The end has arrived....

Final CAS Reflection

            Two years in the International Baccalaureate  program allowed me to not only study a wide range of subjects, but also pushed me to be creative, active and serve the community in whatever way that I could do. As an aspiring designer being creative was second nature to me. I channeled my potential and skills in art and design to help me fulfill my action requirements as well as organize activities in my service group.

Creativity : Almost Everything

          Through my visits to the cancer hospital, I conducted activities that related to art every session. Some of these activities were puppet-making, bracelets, drawing, snowflakes, dream catchers, etc. Through this, I was not only being more creative but I was also learning new ways of interacting and developing relationships with children at a much younger age, and that too with a communication gap, as I was unable to speak in Sinhalese or Tamil. This gave me the opportunity to interact with them through art. By using art as a means of communication I was able to not only help children learn new art making processes but it also allowed me to see art as a tool that I can use in the world around me.

In addition, as I am an aspiring designer, I was able to design T-shirts for the SAISA badminton team using new mediums such as Adobe Photoshop. This creative activities has helped me increase my awareness of my areas of strength and where I need to improve, acquire new skills in new mediums such as Adobe Photoshop and during SAISA art with led lights, plan and initiate new ideas, work collaboratively with other members of hope for kids, and lastly with my keen interest in the fashion field, I was committed to my duties and passion towards art and design.

Service : Hope for Kids and OSC Recycling

            Before joining Hope For Kids for the majority of my time in the IB diploma, I was initially a part of OSC’s Recycling and Sustainability group. My experience in this group helped me to understand the importance and severity of global issues such as waste disposal and the essence of recycling.

As the leader of Hope for Kids, my overall experience helped me develop my leadership skills and understand how to deal with a sensitive topic such as cancer. My experience at the hospital has always been more unique and special with every visit.  Each time I visited the hospital, I learnt something new about the children I spent time with. I have always tried my best to be aware of my surroundings and to consider ethical implications of the decisions I take as the leader.  

As an aspiring designer and avid artist, I always found my strength in conducting art based activities such as making sock puppets, dream catchers and bracelets with the children. By conducting new activities each session, I acquired and developed new skills of teaching and communicating with the patients. 

Action : Badminton and Yoga

              My main sport for the past two years was engaging in Badminton. I believe that I have shown signs of improvement in my gameplay. I am more aware of  new scoring techniques and how moving around the court in certain ways can help me to develop and polish my skills.  Working collaboratively with a partner,  also my coach Rishika who is a more advanced player than me gave me the opportunity to compete and further push my limits and improve my stamina. The competition amongst my peers pushed me to undertake new challenges.   My improvement in the sport over the year kept me committed to the activity and allowed me to show perseverance and dedication to do better. 

As the Season for SAISA Badminton finished in Mumbai in February, I decided to then take up Yoga for the rest of the remaining time.  My decision to take yoga was heavily influenced by my breathing problems with Asthma, as well as an activity to help relieve the tensions of exam stress. Although this only continued for 3 weeks, it has helped me to focus on my revision processes, and helped me develop new skills.

CAS  which is an integral part of the IB Diploma has prepared me to become a successful leader, creator and active student. These experiences will help me succeed and achieve in the Fashion Institute of Technology, Class of 2020 as a Fashion Design student. I hope to continue engaging in similar activities in the future and cherish all the memories I made on this journey of the IB Diploma. 

Art SAISA 2016

As a group of 8 students, we travelled to Mumbai, India to the American School of Bombay for 4 days. As an aspiring designer going to art school, the 4 days were extremely important for me to experience meeting new people and learn new media techniques. We travelled along with the SAISA Badminton team from OSC. This made us a group of 16 students plus 3 teachers.

We spent our first day visiting 8 different Art galleries in the city of Mumbai. This was a great experience as we saw a range of different artists using different mediums, from different countries and creating art of different genres.

Nisala and I posing for a picture while looking at an artwork. 

The Second day was workshop day.
From the three available workshops, I chose to join the 'New Media' workshop as I would benefit by learning the use of new technologies in the creation of art. The Workshop was very interesting and really got me interested into the use of mediums such as led lights and circuits to create are.

As the theme of 'Justice', which is  an issue of  global importance was the basis of the creation of our artworks. I decided to create a work that showed the Objectification of women in the media. As an aspiring designer in the field of fashion as well as a Higher Level Visual Arts students, I had always shown keen interest in the issue of the portrayal of women in media and the different perspectives that they are seen from.


I created this using Led lights and learnt a new skill  of using wires and batteries to create a circuit for the lights. This gave me a challenge as I had not taken physics in 4 years. I found this section of my work extremely interesting as it was a new experience.

Art Work; On (top picture), Off (bottom picture)

Me and Shivangi (extreme left) with Host Family

on the third day of SAISA Art, after setting up our exhibitions.

Bestfriend Rishika Narayanan from the SAISA Badminton Team

Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence. — OSHO

For the SAISA 2016 Badminton Team, I designed the Jerseys. In order to design the jerseys I had to learn how to use photoshop. This new challenge  gave me the opportunity to develop new skills. 

Girl's Jersey

Girl's Jersey Backside

Girl's shorts

Boy's Jersey

Boy's Shorts

Designing the Badminton jerseys for the SAISA Badminton Team of 2016 was extremely enojoyable. I was able to finally learn how to use photoshop which will help me in my future, in the field of Fashion Design. 

This was the first time that I had ever attempted at designing or creating both Sport Wear and Menswear. I had to keep in mind the different body shapes and sizes, along with how I can make it aesthetically appealing at the same time. Rather than write 'Geckos, which OSC's mascot, I decided to use minimalist techniques to say the same. I used the print of a Gecko and placed it on the side of the jersey, so that it goes around the bodice giving the illusion of a moving Gecko. 

To be part of something Great

Being a service leader, for Hope for kids, comes with a lot of responsibilities. Due to several cancelations of Service, we have had very few sessions. The last session involved splitting our group into 3 parts, and engaging the kids with activities such as Card games, Play-dough and Paper cutting.

I joined into the group that was in-charge of the play-dough. Seeing the children mould the dough into a variety of shapes reminded me of my younger years when i would play with play-dough. I taught a girl how to make a small doll with the dough. However, as these kids are quite young, I had to be careful with the tiny pieces of dough, as with intake, it can be very harmful.

Shenali with the youngest child in the room.

Tala beginning to engage children with the dough.

My experience at the hospital has always been more unique and special with every visit. I have always tried my best to be aware of my surroundings and to consider ethical implications of the decisions I take as the leader.  By conducting new activities each session, I acquire and develop new skills of teaching and communicating with the patients. 

I hope to further demonstrate outstanding leadership skills in my visits to the cancer hospital. 

COMUN 2015-16

For Colombo Operated Model United Nations, I am part of the EXCO as the co-head of photography. In the last two meetings, we discussed the topic of bringing sponsorship and setting an overall theme.

For sponsorship, I will be contacting businesses such as Keels and Odel. Along with contacting businesses and attaining sponsorship for the actual conference, things like pens, notepads and food also needs to be arranged. I have taken up the responsibility of arranging the 400 pens for the delegates. As, I have no previous experience with getting sponsorship or contacting businesses, this is a new skill that I need to acquire. I am taking up new challenges as it helps me to improve my areas of weakness and allows me to grow in my areas of strength. 

Since years I have had a fear of public speaking. I believe that COMUN will help me to tackle my fears, and push me out of my boundaries. 

As Co-head of photography, my job is to take pictures throughout the important meetings. Along with developing my photography skills, I also have to learn new skills of video taking for the main conference video. Along with taking videos, I also have to download a video editing software. 

I believe that COMUN will help me to become more organised and focused. With more responsibilities and compulsory duties, I will be committed to the event. I will show perseverance throughout the meetings, the practice conferences and also the main conference. By being part of the EXO, I interact with students from other schools. This helps me to interact and discuss issues of global importance that could be a theme for the main conference. 

Hope For Kids - LoomBands

I realised with the first session of Hope for Kids, that as a Service Leader, my responsibilities will grow. I had to ensure that everyone part of the group was present there on time and was fulfilling their duties.  I was responsible for deciding which activities will take place on which days and to carry it forward by gathering the necessary materials. 
The first  day back to the Cancer Hospital was productive. We arranged materials to make Loom Bands with the children. As we had conducted this activity in the previous year, many of the kids still knew how to make them. This made it easier to teach them as they taught each other as well. We had to be careful as the younger children could easily intake the small rubber bands. I assigned one member of the group per two children. This allowed us to teach them with less distraction and to be attentive towards their actions. 

 Making loom bands with - Minul

Although I was used to engaging with cancer patients form the hospital, going back there after a long period of time brought back a feeling of uneasiness. Before going to the hospital, I had talked to the group about the after-effects of visiting the hospital and how a feeling of sadness washes over you. However, after spending the hour with them, I realised that we were the reason the children were happy. They enjoyed creating the loom bands, and were extremely happy with their outcomes. 

In this session, we planned and initiated an activity, learned how to work collaboratively with the patients and one another, engaged with the issue of cancer and how it is a matter of global importance, considered the ethical implications of our actions as the way we act at the hospital could hurt someone else, increased our awareness and finally as a service leader  this session taught me how important it is to show perseverance and commitment to the activity. 

CAS Goals 2015-2016

My final CAS Year of the IB diploma in DP2 will consist of costume designing for Bugsy Malone, Badminton and Hope for Kids.

For my creativity this semester, I will be part of the crew for the senior school production of ‘Bugsy Malone’ as the costume designer. With my avid interest in pursuing Fashion Designing as a career, this experience will help improve my skills, boost my confidence and give me more knowledge about the designing field. In the upcoming week, I will be watching the movie and sketching designs inspired by the movie. I will also be attending play practices, as this will help me visualize the designs on the characters and make changes and add items onto the designs. Costume Designing will allow me to showcase my skills and also help me to understand how the costume of a character is essential to his or her identity in the play. This creativity will help me increases my awareness of my areas of strength and where I need to improve, acquire new skills, plan and initiate new costumes and ideas, work collaboratively with the entire Bugsy Malone Crew, teach me how to design appropriate garments suitable for the audience keeping in mind the ethical implications of my actions, and lastly with my keen interest in the fashion field, I will be committed to my duties.

For Action this Semester, I will be playing Badminton. I have developed a keen interest to play Badminton and therefore have decided to continue playing the sport for the upcoming year. Badminton helps me to stay fit and healthy. Last semester, I learnt new techniques and how to play collaboratively with another player in doubles. This year I hope to improve my gameplay and continue to work on improving my stamina. Badminton will help me to release the tension of the week. This year I aspire to increases my awareness of my areas of strength and where I need to improve, work collaboratively with a doubles partner, develop new skills, and be aware of my surroundings and be careful with the racket.

For Service this Year, I will continue to work with Hope for Kids. In the previous semester, I enjoyed interacting with the cancer patients and was also able to interact with one girl on a personal level. Gimhani was a very talented artist, and I loved teaching her new arts and crafts.  In the upcoming semester, I will be planning and initiating new activities such as paper-maché, paper lamps and bracelets. This will allow me to work collaboratively with the group of students from OSC as well as the cancer patients.  By conducting arts and crafts activities I will be improving my artistic skills and also develop new skills.  Working at the cancer hospital, I will be dealing with issues of global importance relating to cancer and the depression caused by it. I hope to spread awareness of the disease and how keeping the mind fit can help in tackling depression, and thus make the course of treatment easier. As, I will be travelling to a hospital; I will be considering the ethical implications of my actions there. I will show perseverance and commitment to this service group for my final year in the IB diploma and hopefully also to continue working with cancer patients during my further studies elsewhere.