Doing your community service is a part of IB that is extremely important and essential to get your diploma. It can be fun to volunteer with friends and help the community, but it can also be really confusing and hard if not done right.
Volunteering
The first step to being able to complete CAS is to find a volunteer opportunity in which you can get community service hours. These opportunities have to be free work; you can’t be getting paid for them. It also can’t be internships, unfortunately. Things like helping coach a local team, helping clean a local park, helping in organizing school events, and even playing a sport counts as volunteering for CAS.
Proposal
The next step is to propose your idea/your volunteer option to Ms. Ortiz on the ManageBac website. Explain what you will be doing and what learning objectives you will be meeting and make sure you describe each objective in a couple sentences. Be concise, you don't always have to meet all the objectives; as long as you meet at least 2, it's totally fine. Make sure you do this on time, before your volunteer event, and before the end of the month so you can have time to make modifications and actually partake in the event. After your proposal make sure to print out the Supervisor Review paper so you can have it ready for your event!!
During Your Community Service
TAKE PICTURES!! I'm emphasizing this because it has happened to me before: I had no proof and wasn’t able to get credit for what I did. Make sure you take pictures of what you did so that you can have evidence. Show yourself in the pictures too! Bring your supervisor review with you. This is extremely important because that way you don't have to email your supervisor constantly and be worried about whether they will send it to you before the deadline. And most importantly, have fun and enjoy the community service!
Reflection
Here is where you will attach your pictures, your supervisor review, and your discussion about what you did. Describe your event and how you met your learning outcomes. Make sure to write in detail to make sure your reflection is approved by Ms. Ortiz. Make it concise, but also descriptive. Don't just write a small 5 sentence paragraph, elaborate on each learning outcome and how you met it in this experience.
Make sure you start looking for volunteer opportunities from the beginning of the month. Do not procrastinate! Avoid being stressed at the end of the month doing your CAS last minute. It will give you room for error, give you time to fix them, and make your experience as best as possible. CAS is easy if done properly, distributed over the month, and done slowly. Remember you have the whole month, so there’s no need to be rushing on the last 2 days. And don’t forget to turn in your CAS for this month!