Activity CAS Reflection 3 – Floorball Club

Floorball Club, member/co-leader                                          Mid May 2021 – 11th June 2021

Experience: Co-creating and joining our floorball club                                              LO3, LO4

A group of friends and me have not played floorball since PE classes back in IGCSE and Middle school, and we really missed it – thus, we had the inspiration/motivation to plan and head an activity called floorball club where anyone can come down and play floorball for 2 hours on Friday afterschool. This activity would allow students to have some fun, while exercising, and destress from the stress of the week.

LO3 [Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience] –                                                      LO4 [Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences] – Me and 2 other friends started contacting and speaking to the activities heads, and figuring out whether this floorball club activity would be fathomable – finally, after a few weeks of logistics, and planning – we were able to book out a sports hall (school facility) and retrieve floorball side barriers, which would allow us to play competitive and fun games of floorball. This activity first ran at the start of April until the end of the school year in mid June. During this activity we also had to confirm the amount of people coming to the activity beforehand, plan groups of 5 and social distancing to adhere to Singapore Covid-19 regulations, and set up and clean up all the equipment before and after it started.

This type of planning and logistics is a skill I am trying to work on at the moment, and, although it is not easy, and it is dependant on others – it is an important skill to have for the future – whether that be organising a lesson, games, or other activities.

 

A picture from one of the sessions:

Service CAS Reflection 6 – Surfaid

Global concern: Surfaid, Role: Chair/Leader 2020-2021  November 21st 20 – June 17th 21

Official events that occurred during this time:                                                    LO7, LO2, LO3, LO6

  1. Purchasing of face masks, which will be sold in the next school year, presumably in October of 2021.
  2. Planned and ran a successful virtual event, which raised a large sum of money for participating service groups.
  3. Further sessions with 2020-2021 Surfaid members, with new activities in order for everyone to learn more about Surfaid, and spark new ideas for further awareness and fundraising.

LO2 [Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process] + LO3 [Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience] – Due to the pandemic, we were forced to abort from our regular Swimdonesia/Swim4Life event that we run at here at East, instead we had to come up with an event to fundraise and raise awareness for Surfaid pertaining to the strict government regulations and event number caps. Thus, after several meetings with the other service leaders and the heads of the service department, we decided to cancel this years Swimdonesia and instead conceive and execute another event which could better accomadate the numbers restrictions, and still simultaneously raise a decent sum of money for our counterparts at Surfaid. After some brainstorming with our members, we began to plan a ‘virtual’ event – in which the format would be similar to previous endurance cups featured in the Swimdonesia/Swim4Life events we do. This would be a swimming focused virtual challenge encouraging students and teachers to get out during these restrictions and lockdowns and swim. While doing this, the participants can request others around them to donate a fixed amount, or an amount per lap of swimming. This will allow participants to improve their fitness and wellbeing by Swimming, and help us fundraise through donors. However, a major challenge we encountered was encouraging participation in these challenges. In order to counter this obstacle, we contacted the sport-oriented teachers in our school by email, specific students who we thought may be interested – and encouraged students around the school via advertisements on the homework page, Ebrief, and by word of mouth. This greatly increased participation rates, and we managed to raise just over $2000 for our Surfaid counterparts. This was a big step for us and for them; as during this pandemic, a lot of their work and communication has been cut off and donor-funds have become even more important in order to fund project volunteers and government officials in Indonesia who are helping out. This overall was a completely new experience for me, and I have gained several skills in planning, logistics, and adaptability that will allow me to lead and plan more effectively in the future.

LO7 [Recognize and consider the ethical implications of choices and actions] – During this period of time, I managed to push through the final bureaucratic and administrative obstacles in the way of approving the Surfaid face masks as a merchandise product. In early May I was able to finally order the Surfaid Face masks, 50 grey masks and 50 black masks. During this process, I had to convince the service department panel on why this product was necessary, why this product was better than others, and why this company was environmentally friendly and sustainable. Thus, for the first , I conducted an online survey which I distributed around classmates. As below, it questioned the demand for the product, as well as the preferred prices. This gave me a sense of how successful the product would be in the school’s market, and the price level we would have to set it at in order to make sales. After this, I did a deep analysis into the company, the materials, and the dyes used in the creation of these face masks. This gave me insight into the environmental considerations of the company and the sustainability of the product.

LO6 [Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance] – Face masks and sustainability, health – Choosing face masks initially was a decision I made as the market for face masks had suddenly spiked to record highs due to the pandemic and Singapore mask-on everywhere regulations. As every person in Singapore had to wear a mask, choosing the face masks market was an easy choice – something both original and innovative. Furthermore, this product reflects Surfaid’s ideology of improving health and sanitation – as the product itself is a protective barrier, as well as a tool used to mitigate the spread of covid-19.

Virtual event and well being, health, quality of life – The virtual event we had to run was much different than anything I have ever done before. We had to design and run a virtual event that raised awareness, raised funds, and also improved quality of life while encouraging participation. These 4 parameters made it very difficult to design an event that accomplish all of the goals. However, after much deliberation and planning, we were able to design a virtual event around the theme of swimming – which encouraged participants to swim some laps. Swimming is a sport that uses almost every muscle in the  body while still being a fun activity. Participants would find sponsors, and swim laps to collect money for the event. This worked successfully and we managed to convince a lot of students and teachers to go for a swim during the heightened pandemic restrictions.

Modern Love essay from a Mythic or powerful

There is never a beneficial time for a king in 1891 to go against his father’s orders to rescue his sister in another utopia.

1891, The year of my commemoration, June 18th, the day I finally be crowned king of Utopia. Seeing my father beaming from teeth-to-teeth, he waved his razor-sharp sword over my shoulder, and handed me the crown; and just like that, I was the new king. I could see and hear the countless citizens, now MY countless citizens clapping from below the town hall’s balcony. I glanced by head around, head raised, feeling superior as kings do. With this new power I shall do good, hold up the family’s tradition. Retreating back into the town hall, I looked around the back of the utopia to see all of my slaves tirelessly working, hunched over with exhaustion. One caught my eye, a slave, a woman, in her 20’s not working, sitting down in protest to the circumstances. I looked at my guards and ordered them to bring her to me at my throne.

Enter Sylvalina, a female slave in her 20’s. What is your name peasant?,” I asked. She murmured Sylvalina, her head down low looking to the ground below my feet. Seeming distraught I asserted my dominance upon her and demanded why she is not tending the fields. She replied shaking, “my-my little brother’s gone mis -missing.” Where is your brother from?, when she replied signutopia, the utopia across from one, our opposition- I threw down my stake and ordered she be punished for such irrational behaviour. To which she replied, punishing me will do no good to anyone. Through a moment of sudden and utmost clarity, I decided to help.

I ordered the guards to leave the throne room and guard the doors so no one could see. Then me and this woman, Sylvalina walk to a dining table and I ask her to sit down and recount her brother’s last whereabouts. After she finishes speaking, I thank her for coming to me, and compliment her personality, she blushed and quickly looked away. She suddenly jumps up and embraces my cold, iron armour. Almost calling in the guards, I let it happen.

Suddenly I understood what love means, that family connection, familial love. The connection I wish I had with my own sister. My sister who my father had banished, my sister in jail in that same distant utopia, signutopia. I knew I had to join Sylvalina on the journey to reinitiate that connection with my sister, and her brother. I tell the guards to prepare themselves and the chariot, it is time to embark on this journey. Suddenly I turned for the better, from my ignorant self, have chosen to sacrifice my kingship for my sister.

The sister-brotherly connection.

An interlude of clarity.

 

CAS Project Reflection 2 // Smart cities challenge by Hyundai, Kia, and UWCSEA

Smart cities challenge    Role: team member                                          LO7,  LO2, LO4

” Smart City Programme & Challenge is a program specifically designed for UWCSEA students by Hyundai and Kia teams. Designed to help students discover and learn about innovative developments in Smart Cities; providing them with real-world insights delivered by renowned experts. Participants will also get to discover Hyundai’s innovative vision for urban mobility.”

Schedule: 19 Feb (Fri), 4pm – 4.45pm: Information Webinar
26 Feb (Fri), 4pm – 6pm: Online session
5 Mar (Fri), 4pm – 6pm: Online session
12 Mar (Fri), 4pm – 5pm: Online session
19 Mar (Fri), 4pm – 5pm: Online session
19 – 27 Mar Team preparation and ideation
27 Mar (Sat), Full Day: Challenge

LO7 [Recognise and consider the ethical implications of choices and actions] – During the online sessions of this CAS project, I learned about Hyundai’s plans for smart cities in the future. These sessions educated me on their imagination of future hi-tech cities, and I was both shocked and amazed by some of the concept videos they showed us of their concept vehicle (the PBV). The PBV is an autonomous (self-driving) vehicle that can come to you, take you places, automatically detect and avoid high-traffic areas, can be converted into possibly portable clinics, restaurants, and gyms. These made me reflect on the ethical implications of designing smart cities such as this, first and foremost being the problems of resource scarcity, the developing countries, and global warming.

LO2 [Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process] – This smart cities challenge was difficult at first, as the concepts and the product we were planning to design is something completely new to me, and a field I have not explored much of. Our team created a plan that we executed to a T by dividing up tasks and sections of the presentation we need to each complete. This improved my collaboration skills as working together has not been a very strong suit for me in the past, however, during this project I was able to effectively work with my colleagues to produce a good quality presentation. Another skills I worked on during the creation of this project is my ability to research and use CAD, a computer software design tool which allowed me to visually display and represent my idea. Furthermore, I developed my ability to communicate and present when we presented in front of the Hyundai, Kia and school judges – although it was a little intimidating – I persevered and made me sure to effectively communicate my ideas while being confident, clear, and concise.

LO4 [Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences] – I resiliently worked with my colleagues to produce a good presentation, and although we all had other work during this project time – we still committed to each online session and our in-person meetings so that we could work together to produce a solid idea and work through the ideology for a successful presentation. Moreover, I showed my desire to advance and work as a team by setting this team up and brainstorming ideas even when we were not in the session. It took a while but I thought of the final smart gym idea and discussed it with my colleagues later before we chose the idea and developed it more thoroughly.

Below is the certificate I recieved from placing 2nd in the challenges, as well as 3 of the renders we produced using CAD of our smart gym ideas.

 

Smart cities challenge certificate (2nd place, Samh Jain)

 

 

 

 

  Stackable smart gym

 

Renders (digital artwork using CAD: Fusion 360of our product design) Portable PBV situated smart gym that can autonomously travel to you for a workout (possible integration with future Hyundai and Kia technology.)

 

 

 

Washington Post- war photographer

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/07/he-claimed-to-be-a-heroic-war-photographer-but-his-photos-and-identity-were-stolen/

This article surveys the theme of identity theft, misrepresentation in art, and attention-seeking behaviour. In this case, we have someone who misrepresented themselves as a war photographer, (an ‘intrepid photojournalist’) who has cancer, has done humanitarian work for the United Nations, and has raked in a lot of followers on Instagram. Why did he do this? ultimately, only he knows, perhaps this was a desperation for empathy/sympathy, a cry for reality by portraying a ‘role model’ or a ‘good/perfect person’. The ability to almost become something you aren’t takes over temptation and causes people to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do. The opportunity allows for people to do this with intent, without verification

This also conveys the theme of digital identity theft, digitalization has made it considerably easier to steal someone’s online identity. Thus, his doing so reveals the simplicity of doing exactly that- and gain followers, which may also get him money.

Modern Love

Essay: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/style/modern-love-the-race-grows-sweeter-near-its-final-lap.html

The Race Grows Sweeter Near Its Final Lap

This article is another modern love season 1 story, this essay describing two people, ages 70 and 80 falling in love. Celebrating their 150th joint birthday party, falling in love the old way- as two young people do. I found this very interesting as usually we regard marriage, or love to slowly fade as you get older- but in this case, the author- Eve Pell actually describes how it got sweeter for her. Falling in love with Sam, enjoying her life- travelling, a continuous honeymoon, training for the Olympics, winning gold at 70 and 80 years old before Sam finally meets his end with an unfortunate diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. I believe this story got selected for modern love as it contrasts a societal stigma-  by conveying the message that love can blossom at any age.

When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist

1. This text is not organized AT ALL like any fiction or non-fiction you have been taught to do for the IGCSE or other school tasks.  Mark it into three sections (Beginning, Middle, & End). Does it have a thesis —a guiding idea— that the anecdotes and details support or prove or give nuance for? If it has a thesis, what is that idea? 

Personal essay – builds up using story recounting, until the last lines- which in my opinion is the thesis of the text.  Because real love, once blossomed, never disappears. It may get lost with a piece of paper, or transform into art, books or children, or trigger another couple’s union while failing to cement your own.     space   But it’s always there, lying in wait for a ray of sun, pushing through thawing soil, insisting upon its rightful existence in our hearts and on earth.

Aside from having the thesis at the end, there are 2 ways to look at this. Structured and Unstructured. In a way, there is a beginning, middle, and end – if you look at the story itself, for example, the dropping paper scene would be the beginning of the story and the getting married would be the finale. The reason why it could be unstructured is that there are 2 parallel story lines and no clear beginning, middle, and end.

 

2. Every time I read non-fiction, I ask how much I believe it. Even the best of us, in recounting a memory, is tempted to flatter ourselves or justify our actions. What details enhance the credibility of the author? Where do you think it might be “soft” in authenticity?

100%, there is always some sort of text transformation

3. If you were to make a 30-minute movie of this, what scenes would you want to include?

I would re-enact the separate events that occurred in the story recounting, for example, the dinner scene, the scene where he drops the paper and he can’t find her but she feels stood up.

Activity CAS Reflection 2 – Dragons XC

Activity: Dragon’s XC team & Run club, role: team member         18th August – 3rd April

Official events that occurred during this time: inter-school competition       LO1, LO2, LO4

Throughout the last 8 months, I have been training with the cross country team and run club. We train in the mornings (6:30 – 7:40) and race for the school. This has been great for me as I have been able to work on my running alongside others and help supervise & guide younger kids in training. Unfortunately, due to covid-19, there are almost no competitions because of the strict regulations. Although this is the case, we have still been training hard and improving our strength, fitness and health through the 2 morning running session, and the 1 morning gym session.

LO1 [Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth] – As a competitive runner, joining the school team again an easy decision for me. In order to further develop my ability as an athlete and runner, school team training works in conjunction with Shuffler’s training in order to help me excel. My aim in this activity is to support the running of my fellow teammates, as well as develop my aerobic running capacity by following the school coaches program. For example, I have been running longer and slightly slower in the school session in order to develop my aerobic capacity, this is illustrated in sets such as tempo and easy runs, as well as doing hills. Doing hills is one of the highlights of my school training, as hill reps are quire difficult for me and greatly improve my muscular strength and aerobic capacity. Moreover, training alongside teammates keeps me in check and ensures I am pushing myself to the correct extent.

LO5 [Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively] – This activity has allowed me to both develop myself as an individual, as well as develop my collaboration skills. Not only do I run alongside, support, and encourage fellow athletes during training sessions and competitions – but I also help to pace the younger athletes and coach them to run better to an extent. Running is a way of life, and it can be improved by not only running, but whatever you do in your daily life can have marginal impacts on your health and running ability. For example, something very important is recovery, if you are not able to recover well, perhaps using ice baths or rollers – you will turn up sore, or tired to the next training session and the likelihood of injury increases. This can be minimised using tools such as good nutrition, effective recovery, and controlled running. Moreover, I have met new people, and younger runners which I am now friends and getting to know these runners better allow me to better support and work with them.

LO4 [Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences] – I have shown commitment in this activity by making sure to show up, no matter how tired I am and the amount of work I have. Although Dragon’s training is my secondary training, and Shuffler’s is my main and more serious training – I still make sure to show up to Dragon’s training as it benefits the community as a whole, and my perseverance is illustrated by this as well as running as much as I can in the Dragon’s sets. In the situations where I could not, I still made sure to show up to training and pace slower runners to help them complete the session. This perseverance has made me a better runner as running slower with others has actually further improved my aerobic capacity. As a competitive athlete, commitment and showing up to training is in my nature, and I do not miss sessions without a valid reason (such as injury). Making sure I stick to my plan is essential in maintaining and developing my fitness, so I make sure to follow my own plan as well as the coaches plan for the session when training.  

—-

This month, we managed to secure one inter-school race, where our school raced against SAS head on in a 3km race. During this race I ran alongside some of our team mates, and managed to finish in a time just over 12 minutes, not a fast time or a PB, but I was satisfied with the race with my fitness at that point in time. During this race I was also able to cheer on and support my teammates.

Pictures below are from the inter-school competition with the school team, a windy 3km race through the school finishing on the track:

CAS Project Reflection 1 // Smart cities challenge by Hyundai, Kia, and UWCSEA

Smart cities challenge    Role: team member                                     LO5, LO1, LO3, LO6

” Smart City Programme & Challenge is a program specifically designed for UWCSEA students by Hyundai and Kia teams. Designed to help students discover and learn about innovative developments in Smart Cities; providing them with real-world insights delivered by renowned experts. Participants will also get to discover Hyundai’s innovative vision for urban mobility.”

Schedule: 19 Feb (Fri), 4pm – 4.45pm: Information Webinar
26 Feb (Fri), 4pm – 6pm: Online session
5 Mar (Fri), 4pm – 6pm: Online session
12 Mar (Fri), 4pm – 5pm: Online session
19 Mar (Fri), 4pm – 5pm: Online session
19 – 27 Mar Team preparation and ideation
27 Mar (Sat), Full Day: Challenge

LO5 [Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively] – Working in a group of 5 was interesting, it has its pros and cons, but our group (composed of friends/colleagues) made it very effective to work together. We sat down and discussed, brainstormed, and planned our idea out in-depth. We worked very effectively with each other by playing to each other’s strengths. For example, someone was in charge of the online presentations, another in charge of digital artworks, and another on the product specifics. In my opinion, collaboration is important – and can work very well with the right people. In this challenge specifically, we utilized everyone’s strengths in order to produce an excellent comprehensive presentation on a futuristic design.

LO6 [Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance] – This project revolved around the idea of a smart, futuristic world, with a large focus on sustainability. The modern world so far has brought multitudes of carbon dioxide, pollution and consequences. A futuristic smart world has to be designed with ideas that use renewable energy, and minimize pollution as if we continue down our current trajectory, we are headed towards bad times. Thus, the global significance of this challenge was to design a product, that would be self-sustaining, sustainable, and would improve efficiency in one or more sectors. Hence, we created a product (or a collation of products) which work in conjunction with some of these global issues, in order to increase it’s sustainability and reduce it’s environmental impact. Our gym is self-sufficient in terms of energy and energy production, as well as may produce extra energy that can go towards other uses such as charging PBV’s (future Hyundai cars). Thus, our gym design produces renewable energy and increases the health of the general community simultaneously, as these possibly portable gyms allow for more user accessibility (ergonomics).

LO1 [Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth] -My strengths usually lie in independent work, so this challenge pushed me outside my usual comfort zone. Planning and forming a team of students, and being able to communicate and collaborate effectively was difficult at first, but I was able to successfully fulfil the goal, by selecting team members who would gel together well, and making sure to keep my perspectives open and encourage everyone to speak up. Furthermore, dividing up tasks equally, something I usually don’t do allowed us to all collaborate and spend similar amounts of time on this shared project.

For me specifically, this challenge pushed me out of my comfort zone by creating a presentation and doing a verbal presentation in front of not only our design teachers but also members of Kia and Hyundai corporations in Japan. Although initially I was slightly nervous, as the event day came I made sure to put my best effort into it, and enjoy the experience.

LO3 [Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience] – When I first heard about this project, I immediately requested more information from my teacher. After learning more about what this challenge entails, I approached several of my former classmates in design and technology and talked to them. They were all on board, and from then we formed a team. We initially had a few meetings where we discussed the criteria and purpose of the project, as well as brainstormed ideas. During these meetings, we discussed a plan on how we would approach this event day and presentation, and divided tasks to be done for the final project itself. This planning stage helped us avoid double or unequal distribution of work, resulting in everyone being happy, as well as efficiently creating a high-quality final product/presentation.

 

Esteemed guests, and judges of the challenge (Challenge resources)

 

 

 

Stackable smart gym

 

 

 

 

Renders (digital artwork using CAD: Fusion 360 of our product design)

 

 

 

Portable PBV situated smart gym that can autonomously travel to you for a workout (possible integration with future Hyundai and Kia technology.)

 

 

 

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

Mario Vargas Llosa: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

Ideas:

  • Reality and imagination are in a state of tension or conflict
  • Art sanctifies life/ Life is better than art
  • Dreams vs. Reality
  • Self-representation and realism vs. misrepresentation

Quote: “What does it matter to anyone if I lubricate my imagination with a few bits of cloth? What is realism, ladies and gentlemen — that famous realism we hear so much about? What better way is there of creating realistic art than by materially identifying oneself with reality? And doesn’t the day’s work thereby becoming more tolerable, more pleasant, more varies, more dynamic?”

In Mario Vargas Llosa’s book, he conveys the theme of reality and imagination in conflict along with self-representation, realism, and misrepresentation. He cuts off the ‘dream’ of marrying his aunt by getting divorced in a couple of sentences towards the latter end of the book. However, he presented Aunt Julia and Marito’s almost forced romance for most of the book and that sudden break could represent the end of a dream.

His self-representation, portrayal as the character Pedro Camacho shows his mania towards writing, for example not even acknowledging Marito as he walks in the room while he is writing. This mania towards writing, further than passion ultimately leads to the psychotic episode of Pedro and he ends up in a mental asylum for some time. Before this, we saw his short stories get more and more and more confusing. This could almost say that even though he will lose his skill in writing, he will write himself crazy as long as he lives (Mario, in real life).

Mario blends realism into the book by using some realistic elements, and his fruitful descriptions allow for the reader to be able to feel and relate with Mario on a deeper level. Being rejected and insulted by those around him, he turns to his aunt and they develop a romantic relationship- which is indeed possible. However, the combination of such strange events will almost never occur in real life, for example, a minor marrying his aunt, and the rape court case, and the writer who was well regarded and fell down the ranks ultimately ending up in a mental asylum.  These are all possible real-life stories, however, the combination of them and connections between all the characters make the book both possess fiction and non-fictional elements.