1. Which aspect of the programme excites you the most? Which aspect seems most challenging?
The Service aspect of the programme excites me most, since I love working with the community around me, and working to better my environment. The service activities I have done so far have all been very enriching and each experience has allowed me to learn and grow. The Activity aspect seems the most challenging, since I do not always partake in many different activities on a daily basis.
2. What do you most hope to achieve from CAS?
I hope to achieve a well rounded experience, that the Creativity, Activity and Service strands of CAS can provide me with, as well as creating a lasting impact on the people and community around me.
3. How do you think your CAS programme will enable you to grow? How do these areas of growth apply to the attributes of the IB learner profile?
In my opinion, the CAS programme provides us with the tools we need to explore the opportunities around us, and gives us the encouragement and motivation needed to start new activities and try new things. This contributes to our overall growth as people, and helps us develop our characters and personalities. Exploring what is around us and trying new things apply directly to the attributes of the IB Learner Profile, since they make us Knowledgeable, Open-minded, Caring, Risk-Taking etc.
4. How will you plan for an equal distribution of CAS strands across your CAS experiences?
Setting a goal for the number of activities I wish to complete under each strand every semester, will hopefully assist me in equally distributing my CAS hours amongst meaningful tasks that will create a fulfilling CAS experience for me.
5. What are your main interests? How can you incorporate these interests into your CAS programme?
My main interests include reading, swimming, cooking, and spending quality time with my friends. I can perhaps incorporate these interests into my CAS programme, by starting a Book Club which may fall under Creativity and swimming more regularly during the holidays which will fall under Activity. As for spending time with my friends, I could perhaps start a joint CAS or community service project with them, which will allow me to spend quality time with them while being productive and using my time for a meaningful experience.
6. What issues of local significance concern you most? How could you address these in your CAS programme?
A major issue that concerns me is the lack of sex education in rural areas of Kodaikanal and other cities, an issue of ignorance that leads to sexual abuse and harrassment. To give these issues light in my CAS project, I could perhaps visit local schools in the area or start small workshops to teach younger children in rural areas about the importance of boundaries and consent.
7. What would you enjoy doing for creativity? Activity? Service?
I would like to start a new hobby or learn a new skill for Creativity, like crocheting, or cooking for example. For Activity, I would like to go swimming more regularly and make a habit of it, or perhaps go on more hikes during the school year. I might also start running in the mornings, and start a running club for anyone else interested in early morning running. For service, I would like to volunteer at a local school or orphanage, and work with younger teens and children. I would also like to volunteer with animals or at animal shelters, and perhaps start a project to help the stray animals in Kodaikanal.
8. Have you made any plans for creativity? Activity? Service? For each, what are you hoping to learn or do you have skills you want to develop?
Answer above ^
9. Can you summarize each of these learning outcomes in your own words?
Strength and Growth:
I believe this means that CAS should make a person confident in their own decisions and have strength of character, and grow as a person over the course of their CAS journey.
Challenge and Skills:
Challenges are needed to have us face unfamiliar scenarios and work on how to get past obstacles. Skills should be acquired through new and unfamiliar experiences that challenges provide us with.
Initiative and Planning:
CAS should teach us how to take initiative and try something new, as well as plan for activities and projects without guidance in the future. This is why the CAS project is important, to help us learn how to organize and arrange programmes and fulfill a purpose.
Working Collaboratively with others:
Working with others is a necessary skill, and we often end up working with other people when doing our activities under the 3 CAS strands. This helps us to learn how to collaborate with others and work out differing points of view.
Showing perseverance and commitment:
Once we start a CAS activity, it is important to see it through. This is a crucial skill in later life, and CAS teaches students how to commit to something and deal with problems that come up during the course of the project, instead of abandoning it.
Global engagement:
CAS often focuses on global issues, which teaches students to make responsible decisions and start meaningful CAS projects with make a difference and contribute to solving important global issues such as environmental concerns, spreading education etc.
Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Considering the ethics of our choices is important because it keeps us on the right path. Ethical dilemmas often arise while doing our CAS activities, and it is vital that we are aware of the consequences of our choices and actions since it can impact our personal growth, which is directly linked to the purpose of CAS.
10. From the plans you already have, do you see any opportunities that may be helpful in meeting these learning outcomes?
Going swimming or running regularly can help with meeting the learning outcome of Perseverance and Commitment, and doing a CAS project on sexual health education can help me recognise and consider the ethics of this social issue and what I am doing to contribute. My ideas for CAS projects are also directly related to global issues, which meets the learning outcome of Global Engagement, and all of my prospective opportunities involve planning and working with others, which meet the second and third CAS learning outcomes.
11. Have you thought of how you will keep evidence (and the types of evidence) that you are engaging with CAS and are meeting the CAS outcomes?
The types of evidence I will keep will be photos, recordings, voice memos etc. of my CAS experiences, and I will record them in my CAS portfolio which I am currently building on Google sites. I will also record these in a Google Document, and write extensive reflections on each CAS experience that I can later edit and upload to my CAS portfolio.
12. How can you keep track of your plans and meeting the learning outcomes through your portfolio?
Making clear lists and organizing the three different strands of CAS with all my separate activities under them in my portfolio will help me keep track of my plans, and my reflections on each experience or activity will help me keep track of whether I am meeting the learning outcomes. At the end of each reflection, I may make a grid and check off the learning outcomes I think I met throughout the experience in the grid.