CAS
Kahaani Dance Showcase 2019 reflection
As I moved to Grade 12 and the year started to come to an end, I decided that wanted to get involved in an activity where I would get out of my comfort zone, challenge myself with something I have never done before (perform in front of people), dance. I wanted to be part of Culturama, but it was during a period of time where I had to focus on my studies, then I was invited to do Kahaani and as I watched last year’s performance and enjoyed a lot i knew I wanted to be part of it.
Kahaani would be a big challenge for me as I am usually really uncomfortable when presenting in front of people, in addition to the fact that I have never danced or performed anything in front of a large audience makes me even more anxious, that’s why I knew that doing Kahaani would be a great opportunity for me to face my fears.
As it approaches the performance day, I can strongly say that I was able to learn how to dance, learn more about my body as I did things I have never previously done. In the beginning i struggled with learning the steps, but the more I practiced and attended the sessions I started to improve and be able to learn the steps much faster, while gaining a better understanding of the limits of my body. For me to be able to reach the stage I am right now, my commitment was essential, I practiced during the break constantly in order to remember the steps, and attended every single session that the dance leaders organized. If I didn’t do that by this time I would be a lot more worried with my final performance, what would add to the fact I’m anxious when presenting in front of people.
In conclusion, one challenge I still haven’t been able to overcome in kahaani is my fear of presenting in front of people, however, I strongly believe that by the end of the final performance I will have gained a lot more confidence. As a reult, of the great amount of effort I’ve put into, the great and supporting people I’m working with and the amazing leadership.
Final Project Week reflection
Project Week was a successful experience for my group and I. In the beginning with the minor setbacks we had regarding the planning stages were easily overcome when we all got together and started working hard to fix it.
Everything went according to our plan, we had no trouble with flights, our third party provider for the activity was really organised and helpful when we needed. For example, in the last day of our activity one of my friends with me had a minor accident when cycling and the tour guides were extremely fast and helpful to help him clear the wounds and recover. The following three days that we working with our Service partner it was a amazing experience not just for us but for the kids we worked with. It was a challenge for us due to the language boundaries and the fact that we didn’t get much information from them place of what were the students specific needs. However, as we concluded by the end of the trip we believe that were were successful when planning the activities with the kids, also managing to give them so fun experience while gaining awareness of the opportunities they have by staying in the residence/school.
Overall, after our final meeting after we returned from the trip, we all agreed that it was a challenge for all of us, in a physical and physiological way, as it was the first time we did a trip by ourselves and we had the challenge to plan insightful activities for the kids.
Follow some photos of the trip:
Project week group reflection
Link to the reflection:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BmE7PUpdZLKywwr_H0QgxTe8LulVSdd8/view?usp=sharing
Boxing/Muay Thai activity reflection
I’ve trained Muay Thai for 4 years before joining this activity, so I didn’t have to go through the process of learning it, what put me in an advantage compared to the other people in the activity. However, it was a great experience because I met new people and I also got to help my friends, as I have experience. It was a bit challenging for me as I was a bit out of shape, but in the end I got to train a lot and enjoy it.
This activity, showed me that I have the initiative to help others and that I enjoyed doing it. Being able to share all the experienced I gained throughout the many years of practice with my peers was a great opportunity. In a class with many people and few coaches, it was hard for them to keep constant attention to everyone, and me by helping them not only helped the coaches but also helped me practice my technique but also made me more motivated to take initiative in other things as in my Film class.
Photography activity
Joining this activity was a great think, I had the chance to experience a lot of new things, like working with different equipment and learning how they work, learning how to use them properly and also practising and training to understand the best settings for a camera when taking picture under certain circumstances. The great think is that I also got to use the skills that I learnt in trips and also events that I went to. For example, during the CNY break I went a family event and I had to take the pictures, and I knew that as it was a small and dark place I would have to use a flash, and in the activity I learnt the proper way to use flash under those circumstances to make the picture have a better lighting, and because of this the pictures were really good with proper lighting.
This activity made me more aware of my skills, and what I’m good at. In film it is essential we understand completely ow to use the camera and its settings. Therefore, in this activity I was able to learn a lot more how aperture and shuttle speed works. At first, it was hard to learn everything as I had never used a camera the way we did in the activity, and compared to the my colleagues experienced made me a little bit worried. However, with time I gained more confidence and was able to express my creativity better, using the skills I learnt.
Lastly, whenever I take a photo and I like it, I usually don’t share with anyone as i’m not confident enough it’s good. However, this activity made me more trusting in my work and that is good.
Service reflection
For my service I made this video reflection that summarises our entire experience in this half year. I’ve learnt a lot about Alzheimer and I got out of my comfort zone when I had to interact with elder people with a disease, as I never had done it before it was really challenging in the beginning, but by the end of the half term I was really confided and comfortable in doing it making the service and my meeting with the resident even better.
In the video I talk about how I engaged in conversations while setting the equipment to be used. I did this as a way of making the resident more confortable with me, as if he understand he is in a safe environment makes the entire process much more enjoyable and effective. In addition, in Grade 10 during a service trip to a local village in Bintan we learnt that whenever you are working with a group of people, trying to help them, firstly you need to understand fully their needs and interests.
Goals for 2018 – CAS
Until now I’ve learnt new skills in the photography club and was able to apply them over the break (Pictures included), I was able to collaborate in Boxing and Photography club by teaching/helping friends that had problem with something that I had the experience, definitely faced challenges in my service when I had to interact with seniors with chronic diseases and I had no experience with it, but by the end of the year I was really confortable and able to interact having any problems or being disrespectful . Lastly, I increased my awareness of my own body and limits in the boxing club and also increased my understanding of Alzheimer.
On the other hand, until now I wasn’t able to take leadership in my activities/service. In order to do it I will try my best to take the role of leader. In addition, las year I missed a few of the sessions for my activities, so this year I will try my best to not miss anymore.
As I finished 2018, I came up to an conclusion that in my last year I want attempt to do new things that would put me out of my comfort zone, as I think that in this I stuck to activities where I felt confident on as Muay Thai, and Photography. For my next year one of my main goals is to get into a exercise routine in order to lose weight and get a healthier lifestyle.
Overall, I believe that grade 11 was a successful year for me, considering the activities I done. out of all of them Project week and service definitely stood out. The opportunity I had to take the leadership of my group when planning and execution of the trip. Even though, I want to experience new things and exercise in 2019, my main focus is on my studies, as this last year will be really important for my future.
What happened to me last week that had an impact in my life? – L05
Going around the school looking for a client for computer science product
- It was a really important task I had to complete in order to move forward with my project. It require a lot thinking and effort because I had to think and prepare a short presentation about it and I was a bit worried.
- To achieve it I had to spent a long time deciding and planning the project and had to go around the school trying to find slots in the teacher in charge of Focus Africa GC calendar that would fit mine so I could present my project and try to see if they could be possible clients. To find the slots with the teachers I checked their google calendar and email them giving a brief explanation of the project so I would lose my time having a meeting with them, to in the end not be able to follow through. For example, I first scheduled a meeting with Louisa Radford and then I emailed her, if I hadn’t I would spent a lunchtime talking to her that I could finding other clients.
- This experience helped me have an idea how it works in universities when you need help with a project. So I feel I can take away from this is a something that I learnt that I can improve next time to do even more efficiently.
Photography activity – L05 Collaboration
In this activity collaboration is essential in order to help the others in class and also to achieve the task we were given. Throughout the entire activity I helped the teacher to set up all the equipments we were going to use in the day, and as we were working in groups, collaboration was required from everyone.
One of the challenges we all faced, is that when we were told to go outside and take pictures applying the techniques we learnt and at some point we were having trouble adjusting the camera settings to take a appropriate picture. However, after a while we got it to work. If everyone in the group didn’t collaborate we wouldn’t be able to solve the problem and would waste the time we had to work on it.