Month: April 2019

Project Week Plan

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Hey hey,

As Project Week coming closer and closer, we are doing some research for the areas we’re going to visit. It’s really diverse, as we’re not staying in one place, but moving constantly. It’s going to be a very intense experience, because we will be constantly moving from place to place, project to project.

We have both service and activity aspects within the trip, however, the activity dominates.

This is the outline of our week:

27 May – Monday: arrival and transfer to the Bohol Islands. Start to prepare for kayaking and also engage with the local community.

28 May – Tuesday: Paddle to Mangrove Rehabilitation sire for Mangrove Education program. We will collect mangrove wilding, construct mangrove nursery and also replant some mangroves too

29 May – Wednesday: We are paddling to middle Abatan River, where we will engage with the local community and help to construct shelter materials for them.

30 May – Thursday: Paddle to upper Abatan River, where we will help to the local NGO with refurbishment. Then we will return to yesterday’s camp.

31 May – Friday: Coming back to Singapore.

I believe that during this trip, we will have the chance to explore Learning Outcome 3 (demonstrate and initiate a CAS experience), LO 5 (demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively, and LO6 (demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

Behind The Beautiful Forevers – Start

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After watching and participating behind the scenes in the school musical (like AIDA), I decided that I want

to try myself on stage, doing something I have never imagined before.

I was really interested in the play, while I was reading it. It portrayed a world, a situation that I could never imagine before. I thought that even the smallest role would be worth just to see how much we could get out of it. So I went to the audition, being super-nervous. Before this school, I haven’t participated in any audition, so I still find them quite scary. Even though I’m practicing the lines, understand the story, even know the teachers who will listen to me, it’s an exciting and intimidating situation.  I was so glad after I did it and totally thrilled when I saw my name on the board. I know that I’m able to work very hard in order to reach my goals, however, being on stage is intimidating and challenging for me (#LO1).

As it’s a double cast, I’m interested in how it will work out at the end and how the message of the play will change with the performers.

Next week we will start the rehearsals and acquire a deeper understanding of the background of the play, which requires us to engage with the life in the slums in Mumbai.  It raised some questions in me, as with mixed cast, I thought about cultural appropriation and what it would be suitable or on the contrary, inappropriate to wear, act or simply do on the stage(#LO7)

Project Week – Prompt Questions

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Hey hey,

As one of the steps towards Project Week, we have to answer different Prompt questions. I have evaluated two of them with one of my group members, Jai.

In the first question, we answered to ‘How will we know if our project week is a success?’

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E9wfkWKOG93rwhgSQDsD9ga8L0VRaWZs/view

In the second one, our questions asked to provide context and try to predict how our week will look like (‘Context: as of right now, what do we think our week will look like?) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fA6KoaoIzoTBrTCegxZuGTpYUmMkUJQF/view

 

First Post – EA

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As a part of the Global Politics course, we are not just analysing global issues, but it’s required from us to engage with them and actively take part in problems that are interesting for us. This project called the Engagement Activity (or EA), and it provides an excellent opportunity to develop ourselves beyond the walls of our school.

Personally, it was hard for me to settle with one political issue, as I found many of them extremely complex and fascinating. At the end, I chose an issue, which always had a big part in my heart: Environmental Problems and Activism. Back at home, I had lived closely to the nature and during our family trips or long walks, I could see how we are damaging it day by day. I could see the effects on the native animal populations and I was truly shocked when I saw the people’s careless attitude towards their actions and their aftermaths. I started reading about the larger issues that are affecting our world and the solutions towards them, but in many case I felt that not enough people know or care about them. When I came to UWC I was waiting for the opportunity to get to know more about it, and to learn how to handle them. While sustainability has a huge part in our manifesto and mission, and we try to live up to it, environmental problems in general are not getting enough attention as I was expecting it.

Luckily, I’ve won a scholarship, called Biosphere Stewardship Educational Program in Bali, where I’ll be working with the Biosphere Foundation NGO. 18 students participate in the program, half international, half from the local area. We’ll be living in a National Park and working closely with many faces of nature, learn how to be more sustainable. In addition, we’re going to have discussions and debates about topics like Climate Change and environmental activism. One of the primary focuses of the week will be acquiring knowledge and skills on how to spread awareness and open other people’s eyes, which is something that I was always looking for and can’t wait to experience it.

Finishing the first part of IFP

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As we finished the first seasons of IFP it’s important to look back at our journey, before we continue with the next steps ( for instance planning a conference in Mae Sot ). This connects to the Learning Outcome 6, as this activity courages us to engage with issues of global importance.

In IFP we are not just learning about how to facilitate conferences and interact with people all around the world, but to explore the issues that are affecting our daily lives and response to them. These problems are occurring all around the world and influencing millions. We can see their significance and importance as we go through and discuss topics such as the power of stereotypes, different types of violence and peace, or discrimination. These can be both minor and major problems, but nonetheless, they can’t be ignored. Getting to know more sides of them and their effects on the society showed me how little I really know about the social issues and taught me a way to explore them deeply.

Finishing Boxing

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To be honest, I’m a little bit sad to leave boxing completely behind, but as other activities and creativities entered into my life it was really challenging, almost impossible to keep it up. However, in this final post about it I aim to explore the Learning Outcome 2 (Undertaking new challenges) with looking back at the past experiences.

As a this type of sport was completely new to me, the way of moving, punching and protecting myself at the same time was quite demanding, next to my injury which didn’t come from the sport itself, but my clumsiness during the warm-up running. After damaging my knees I had to recede from any kind of sports for a while, which was a huge step back compare to the group, and it also frustrated me, as I wasn’t able to move freely and use my body as I wanted to. In addition, as AIDA came and the timing clashed, I had to withdraw from further practices, which made it harder to go back and continue the classes with the group.

However, I enjoyed doing it and I’m planning to sign up for it next year.

Looking back at Swimming

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Even though, I finished swimming in the school I didn’t quit it outside of it, I didn’t just leave it behind.

While I wasn’t in the team, but went twice a week doesn’t sound like a huge influence, it affected me a lot. I liked the way I was able to turn off my mind and concentrate on something else, than the academics, the everyday stress in the school. It’s a really powerful and freeing feeling, when you get into the mindset of just focusing on your muscle work and to go further and further. Refreshing not just for the body, but for the mind as well.

As my financial background was a huge reason behind my leaving, I found a cheaper alternative to continue swimming, though, without a professional coach, just by myself. This connects to the Learning Outcome 4 (show commitment and perseverance), as I was looking for this opportunity and continued doing this sport, even though, I faced some difficulties.

EE Initial Reflection

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Through my EE, I’ll explore the way the Second Congo War damaged the country’s biodiversity, with a focus on its natural forest elephant population and see the continuing effects of their loss on the ecosystem in the Congo today. As it’s a World Studies EE I chose 2 subjects to evaluate my question: Global Politics and Environmental Systems and Societies. The biggest problem I’ve faced so far was with the last one, as the subject is completely new to me. After reading the syllabus, focusing on the part which is relevant to my topic, I started to separate the biggest points and formulate them into my outline. In the introduction, I’ll start with the historical background of the Congo and its biodiversity to share the knowledge which is crucial to understand my case. In my Body I’ll evaluate the War’s socio-political and environmental impact, portray the the native elephant population’s situation and lastly, I’ll explore the possible initiatives and solutions.

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