CAS Stages

Investigation

• Students identify their interests, skills, and talents to be used in considering opportunities for CAS experiences, as well as areas for personal growth and development. Students investigate what they want to do and determine the purpose of their CAS experience. In the case of service, students identify a need they want to address.

Well, I thought it was very courageous of me to intern in a film store, as you can tell from my past CAS experiences, I started liking Film-photography around the year 2017-2018 and that's around the time where I got into it. Asking for an opportunity to help out there allowed me to feel like I'm doing something I enjoy, meantime I also learned how to serve customers, effective social skills, how my boss opened this shop, and how he succeed.

Preparation

• Students clarify roles and responsibilities, develop a plan of actions to be taken, identify specified resources and timelines, and acquire any skills as needed to engage in the CAS experience.

My job at the store was basically to do everything, I go in sometimes for fun just to hang out, but Saturdays are usually the time where I go in to work seriously. I don't do much really, I mostly serve customers, clean, introduce and help out with the scanning from time to time. I learned a lot about scanning films and how the machine works, I can't function it alone but I know the basics of what to do and what not to do, and this skill set is something very valuable if I do want to open a film store in the future.

Demonstration

• Students make explicit what and how they learned and what they have accomplished, for example, by sharing their CAS experience through their CAS portfolio or with others informally or formally. Through demonstration and communication, students solidify their understanding and evoke a response from others.

Knowing how to develop films is one of my greatest accomplishments due to how complex it is, I don't understand it fully but there are different kinds of chemicals used in the store, it's very crucial to not get it wrong when developing the films. There are several kinds of development skills for different kinds of films: motion films, normal films, Black and white films, 120mm films, 135mm films, etc... Films such as motion film and motion B&W must be developed by a person, it takes around 2-3 hours to fully develop them for them to go through the scanning machine due to the different layering of the films. There are also positive films and negative films where positive films could see the colors under the light, negative films will like the colors are inverted.

The most interesting ones that I learned from films are how their labels matter so much, "C-41" means it could be scanned by machines, some other labels could mean different kinds of things, if you put the wrong films in the wrong place it could result in destroying the film itself or even hurting the machine where it cost 100,000 baht.

Action

• Students implement their idea or plan. This often requires decision-making and problem-solving. Students may work individually, with partners, or in groups.

Helping out at a place being a complete outsider, you need to compromise a lot. I guess being an international school kid it's hard to understand the perspectives of the employees or being slightly below someone since the majority of us grew up privileged. When working with others it's harder for me in a way due to cultural differences, sometimes our understanding of something could be interpreted differently, also when customers ask for explicit details on something I may not be the best at doing so, there's a lot of things that I need to work on due language barriers and inexperienced about most of the things.

Reflection

• Students describe what happened, express feelings, generate ideas and raise questions. Reflection can occur at any time during CAS to further understanding, assist with revising plans, learn from the experience, and make explicit connections between their growth, accomplishments, and the learning outcomes for personal awareness. Reflection may lead to new action

I think this experience for me was very valuable for me and my future life path, I grew up a lot after I begin to intern here, and I also learned a lot about how a business works. From my boss I've learned how to be a business starter and the inside details of how to open and function a business; From being an employee I understand how to give what the customers want and how to make them feel comfortable; From the job itself I've learned more about different types of films and the ways of scanning; From an overall point of view, I have learned that opening a business is not as easy as it is, and there's more to worry about in the future, and I should be glad that I don't have much to worry about compared to adults who are earning for their living.