I have now reached the end of my CAS programme. I have thoroughly enjoyed these last two years and I feel I have learnt a great deal from my experiences in fulfilling the CAS requirements, nurturing me to be a more able student. The activities that I participated in allowed me to engage with my creative and active sides, as well as a side that dealt with providing a service. The 8 learning outcomes were fulfilled by taking part in these activities and I feel this has contributed to shaping my as a more well rounded student.
I have always considered myself to be a somewhat creative person, because of my love for art and music. The creativity aspect of the CAS requirement was enjoyable to fulfill because I considered the creative activities that I did to be a way of taking a break from my daily studying. I have been playing the piano since the age of 6, and I absolutely adore playing it even now. Over the last two years I have been practicing piano on a daily basis, finding the sheet music for some of a favourite pieces and playing them. Through this I have shown
perseverance and commitment, which I found fairly easy since I looked forward to these practices everyday. Everytime I started practising a new piece, I tried to find something more difficult than the one I had played before which demonstrate my ability to
undertake new challenges and
develop new skills. Although I have not been playing the guitar for as long as I have been playing the piano, guitar has been a big part of my life as well. Since my father is very good at playing the guitar I have asked him to teach me some songs that he knew well. I have
developed new skills in doing so, and I was able to thoroughly enjoy myself. Art is by far my favourite subject and I have often painted for fun over the last two years. Painting outside of school has enabled me to
develop more skills in art which I may find useful if I ever decide to pursue being an artist in the future. I was able to
work collaboratively with others when I
undertook the new challenge of taking part in Bollywood dancing. I worked with two others towards a performance, and the practices I attended demonstrated this, as well as my
perseverance and commitment.
I took part in various sporting activities, both for fitness and for fun, developing my already existing skills as well as working to develop new ones. Swimming has been my main sport since primary school and over these two years I have been swimming on a regular basis, having gone to the school practices for the swimming season as well. Swimming both inside and outside school demonstrated my
perseverance and commitment and through this I was also able to
increase awareness of my strengths and areas for growth, such as my stronger and weaker strokes, stamina, breath support and so on. I found that the Overseas School of Colombo has a lot of great swimmers so I was able to learn a lot from the coaches and my fellow swimmers which helped my
develop some new skills. Badminton has also been a big part of my life, but not for as long as swimming. I attended after school badminton practices, in which I
developed some new skills and
worked collaboratively with others (in doubles games). I
undertook new challenges by taking part in the school basketball practices. Basketball is something I have never done before in my life and I thought it would be fun to try out something new for a change. It was obviously very difficult for me because it was something completely new to me, but the other players and the coach helped me
develop new skills by teaching me many techniques that basketball players use in their matches. My position as a pitcher in a softball tournament I participated in also showed that I had
undertaken new challenges because I had always played as second base man and had never been a pitcher before. In taking part in basketball and softball I also
worked collaboratively with others because in team sports, working together is one of the most crucial things.
One of the most important things a person can do is help those in need. To me, the service aspect of the CAS programme is the most important because it allows us to be selfless and shapes us to be better people. My father works for a volunteer agency called the Japan International Co-operation Agency and I have always admired the work that he and his co-workers do to help others. He told me about a group of Chinese students who were studying Japanese but was experiencing a shortage of books which made me want to do something to help them. This led me to my book drive, in which I
worked collaboratively with others because we worked as a team to make this happen, and we carried out
planned and initiated activities together. I also took part in the school library service in which I
worked collaboratively with others to make the school library a more efficient place and by going to this service activity every thursday, I also
showed perseverance and commitment. The biggest service activity that I took part in, though, was the Hope For Kids Cancer Hospital. We met every thursday, which
showed my perseverance and commitment and we carried out
planned and initiated activities by planning what to do in our hospital visits and also by planning the big fundraising fashion show. The fashion show 'Charity Chic' was by far the biggest fundraising event that I have been a part of and I
worked collaboratively with others when I was working backstage. We managed to raise over 700,000Rs in this event which we donated to the Maharagama Childrens' Cancer Hospital. In taking part in these service activities I was able to
engage in issues of global importance especially regarding childrens' cancer, because that is an issue not only of Sri Lanka but of many many other countries as well. I also
considered the ethical implications of my actions because by participating in these activities, it made me think about how my actions were going to help those that I was trying to help.
Overall, these past two years in this CAS programme has definitely shaped me to be a better person as it enabled me to try out things I would have never tried out and as a result, developed many new skills. By fulfilling all 8 criteria, I have become a more well rounded student and these skills will definitely be of great use in my future. I enjoyed this programme very much and appreciate it for where it got me!
