Category Archives: CAS

CAS Reflection 3 – Bersama House Band (Creativity)

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LO 4 Show commitment to and perseverance in your CAS experiences

LO 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

In preparation for the Wavelengths show happening at school, we needed to be extremely punctual and committed to making it to practices. I gave up time on the weekends as well as after school to practice with Bersama, Sonos and the orchestra as well. It was a show of perseverance on my part because I had plenty of other commitments to meet during the time as well, but I think that i showed a great deal of commitment to these practices in specific because I was aware of what a big show this was and a big opportunity for us to perform what we had been working on for so long.

There were challenges mainly in the form of my performance with the Orchestra; since practice dates were colliding with my service, I did not have time to practice with the orchestra until the final dress rehearsal right before the real show. The challenge was to get the cues right on the arrangement we were doing, and this was a real challenge because the song was arranged in a very unique way that I had not heard before, so it took a lot of time to practice outside of the actual setting for me to get it right, and this was something that took a lot of work but ultimately paid off in the end because the show went very smoothly.

CAS Reflection 3 – Tennis u19 A Team (Activity)

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LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

LO 4 Show commitment to and perseverance in your CAS experiences

This season saw the start of the u19 tennis competitive season, and I was glad to make it to the A team once more. It was easy to see some of my weaknesses coming into the season thanks to preseason and training with my coaches, so I had identified the areas of my game I thought needed the most work on. With this, I was available to talk to my coaches and figure out a plan for myself as to what I should focus on and what I really need to be prioritising in order to maximise my game and role in the team.

Leading up to our first big tournament, the friendship tournament at SAIS, I was very punctual with practices and found myself prioritising practice over a lot of other different activities. Being perseverant was tough to do with so many other commitments around me at the time, but it paid off because we did end up with a fairly good result at the tournament. I would attribute my performance to the hours put in practicing, and I think that it really paid off in the end.

CAS Reflection 2 – Music Soundbeam with Bedok Peacehaven Day Centre (Service)

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LO 7 Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions

We were finally able to visit the facility, and by doing so we gained an insight into the different tools that our service partners employed in trying to create a more active and healthy lifestyle for the elders that come to these facilities. By making a visit here, we saw how some of these elders had certain disabilities or illnesses, or some had language issues and some trouble communicating with us. With this, I found it important to reflect on the choices that we will have to take when creating activities for the elders; what are some things we can do that can make the experience enjoyable for all?

I was also puzzled by this thought through my appointment as the communications chair of the service; how can I represent the service in a certain way on our blog page that is truthful of everyone there as well as insightful into what we do at this service and how we do it? When it comes to secondary representation, especially on the internet, people and organisations would like to be represented truthfully and I think that this is another important point to think about.

CAS Reflection 2 – Bersama House Band (Creativity)

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LO 3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

We played a show at UWC Day, and we performed a song that was written by two members of the UWC alumni who graduated last year. We had the sheet music and chords, but it was up to us how we wanted to interpret the music. That is why I think that the band showed really great work in working together to plan this performance in terms of the music, because we all put together our interpretations of the music in a way that made it sound great. In the end, it matched up really well with the singers as well. We were tasked with planning the sequence of background music for this performance at the UWC Day assembly with the given score and I think that we accomplished this task extremely well.By launching this new idea of how the music was going to be played, the singers were then able to adapt and modify their rhythms to the way we tried to structure the music; in the end this really paid off well because everything sounded really well done when it was put together and we received tons of praise from our peers.

CAS Reflection 2 – Tennis u19 Preseason (Activity)

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LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

We played a tournament in tennis practice over the week, and I thought that this would be a good opportunity to reflect on my strengths as well as components of my game that I can work better on. After playing this tournament, I found that my strengths lie in playing up close at the net; I think that my volleying skills are very effective, influenced by the numerous years I have spent playing doubles and practicing winning points up close at the net. I found that the percentage of points played at the net and won compared to when I was at the baseline was considerably higher when I thought back on the tournament and how it went.

In terms of growth, I think there is good opportunity for me to improve on my game mentality and my confidence to go for my shots and winners instead of holding back in fear of losing the point. I have had discussions with my coach regarding this, and I think that while it is good to have a certain amount of self restrain, when it comes to tennis it is very important to go after the shots and win the points to put pressure on your opponent. Other than that, I think that I need to also learn how to keep myself focused on the point at hand and play the game point by point, rather than trying to think too ahead into the match or focus on a mistake I may have made.

CAS Initial Reflection – Music Soundbeam with Bedok Peacehaven Day Centre (Service)

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LO 6 Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

The service I chose to do this year focuses on an issue that hits very close to home for me; both my grandmothers live in another country and I do not get to see them a lot, and I know that they have a lot of difficulty in communicating with us overseas because of certain technology issues; it feels that they are very excluded from society because of the technological gap between our generation and them.

I realised that there is a certain level of inequality between of generations because of the speed at which technology has developed and the way in which globalisation has taken over the world; they are much more disconnected from society due to this. Recognising this as an issue, I decided to take on this service and I hope it will be a service where I am able to put my best social and communication skills to use.

Interacting with the pioneer generation of Singapore will give me a lot more perspective into the country I consider my home as well as make me feel as a more all rounded person in my opinion. I think that us interacting with the elders and taking appropriate action in the form of educating them through technology lessons as well as informing them of some of the “norms” of society today, will really be some great sessions that we could run in this service.

It will be extremely exciting and satisfying to see the interaction between different generations compared to the usual inequality and divide in society which is something I have noticed in Singapore; a local issue for now in my opinion, but something I am sure happens globally in other parts of the world as well.

As a bonus, we are also getting involved with a local, government subsidised organization in the form of the Salvation Army, so it is extremely wonderful to see how we are able to give back to the community that gives us so much, and the elders that were considered some of the people part of the society that made this country into what it is today.

CAS Initial Reflection – Bersama House Band (Creativity)

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LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

This year, I returned to my position as the bassist for the Bersama house band; the band that plays backing music for the vocal group Bersama. The bass is not my primary instrument, but it is something that I have taught myself over the last year and it is a skill I hope to develop greatly, already having played in numerous performances at school with my band.

I find that musical interpretation and improvisation was one of my main strengths from last year, and whenever our supervisor, Ms. Stirrat, would give us sheet music for the songs we were to play, I would always be making little changes to the score by either adding or prolonging certain notes to give it a new feel. I feel like this experience has greatly shaped my strengths of interpreting the manner in which the music has been arranged and then changing or improvising it to make it sound a different way while preserving its core sound.

Through the experience of playing bass for Bersama, I have also developed a keen ear for music; I find myself being able to replicate songs we have to learn onto the bass just by listening to it on a speaker and this is a skill I think that is set to improve throughout this year as well, Bersama having just started.

Of course, there is still area for growth; in Bersama, the main area of growth I will look to develop on this year is my stage presence; I have talked to many of the music teachers at school and they have made me understand that the presence of a musician on stage is a very key part of how the audience reacts to them.

Throughout this year, I will try to better the manner in which I present myself on stage to make the performance more visually appealing as well as try and be creative as possible in the way in which I write and play my music.

CAS Initial Reflection – Tennis u19 Preseason (Activity)

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LO 4 Show commitment to and perseverance in your CAS experiences

The u19 tennis preseason for this year has gotten off to a start and I made it through the trials to the squad for this year. I have noticed that compared to last year, tennis is part of a much tighter schedule when it comes to academics and other extracurricular activities that have increased in amount this year.

I find that I am needing to show much more commitment and perseverance in terms of sticking to my schedule and making sure that I attend all trainings, something that I am finding myself doing consistently from last year. I have stayed committed to the trial dates so far and showed up on time to all tryouts as well.

I find myself a lot more tired and overwhelmed from workloads ever since academics have gotten more rigorous at school, and I think that it shows a lot of perseverance on my part to make it to these trials and it will continue to test my perseverance as the season progresses.

I think that showing regular involvement will also aid in me potentially getting into the main squad as a permanent player; being dedicated to my CAS experience in this aspect will benefit me in terms of good health and getting regular exercise in, as well as showing the coaches that I am committed and ready to give my 100% to train.

CAS Reflection – 27th August 2019

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So far, I have not done a lot of activities in school as not a lot of them have opened and I am still trying to get in the swing of things when it comes to my new academic classes and schedule. The only thing that I have really done at this point for activity is play tennis outside of school, as all my activities start either this week or a few weeks from now. I played tennis once last week and my new pre season starts this week as well.

LO 5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

As the year has started, I have found myself already placed in situations that put me in a challenge. The hardest part so far has been talking to new people in classes, people that I have never met or communicated with before through the “Bingo” game that most teachers are playing. This game required me to talk to others in my class and find connections and find common likes and interests between me and the people in my class. I have not really been confident to go up and talk to new people before this, especially since I joined this school last year and did not know a lot of the people who have been here for a long time and know each other well. I think that I was able to develop my social skills through doing this the whole of last week because I feel more comfortable going up to people now and making conversation with them, regardless whether I know them well or not. I think that it is worth it now when there is the chance to make a new friend in the process.