Final CAS reflection

My time in IB has come to an end, and so has my CAS experience. Those two years influenced my life, my personality and skills in ways I did not expect. Now I am going to sum up this experience and describe how CAS helped me to develop myself as the IB learner.

During the course I have undertaken numerous activities. For Creativity I was drawing and organizing art classes (as my CAS group project) concerning three techniques: origami, quilling and decoupage. Also I have decided to continue preparing ornaments with quilling technique on my own. I fulfilled the Activity part mainly by attending tennis trainings, iceskating during the winter and by rollerskating. For Service I wrote letters with Amnesty International, I collected money for Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity and for the main part of my Service hours I was a volunteer in Guardian Angels' Charity. Initially, I helped children at the Charity with their homework, but later my cooperation with them expanded and resulted in art classes for kids (group project), summer trip and help with gingerbread cookies sale.

CAS was a great opportunity for me to increase awareness of my strengths and areas for growth. I managed to do that during the most of the activities I undertook. My tennis trainings helped me to notice my strengths and weaknesses, to appreciate them and work on them. I can say the same for iceskating and rollerskating, drawing, quilling or helping with homework at Guardian Angels' Charity. Thanks to those activities I got to know my character better, I understood what I am capable of, what my abilities are and in what ways can I improve them. In a way, it was the chance for me to improve myself as an inquirer – apart from inquiring about the world around me I learned more about my personality.

It also gave me the chance to undertake new challenges. The activities that I was doing for the first time were the most challenging, including tennis, rollerskating, working with children at Guardian Angels' Charity and most of all the organisation of art classes for my CAS group project. The challenges that I experienced connected with Activity only required overcoming the fear of falling down or overcoming the limitations of my body, but the CAS group project demanded from me the whole set of skills I did not have before, since I have never organised anything until now. But as with most challenges, it turned out not to be so scary and difficult as I thought it would be. This learning outcome required of me as of an IB student to show that I am risk-taking.

I have planned and initiated an activity which was one of the most important parts of CAS for me, and had the most influence on me: art classes for CAS group project. The idea came from me and my two class mates, and the series of lessons where fully planned, organised and performed by the three of us with the guidance and support of the workers from Guardian Angels' Charity. I am extremelly thankfull to them for their valuable clues, for the help we received and the atmosphere they created, which made the whole action an absolute pleasure.

For the part of my CAS activities I had to work collaborativelly with others. I have managed to do that successfully during my tennis classes when I had to cooperate with my team, during the volunteering in Guardian Angels' Charity – on the field trip or during doing homework, and mainly during CAS group project. Those events have shown me how important the good team work is. Everything seems to be so much easier when there is a great cooperation between people. It helped me to become a communicator and to be open-minded. Without those traits the cooperation would not be possible.

Once again CAS project has given me the opportunity to show perseverance and commitment, as without them the whole action would not have taken place. Also my entire collaboration with Guardian Angels' Charity has allowed me to develop those traits, since I managed to volunteer there regularly almost every week and later on, to engage myself more in their work i.e. by helping them during the summer field trip with kids. The time I spent working with children has made me more principled then I was before, since I felt that I need to set the example and to be the person they can trust.

One of the greatest things about CAS is that it allows to engage with issues of global importance; the issues that we would not normally be interested in. Activities like writing letters with Amnesty International or raising money for Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity have given me the chance to be a part of the fight for human rights and for decent healthcare for the children and the elderly. It was my opportunity to show that I am a caring IB student, involved and interested in the world around me.

CAS has also helped me to consider ethical implications of my actions, mainly during my volunteer work at Guardian Angels' Charity, raising money for Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity and writing letters with Amnesty International. It has mainly involved considering different points of view of people, e.g. Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity is perceived in two very different ways, and I had to consider if I am helping the people in need of health care or the people who organises this event to gain more money for themselves. Events like this have required of me to be a thinker and to acknowledge both sides of various issues.

CAS is also a great occasion to develop new skills. Most of the actions I took part in have allowed me to develop skills, either physical or social. The most enjoyable skill I have gained is the iceskating, while the most important is the skill I obtained during the organisation of art classes. All the skills and knowledge I posses now thanks to CAS is valuable and I am extremelly happy I had the opportunity to obtain it. The range of disciplines that I was striving to be good at and that I learned things about has made me more knowledgeable than before.

Managing all those activities along with learning and writing essays was really difficult for me but I think that it has made me at least a little more balanced – I am capable of managing my time and coping with difficulties to a greater extent than I used to. In addition, writing CAS reflections has made me think about my experiences from different perspectives – it made me a much more reflective person.

For me, CAS had the strongest influence on the way I perceive the world, the situations I encounter and people I meet. Before the IB Diploma I have not observed the world with such an open mind as I do now. The participation in numerous events have broadened my way of thinking and taught me to consider a lot more sides of the story than I used to. It will certainly bring me many benefits in my future life and it will help me avoid unpleasant misunderstandings and conflicts.

The thing I am proud of is my involvement in the Guardian Angels' Charity. I feel like I have done a great job helping them. Also they have taught me so much and I have met so many incredible people that I think both me and them benefti to the same extent. I really enjoyed my time there and I know I will keep coming back to them even after I finish IB Diploma.

The one thing I regret is that I did not continue my tennis trainings. I could transfer to a place closer to my home and maybe find someone who would make it more challenging, but I just gave it up. I chose the easier way and I am not proud of it. I hope that this can teach me to pursue my interests, because otherwise I could be dissapointed with myself.

Generally, I feel like CAS has brought me only benefits, developed my personality and my understanding of the world. CAS was a huge part of the most challanging two years of my life so far and I hope that the experience I have gained through this will help me in the future.

Quilling

Group project I have organised with my classmates have made me appreciate forms of handmade art – I have always admired them but haven't considered creating them. As I focused more and more on our lessons I found it enjoyable to create ornaments from i.e. scraps of paper; it calmed me down and I felt relaxed during this activity. As a highschool senior and IB student I have been subjected to a lot of stress in previous months, so this kind of relaxation during which I could ease my mind from constant stress, focus only on pieces of paper in my hands and think of nothing was really helpful. That is why, after my quilling classes, I have decided to engage in this activity myself.

Since I have gained a little experience before and during my classes I knew what I was supposed to do. To begin, I have found pictures of ornaments I liked and tried to creat similar shapes.

It is incredible how with paper straps, glue and a few moves of the wrists one can quickly create complex looking ornaments. The best thing about quilling is that you do not have to be constantly focused on what you are doing. I could watch a movie or talk with somebody and in the same time create a great amount of colourful spirals which then were to be parts of snowflakes, stars, flowers and many other interesting shapes.

Despite the good and easy things about quilling I have also encountered some difficulties. Rolling straps of paper into spirals is just the initial part of creating an ornament. Then I have to fold them so they resemble various shapes and connect them together to finish my work. At the beginning it was difficult for me to do some of the folds and it has taken some time after I managed to make them each time properly. Also I need to make sure that the spirals are of similar size if I need to create ornaments with repeated shapes. When I started to use quilling I often forgot to control the size of the spirals and then I was not able to construct a decoration resembling the one from the picture. But with time and with more created ornaments I rarely make these kind of mistakes.

Despite the relaxing effect of quilling on me unfortunately I was not able to focus on this activity recently. Now I hope to return to it and entertain myself with creating ornaments more often.

Learning outcomes:

- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth

CAS group project - one class more

In this school year me, Marta and Kinga decided to organise additional art classes for children from Guardian Angels Charity as an extention of our CAS group project. We decided to use one of previously introduced techniques but to give our classes a theme. In the end we chose to organise origami classes connected with Christmas. They were led by Kinga, since she also was the leader of the previous origami classes. We helped children to make beautiful stars which they could take with them and decorate their houses with them.

The shapes Kinga introduced to children were a bit more difficult than ones she used on the previous lesson, so it was a bigger challenge for children to fold them properly. It has led to the same problem as before: children were discouraged easily as they could not achieve the same shape as the rest of the group or their stars were crooked. During the classes I observed the differences between individual children, their skills and attitude towards their work. Even though they were all in the similar age, some of them coped with the task better, some worse than the others. It shows how each child is unique and develops with its own speed. To even out those differences and encourage each of them (so that no one would feel worse) we would help those who had some problems but also pay attention to those who managed on their own. We would compliment each person similarly, we would point out how well colours they chose work together. I think we managed to keep their spirits and to convince them not to give up if something goes wrong.

The different speed of work brought one more difficulty; children who already finished their stars were getting bored and were making things a little more chaotic as we were focused on those who needed more help. They were getting noisy and interrupted us since they wanted to draw our attention to them. Fortunately we managed to make them wait for their turn and to wait for others to reach the same moment as them.

Comparing these classes to our very first lesson I think that we did a great job. I noticed that I definitely improved as a tutor. I gained more confidence and was able to control children more than before. I was no longer afraid that they will not listen to me; I perceive this as my biggest success during this project, since it was my biggest fear when we first started. Thanks to these art classes I learned how to organise and coordinate such events, also how to keep children entertained but at the same time well-behaved. These skills will definitely help me in the future, i.e. if I will have to watch after kids and spent time with them.

Learing outcomes:

- Developed new skills

- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth

- Working collaboratively with others

- Showing perseverance and commitment

Christmas time volunteering

Me and my colleagues grew more and more connected with Guardian Angels Charity. Our weekly visits and our art project strengthened our cooperation with the Charity, encouraging them to ask us to perform certain additional tasks apart from just doing homework with children.

As they were impressed with our work connected with decoupage, they asked us to help them in money raising and to prepare some christmas-themed decorations using that technique so they could sell them. They provided us with bunch of resources, glues, paints, pieces of wood and napkins required to create pretty christmas decorations.

It has reminded me of the times of childhood when I used to prepare my own christmas ornaments with my parents: I used to make white paper snowflakes, colourfull chains, I painted angels and created small Nativity scenes out of a box and colourfull pieces of paper. I recall that when the end of December was coming my room used to be covered with them. Hand-made decorations have some kind of spirit in them, as they require my time and commitment but also because they give some sort of sense of fulfillment and pride that I have skills good enough for ornaments to look pretty. Now I had a chance to experience these feelings once again as I was working on my decorations.

Decoupage seems to be a complicated technique, but once someone gets a little experience it becomes really easy to master it. The results look amazing with minimal effort, which is encouraging. As for me, its only disadvantage is that it is very time consuming. Fortunately I did not have to work alone. We created decorations in the group of 3 – thanks to this collaboration we saved ourselves a lot of time and trouble, as one of us has much greater experience with this technique than the rest and without her we would have spoiled some pieces irreversibly. Also we know each other quite well and I think it has contributed to the fact that we worked good as a team. The cooperation is always easier when we have to cooperate with people we like and we are familiar with. But one has to be carefull when working with friends rather than with strangers, as there is the danger that you will focus more on the conversation, having fun and spending time with them than on the actual task that you undertook!

Workers in Guardian Angels Charity loved our decorations and were extremelly greatful for our commitment. It was very nice to hear about their sincere gratitude for our voluntary work. I felt really appreciated; I think that it is one of the most important feelings in life. If we know that our work is appreciated we have the sense that our actions are not pointless and have an aim.

Since they saw our commitment and the fact that we are eager to help we were also asked to engage our class in baking gingerbread cookies. Each year during Christmas GAC organizes several events during which volunteers sell great deal of cookies. This year me and 9 other students from my class decided to help them and provide them with some.

I engaged with this activity with pleasure, since baking gingerbread cookies at Christmas is one of my favourite parts of Christmas preparations. Until now, eah year I only helped my mum with cutting out the shapes, but this time I baked cookies entirelly on my own. 

This winter I have also taken part in the final of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity – annual fund raising for the equipment used to treat and to take care of children and the elderly. I took part in it third time in a row as a volunteer.

In previous years I have not raised much money but this time I was surprised by the generosity of random passers-by. It only gives evidence that people care about those in need and are ready to give up on some small pleasures in order to donate money and actually help others. In my opinion in most cases unfortunately they do it only on that day. But I bet they would be able to do this more times in a year since the sums they give up individually are not high. If we raised awarness of people and encouraged them to give up on those little things that they do to entertain themselves, i.e. every three months and give the money they usually spent on them to those who need help the most it would be beneficial to the society. Personally, I think I would be able to decide not to go to cinema once in a while and to donate the money I planned to spent on this to some charity. It is not a great sacrifice, but if more people would make similar decision, we would be able to raise more. In my opinion events like Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity should be organised more often. Well in fact there is a variety of different charity events, what I mean is that they should be as recognizable and catch as much attention as GOCC, since in my opinion it is so successful mainly because of its popularity.

I am happy that once again I took part in this event and helped to collect money for children and elderly people. It shows me how powerful people can be, how much can they do if they unite to achieve one aim; more than 40 millions raised in this year by the charity prove it entirely.

Learning outcomes:

- Developed new skills

- Worked collaboratively with others

- Shown perseverance and commitment

- Engaged with issues of global importance

Rollerskating

I used to iceskate during the winter season and I enjoyed it, so I decided to continue this activity during the summer and the following months by regular skating.

I undertook this activity because I thought that it would be easy for me as I considered rollerskating to be the same as iceskating. It turned out that I was wrong. As much as I enjoy iceskating and actually improve my skills in it everytime on the ice rink, regular skating is more challenging for me. The biggest difficulty is the fact that the surface on which I am skating is not smooth and that there is not proper rollerskating track in my city and that I constantly encounter hills and slopes. At the beginning for quite a long time I did not manage to learn how to brake without falling down on my back, so slopes were, and sometimes still are, the worst part of skating for me. I aquired speed I did not wish for and then I was unable to slow down until I reached some kind of barrier or a person that could catch me. It was frustrating, because I could not skate alone, since always there had to be someone that could assist me. I also feel discouraged since on pavements and parks there are other people I could do harm to if I fall down or if I would again be unable to slow down safely. That is why I usually choose places where there is no one around. But despite all of this, I think that as soon as I gain more skills in skating I will find this activity as enjoyable as iceskating.

Learning outcomes:

- Undertaken new challanges

- Developed new skills

- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth

Summer with Guardian Angel's Charity

In August 2015, I was asked by GAC's workers to take part in the field trip to Pszczyna as a tutor. My task was to help watch out for the kids, spend time with them and take care of them. When I was asked if I would like to go I felt a bit anxious, since watching out for kinds on the trip outdoors, where there is a greater chance that something bad might happen requires more responsibility than helping with homework (something I usually do at GAC). On the other hand it felt nice that they believe I am actually responsible and trustworthy enough to help them with more serious stuff like trips.

It was a big challange, since the nice weather and being outdoors encouraged kids to behave more frivolous, and it made it more difficult to control them, though it wasn't so bad as I thought it would be. My previous experience with children taught me how to react when there is a conflict between them or when someone misbehaves. Also, the workers from GAC where a great help. They supported my decisions and encouraged children to obey my commands. I saw that my presence was helpful and took much off their shoulders, as they knew I was there, watching when they weren't around or when they could not divide their attention. I was glad I could help and integrate more with children and workers.

Learning outcomes:
- Worked collaboratively with others
- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth

As one can notice, a lot of time has passed since I have posted my last reflection. The past few months were a bit difficult for me, I was overwhelmed with work I had to do for internal assessments and extended essay. Unfortunately, my poor time management skills resulted in the situation where I was not able to write any reflections. Although I neglected my CAS journal, I managed to keep doing my CAS activities. I intend to post missing reflections and keep writing new ones and I hope I still have a chance to catch up on this.