I have always been interested in aviation specifically fighter jets and the physics surrounding them and was a member of the RAF Cadets when I lived in London, which is why I chose to write my EE on the topic of aerodynamics. I chose to manipulate the wing form as this brings in D.T. another subject I have a lot of interest in. Due to my time at RAF Cadets I already have good foundational knowledge on aerodynamics and all my further research has been building on that which has definitely made tackling this very complex area of study easier. The biggest struggle so far would be working out the intricacies of my experiment as I’m using a wind tunnel and haven’t worked with one before which has made the experiment in my EE far more challenging, however, it has been enjoyable learning how to operate new apparatus and combining my two favourite subjects and an area of interest.
Month: May 2019
MUAY THAI – 2nd Reflection
I have been boxing for almost a year now and although I have been actively trying to avoid my academic life and active life colliding my schedule has left little to no time for boxing towards the end of Grade 11 although I do still go for 3 hours a week (Mon, Wed, Thu) I had hoped to be going far more often and to be engaging in two hour sessions to test my stamina and allow me to reach the next level quicker. I am also afraid that at the beginning of Grade 12 as my workload increases boxing will have to take a back seat however I intend to do everything I can to prevent this and will still set outside a guaranteed 3 hours a week to box no matter what is happening in school. This clash between my activities and my academics had actually improved my planning skills as now to ease my workload throughout the week and free up time to box I am far more productive over the weekend (which also means less last-minute homework), which reduces my stress levels on its own as I’m not staying up late at night writing essays or IAs as often now.
I don’t want to compromise on my boxing too much as I do ultimately want to pick up a second Martial Art (my 3rd in total) at my gym so that I can begin my MMA training as I do not yet know a ground Martial Art so I was considering Brazillian Jiu Jitsu but I am afraid that there will not be enough time to achieve this as I am struggling to find time to practice one discipline, scheduling a second and extra session for my MMA training could negatively impact my Academic Career as I will have far less free time to complete any work set.
Initiative for Peace Conference – 1 MONTH TO GO!!
This year I joined my school’s IFP Program and after working really hard throughout the initial 6 months (this is where the teachers evaluate you and your commitment and later use this information to select the conference facilitators) and making a conscious effort to participate more in debates and expand my social circle to help enhance my collaborative and communicative skills, I was selected for the Timor Leste Conference (my first choice).
I have been so excited to work on this trip and it has been a very unique experience for me as when we began this was the first CAS experience I had ever planned myself (project week hadn’t yet formally began) and I had never attended a formal conference myself before joining IFP. This meant that I had a lot to learn about structure tone and the types of activities that we would be working on especially as this IFP conference has been running for a few years in Timor Leste so future delegates already have expectations and preconceived notions about the type of content, activities etc. However despite how overwhelming the blank 7-day timetable looked to the group and me, we began dividing it up into daily themes and the logistical duties (organising the delegates in rooms, creating a booklet, cultural evening etc.) were also divided into groups of 4-6 people (across both East and Dover). Breaking this down into smaller chunks made the whole conference suddenly seem a lot more manageable as instead of a week I was now responsible for only a day and a half (although all facilitators assist on all days).
My one definite area of improvement in terms of planning for this conference would be my communication with Dover which is a key component of collaboration as this is a joint-campus project however we only see each other approximately once every 2 months and our schedules rarely line up (their project week and internal exams are at different times to ours so we end up missing two sessions for every event etc.). We definitely need to open a steady stream of communication especially at this critical stage as we are no longer brainstorming but rather filling in the schedule and gathering what we need to run the decided activities, we must ensure that we take everything we need to Timor as we won’t have as much as a wifi connection there so improvising activities on the spot and trying to create last-minute resources will be increasingly difficult there.