Class of 2022 CAS Final Reflection and Celebration

Andy's CAS Journey

Final CAS Reflection

In retrospect, CAS has prompted opportunities for me to engage in a range of activities to develop personal skills in the scope of creativity, activity, and service. Given the heavy academic pressure from the International Baccalaureate curriculum, I used to treat CAS as a secondary component to my scholastic pursuits. However, reflecting on the experience altogether, I was involved in multiple fun activities that allowed me to further connections with people whilst fulfilling various learning objectives. In addition, I was able to step out of my comfort zone and take part in activities that I do not usually participate in. That is, I shifted away from an over-involvement in physical sport activities to creativity or service-based activities to accomplish my 'balanced' attributes as an IB learner.

A favorable characteristic offered by the program is the degree of flexibility and convenience it offers. That said, this provides students with an opportunity to selectively adopt preferable activities into their CAS experience. This has worked to my benefit because I was able to be involved in specific activities that secure my personal interests. For instance, I am rather enthusiastic about sports and have therefore involved myself in activities revolved around the matter (such as TISSA, sports day, and coaching). As a result, I was able to engage in a diverse range of CAS activities despite the difficulties and hardships encountered throughout my two-year IB journey at a minimized level of stress and anxiety.

The final CAS reflection will be a condensed piece that captures the highlights and memories of all activities that I have been involved in as a part of my CAS, as well as the personal skills and attributes that were developed in the process. The learning outcomes will also be mentioned with respect to my activities, to develop a further appreciation on the implications of each event, and its significance or uniqueness on a personal scale.

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Though it is fair to state that this particular outcome has been persistently integrated into my two-year IB career, this is specifically true for the 'activity' component of my CAS. For instance, having gained experience from being a member of the varsity volleyball team for three consecutive years, I shortly recognized that my offensive skills are superior to my defensive skills and therefore dedicated more time into improving my defensive skills. Though I feel like most of the excitement in volleyball is associated with offense, I knew that working on my weakness would most likely benefit the team. On the other hand, extreme passion I held for the sport has also driven me into placing self-training sessions into my busy schedule, to keep myself in shape and also assuring that my offensive skills are maintained at a high level. This outcome is rather significant because I was able to weigh up the relative importance of my personal interests and team pursuits, to improve my areas of weakness and furthering my strengths into critical factors that play a role in determining team victory.

2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Though there have been several setbacks and challenges encountered in all three aspects of CAS, this learning outcome has been concretely demonstrated when I had become a part of the 'Beyond Horizon' team to teach children (from rural areas) English on a weekly basis. Often at times, I tend to struggle to express and teach in simpler terms for the ease of understanding of the audience. However, given that the program itself is revolved around teaching children from rural areas with the lack of access to quality education, it is extraordinarily important to break down complex material into simpler parts. I undertook this challenge and began preparing for the weekly lessons by simplifying lesson contents into condensed material. In the process, not only was I able to develop my interactive and communication skills, but I also matured in terms of the ability to explain complex ideas in simpler terms. That is, I became more capable of grasping the central idea of classroom material and simplifying or expressing it without any overcomplication or lack of concision.

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

To diversify my CAS experiences, I have not constrained myself to boundaries and repeatedly encouraged myself to step out of my comfort zone. Although all of my CAS activities required some form of planning and organization, one of the most explicit display of this learning outcome was seen when I became the assistant coach of the 8th grade volleyball TISSA coach. Before becoming involved in this activity, I knew the nature of this task was no easy feat, and demanded a large amount of time and effort to be invested into it. In order to be officially entitled to become the assistant coach of the team, a lot of coordination and communication between the PE staff was head coach was required. Thereafter, I was highly involved in the planning of their training to optimize their athletic abilities on & off the court. My contributions were also justified by the championship trophy they were able to win on the tournament.

4. Show commitment & perseverance in CAS experiences

I could confidently state that one of driving forces that promote my engagement in CAS would be the desire for personal growth, alongside the commitment and perseverance demonstrated in the engage of various activities. This is true in terms of all activity, creativity, and service-oriented activities because regardless of the type of event that one wishes to be involved in, the wish to commit must serve as a motivating factor to promote perseverance. One specific example of this was my involvement in the TISSA basketball team, to which I dedicated a large amount of time into training and improvement. This was also demonstrated when I became a part of the coaching team for the 8th grade TISSA volleyball team, whereby I had to attend every training session of theirs to supervise their attitude and performance. The devotion of my time to my assigned character and role prompted the development of various attributes, such as communication, leadership, and social skills.

5. Demonstrate the skills & recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Teamwork and collaboration played a rather significant role in the vast majority of my CAS activities. In fact, I was able to institute develop more sensitivity, awareness, and appreciation towards the synergies created from becoming a team player, rather than the pursuit for individual achievements. Not only has this learning outcome been exhibited in all sport activities I have been involved in, but also in the planning and coordination of sports day. In fact, I was caught in a conflict with a partner I was assigned to for the event, to which the overall progress of the project was postponed due to our dispute. As a consequence, we had to deal with many delays and falling behind schedule for various activities. However, as the conflict was shortly resolved between us, the both of us recognized the importance of working collaboratively, and worked in close proximity to optimize our progress and efficiency.

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Though this specific learning outcome has been slightly lacking in my CAS experience, I have indirectly engaged in activities that demonstrate this. One of which was my voluntary experience at the Taipei Zoo, to which the role I was assigned to was to ensure that visitors are following the governmental regulations and policies amid the global pandemic. That is, I was responsible to assure that all guests were wearing masks appropriately to minimize infectious transmissions, and that social distancing was maintained. On the other hand, the coordinator of the voluntary experience raised my awareness on the changing environmental pressures faced by endangered species, and its relative risks to extinction. Moreover, I was lectured on the importance of the sustainability of ecosystems and green environments, as requested to pass on this information to visitors in the form of posters and verbal explanation. Though outcome 6 of my CAS project was not specifically planned for, I was able to indirectly achieve this objective and engage with issues consisting of global significance, indirectly.

7. Recognize & consider the ethics of choices & actions

The ethics of choices and actions have been immersed into the various CAS activities I was involved in, both explicitly and implicitly. This was specifically prevalent in group projects whereby individuals may have clashing perspectives and ideas, to which appropriate discussion or evaluation is needed to justify the final decision. The ways to approach these conflicting viewpoints to reach a balance point, require skilled communication to avoid the initiation of unnecessary arguments that lead to a dispersion of teamwork. The ethics of choices and actions is universal amongst service-based and activity-based events; namely in participation of team sports. This was also demonstrated in an English analysis workshop held my two of my classmates and I, to which we had to show evidence of ethical thought to the advice given to them, as well as the necessary skills to further their analysis & interpretation.

Conclusion

In hindsight, I am rather thankful and appreciative for opportunities that I was blessed with from my CAS experience, despite some downfalls associated with time management. CAS has played an important in the shaping of my character, skills, and qualities that will surely be applicable to various field I come into contact with in the future. Although impacts from the global pandemic has sabotaged some potential CAS opportunities, the activities that I have been involved in are meaningful experiences that have prompted areas of personal growth.

Now that my two-year IB journey has come to an end, I feel prepared and excited to move onto the next chapter of my life!

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