Post date: Oct 27, 2017 4:08:30 PM
Project Week Presentation:
The feeling of pride that I had towards my peers and beloved CAS group Karuiku was unimaginable. My first project week experience was completely different from what I expected. I expected the project week to be a lenient and easy week, but it turned out to be one of the busiest weeks in my life. We were given the task of creating a 5 minutes presentation to present in front of a panel of professional judges, and we really had to work hard towards achieving this task. I would estimate that the group met for at least 15 hours to work on the presentation. Our tasks were divided equally, and each person had a specific role. I personally had to follow up and make sure that everyone was meeting the deadlines I set. That, in addition to writing the main goals and missions portion of our CAS project. I utilized my writing skills and contributed to writing the most critical parts of our project. The amount of mission statement drafts that I wrote were way too high, but I am glad that the final product was detailed and insightful. Even though I only mentioned my contributions to the project, I just want to acknowledge that every single member of the group is a hero and that the project would not be successful had we not united and worked as a unit. We would not have assembled such an amazing power point had everyone not worked hard, and I am really proud of the whole team.
As mentioned earlier, writing is my strong suit, and so I left the area that I need improvement in, such as power point designing to other members of the group. I have personally learned a lot from our professional at designing, and I will definitely develop my power point designing skills and work on them in the future.
Time Management and being ready to present on the day was the biggest issue that we faced as a group. We had to make sure that we had enough practice presentations and writing drafts completed before the actual presentation. We also had to make sure that our timings were accurate, in order not to go over the 5 minutes mark. Those were all difficult and frustrating challenges, but we also dealt with them in an efficient way. The statement "practice makes perfect" really applied to this situation. We practiced enough to the point that we wanted to just get on with the presentation without feeling nervous. We knew that, regardless of the competition prize, that we had to present ourselves and the project in the best possible way, which is why we ended up putting in the best show (presentation) possible. Our futures lie on our success in CAS, and I really feel that even though CAS is just a pass or fail requirement, IB students should take it seriously, and really make good use of the resources provided to them. Everyone wants their project to be the best, and so hard work and self-discipline is the first step towards achieving this wish.
The final thing that I want to state is the feeling towards the fact the we didn't win the competition award money prize. At first, I felt frustrated considering all the hard work put in, in addition to my belief that our project deserved the first prize (best structured presentation), but eventually I felt a feeling of pride towards our project. I find this as an opportunity to prove the judges wrong and show them that our project is the best, which is what we are going to do in the future. We have already progressed significantly since the project week. I have already visited two schools to present our project and have guaranteed enough participants for our next workshop. I believe that my personal motivation towards this project has increased after the competition verdict, and I will ensure that Karuiku rises to the top and makes a change, no matter the scale.