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. 

Badminton Update

Badminton allows me to indulge in an action sport that relieves my stress. Playing badminton on a weekly basis gives me the opportunity to learn and improve my gameplay. It requires me to show commitment and perseverance. My stamina has always been a weak point for me and has been affecting the way I play. Therefore this is a major area of my focus on this semester. 

My semester started with learning new techniques of long serves and smashes, as these are my main weak points. Over the past 4 weeks,  I believe that I have improved on my smashes. My aim is to be more informed of the various shot types and how the gameplay changes while playing singles or doubles. I hope to play single matches as it allows me to be independent and use more strength. This will further develop my stamina. There are times when I feel extremely breathless and tired, but I still keep on playing. This is helping me to improve my overall game play along with my backhand and forehand shots. 

Playing with Nandini against Anya and Sam

1. 1.             Increased their awareness of their strengths and areas for growth. –  Improve my gameplay.
   2.             Undertaken new challenges. – Push myself to take on more strain and learn new moves.
   3.             Worked collaboratively with others. – Play matches with a partner. Be in sync and understand how to utilise the court space.
   4.             Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities. – Attend every class and improve my stamina.
   5.             Considered the ethical implications of their actions. – Make sure not to throw around my racket or knowingly injure someone.

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.