This year, Try4Cambodia hosted a huge dodgeball event for Grade 9 on the 19th and 21st of March. It was a big success for the GC as we raised $264.70, along with the previous collections from the Grade 10 dodgeball event we raised a total of $516.20. Unfortunately we couldn’t reach our goal of $500 per grade. The reason we thought this happened was because people either don’t know about how much to bring or don’t have enough money.. We think to improve we can maybe bring the tournaments to a lower age as they are more likely to bring money since their parents are more engaged. We could also make our message and what are GC is about more meaningful to make people feel empathy or sympathy.
Rock Band
For rock band this season, our band performed in many events and assessmblies. We have begun works on recording a second piece and are planning on performing during the end of year assembly. We have uploaded 4 songs up to spotify and are working hard on a 5th. In the past month, our band has performed in two different events and one grade assembly. I have been playing with this band for about three years now and we have composed 5 songs in that time. In these 2 years, I started off being very afraid of appearing in front of a large audience of people and as such did not take part in many events. With this band, however, I find myself getting more and more comfortable with larger crowds and performing in general. Our first performance this year was in the 10 year anniversary of the campus. We performed 4 songs that we had been practicing for about 2 weeks. The hard work paid off and we had a great performance. We also got gigs outside of school. We also played at unplugged and are planning on playing in graduation as well.
Extended Essay RC3
Organization was a skill that I learned most from this process. Although the skill is important in any other part of the IB, it is absolutely vital during the EE. From being able to organize your methodology to being organized when writing the essay itself, the ability to keep track of everything was extremely helpful. During the data collection, I learned a lot about the process of a chemistry experiment and various things to keep in mind while conducting and writing about it. For example, making sure that when testing your methodology, very accurate notes are taken about the experimental method to ensure that when altering the method in order to fit the requirements, there are not multiple variables that are being changed. This skill helped to ensure that once the final methodology was selected, the carrying out of the procedure would not be confusing or difficult. Finally, the ability to continue pushing through an experiment in the EE. Many times during the data collection, the trends desired would not appear and it could be quite disheartening. However, taking a step back and trying again helped to collect my thoughts and achieve results that were viable.
Project Week (Post)
Project week was an amazing experience. The week allowed us to strengthen bonds and keep memories that we probably will never forget. We went diving on our trip as well as worked with Juara Turtle Project. The trip was incredibly fulffilling and was an amazing time that I will never forget. We enjoyed our time diving and came out of the trip with a higher qualification allowing us to pursue this passion in the future.
Extended Essay RC2
After a few months of work on my EE, I finally achieved a point in the research where my method was stable. This was done through a lot of decision making in order to fine-tune the process and ensure that the experiment would move smoothly. The pH values chosen were done so due to the knowledge from research papers. Since the coagulants only change behavior above and below the pH of 6, the pH values of 7 and 5 were chosen in order for enough to talk about as well as a more direct comparison. Concentration was also thought about extensively due to there being a chance that using a concentration that is too high would overdose the coagulation. Stirring by hand was also a sacrifice I had to make in order for my experiment to be completed quickly. A colorimeter was also chosen over the measuring cylinder for lower uncertainty.
Project Week (Pre)
Project week planning is going very well. We are far ahead of other groups in terms of planning and have already recieved confirmation from our providers. This gives us lots of confidence that our trip will go very smoothly. Here is our completed document for Project week preperation. Project week preperation has given allowed us to develop lots of communication and collaboration skills as we need to be able to communicate effecticely within our group as well as externally. I am very much looking forward to project week and hope it goes very well.
EE Initial Reflection
When deciding on a topic, I was instantly drawn towards the process of water purification and the possible experiments that I could conduct. I always had an interest in the topic and the EE seemed like a good opportunity for me to explore the topic through a subject that I was passionate about. Originally, the plan for the experiment was to use alum and durian seed starch and compare the coagulation of each under different PH levels. Through further research, however, it was found that durian seed starch may not work as expected under the PH levels chosen as well as problems when measuring the turbidity of the solution (due to the fineness of the starch). The experiment may also utilize either a colourimeter or a spectrophotometer to see how effective coagulation was though this will have to be further experimented with in the future.
Activity (Rugby U19s)
This season, I continued with rugby and joined the U19 pre-season team. We took part in a tournament and throughout the trainings, we improved our fitness and form to prepare for the tournament as well as the seasonal games and training starting in season 2. We underwent rigorous exercises and my cardio (which is usually terrible) improved greatly throughout the training sessions. Working as a team has taught me a lot and has enabled me to be more patient as well as truly putting my all into whatever I do. We played a game at Dover and placed 3rd. Even though this was one of our first experiences of rugby with this team, we played very well and put our all into the games. I challenged myself and went new lengths and went out of my comfort zone. I showed perseverance and commitment by showing up to early morning trainings every week. I also showed up to optional gym sessions which allowed me to work on my strength and stamina. Moving forward, I would like to work towards making the U19 A team and possibly going to SEASAC. This would be a great accomplishment for me and I would be very proud of myself if I was to achieve this. Unfortunately we learnt recently that SEASAC would be cancelled which I had been looking forward to since I made the team.
Service (Circus with Local Community)
Up until now in circus, we have been fine-tuning our skills and working towards performances that we will be able to do with people in the local community. Last year, we worked with a youth’s home which allowed members of the club to create performances and workshops to teach to the children we were working with. This year, we will be finding a new service partner and may do more work with the elderly by performing for them instead of running workshops. Since it has not been very long, we have been focused on developing our skills with the equipment and I personally can say that I have improved greatly. I have been focused on the diabolo a type of “yo-yo”. A video below shows my progress. Though the service only takes place once a week on Fridays, we have been allowed to take home equipment to work on our skills and this greatly helped for more growth and learning in the areas where we needed focus. Though circus may seem difficult to collaborate in, there are many ways to incorporate different performances with more than just one person. At the current moment, I am working with another member of the service to create a performance that we may perform together. The collaboration has also been evident when others may need help while they also develop their skills. For example, I helped teach one of my friends how to jungle during the service. The same occurs if I need help with anything. Since everyone in the service has different skills, it is a huge “depot” of skills. We are also currently planning out our future performances and picturing the process and possible outcomes due to the performance. We are looking at the upsides to performing for the elderly in the HDBs close by as well as teaching some members of the local community which would create a huge positive outcome in the local community.
Creativity (Band, DJ Club)
In the past month, our band has performed in two different events and one grade assembly. I have been playing with this band for about two years now and we have composed 3 songs in that time. In these 2 years, I started off being very afraid of appearing in front of a large audience of people and as such did not take part in many events. With this band, however, I find myself getting more and more comfortable with larger crowds and performing in general. Our first performance this year was in the 10 year anniversary of the campus. We performed 4 songs that we had been practising for about 2 weeks. The hard work paid off and we had a great performance. We also performed in a weekend event as well as during a grade 11
assembly. We have planned to perform in unplugged and are preparing hard for it. This band has improved my skills greatly. For example, my self-management skills were weak in grade 10 and this band has improved these skills by helping to keep me on track while we work together. We worked hard together and planned out our performances with the people planning it and formed an organized execution of the performance.
Up till now, I have had a few DJ Club sessions. We have been working on Deep House a genre of music that is easy to mix. Since it has only been one season, we are still working on the basics and finding our way around the process to mix music. This really took me out of my comfort zone as I had not done a lot in the range of electronic music. At this stage, however, I have learnt a great deal about the ways to operate a turntable and how to mix music cleanly. From being completely clueless, I have come to a point where I feel with a bit more learning I would be comfortable to perform at an event. We will be having far more lessons in DJ Club and before long, I think that I will be able to perform at events when available
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