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.

 

Diabolo

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.

Identity, Personality, GRIT and Emotional Intelligence (Key Takeaways from PSE)

We are currently in the fourth week of PSE. Through the four lessons, we have learned about identity, emotional intelligence and GRIT and how these skills and qualities will help us through not only our journey in IB but also through our lives. We have been taught the many factors that will advance our skills in accomplishing our goals and will allow us to work harder as well as smarter. GRIT is a major part of learning and is a way of learning that needs to be followed and will result in great outcomes. GRIT relates to the idea of resilience. The idea that if you work hard enough, you will accomplish it no matter your level. Of course, GRIT also takes in the idea of possibility. For example, if you are not biologically capable, then there is no amount of trying that will allow you to accomplish your goal then the goal is not accomplishable. We also learnt about emotional intelligence and what it means. The idea of being able to connect with not only others but also your own feelings. Emotional Intelligence shows us the ways that we can understand other’s feelings and how to help and support those who require it. This will help me throughout IB and past it through life as there will always be someone who needs emotional support and thus this skill will be useful throughout life. Along with this, we also learnt about Personality and identity. We learnt about the different personality types and how each type functions along with the fact that all of identity and personality are very complex. Being knowledgeable in the different types of personality and the complexity of identity will allow me to understand and connect to the different personality and identity as well as allow me to find my own identity and personality.

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