#casinterview

Transcript of my Second CAS Interview

Teacher: What has been a highlight of creativity? Activity? Service?

Me: For creativity, it was definitely prom (last week). The whole prom committee worked their butts off to pull this one and hearing from the teachers that it was one of their favourite ones was a huge compliment. Especially since I had so many late night because of organising. For Activity, it was definitely ISAC in March, our best season yet. We dominated the tournament and didn’t lose or tie a single match group match and won our finals 4-0 (and I scored a hat trick hehe). As for service, meeting the community (in January) that we’ve been working side by side with was amazing. I enjoyed hanging out with the people of the community and playing basketball with them.

Teacher: Have you ensured an equal balance across the three CAS strands? If not, how will you rectify this?

Me: I really try to balance everything out. Because my world revolves around sport, however, a lot of my time is taken up by training sessions throughout the week and games on the weekend, but I really try and make time for the creativity aspect, like with Prom, and service with Bayanihan and Red Cross

Teacher: What have you learned from your involvement in CAS?

Me: Linking back to the previous question, I think my biggest takeaway is trying to balance everything. Since I started CAS I’ve been able to improve my scheduling skills so that I can fulfil each CAS requirement with a sensible amount of time for each activity whilst having free time for myself.

Teacher: Does your collected CAS evidence show ongoing CAS involvement? Are there ways in which this could improve?

Me: I think my involvement in sports is quite significant and keeps my CAS involvement going, even when seasons are over, which usually end by March, I try and enrol myself in new experiences like painting Murals, or if I still want to play sports, I play for a club outside of BSM.

Teacher: Five years from now, describe what is likely to stand out as a highlight from CAS.

Transcript of my Final CAS Interview

Teacher: What did you most enjoy about CAS?

Me: I really enjoyed how CAS has expanded my strengths and interests to fields other than sports, like music and cooking. However, the most enjoyable experience was visiting the Bayanihan community in Malolos city. Just seeing the happy faces of the community when we distributed the hygiene kits and playing games with them.

Teacher: What was your greatest challenge in CAS? How did you overcome this?

Me: Organising the Bayanihan project with my group. It was a stressful trying to find something that would benefit the wider picture. In previous years, groups provided bad-sighted students with glasses and we thought that it was something that we should do similarly. A group mate previously worked with The Yellow Boat of Hope in Cebu, and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to provide fishermen with a means of transport to do their job appropriately, and to also provide students with transport to get to school.

Teacher: What have you learned about balancing your time with your choices and commitments?

Me: CAS really taught me the balanced life of a student athlete. But not just through sports and academics, but also by doing alternative activities outside my comfort zone. Cooking was something that I’ve never been able to do, but through CAS and lockdown, I’ve been able to try out new recipes. All this was done by completing a schedule, I made a weekly schedule to which I would stick to which helped me participate in many activities.

Teacher: What has the role of reflection been in your whole CAS programme? Describe any way your experience with reflection has been helpful and memorable.

Me: The role of reflection is a key importance in sport, you need to be able to learn from your mistakes so you don’t do them again in game, it is crucial. But my biggest take on reflection was after my Phuket 7’s experience when I was badly tackled and tore a ligament in my knee. The period in which I couldn’t play, gave me time to reflect on myself as an athlete and think about certain ways I can strengthen my knee and improve my skills. I thought about how this tear was a perfect opportunity to show perseverance after having it bring my confidence level down.

Teacher: How did you improve and develop your planning skills?

Me: I made a weekly schedule which I followed religiously, I allocated time for training (made sure I was only doing 2 sports at once) and studies, as well as free time to do new activities. When certain plans came up that would interfere with my schedule, I altered it a bit to ensure that I still had the same number of hours to study and train.

Teacher: What abilities and skills did you develop most significantly in CAS?

Me: Being able to communicate with others in projects. Despite playing having good communication skills in sports, I had to be able to apply this to group projects where communication was just as significant, however it was different. On the pitch, it’s more of telling someone what to do, or asking for help, whereas in group projects it’s more of being able to communicate ideas and initiate. Also, I had to communicate with my Bayanihan group who, some members, I was not familiar with.

Teacher: What have you learned through working in collaboration with others?

Me: Every idea is important, no matter how small. It can get things going and once an idea is put into place, being able to develop it further. Also making sure that you show respect for other people’s ideas, as you would want people to respect yours too.

Teacher: What advice do you have for upcoming CAS students regarding making CAS enjoyable, sustained over time and meaningful?

Transcript of my First CAS Interview

Teacher: Is there anything about the programme that excites you?

Me: I believe CAS will help me understand myself more, develop my strengths and improve on my weaknesses through each CAS aspect (so creativity, activity, and service) but I’m very excited to meet the new community for my Bayanhian project.

Teacher: Do you think you’re going to find anything challenging?

Me: Yeah, I think because I was so used to having the school organise our service learning with several partners and charities over the past years, having to make our own project from scratch, this time round is going to be a bit of a struggle. Especially finding a community and project that is substantial for a global cause.

Teacher: So, what are your main interests? What can you already add to the CAS programme?

Me: Well, as you know, I’m really into my sports. I am currently playing volleyball and a bit of basketball because it’s volleyball season as of now. So I think I can add that to my CAS tracker. In the future, I will also add football because I play, but that’ll be in January.

Teacher: You are also quite creative, what are some ongoing things you can already add your CAS?

Me: In terms of creativity, I do play a musical instrument, but not very well.

Teacher: Oh what’s that?

Me: Piano, but I don’t have lessons anymore. I think I’ll start playing the piano again and learning new songs. My mum loves the piano anyway, so I think it’ll benefit me too. Also, I do art as my HL IB subject, so I can do something related to that outside from the course. I use my creativity skills for the Winston club, our school student body magazine. I’ve been the video department for the past 2 years, making youtube videos. However, the head of the magazine is allocating me to a new department where we involve the student body more, but that’s all I can say for now.

Teacher: Have you thought about how you are going to keep your evidence?

On the 16th of March I had my last interview (social-distancing style of course) with my CAS coordinator. 

Yesterday (31.05.2019) was my second official CAS interview. I’ve mainly discusses with my coordinator how she perceives my work and my engagement. I was pleased to hear that my CAS activities are done really fine. I’ve also had some doubts in terms of the CAS documentation and the CAS portfolio but we’ve briefly discussed it and now I’m reassured that I know what I’m doing.

However, the most important subject of this interview was the CAS project. Over the past few months I realized that I don’t have the best idea of how to accomplish my plan of the vegan campaign. Unfortunately, the theme of this year’s Days of Health and Prevention had nothing to do with health related to our diet habits. I also didn’t know anyone who would like to organize the project with me. Therefore, I’ve eventually gave up this plan and at this meeting I’ve presented a new one to my coordinator. I thought about creating some kind of campaign to encourage people to vote in the local elections, as I got involved in the matter of social responsibility and the significance of voting. My coordinator was pleased with the idea and my argumentation and we set the date of the project for the September and October of the following school year.

Today (5.10.2018) I had my first CAS interview with my CAS coordinator. I was quite nervous before the meeting as I wasn’t sure if my proposals in terms of accomplishing all of the components of CAS are considered and creative enough. However, it was simply really nice to discuss my ideas with my CAS coordinator as she was very encouraging and enjoyed my vision of how to manage my experience with CAS. At first, we talked about my strengths and weaknesses and we agreed that even though working in a group is not my strongest characteristic, I only have to push myself out of my comfort zone for as far as I find it possible. As long as I’m committed to my actions, it doesn’t matter if the development of skills in terms of collaborative work is a huge development or a tiny one.

I’ve presented a plan of fulfilling the CAS experience: for the creativity and service part I thought about creating and Instagram account with vegan foods and recipes as I love to cook and enjoy vegan foods, while I’m also invested in the subject of veganism in the global context of animal exploitation and environmental issues; I also thought about trying to practise yoga as part of the activity component – as exotic as it sounds, I’ve attempted to practise yoga regularly since a very long time and while I usually failed after a month or so, this time I decided that I can do this for a longer period of time as I’ve always enjoyed yoga and wanted to learn more about this sport. When it comes to the big CAS project, I thought about making a school campaign about veganism and its perks – I suggested that I can correlate it with the annual School Days of Health and Prevention.

My CAS coordinator was very supportive of those ideas and so I begin my CAS journey officially. However, I have to remark that the meetings with my CAS coordinator began earlier in September this year and since then I was informally discussing and planning my future CAS activities.

On the 9th of November I had my first interview with my school CAS Coordinator.

As a final step in my journey with CAS, I have to complete a CAS interview so this page is going to demonstrate my favorite experiences over the period and also it will reflect my development through the CAS outcomes. 

1. Awareness (strengths & weaknesses - HKAYP) 

2. Skills/Challenge (VIOLIN) 

3. Initiative (Café scientifique) 

4. Perservance (24 hour race) 

5. Teamwork (EOMD)

6. Global issues (Community service committee)