Reflection 1
Learning Outcome(s):
4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences. Students can articulate the stages from conceiving an idea to executing a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences.
5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.
6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
I have been in the Kolkata GC since grade 10 and it has been an amazing experience ever since. Kolkata GC aims to aid and support people with disabilities in Kolkata, India by providing funding, emotional support, field support and by spreading awareness. The GC has grown from supporting mainly visually impaired children in Voice of World, to supporting people with all kinds of disabilities. The organisations we support really try to benefit and improve lifestyle for people with disabilities in parts that the government has been unable to support or improve conditions relating to. The GC is really focused and student-led which makes all the decision making processes interesting and quite a journey.
At the beginning of each year, our GC starts planning for our annual fundraiser dance show “Kahaani,” this process is really tiring and stressful, while of course being extremely fun and satisfying. Since we organize a whole show, there are many things that are needed to be taken into consideration, like the theme for the show, dance leaders, dancers, bookings for practice spaces and making schedules, legal restrictions, etc. This year we have chosen the fairy tale, Cinderella as our theme with a twist of representing the journey of a disabled character. This was a difficult decision since there were many other ideas that were incorporated into it to satisfy more people and to give it the perspectives members of the GC thought that the storyline was missing. Assigning GC roes is also really important as it needs to be according to talents and interests while having to accommodate and take responsibility of tasks that may be out of our comfort zone to bring out best results possible. I am on the Media team and this is a really important job since we take care of all advertisements, tickets, brochures, posters and boards that are put up not only to highlight the show but to convey our message and raise awareness about our aims and principles.
Kahaani is in January which is why preparations are all in full swing and there is a lot of work regarding media going on as it is a really crucial part of the whole process. It will become a bit more hectic in the coming future as the date of the show comes closer, but at the moment the work we are doing in GC is manageable and enjoyable.