CAS
as the richness of the IB DP program, helps us discover ourselves
within, and beyond. Putting up a food stall at school in the track
festival was the project we executed, in order to raise funds for the
Eco – club, our main project. We went through a challenging, yet
exciting journey which included intense preparation, relentless
discussions, and of course pure team work. Though this was our very
first CAS project, we managed to hit the bull's eye by earning
profits half way into the day.
Every
single second spent on this activity was definitely worth the
experience and outcomes we acquired.
We
spent around two hours to make 2 posters, one which was black and
white and the other was colourful and one extra large menu. Here,
many of us tried our hands on painting for the first time and,to be
honest, it turned out to be great. This made us Risk-takes as we
accepted new challenges and faced it with a smile!
Next
we entered the kitchen where some of us turned on to be really good
chefs. We had been planning for long and on the 4th of March we
executed our plan. Oreo biscuits were crushed on 4th March itself and
neatly sealed while lemon juice from around 150 lemons were extracted
and kept in the freezer. Next morning, quickly the kitchen staff
along with some students started cutting the vegetables while few
students engaged in making the oreo milkshake and Lemonade. The rest
of the batch worked on the stall, setting it up neatly, connecting
the wires for the billing software and putting up the menus around
the campus.
The
transport and service department of the stall comprised of ten of us.
We collaboratively handled the shifting of all the items (including
spoons, plates, cups, tissue papers, raw materials and hotboxes along
with the food) from the kitchen to our stall, arranging the dishes on
the plates and serving with joy!
During
the course of the day everyone were on their toes, briskly keeping up
the duty. There was a point when the sales dwindled. Nonetheless, we
didn't lose hope. It was because of our presence of mind that we
momentarily decided upon creating combos, reducing prices and
entering into were the audience were seated, to start professionally
marketing (at least we tried!). Much to our surprise, sales began
multiplying whilst our faces began beaming once again!
Yes,
we may have thrown our frustration on one another in the process,
probably because of the tension in the confusion. However, we
apologized and thanked each one at the end of the day. It all
ultimately built our teamwork skills, taught us the polite method of
addressing our guests and made us better thinkers.
We
learned various skills through out this short journey. Treating
customers was a major skill that all of us acquired. Serving a huge
crowd continuously helped us develop our speed and at the same time,
to serve. Of course, smiling at every customer was hard since we were
nearly exhausted. But we still managed to keep pleasant faces, which
made us inculcate that quality. According to the IB learner profile,
this activity molded us into excellent communicators. It also made us
caring since what we were doing was service. Moreover, a role of a
thinker was what we mastered at the end of the day, as we
spontaneously came up with offers and deals which would help us sell
all our items yet bring us profit at the same time. We also learned
how to make so many dishes that we have never tried making. However,
cooking was not the only thing we newly learned. We learned how to be
principled, how to treat an individual, how to work cooperatively
with a team and most importantly, how to work efficiently!
