CAS

√-1 equals to imagery number “i”, so the picture means “I love math”.

As a math lover, I joined almost every math club in my school, including High School Math Competition Club. Compare to the intensive training of SEAMC, this club is more relaxing. This kind of chill environment is good for our creative thinking. In this club, we often do some tricky questions which require not only ability in maths but also creativity and strong logic. For example,

A man in my neighbourhood has three daughters. One day when I asked their ages he said, “The product of their ages is 36.”

When I still couldn’t find their ages he said, “Ok. I’ll give you another clue: the sum of their ages is same as the number of my house.”

I knew the number but still couldn’t calculate their ages. So the man gave me the last clue, “My eldest daughter lives upstairs.”

Finally, I was able to figure out their ages. How old are they?

I have always been a maths enthusiast since the very first day I learned maths concepts. Therefore I joined SEAMC (South East Asian Mathematics Competition) as one of my activities.

SEAMC is highly selective towards its members. I joined the entrance test and got the permission to be a part of this club. Lots of my friends do not understand why I  enrolled in a math club. But the concept behind is actually the same: somebody likes to go shopping; somebody likes to play basketball while I enjoy solving math problems in my free time.

I thought SEAMC is only a place where math enthusiasts get together and solve problems by ourselves. But I was wrong. SEAMC is not only about understanding math concept and solving problems, it also requires us to collaborate with each other, to share our opinions towards questions and to learn new things.

Students are solving problems together even before the club time starts.

Ms.Tippy, the teacher who is in charge of SEAMC said that SEAMC is NOT “just an activity for once per week, it is an intensive brain work program on a daily base, and it is only suitable for students who are passionate in mathematics.”

Several weeks ago, we were asked to group with others and to solve some question sheets. Together, we solved all the questions in 10 mins.

I think what is special about the SEAMC program is that it is actually not a “teaching course”. It does not provide “tuition course”, instead, it provides us a platform full of math enthusiasts (including myself 🙂 ). We do a large amount of self-study, and we collaborate and support each other. Most importantly, as a team, we aim to achieve some understanding of math that we could not reach as an individual alone.

Last Sunday, I joined the IFP(Initiative For Peace) conference in UWC Dover campus. It was an amazing experience.

The conference was all designed by UWC students and was divided into 4 sessions: discrimination, violence, identity, and media.

After a series of ice-breaking games, we started from discrimination session. Here, we discussed the definition of discrimination, types of discrimination and why people tend to discriminate others. We also played some games in order to let us have a better understanding of discrimination. We also talked about potential solutions of discrimination which were equality and equity. Equality is everyone gets the same whereas equity is to be fair, to decide who should get more based on different people’s different situation.

In order to achieve positive peace, we should pursue equity. However, equity is not something that can be achieved quickly. So governments should build equity based on equality.

The second session was violence. We started by a simple game which demonstrates us different roles in violence. All the students were divided into two groups. One group needed to use chairs to make a barrier in order to stop the other group from reaching to the other end of the classroom. Half of the students in the other group were blinded by blindfolds and the other half needed to guide them to cross the barrier. But the barrier group members can say something wrong to deliberately guide them to the wrong direction. In addition, 3 students in the barrier group were asked to be bystanders, that is, they can only watch in silence.

I was assigned to the group which was required to build barriers. Students in my group were so excited when they tried to block the other group of students. I think it is a kind of human nature to gloat, to feel kind of “funny” when others are in little troubles. This also applies to those bullies who want to “make some fun” and show that they are superior. One thing I may never forget is when a boy tried to lift a chair and cross the barrier, a girl who was acting the role of bystander in my group started to yell at me:”say something!” I suddenly felt lots of pressure and started to misguide the boy to the wrong direction and soon I got the hang of it and kept doing it. This makes me realize that in reality, lots of people are kind of “forced” to become a bully. “If you don’t join us, then you will be the one be bullied.” This is a complex situation, maybe at the first place people choose to join because they have “no choice”. But once they become one of those evils, they will be corrupted soon. Education is not only about the academic study but love and peace as well. Before we know how to solve a maths question, we must learn how to treat others, how to love others and how to be a decent man. We should build a positive value and stick on it. As a peace-builder, it is our commitment to stay impartial and kind to the world.

I like the topic “identity” because I am always proud of my identity as a Chinese, as a girl, as a dog lover, as “me”. We learned to respect other’s identities and other’s life choices. No matter what gender we choose to have; no matter what religion we choose to believe, at the end of the day, we are all humans. Everyone has their right to choose their own interests and preferences, we should fully respect other’s choices.

Last but not the least, we had a lesson about media bias and fake news. We read some fake news and posts on Facebook. These news really affect other people’s lives and have negative impacts on our society. In addition, biased news twist people’s thoughts and values, which may lead to the downfall of a whole generation.

After we finished our learning sessions. We sang and danced all together in the conference room. There was also some performances given by students. I really appreciate those seniors who worked so hard to make this conference a big success. I did learn a lot about peacebuilding from the conference and made lots of new friends from all over the world.

Everyone is different. these differences, to a certain extent, determine what we like, what we are interested in and what we are good at. however, most of the time, finding out what we are suited to do may be an uphill task. therefore I find it paramount that before signing up for my IB CAS programmes, I find out more about myself.

based on past experience, I would surmise that my strength lies in doing things efficiently. I am not afraid of obstacles, willing to achieve more in the face of difficulty. the greater the challenge, the more I will be spurred on to give my all.

With the development of technology, the Internet has become an integral and inseparable part of our lives. I am really passionate about maths and other science-based subjects and my ideal major in university would be computer science. I find it both interesting and challenging to learn such a practical skill. Therefore for CAS, I decided to join maths and cipher clubs to train my skills for critical and logical thinking and to train my brain’s flexibility.

In addition, I am always willing to lend my help to those in need.  I thus see CAS as the perfect opportunity in giving back to society. Considering that I am also passionate about computer science, I think it is a good idea to link the usage of and the picking up of a practical skill, to helping those in need. Coding for good and tech thinker will thus be two perfect fits for me. In addition, the initiative for peace and smiles of China are all on my list as they give me space for personal growth through the process of formulating my own project and using such skills to benefit those around me, thus increasing both my social awareness and skill set.