Kahaani 2021 #1 Reflection – Initial Reflection
Black Lives Matter Movement – What is my perspective on this issue?
I think there is a lot to think about when it comes to black lives matter movement. There are two sides to the story from my perspective. To me, I feel as though equality is extremely important in today’s modern society, why should there be racism, are we all not the same, do we not operate and live in the same society, are we not given the same opportunities? I think in relation to George Floyd’s unfortunate murder, it was just the tipping point for many people. Many were already on the edge because of numerous police brutality cases, and I think the tragedy just hit many people very hard and caused them to act out. I completely support the black lives matter movement and I stand for it, I have signed petitions, shared links to videos and such petitions, kept up with the news and done my part as an individual. However, I feel as though many people who spread awareness only do it for their own mental stimulation in the sense that they do it to feel good and not cause they actually feel sad or angry from the issue. I must admit by saying I too did this at the start, to feel like I contributed, but then looking over the numerous videos of how crap African-Americans of the United States are being treated truly saddens my heart. However, there is a counter-argument to this, this is an argument that is very valid and which I think is also to be discussed. I understand that many are enraged with the racism going with this issue, but protests are not ideal with a global pandemic situation going on, not only are you putting yourself at a risk but you are putting other people too, which to me is not fair, the chances of spreading are increasing because of this. By risking your country, you are risking other countries too. I support BLM completely, but spreading awareness through violent protests is just not what is meant to be happening right now.
CAS Intermediate Interview with Mentor/CAS Supervisor
Home Workout Activity Initial Reflection #1 – Season 4
Service Special Olympics Badminton Developing Reflection #2 – Season 2
U-19 Tennis Final Reflection #2 – Season 1 & 2
Project Week Planning Reflection #1 – Creativity Season 3
Weirdly enough, one of the most memorable experiences is the planning and build-up to project week. The planning gave me a great sensation of excitement mixed with nervousness, and the project week planning was an occasion which allowed me to utilize my leadership skills, I was allocated with roles such as accommodation information, and to guide me through this, I used the help of the ‘Investigation’ stage of CAS. Investigating and narrowing out different options to suit the budget for myself and the group allowed me to be on track of my objectives without straying away. When planning for the project week, we always had the budget in mind, we carefully implemented a few ideas on what the itinerary wants us, as a group we understood that activities that were to be done needed to be progressive and that restricted a few ideas we came up with. We finally, came about with one very specific itinerary which gives us a detailed approach for each day. The activities included sea kayaking, biking, and trekking. Each individual of the group was also tasked with communications for a certain aspect of the trip. For me, it was getting In contact with the accommodation & the activity provider (Wilderness Malaysia). Along with these tasks, I was assigned as the person of my group to undergo the medical and safety course. Safety was a high priority taken into consideration because this was an experience where we were going into a new country as foreigners. At times, there were challenges that we underwent in our group and a key example of this is, deciding on the final destination to go, we often had conflicting arguments regarding destinations and activities that each of us wanted to do. But what made our group unique is that each of us was already very close to each other, so when it came to solving issues, it was easy as we were able to cooperate with not too much difficulty and come to a common solution or rather decision. Even though project week was canceled due to the global pandemic, I think the planning process has taught me a lot of qualities, especially aspects of self-managements which stuck to me till now. I was feeling nothing but proud, excited, optimistic with a touch of nervousness. What a mesmerising time!
Special Olympics Badminton Service Final Reflection #4 – Season 1,2,3 & 4
As I am nearing the end of grade 11, the time for my service is also coming to an end. This is my final reflection on my service ‘Special Olympics Badminton’. To start this off, I would first like to say that this has been a memorable experience because of the unique way this service is carried out in, this unique way is through the nature of the sport. Badminton not only allowed us to play our part as individuals providing service in our community but also give us the opportunity to stay active and healthy. Another unique factor of the service is we were able to easily socialize with everyone, the athletes, and their parents as well as our fellow peers. The athletes came from a large age range from as small as 10-12 years old to 40 years old, some had a more severe case of mental disability while others did not have too severe. So one thing I have learned from being a part of this service is that it’s not always easy to communicate with the athletes, and in order to know this, it’s very important to learn more about each of their conditions. Although a lot of the interactions with our athletes were cut short due to the global pandemic situation, I realized the more you know about the athlete and what it is the disability they have the better it is. Since we are assigned to partners, my partner’s name is Joshua and he is on the autism spectrum, with this useful information I was able to develop methods as to how to interact with him as it is different with each athlete. I came to learn that gestures and demonstration are the key factors for helping him learn, he was able to pick up different badminton techniques and strategies. With that being said, it’s extremely delightful seeing the energy within each and everyone one of the athletes. One really impactful thing about our service is we would often have conference room sessions to plan out and improve from the previous session, this included planning out warmup drills and exercises to increase efficiency which would ultimately give us more time to play the games. In terms of the most memorable or rather fun thing, I must say is when we gather in a circle to do the warm-up with someone leading it, this is the best time to socialize with everyone and it truly does make the service memorable. This service has allowed me to have a sense of purpose and has kept me mentally stimulated because of the positive impact I am able to provide. In terms of obstacles in the service, particularly in the beginning at times I did feel it was hard to communicate with my athlete and I was struggling to find ways to teach him the badminton skills, but through my planning sessions, it helped me communicate my ideas and thoughts better to Joshua. Overall, I think this service is amazing and its something one in the UWC community should look out for.
The Heart of Robin Hood Final Reflection #2 – Season 2 & 3
The school production was finally finished, it was an out of the world experience that could not have gone better. After 7 months of commitment and planning, I am excited to say it was completely worth it. Although this experience is something I can never forget in my time as a UWC student, I am also happy that it is over, in the sense I do not have a heavy load of work to do every time in regards to the time dedicated each week, furthermore, I am happy I grew along with these unique individuals who I call cast members these past 7 months, and I am sad I will not be able to work with them anymore.
With more than 5 hours of rehearsals and time at home spent on the production every week, I was dedicated but exhausted. In regards to exhaustion, at times I did feel as though there was too much on my plate to handle for the production, and this could have caused some lack in focus at times. Instances, where this happened, included 8 hours of practice on weekends when I had other work for my subjects. But, I still did not let that put me down because I wanted to be able to give my best and I did exactly that.
In the final weeks, we were hit with difficult news, due to the COVID-19 situation, policies in regards to restricting large crowds did not allows us to have an audience of more than half the auditorium, which means no more than 100 people. We had to add two more shows as well as implement temperature checks as a way of keeping the school community safe. Personally, for me, I did find it slightly putting off when I entered the stage and there was only half the auditorium full, but I saw this as an opportunity to give the best to the people who did pull through and come in. With the help of the theatre department, we were able to successfully distribute the audience members and give everyone the show they deserved. No matter how stressful it was, I took on the challenge with the cast and all the people who had been working so hard on the production to make it happen for the UWC community. These challenges made me stay organized, hardworking, and optimistic and these qualities will stick throughout for me.
With all the ups and downs over the past 7 months, my understanding of what theatre is has grown to a great extent, I am one of the lucky members who got a role, that too a role with lines, and I plan to do any musical or production coming out next year cause it was downright amazing to do such an event. This feeling of accomplishment is something that cannot be expressed which is why I would recommend everyone to take part in this play because it is truly something unique.
