much to do. So, we decided to dress 2 mannequins up with said persons’ faces on them to have a hilarious joke that actually aligned with their superlative category win (Late to graduation). Although this was a joke we can recognize that this was quick thinking gon our part instead of complaining to the upper echelons and missing the entire opportunity to take a photo to fill that space. Relates to LO2 or LO3 and overall growth mindsets.
Below are the pictures for your enjoyment!
The remaining (actual) photos are here
Outcome?
The outcome is an actual magazine which our whole school will read and it will immortalise us, the graduating class into half its pages. I feel like taking this activity this year really was a personal interest as well just to understand how and to be properly remembered in the yearbook’s pages. The yearbook will be published later so there is nothing to show currently but rest assured it’s coming!
How was the investigation?
Like all other activities, the school system was used to register for sign-ups. The vast number of clubs on the school directory and convincing 1 paragraph descriptions of each one really helped me decide which activities I wanted depending on how much I wanted to exit my comfort zone. This allows me to pursue the CAS learning outcomes in a SMART way. From an entire past year’s worth of experiences under my belt, I decided in a reflective and balanced way that when I move to G12, I would take something that puts me extremely out of my comfort zone but at the same time being something I was passionate about, but never got the chance to do before. So I chose the yearbook club/committee. Mainly my train of thought went over to LO2 which was assessing risks and taking them because I believe that a growth mindset is extremely necessary to survive and thrive and today’s world.
How did the preparation go?
I would say that preparing for something as big and taxing as the yearbook club was simply every past IB leadership, creative or innovative event I have ever attended. To highlight one of these for clarity, we can take the example of the Group 4 Project where we had to efficiently collaborate with peers from different sciences and come up with solutions in only a limited amount of time. Combined with some past speeches I had given at my school, it gave me the final confidence and push I needed to convince myself by saying “Yes, today I will commit to a new challenge!”.
Other preparation included reviewing the past works of all the teams that came before us. Other preparation was the assignment of teams, which were assigned by the committee chair and co-chair. There were many teams, each having many students, along with teachers helping moderate and rationalise the process.
The teams were:
The team names themselves clearly stipulate their roles. Each team had their own Google Drive sub-folder in the main Yearbook folder in which they could keep track of their individual progress and report to the chair with solid evidence of work. This was also the main place for planning and schedules.
Complete Link (might not be accessible to everyone)
Some of the planning documents (Senior pages team):
Action
The planning and the action usually went hand-in-hand since we were such a big committee dependent on so many students submitting work on time so we had to change schedules or swap around a few things even at the last minute which really proved our resilience and adaptability to bran new challenges, this again relates to the learning outcome of collaboration.
I want to explicitly state that throughout this process we were extremely cautious of our environmental impacts and did most things online while minimising carbon emissions through transport by usually encouraging people to take the school bus or only stay back on days they can carpool with other students. Relating to LO6
LO7 of ethics was also an actual major concern since certain topics or themes or representations were not allowed on the yearbook as at the end of the day we were a school and had to maintain our dignity. Many debates ensued about certain ouns which were on thin ice or certain students who did not want to be nominated for certain superlatives because of social reasons or other concerns.
The last image shows some of our superlatives and winners for you, the reader’s amusement!
I believe we spent an exceptional amount of hours even outside normal meeting times to get this going the correct way so learning outcomes 3 and 4 have mostly been met.
Investigation
The sign-up for this activity was also done through the school system. My motivation for joining this activity was honestly purely personal preference rather than anything. Although some of the Learning Outcomes have indeed been met, it was purely organic and not anything specific that I was trying to achieve. For many years now, I have had an active interest in Anime, Manga and Japanese Culture; in my previous school, there was no outlet for me to have meaningful conversations with like-minded people. When I realised that I had the opportunity to interact with other people of the same interests, I did not hesitate to take that opportunity. I would like to emphasize that the purpose of this CAS experience was mainly for personal growth but also for me to be actively aware of nuances in other cultures as well as build everlasting bonds with people who understand and respect our mutual interests.
Preparation
Our roles and responsibilities were clearly defined from the start and there was not much debate about it mainly due to the fact that we were a small club. The leaders assigned themselves as this club was only recently formed and daily activities were being morphed every month until the right balance of various types of activities was found. The rest of us (apart from the leaders) were given the main responsibility to always engage with activities to the best of our abilities. A clear plan of action was formed with certain activities in mind distributed over a few months. Some of these activities were:
Action
All of the above activities mentioned were carried forward on a weekly need-to-know basis since we were only a small group and plans were easily changeable, this was the aspect of decision making that cam einto organising our club activities since on some occasions we couldn’t make it to the club as it was during lunchtime. Luckily all of us were very decisive people and changed and if we felt that everyone was not present to enjoy what we were originally going to do. Not many problems arose in our club but when it did it was something minor and we had a proper discussion with the person who was experiencing the problem and easily solved it.
Slides were made every week for that week’s agenda, which are on our website. Other h=things on our website include our recommendations, our favourite Japanese music, our favourite genres, our best quizzes and much more!
Link here – https://sites.google.com/view/amgdclub/about?authuser=0
Learning Outcomes:
From the above reflection, it can be inferred that the following learning outcomes were achieved:
Images and other evidence;
Unfortunately, while I was doing my individual presentation, I forgot to ask someone to record it, honestly because I was having too much fun giving the presentation and didn’t have time to think about recording it. But other some other pictures are below.
Club Members Photo Above
Main focus was on LO4, LO5, LO6, LO7
Dealing with children is a skill which will probably greatly benefit me in the future since I am going out in the world on my own. And if I ever work in a job with kids, I would immediately know what to do. This is the most taxing of my activities because it has both global and ethical concerns worldwide. Nonetheless I persevere and even enjoy the children’s smiling faces when they enjoy another one of our well planned sessions.
The key values of Yoga according to Indian tradition is to treat others the way you would like them to treat you, and this can be observed while doing yoga poses. Having respect for one’s own strengths and weaknesses is a key teaching. Always maintaining an active lifestyle (breathing, stretching, etc.) is important even if you can’t sit down for an hour of yoga everyday. Meditation being the best one.
I went on a trip to Japan recently (when S2 was happening!) and took many wonderful photographs all thanks to 2 wonderful seasons pf photography with my peers and Mr. Caleb
Investigation
At first I was hesitant to take a second season of photography, but after experiencing the first I’m glad I did, I found that there was always so much more left to learn and always widen my horizons, after all no work of art is said to ever be complete. Sign-ups were done through the school system. I realised that photography was not that popular among people for 2 seasons but still decided to take it because I aim to finish anything I start to learn.
Preparation
Always being punctual, always having an open mindset to learn and most importantly, always having fun. Being creative in the arts really enriches my IB learning since I am more oriented towards science and mathematics. At the beginning of every lesson Mr. Caleb would ask me what I would like to learn and I would choose a new and interesting aspect to learn. Discussions at the end of class also arose about the learning outcomes of the day.
Action
The action taken was to study the more finer aspects of photography such as:
and more..
. Above is me with a very heavy portrait zoom lens with a f1.2 aperture
We also talked about taking photos at different location and the implications of taking another person’s photo int he proper way as well as respecting people’s privacy.
Here is some of my final works
More of my outcome work will be in the next post where I will also be discussing, in detail, the learning outcomes and possibly some real-life connections
Investigation
Sign-ups were done from the school system, S1 and S2 commitment was already there hence carried forward. I was also grateful that I had signed up for another season because in all honesty, I don’t think a single season is enough to bring out the full benefits of yoga.
Preparation
In preparation we were told only 2 thing, the first was that Yoga is a big step forward so showing determination by being puntual and always giving it our all was the key, secondly we wrote down our goals and possible reasons for taking the activity/ benefits we might attain by the ens of the activity.
Action
Action was basically pushing ourselves hard, but not too hard! to do Yoga with the best of our abilities and the right mindset.
We concentrated on the harmony between out minds and bodies, our breadth and spirit and sought balance. Some of the exercises were tiresome but I felt quite lively and healthy after completing them.
Detailed discussion about the learning outcomes will be in the next post along with possible demonstration/real-world application.