December
18
November
9
3H Her Healthy Habits
November
1
Culturama #2
May
16
Project Week Reflection
May
9
Tabitha #2
March
31
Swimming
LO 4 Show commitment to and perseverance in your CAS experiences
Being on the Swim Team has been an experience I have found very challenging. I was very honoured to be part of the SEASAC team in Grade 10 and was very surprised to have the opportunity again this year.
I knew that this would be an especailly difficult opportunity as I had decided to take a break from swimming at the end of grade 10 and was therefore had lost a lot of my fitness and was very out of practice. Neverthless, I decided to commit to being part of the SEASAC team knowing the difficulties.
What were my goals?
I knew that given my time off, I would not do as well as last year but I set out to try get into the finals for both of my butterfly events (50m butterfly and 100m butterfly).
I found it very challenging: the early morning starts, the intense trainings were physically demanding. This meant that achieving my goals required alot of perserverance and for me to commit to lots of training sessions.
How successful was I in achieving my goals?
I ended up focussing on backstroke in training just as much as butterfly and was chosen to swim: 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 50m Backstroke.
At SEASAC itself I managed to get into the butterfly finals for both of my butterfly events as well as my backstroke events which was a huge surprise. I did not beat any of my personal bests in butterfly but I did swim my backstroke events faster than I have ever before.
What did I learn about myself through this experience? What abilities, attitudes and values have I developed?
Pushing my self to try my hardest at swimming one last time has given me the belief that I can overcome any difficult challenge I face. I have been a swimmer for as long as I can remember and I feel very priveledge to have had lots of the opportunities afforded to me. The skills of perseverance and commitment that I have learnt through swimming will definately give me the confidence to try new things and achieve what i set my mind to.
March
23
Gang 34 Goes to Nepal
January
6
Circus
LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth
LO 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
LO 5 Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively
- what did I actually do?
Bring a part of circus club has given me the unique opportunity to be part of an activity that not only works on developing skills to put on shows for the school community but is also a local service that teaches circus skills to children from a local school and puts on shows in local nursing homes. This activity gave me the opportunity to try new things, challenge myself, work with new people and interact with the local community.
- what are/were my goals?
On joining Dragons Circus I was a little bit overwhelmed by the talent of the members and the vast array of different apparatus that we have. I decided that I wanted to throw myself into everything and try to learn a new skill. I have learnt how to “spin plates” and walk on a barrel but I have found juggling and unicycling much more difficult. Given the fact that I don’t own a unicycle, my progress has been somewhat slow. I also have very little hand-eye coordination so I have also struggled with juggling. Nonetheless, if I have learnt anything from circus it is to keep trying and attempt everything with positivity and optimism. By the time I graduate, after two years of being in circus club, I aim to be able to juggle and to unicycle – not necessarily at the same time. Right now we are currently preparing for the end of year show for the primary school.
- describe some of my interactions
The unique thing about dragons circus is that you get to work with a range of different people in the local community from 5-year-olds from a local school to 95-year-olds from a local nursing home. Interacting with the local community has been a thoroughly rewarding experience. The most amazing thing about circus is it can bring joy to everyone, regardless of their age and can connect people despite a language divide or any other barrier. I advise everyone who wants to get involved in both the school community and the local community to join circus as it not only can spread happiness to those you work with but it has often been the highlight of my week.
January
6
Tabitha
January
6
Wavelengths
Orchestra Jazzband
LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth
LO 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
LO 5 Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively
On the 12th of December, I had the opportunity to be part of wavelengths, our school’s music concert. This concert was the culmination of all of the work I had been doing as part of both orchestra and Jazz band over seasons 1 and 2. I was very lucky to be a part of 2 very different ensembles, working with so many people on a variety of styles of music. In preparation for our orchestra performance, we did our dress rehearsal for the primary school in “An afternoon with the Orchestra”. We performed to the primary school and demonstrated all of the instruments that make up the orchestra for them.
- Name five things that stuck in your mind about the experience
- During one of the Jazz band pieces, I performed a solo. This was a big challenge for me to perform in front of the school but I had practised it in rehearsals before until I felt confident. I have never had a solo as part of an ensemble that large before and was really proud of being chosen to perform.
- I enjoyed playing to Primary school students the day before because we got the chance to answer their questions about our instruments and let them try to play them.
- The other soloist in Jazz band, particularly the ones who had to improvise their solos really impressed me. I enjoyed listening to different people each week play solos in pieces and even had a go at improvising on the spot myself one week. Jazz band is a new ensemble for me that I have only joined this year, I have really enjoyed meeting and playing with so many different talented musicians and trying my hand at different styles of music.
- This year I have the role of “first flute”. This means I have more responsibility by making sure the flute section our playing together; are properly tuned and I have to make sure I am counting correctly to help us come in at the right places – especially with new pieces.
- The final performance of Orchestra at wavelengths was a real highlight of the year for me. Orchestra is a very large ensemble, so often when we practise pieces we have to split into sections to get more done. Therefore when the piece is put together with so many people working together to play a fairly complicated piece, it is really impressive.
Overall, I am so glad I have continued to be a part of orchestra this year as well as joining a Jazz Band. As Music is one of my IB choices, I think it is important for me to get involved in the department as much as I can and I really enjoy playing with different people. Being a part of these two ensembles has also improved my skills as a flautist greatly and increased my love of music.