It’s the beginning of the October break and looking back at the past few months I think I am on the right path to achieving my goals. Just before the break, I performed in our school’s Culturama production where I participated in the Greece dance. I also made new friends, had an amazing time and practiced many skills. Other than dancing I managed to work on my teamwork, time management and goal to be happy. Participating in a group dance means you have to do your best not only for yourself but so you don’t let your group down. This past few weeks have been extremely busy and I had to be efficient in doing my work, my time management was a key factor in making sure everything worked smoothly. I learned that I tend to procrastinate, but if I keep myself busy then I don’t. During this process, things don’t always go your way and you have to learn to compromise and move on. During the dance, there wasn’t enough space for everyone to stand in a straight line, so at first, a few people had to be removed and I was one of them. This bothered me so I communicated with my dance leaders and we came to a compromise. Culturama was incredibly fun dancing with friends and getting to watch beautifully choreographed dances make me feel grateful to be a part of this.

Before the break, I also partook in MUN@UWC and prepared my first chair report for CISMUN (Canadian International Schools Model United Nations).  The chair report was something I had never done before but was a challenging task which taught me about writing research reports and I can say I am a self- acclaimed expert of smallpox. MUN@UWC was a 3-day event, but preparation started long before that. Making speeches and clauses based on your countries perspective of global issues requires lots of critical thinking and creativity. The resolution which I helped in writing was successful. I was the delegate of Venezuela in the World Health organization committee. I met delegated from other schools as well as UWC and had a great time getting to know them. During the conference, I also volunteered to be a witness for the HICC (Hypothetical International Criminal Court) which was a new and nerve-wracking experience. In this case s witness was a person whose story was used as evidence to prosecute someone. This was incredibly difficult and though something I may not choose to do again, very beneficial. It forced me to put myself into other people’s shoes and empathize with them. Sticking to your story could often be difficult because your answers may not always be helpful to the side who you were trying to help. At the end of the conference when it came time to give awards (though I didn’t win any) I got an honorable mention for being an outstanding delegate. MUN always helps us work on my public speaking, collaboration, and debating skills as well as being an enriching activity that introduces me to like-minded people.

For season one of activities and service, I joined urban gardening, salsa, contemporary dance, MUN, Art (out of school) and Student Voice. Urban gardening is a local service which I had joined in grade 9 and chose to continue this year because of how passionate I am about it. Contemporary is a new genre of dance that I am hoping to learn because I enjoy artistic and creative challenges. Student’s voice was a new activity that I joined to help represent our grade 10 community. I ran to be head of SV but I didn’t win. I think that when you try so many new things you aren’t always going to be successful but it’s okay.

This academic year has been busy too. We are approaching mocks and the pace is picking up. I think I have managed to handle my workload well and need to start doing more focused preparations for mocks. Overall this term has been eventful and has taught me a lot. Next term I am going to participate in my first MUN conference as a chair in CISMUN, a dancer in the annual kahaani production, dancing in dance showcase as well as preparing for mocks. During these events, I hope to keep a calm, positive mindset and effectively prepare for my mocks.