IBDP CAS Progress Diary

I had nominated myself for the role of student council president and submitted a letter of application to Mr. Storer late August this year. Following the application, I had made a speech in front of the student body and been voted to take on the role of president in the student council. I'd been a student representative for 3 years straight and I believe that I have the capability to effectively communicate and find ways to sustainably resolve issues reported by the student body, be them major or minor. Along with my council members, and by the end of my term as President, the SRC has nearly met our goal for the Loreto Project. As my term ended at the beginning of semester 2 in order for myself to focus on the May exams, we reached over 14,000,000VND, only 3,000,000 away from our initial goal. Events and initiatives we’ve taken include the Spirit Week, cafeteria food survey, rubrik cube competition, candy jar game, junior disco, and more. I have also had two SRC meetings every week, one with the executive board and one with the the full council. Sometimes there is a third meeting with the Deputy Principal to keep him posted with our progress. There have been ups and downs in being a part of the council, and we ran into issues of miscommunication at some points. However, I believe that my term has been fairly successful and I’ve completed it with satisfaction. LO3. Along with other SRC’s and some senior representatives outside of the SRC, I have successfully organized events to fundraise, promote, and publicize the causes recognized by the council. It can be difficult to work with a large group of individuals because communication can be hindered through language or occasional member truancy. LO4. As there are students of ages ranging from years 7 to 13, opinions and ideas on execution and prioritization have definitely varied. The degree of causes and their priority were controversial, but these were eventually determined by the popularity of the reports and sources of the issue. I think that collaboration was the hardest aspect of being in any group or council, because we are required to respect each other’s points of view and ideas. LO5. We also needed to be reliable and responsible for any task assignment and share the work load. Each of us have missed a meeting unwillingly - or even willingly - for other activities. However, the achievements of the entire council cannot be neglected. I needed to make sure that the SRC is amongst my top priorities and attended almost all of the meetings when notified.

LO1. The main area for growth in this activity are my practical as well as theoretical music skills. Along with the guitar I learned to read music and to compose. Reading music has always been a challenge for me since I am slow at translating notes and symbols. I think by consistently attending lessons each week I have overcome this problem and become a more well-rounded student.  LO5. As the year was extremely busy with lessons, assignments, exams and school events, it was increasingly challenging to fit everything inside an organized schedule. I needed to be smart in time management, and also committed to learning guitar because after a period without practice my finger movement will not be as quick and accurate. I was able to fit in 15 minutes of brief practice most nights after I completed my tasks for school. LO8. I developed new versatile skills during the process of learning the guitar. On the course of mastering this instrument there were numerous new strumming techniques and chords for me to learn. These skills can be used to help me socialize and contribute more to our school, as well as anywhere I may go in the future.

I donated 500,000VND to the Terry Fox Foundation and participated in the run as a representative of our school. I did finish the race, however it was at a rather slower speed than average.

LO3. Along with other SRC's and some senior representatives outside of the SRC, I have organized events to fundraise, promote, and publicize the causes recognized by the council.  LO4. As there are students of ages ranging from years 7 to 13, opinions and ideas on execution and prioritization have definitely varied. The degree of causes and their priority were controversial, but these were eventually determined by the popularity of the reports and sources of the issue. I think that collaboration was the hardest aspect of being in any group or council, because we are required to respect each other's points of view and ideas.  LO5. We also needed to be reliable and responsible for any task assignment and share the work load. Each of us have missed a meeting unwillingly - or even willingly - for other activities. However, the achievements of the entire council cannot be neglected. I needed to make sure that the SRC is amongst my top priorities and attended almost all of the meetings when notified.

L04. I have worked collaboratively with my house mates and tried my best to boost our team as a whole. The competitive nature of the house events was inevitable, but I tried my best to remain reasonable and light-minded, not only towards losing to other houses, but also towards the competence of my teammates.  L08. I have polished my sport skills, as well as attempted to push my endurance, strength, speed and eye-body coordination past my limits. Communication skills were also important in all team events, where roles are assigned with consent and all the participants get an equal chance to perform in the event - most importantly, communication was important for teammates to work collaboratively. I was able to balance my methods of communication and thus work on my leadership skill.

LO5. I struggled with speed, but somewhat with endurance as well as we met a shortage in participants and I swam various times consecutively. Fortunately I had taken off some time after school to visit a swimming pool and practiced before the competition.

LO1. I learned even more about the process of graphic design as I familiarized myself with Adobe Illustrator and dusted off my Photoshop skills. I was required to compromise some parts of my personal preferences in design in order to fulfill the agreements in the offer. Also, the design did turn out to be pleasant to the eye and met the general aesthetic standards of the basketball team. My own standard in the design quality is unchanged, however.

I have also conversed with peers who have traveled across the country and who come from other continents, which I think is beneficial for a student such as I am.

LO1. Being a part of the production has helped me realize that nobody in such a big group has to accomplish their work by themselves, and they are always supported by other members of the production, whether they are from the same crew or not. I received a lot of support and cooperation from all the members throughout the course of my work's completion. Not only did they help me, I also participated in the other crews' projects. This is due to the fact that I found myself capable of performing their particular tasks. Sometimes I did find some shortages in my performance in these tasks but the members helped to improve the quality of my overall contribution. LO4. This group project is even more massive than any other I've participated in. This makes it easier while also challenging. I think that there is to be a lot more pressure on directors, however, there are always others who are up to helping one another out. Deadlines are also required to be met and work sumission for everyone has to be prompt and exact. This may be hard to orchestrate because everybody is occupied by examinations, assessments, personal projects and extra-curricular activities and may find difficulties in cooperating with deadlines. I think this is the greatest challenge for directors to overcome in the production.  LO5. Even in our first meetings, I've found that the production entails some some tedious tasks and due dates. I have to persevere and find the time to finish every task on time in order to keep the chain of work functional and smooth. Despite other CAS and non-CAS tasks that I may develop through the course of the production, I must stay committed to the crew and work to produce my best work.

I have greatly enjoyed being a part of this committee and am anticipating next year's line-up. I will always say yes to such activities as I get the opportunity to do what I like most - design - and put my leadership skills to practice. I think that similar to the house dance, this activity has prepared me for what is to come in larger group projects. I've gained a fair share of experience in event organization and teamwork.

This CAS activity holds many sentimental and educational values for me, in the way that I've made more friends, personal memories during dance practice, as well as very useful leadership skills and effective ways to yield results from a group project. I think that with the leadership skills I've extracted from this experience, I could be more prepared to lead my school as a whole. I now know what realistic expectations to make for teamwork-centered events. Not only will I encounter situations like this in school, I highly suspect that there will come events where I am required to take the initiative and produce something noteworthy, being the representative of any group, be it big or small.