Category: Reflections

What lockdown is teaching me about the environment:

There have been many reports on how the environment has significantly improved during the lockdown. According to the World Economic Forum, the air pollution in some cities fell by as much as 60% compared to the same period in 2019. It has been refreshing to see the significant improvements on a global scale after many urging efforts over the past decades on climate change and global warming. The pandemic shows us the scale of impact, which demonstrates that it is possible that our environmental impact is reduced if we work together globally, but at the same time, the extent to which businesses and regular lifestyles must be changed. I wonder how our environmental impact will change when the lockdown is over, and whether this ‘dip’ is only temporary.

Although carbon emissions have fallen sharply, another crisis has risen and that is food waste. The industry has been severely impacted and many businesses were forced to shut down. Due to this, not only has their contribution to carbon emissions decreased but in an economical sense, a lot of workers have lost their jobs (over 30 million Americans filed for unemployment). The disruption of transport, agriculture, and retail in the supply chains have led to “billions of dollars worth of food going to waste.” Furthermore, many supermarket shelves were depleted from people panic food buying and stocking up at home. In Singapore, there was concern around food supply as the majority of the food “come from over 170 countries and regions around the world.” This reliance makes Singapore vulnerable to short-term disruptions arising from supply shortages, crop failures or animal diseases. However, I found out that Singapore has a comprehensive strategy to handle food crisis and is working toward more local agricultural production. I do wonder what Singapore’s food production would look like in the future.

What lockdown is teaching me about self-care:

Lockdown has been especially beneficial in terms of helping me organise my personal schedule and giving me extra time to fulfil the things I normally would neglect, one of those things being self-care. My main priority was to establish a sleep schedule, using the ‘Bedtime’ tool to help track the number of hours I get every night, set reminders before targeted bedtime, and silence notifications when I’m sleeping. So far this has worked incredibly well and I feel a lot more energised and productive throughout the day. I’ve also started incorporating more mindfulness-based activities before bed and when I wake up. Having a slightly later start has given me time in the morning to read, listen to a podcast, or stretch. Taking breaks throughout the day to do complete these activities have also allowed me to move away from my screen and come back to my work more focused. I have been using an app on my phone called ‘Balance’ which offers guided meditations for different purposes and plans.

I’ve learnt that self-care is essential to our physical and mental health and it is important we set aside time during our lives to include such activities. Lockdown has enabled me to have more time but it is just as important that we continue to implement these practices even when the lockdown is over. I hope that I can make minor changes and plan my week in order to more or less sustain my current routine. I very much appreciate the time which lockdown has given me to focus on myself and my family.

Growing up abroad and attending international school has exposed me to various cultures and beliefs and enabled me to form a great appreciation for the diverse group of people I’ve been able to meet. After living in Thailand for the past 10 years, I moved to Singapore, and upon coming to UWC, I was incredibly excited about the change in environment and new opportunities. This academic year, my goals were to take more risks to pursue the things which I felt passionate or curious about – this included meeting more people, signing up for sports, or generally becoming more proactive in class. A more personal and long term goal of mine has been to improve my language speaking skills. When I was younger, my parents taught me how to speak English first, so my Mandarin has always been a little neglected. Although I study it in school, I think Singapore is a great place to help me further my speaking skills in a practical context. Hopefully, through learning more about the Mandarin language, I can have a greater insight into my own culture and be more in touch with my roots.

When I was younger, I did competitive gymnastics for about 8 years. It was an incredibly physically and mentally intensive sport, but it taught me many things such as determination, commitment, perseverance, and failure – all of which has shaped my work ethic, outlook on life, and the person I am today. After giving up gymnastics due to the strain on time, I pursued team sports – like volleyball and touch rugby. The nature of both these sports was completely different from what I had experienced before, and I was able to learn a new set of skills such as collaboration, patience, flexibility, and trust. Generally, sports has been a wonderful environment to help me develop my interpersonal skills and the way I approach difficulties or setbacks. This year at UWC I was able to continue to play touch rugby and try out for track and field the following season.

My previous school used to offer a program for the Global Citizenship Diploma, a supplementary programme that enables students to reflect on their learning experiences and showcase their accomplishments in order to gain recognition for achievements in areas not reported in the IB Diploma. I received the Global Citizenship Certificate but was unable to pursue further qualifications such as the Global Citizenship Diploma due to my relocation to Singapore. Nonetheless, it helped me form a better understanding of the importance of non-academic experiences, and the process of reflection to understand the impact of our actions on the community. Because of this, it has led me to make participation in activities one of my focus areas. I would like to join a club or school production, areas which are unfamiliar to me but I think would help me grow my confidence and further my interests with a group of equally passionate learners. In terms of academics, my selection of subject choices best represents my interests. I was deciding between many subjects but eventually settled for ones which I had the least prior knowledge about and was most curious to learn, such as Economics and Global Politics. Although my academic and non-academic goals may change throughout high school, I hope to become a more globally-minded and balanced individual with the guidance of my peers, teachers, and parents.

My experience in FIB this year allowed me to see a much more personal side of my peers. I’m grateful to be part of this close-knit group of classmates and am looking forward to the next two years when we merge with the rest of the year group.

My transition experience so far has been very overwhelming and required me to think very deeply about what I plan to do over the next two years in IB. Throughout middle and high school, I generally enjoyed all the subjects. Hence, it was quite difficult in deciding which subjects I wanted to take as higher or standard level. During this process, we were also asked to think about university courses and job prospects, to ensure our subjects and preparation best align with future plans.

In terms of deciding my subject choices, I was deciding between taking biology or sports science, global politics or psychology. I was keen to take art as my group 6 subject since I currently am taking art and am thoroughly enjoying it, but eventually settled on a humanities subject instead which I felt just as passionate about.

Although I have yet to decide where I want to go to university or what job I would like to pursue, the subjects which I have decided upon are HL English Lang Lit, Economics, Global Politics, and SL Mathematics AA, Chinese Ab, Biology.

During this transition process, it has also given me the chance to think more deeply into the types of activities and extracurriculars I would like to do/take part of next year, to widen my experiences and make the most of opportunities. I aim to participate in a school production and involve myself in more service programs.

In humanities, we have just concluded the Development unit. Within this unit, we covered topics such as debt relief, free trade, fair trade, foreign direct investment, and MNC’s/TNC’s.

Here are my C.U.S as a reflection of my takeaways from the unit:

• In “development” what we choose to measure may reflect our values
• The relations between the global “north” and “south” show how power affects development
• We may study correlations, patterns, and contradictions to find causes and new aspects of addressing development
• Contradictions reflect the flaws in our measures and methods of addressing development and allow us to explore new possibilities
• Some aspects of measuring development are not quantifiable
• Culture within a nation can also be a goal for development

New Unit: Fair Fight

• When trying to interpret intentions and actions, it is important that we understand the historical context
• Through history and major events, ethics are changed between being viewed as universal and relative
• Knowledge of an event does not equate to understanding intentions

Our first assignment for Global Perspectives was to create a Mandala which outlines our personality traits and write an analysis explaining the symbols and stylistic choices made during the creation of the Mandala. The Mandala was to encapture a ‘sun side’ and ‘shadow side’, signifying our prominent and less prominent traits. This was under the unit of Identity, who we are and what makes us ‘us’. Part of the analysis required us to look at the human behaviour debate ‘nature vs nurture’ and reflect upon our own lives on how it is applicable to us.

Goal: What would you like to improve?

• To show full reasoning which refers to the process of thinking about something in a logical way in order to form a conclusion or judgment. I could have added my personal learning from the unit about the influence of other peoples perspectives. The word count constricted my ability to talk about all the influences on my life. This ensured that I only include the most information and keep everything fairly concise.

Action: How will you achieve the goal?

• I intend to work towards this goal by using a plan next time. By planning my paragraphs and points, I would be able to see the information I am going to include clearer, rather than having a plan in my head and writing straight away. I will be able to decide which information is important and if I have offered a variety of different points of views. This is especially crucial for assessments with word count limits.

Indicator: How will you know if you have been successful?

• A way of measuring my success would be to proofread my work and try and identify a range of different perspectives included, even if they are not mine. I could also look for personal examples, to make sure it is a reflection of my own learning throughout the unit.

Just recently, we received our first half term ATL report. This report gives us an indicator of our performance of 3 ATL’s (approaches to learning), collaboration, communication, and self-management. Each of these strands is assessed individually for each subject. We could receive an attainment grade of strong, clear, some, or concern. My self-management was my strongest skill across all my subjects. I had demonstrated personal responsibility and the ability to organise myself and my work. There was more room for improvement for my collaborative and communicative skills. Most of the feedback stated that I would benefit from sharing my ideas in class and more confidently lead group work. Thus, in this next half term, I aim to work with a wider group of people and share my ideas effectively with them.

Coming into this academic year as a new student to UWCSEA East, having just moved from NIST International School in Bangkok, Thailand, there were a lot of adjustments and unfamiliar aspects of the school which have drastically changed both my personal and and student life. In terms of academics, entering grade 10, I was not eligible to take the IGCSE program, and therefore take the FIB curriculum with a smaller pool of students. Hence, my goals for the academic year of 2020 are as follows:

1. Immerse myself with students beyond my FIB peer group, learn about other students within the year and their backgrounds
2. Push myself to take up and commit to sports, service, and extracurricular activities to maximise the opportunities available to enrich my student life at the campus