CAS reflection: Goodbye ocCASsions, Hello CAScade!

At the beginning of my blog, I have named CAS, as the essence of the IB DP course. Honestly, I thought CAS was just a part of DP that gave us a chance to discover ourselves in spite of the challenging coursework of IB. However, I now understand that it has inflected chiefly on my life as a whole. Unlike the other subjects I took in IB, I am sure CAS will walk by my side forever.

The various CAS experiences accomplished in the course of 2 years have taught me new skills and have also helped me strengthen other skills. Participating in the Eco club and taking care of a plant made me a better inquirer as I developed the urge to learn how to keep my plant healthy. This skill helped me prevent the leaves of my Boston fern becoming brown and dry frequently. Moreover, building a commitment towards this CAS experience inculcated a sense of responsibility in me.

Joining the secretariat of SIMUN manifested the platform in which I could showcase what I had learned from my previous MUN experiences. It also gave me the confidence and courage to undertake any challenge and take smart decisions spontaneously, making me a risk-taker.  Although I may not be well-versed at solving issued at hand, this experience has constructed self confidence and the ability to think quickly. When one of the countries in the UNHRC was accidentally given to two delegates, I was able to take a decision immediately and give one of the delegates extra time to prepare for another position in the same committee. I was ready for the consequences including the response to this sudden change from the delegate’s guide. This made me principled.

Yoga, being one of my long term activities undoubtedly showed me a way to stay balanced. With the strenuous coursework, I learned that it was important to stay calm in order to focus and complete assignments before their deadlines. That’s when I chose to start learning yoga. Well beyond what I expected to gain from this activity, Yoga helped me achieve a personal well-being. I was able to stay calm during critical situations, including those that occurred during SIMUN.

One of the most essential life skills that I have acquired through CAS is open mindedness. Being broad minded in order to accept cultural similarities and differences is obligatory to appreciate one’s identity. Not everybody in today’s world shows acceptance towards differences within the society. However, being able to admire and respect them, in turn, improves universal communication. A Skype call with Swedish students was the first time I found an opportunity to interact with students of my age from a country I have never visited before. The way they celebrate during certain occasions and their perception of life seemed to be similar to ours yet different in some manners. Appreciating those cultural values did not seem a challenge to me chiefly because of the different cultures we’ve discussed during our English classes.

Although these are the most significant milestones through out the journey of IB CAS for me, every single one of the other activities have shown me the different colours of the world. All of them have taught me how to look at anything and everything from all possible lenses. Just like the way the subjects enhanced my knowledge, CAS exceptionally enhanced an important stage of life, and will definitely inflect all along the rest of my journey!

               

Reflection

              Taking care of a life is something commendable. This is what each of the eco club members have managed to do for a year. We did face a lot of struggles including fights among ourselves and also when our plants were not healthy sometimes. Some of us would forget to water the plants regularly and the others would forget to bring their plants out of the cabins before the weekend. When the leaders reminded us to do it, few of us got angry and annoyed. That's when the fight began, and a couple of members were pushed out of the Eco club. We got some of our other friends to join later.       
               However, over time, we learned how to respect each others' feelings and how to work as a team. Furthermore, we actually got to know more about how to be 'principled', since watering our plants was something we had to do without fail in order to keep our plants alive.
               Most of  us have heard of those quotes that say 'Plant one tree a day' and other similar ones. But I never really took a step to plant a tree everyday. This CAS experience helped me take care of plants for quite a long duration. It may not be a great achievement. But I believe I have supported the environment by taking this baby step towards keeping our planet healthy.
               I've developed this affection towards plants these days only because of this activity. The best part of this experience is that the inside of our school looks much greener and healthier right now. I will always remember to take care of my surrounding simply by growing plants, just like we did in our Eco-club. Had I not participated in this club, I wouldn't have begun loving nature...
             

Reflection 16: Memorable experience!

      I have to say, our previous MUN experiences have inspired us to host an MUN ourselves. I still remember how thankful we were for the the opportunity given to us to showcase our talents of debating in a diplomatic manner which we otherwise would have never realized. At this point, giving the same opportunity to a whole new community of students makes me feel something beyond just contentment. 
      Articulating words is an important skill. But doing the same in the a competent atmosphere is quite challenging. This skill along with 'listening' cannot be taught overnight, but can be triggered through such debates. In fact, these skills do not just help in MUNing, but play an important role in life. In today's world, standing up for ones self and communicating effectively still stands difficult for today's generation, but definitely not for MUNers. From this idea came our vision statement: "Bringing together motivated and talented individuals from every nook of the region,who aspire about our future and recognize their power to shape it, to exhibit MUNing at its best." 
    The learning outcomes from this experience are commendable. From participating in an MUN, I, indeed, learned to speak confidently without any inhibitions and also to research effectively. However, from hosting one, I learned to organize and also be balanced. 'How balanced?', you may ask. Well, the preparation for SIMUN was during the time of our semester exams. Most of us had to skip classes and also finish some of the work at home. Unfortunately, we didn't have a choice to skip academics during that period. That is when I was bound to plan appropriately and allocate some time for my homework and exam preparation along with SIMUN work. 
     SIMUN will always be a memorable event for me because it taught me not just more about MUNing, but also about myself. Since we had some or the other issue at times, I realized how much I could manage and how much I could not. For instance, adding the names of the winners on the pre designed certificates an hour before the closing ceremony got me tensed and nervous. At that instant, I learned that I wasn't able to handle the situation well. However, with peer support, I could finish it within time and submit them. Furthermore, I definitely did strengthen the skills of both working individually and with my team! 

Journal 16.5: The grand event!

The conference

Representing India’s culture, we commenced with a classical dance performed by a group of The IPS officer’s speech enlightened the opening ceremony, after which, in a new fashion, the entire secretariat declared the committee sessions open together. Additionally, we had the director of Notthingam universtity come over to give a talk about their university which helped a lot of high school students who are looking forward to go abroad for further education. Generally, the Secretary general does this honor in every MUN conference. This is one way SIMUN stands different! Soon, the delegates were assembled in their committee rooms to begin their first session. There were no major issues in the agenda of the committee sessions. They went steady and smooth till the end. However, on the first day we figured that some students were given two allotments and few country allotments were assigned to two delegates. At the spot, another director and I decided give those delegates extra time to prepare and a silent role in the first session to just observe the way the committee proceeds. My major role during the conference was to monitor all the committees consistently to ensure there are no issues during the sessions, being the director of committees. The volunteers from DP year 1 in the organizing committee helped me monitor the delegates and stood through every single session to help out in passing chits from delegates to the chair person. In brief, they helped me do my job much more efficiently. 

Socials

DJ Prince – An excellent DJ who ensured to include almost all the trending songs in his playlist with breathtaking additions.

Beatboxer: Arjun – His sensational talent was so inspiring to watch on stage! He seemed like he has so many instruments in his mouth!

Playback singer: Abhay Jothputkar – One of his famous super hits ‘Halena’ from the Tamil film : 'Irumugan' gave a unique essence to the event and all of us went on stage to dance while he sang!

Deeksha Rajesh: Senior DP student – who is a student at A.R Rahman’s school of music gave a stunning performance, accompanied by Manov, one of our advisers in SIMUN who played the guitar.

Journal 5.12: Handing over the eco club

      Now that our juniors have entered IB DP, we thought of handing over our eco club to our juniors. So, we had a meeting with them and asked the interested students to give their names for this participation. We then allotted each of them one plant to take care of. Also, we briefed them on how to take care of them and how to place them outside before every weekend so that they don't dry out in the cabins without enough sunlight and water.
       The DP faculty helped us arrange a ceremony to hand over this club. One of the juniors hosted the ceremony and our CAS coordinator Rolf sir gave a short speech about the work that had been done in order to bring light to this activity. He also talked about how important growing plants in your vicinity is.
        Then, the Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Sonali Geed gave all the members of the eco club certificates and appreciated us for having brought up a good tradition in our school!
        After the certificates were given, the ceremony was closed and all our juniors took incharge of their respective plants and carried them to the cabins. It was pretty hard to give away what we took care of for almost a year. But to know that a tradition that we began, is going to continue forever is makes us feel proud!

Journal 16.4: Creating sensation

We even had to skip a few classes to get time to sit together as a team and sort out those traditional issues that always pop up when all 7 minds think differently.  Of course, we always had the wise mind – our president who cleared the strains constantly. For instance, one of the major issues was that 2 people started making the country allotments for the delegates and we finally ended up in a mess and had to do it all over again. Skipping lunch and sleep became part of a daily routine under this pressure. However, one of the fun things that happened this month was ‘Drenched in Red’. It was an open challenge initiated by the SIMUN team for people to send pictures of anything in red that implied meaning. The sole purpose of this challenge was to bring people together. It’s seemed like an opportunity to bring everybody in unity, despite their differences. This in turn created a hype for SIMUN itself. Also, we had a skype call with the TIPS Karur campus students to clear their doubts regarding the committee sessions and conference details.

Journal 16.3: Only more work, yet more fun

 Making the ID cards for all delegates and inviting schools over the phone took a tremendous amount of time each day. We had to decide the colour of the ties and design the format of the tags.

Today was a big day for the SIMUN team since we went to the police department to invite the IPS officer to be our chief guest of the opening ceremony.

One of my favourite segments of this journey was meeting the Erode TIPS campus students in their school to give them an introductory session of MUNing. Teaching them the basics of an MUN taught me how much I know. Furthermore, the questions they asked helped us share our knowledge that we’ve gained from our previous MUNs. Beyond the crux of the session, what mattered was how we bonded instantly with all students from 6^th grade to 11^th grade.

Reflection: Controlling the mind body and soul

I’m glad I chose to learn yoga as one of my long term activities for CAS. This definitely is not the end of this experience since I’ve learned how Yoga can keep me calm throughout the day regardless of the stress and frustration that hits me. The explanation behind each and every posture that I have learned from my teacher has made me a reflective person.

Understanding the benefits of the posture has helped me work towards self-development. Usually, most of us work out or exercise without knowing the reasons behind them. But a sophisticated understanding of them has created a passion in me for Yoga. Practice sessions everyday first thing in the morning have helped me take control over myself mentally and physically.  I strongly believe that such control is essential in life for well-being, especially during stressful times including IB deadlines.

Of course, a lot of postures were difficult to perform in the beginning since I had not stretched and flexed those muscles before. However, with a little bit of practice, I could feel the soothing pain! As I became more flexible, I was able to feel a new energy within. That’s what helped me gain complete control.

 I have always been confused when people asked me to listen to my heart or my mind during critical situations. I only understood the nuance of those statements after learning yoga. This may not be crystal clear in words, as “actions always speak more than words”. But I will still try my best to put forward what I feel! Simply taking everything off your mind helps you remain calm. This is exactly what Yoga helps you do!