CAS

September 6th 2019

This is the link to my first CAS reflection.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18wbuH2DMDF3Zp1bLFd6XXCahnSeqbm2i/view

 

September 26th 2019 (LO2)

Here is the link to my first Creativity reflection. I am reflecting on the challenges I faced so far during my time in the cultural dance showcase, Culturama.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QvPkcHjMEgFAP7NJX5XIZzxJa4-djzvc/view?usp=sharing

 

October 11th 2019 (LO5)

Here is the link to my reflection on collaboration in one of my Creativity pursuits. I am currently one of the leaders of the Humanities Magazine.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rXm9zQafLa25tjpFEJljUmdykqGmKiKX/view?usp=sharing

October 16-18th 2019 (LO4+LO5)

Helping out a fellow dancer with her jewellery

For my arts-based creativity, I participated in my school’s cultural dance programme, Culturama, where we represent different cultures through dance. I was representing Iran in a traditionalĀ Sama-zanĀ dance. I faced many challenges along the way, starting with the fact that I am a novice dancer, at best. Our dance wasn’t particularly complex, but it did require a certain degree of coordination and technique. Not to mention that we were representing another country’s culture, which meant that we had a responsibility to represent it accurately and well. I persevered through rehearsals, attending almost every one. However, I realized not long before the show that my turns were going the wrong way, and I had misinterpreted my entrance. To remedy this, I scheduled a longer rehearsal and worked on my technique with my peers and my dance leaders till I got it right.

Another big challenge I faced was on show night. Between our first and second shows of the night, I had gotten injured. My knee had partially dislocated after I had turned my leg at an awkward angle. This meant that I could still walk, but I was in pain and had to try to push it into place again. I decided to call the school nurse, who braced by knee with a tight cloth bandage. I was left with a choice— should I perform for the last show or not? I decided to perform with the brace on, demonstrating perseverance and commitment to my dance team and to our performance. I learned that my physical limitations can be worked through with enough determination, and that sometimes, unexpected circumstances arise, but the show must go on. Looking back, I don’t regret my decision to perform. It didn’t injure my knee (seeing as I had the brace on), and I learned that I am stronger than I initially think.

Here is the video of our dress rehearsal (I come in at 2:47, second person):

19 November 2019 (LO2)

I recently became the chair (leader) of my service, Memoirs of the Pioneer Generation. In this service, we interview patients from the Vanguard Tampines Care Home, in order to learn their life stories and their role in building Singapore to the city it is today. Singapore was founded in 1965, as a fishing village and former colonial port. The Pioneer Generation, along with former PM Lee Kuan Yew, have been credited with making Singapore the first-world metropolis and financial hub it is. But the Pioneer Generation is older now, and many of them have stories about our local community that are inaccessible to us. Through this project, we aim to make those stories available to our school community, and the Singaporean community.

This is a genuine challenge, because we face several barriers. Firstly, and most importantly, we face a serious language barrier. The majority of the patients we interview are not fluent in English, and some of them do not even understand English. I am somewhat fluent in Chinese, but barely. So it is a challenge to get them to talk. Another challenge we have is getting them to trust us enough to tell us about their lives. The language barrier makes it harder to establish trust through verbal communication. But we do our best through games, trust-building exercises, and nonverbal communication.

International Women’s Day + GEP (LO7, LO6 + LO3)

For International Women’s Day, my focus group, Generation Education Period, helped plan a school celebration and an education campaign on various inspiring feminist activists, some famous, some not as well known. I was featured in a video about community leaders in gender equality for a project I did called Shakti Stories. I interviewed prominent Indian feminist activists and shared their stories through profiles and articles. I talked about my experience with activism through this project, and my engagement with gender equality in India. Shakti Stories is an ongoing personal research project, but I was glad that I had learned about the issue firsthand from people on the ground, so I could share it with my peers and improve our activism to make it more meaningful. Around 90 people came for our seminar, held on the second floor of Santai, which was gratifying. Our profile of Jameela Jamil for the education campaign was retweeted by the actress herself! We were very excited by our success.

One consideration that always arises on International Women’s Day is the question of progress. Of course, we all have a part to play in dismantling a system of oppression against women. However, I could not help but wonder whether, as privileged young students in an international school, we were actually making a difference. True activism has to be more than just virtue-signalling: it should go deeper than that. It is far easier to criticize oppression in other countries than truly examine the condition of our own community. This is why I thought that our seminar was especially meaningful–our video also showed interviews from Singaporean activists working with marginalized women like domestic helpers and women in poverty. I think we were able to showcase the progress being made in our local community, while still educating people on the progress yet to be made.

 

Project Week Reflection (LO3)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16FEmQlRDZVbZVVLkB9U1-N0DnzyraEIT/view?usp=sharing

 

MUN Reflection (LO6)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qy5sbdS5KQ5HXFTGgVQ5Jou0CciObZee/view?usp=sharing

 

Activity in Quarantine (LO1)

Evidence of Activity: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UmTnYzBOAdbpJhAMpmygDuIXnwqQfmbn?usp=sharing

I have been more active in quarantine than I have been during school time. This is probably because I now have a more flexible schedule, and so am able to make more time to work on my fitness. I have a condition called hyperlaxia, so my joints are hyper-mobile. I have to build muscle in order to mitigate this. Through my exercise regimen in quarantine, I have been able to get in touch with my body. I have learnt that my upper back is extremely flexible, but that my hips are stiff. I have experimented with different exercise forms to see which one works for me: so far, I have found that hatha yoga is most effective. I have never been a particularly active person, as I have always gravitated towards the more intellectual pursuits, but I am learning that I am stronger than I think. This has been the most rewarding part of quarantine–developing new strengths and self-reflecting.

Ears of East (LO4 + LO1)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hxhVRCNnTUgMYF3itIgCOb_EQ6WA1XCc/view?usp=sharing

Personal Choices During Quarantine (LO7)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15WC6VXAWpljwkyRZJDjvz0Nn1r7lx3rd/view?usp=sharing

Kahaani (3/12/2020) (LO4)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P9-_zb-Z-ZtYz5t0IK4r8hjZCA3dN9ac/view?usp=sharing