Stephanie's CAS Journey

I have always found CAS to be a hassle and a burden in my busy DP life because it makes me force myself to do things I don't want to do in order to complete the required hours. However, I found that there are many things I want to do and am very excited to do when I am scheduling and conceptualizing CAS activities. In addition, these two years of CAS have allowed me to try many things I never thought I could do, and I have gained many new skills and breakthroughs in areas that I want to progress and develop.

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.

To a great extent:

This learning outcome has been achieved in almost all of my CAS experiences. For example, in the lighthouse club, as a core member of the club and a group leader in various activities, I have improved my leadership skills, which I always want to improve. In each leadership experience, I found out that I was not good enough at organizing the group, motivating them, and even communicating with them effectively. And at the end of the CAS experience, I was able to have good leadership skills, communication skills, and teamwork skills. Not only that, but also because of these CAS experiences, I discovered the strength of being an effective leader, which will help me in the future, and I hope to continue to improve.

To a great extent:

During each CAS experience, I encountered some challenges because there were many areas of the CAS experience that I was not good at and some that I wanted to improve on. But these challenges and difficulties have allowed me to make a lot of progress. I feel that I have improved the most through my experiences at the Lighthouse Club. For example, during the winter festival and sports day, as the core member and leader of the group, I faced many challenges in leading the group. For example, some group members were not very enthusiastic about the event, so they did not cooperate with everyone. So I started to reflect on my attitude in dealing with the group members. I put myself in their shoes to think more about their thoughts and feelings. I asked all the group members about their thoughts and feelings in the subsequent discussions and let them take the initiative to give their opinions. It can motivate them and make them members start to participate in the activities to a great extent. In this case, I realized that an effective leader organizes the group and distributes tasks. It is also essential to build a good relationship with the group members and know how to motivate them. And after going through these challenges, I developed my leadership skills.

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

To a great extent:

During many of my CAS experiences, I have learned how to plan activities and proposals that show my creative idea. For example, in the CAS experience of For example, in the CAS experience of "Meeting in Taipei city government," I proposed to the Taipei City Council members a policy against the epidemic. I got the opportunity to participate in the Taipei City government meeting and propose it to the mayor. The proposal was about vaccine passes, cloud-based telemedicine, and food revitalization projects and was developed through investigation, discussions with various people, and my creative ideas. For example, I saw the policies and revitalization programs of different countries for vaccination in the international news. I found that many countries opened up the dining out for vaccinated people when the epidemic was severe, which could improve the economy of stores on the one hand and control the epidemic on the other. So I proposed the vaccine pass proposal, hoping to enhance stores' income and prevent the spread of the epidemic, which is also a way to contribute to society. I learned how to plan a feasible project and find inspiration through investigation and present my creative ideas in different places.

4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

To a great extent:

During many of my CAS experiences, lots of my original plans had to be changed due to the epidemic, such as some service activities and sports activities I had planned to do. However, I managed to find some ways to overcome these changes and persevere through my CAS. For example, my CAS project "Picking up trash in Yangmingshan National Park" required me to contact my group to constantly discuss and look up information. But due to the epidemic, we were unable to meet frequently. So we switched to using "Zoom meeting," which allows us to have a smooth discussion three to four times a week and increases the frequency and efficiency of the discussion without having to worry about the location. Moreover, because I could not frequently meet with my team members during the preparation, we paid more attention to the importance of division of work. It allowed us to complete the CAS project and made our CAS project go more smoothly because of these changes and improvements.

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

To a great extent:

Most of my CAS experience required group work, which made me realize the importance of teamwork. For example, during my CAS experience "Winter festival," I initially thought that I was the team leader, so I had to make all the decisions and do most of the work, but this made the preparation very slow. Moreover, I became very helpless when faced with an area I was not familiar with. After focusing on teamwork, I got more ideas and creativity. Because different people have different skills, making my preparation more accessible and efficient. I presented better results because different people have diverse opinions and views, making our events more creative.

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

To some extent:

Many of my activities are local, so not most of my CAS experiences have achieved this learning outcome. I think the most impressive and directly related event to this learning outcome is the "Meeting in Taipei city government." since this event is based on an international perspective. For example, Covid-19 is a critical global issue, and many countries, including Taiwan, face challenges such as economic losses faced by the global community; this brings Taiwan into line with the international community and demonstrates my awareness and responsibility toward shared humanity.

7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

To some extent:

I don't think about ethical issues very carefully in many of my activities, which I have to reflect on. But I think there is an achievement in the "Winter festival" CAS experience because this activity is about teaching children, so we build specific values for children like being brave and persistent. And I considered every action and choice ethically, which only positively influenced the children when planning and conducting the event.