The Local Service that I am a part of this year is called Fitness with Special Olympics. The main purpose of Fitness with Special Olympics is to tackle the issue of social inclusion that exists within our society today. I have developed various interpersonal skills through this service. I was also a part of this service last year and we used to play badminton with the special athletes which helped me to develop my communication and collaboration skills. I am also the logistics officer for this service. As well as, I am in the Service Executive team so I already have extensive knowledge on how local services run and the logistics behind their success. I was also a logistics officer for the same service in Grade 10 as well so I already have experience with managing resources and important documentations which is also allowing me to successfully fulfil the responsibilities that come with my logistics role.

However, due to the ongoing pandemic, we are unable to meet with our special athletes and therefore, my group and I have scheduled meetings in the conference rooms in order to discuss strategies and come up with new and improved ways to interact with our athletes virtually.

I think that learning outcome 6 resonates with this CAS experience as I am learning about the importance of encouraging and supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities. I believe that this is a significant issue because many individuals in our society fail to keep an open-mind and treat people with disabilities in a respectful manner. For example, many people with disabilities are normally not hired into companies due to the fact that they have a disability however, I myself have made very strong connections with our athletes and I believe that they are all capable to work in a workforce environment as long as they are not judged or treated unfairly. Additionally, service has always been a huge part of my life and taking part in activities organised by our local service members, I am able to develop my understanding and become even more open-minded and self aware on the importance of inclusion of people with disabilities.