Hope For Kids - Semester Reflection

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Hope For Kids CAS group this semester, and it was a pleasure to spend time with the kids! Even though we didn't visit the hospital as often as we wanted to, the time we spent together was a great experience for all of us, including us students, the kids and the teachers. The end of this semester was mainly focused on the upcoming fashion show fundraiser, and we expect next semester to be too. I'll definitely be joining Hope for Kids nex semester, to finish planning for the fashion show, to raise money for a very good cause, and of course to spend more time with the children at the hospital :)



Making paper frames with the kids




Making decorations for the hospital




Playing with the kids! Kashmika and me :)



Hope For Kids - a Chrismas Visit!

On Thursday 8th of December 2011, we visited the Hospital for a Christmas visit. We asked one of our teachers, Mr Dan Snyder, to dress up as Santa Claus and distribute the gifts we have gotten for the kids. We also blew up balloons to give to the children and sang Christmas carols not only to the kids who came to see us but the rest who were in their beds. I think the carol singing really brightened their days, and the smiles on their faces when we gave them the presents and the balloons was adorable! I thoroughly enjoyed this visit.



Giving away some balloons!



Distributing the gifts :)



Blowing balloons!



Singing Christmas carols



Mr Dan Snyder as Santa Claus. Thank you so much!



Bollywood Dancing

My mum started Bollywood Dancing about a year ago and she claimed it was important to be exposed to the culture of South East Asia, since we have the rare opportunity to live here, in a country with such a rich culture. She managed to convince me to take lessons over this winter break, and I'm happy to, since I've never done Bollywood Dancing before and I love dancing. I've practiced other genres of dance but never Bollywood, so it'd be nice to try out something new! My father's company is holding a Volunteers Leaving Ceremony so me and three others are practicing a Bollywood dance routine to perform at this event, three weeks from now. I'm really excited!

In taking Bollywood Dance classes, I am undertaking new challenges and developing new skills since Bollywood Dancing is something I've never done before, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up some new skills that aren't used in other genres. I am also working collaboratively with others in planning and initiating activities as we are working as a group of three, and in dance, teamwork is important because if we aren't all in sync, the whole performance can be ruined. By attending classes and practicing in my own time, I am also showing perseverance and commitment.

Swimming

For the past few months, over this semester, I have been swimming in my own time. I usually go after school on Wednesdays and on Saturday and Sunday. I have been focusing on raising my stamina and improving my strokes. My weakest strokes are backstroke and butterfly so I have been practicing those. And to raise my stamina, I aim to swim at least 1500m of front crawl (as that is the stroke I am most comfortable with).

I feel much more confident with my backstroke but I am still struggling with my butterfly, so I will aim to improve this stroke over next semester. In terms of the distance I can continuously swim, I strongly feel that I've improved because before, I used to grow tired after the first 500m but now I'm finding it easier to complete 1500m, although it's still quite tiring. I will continue to swim this distance, because I don't want to suddenly increase the distance until I become more comfortable with this distance.

By swiming in my own time, I am increasing awareness of my strengths and areas for growth as I am identifying my weaknesses so I can fix them. I am also showing perseverance and commitment by planning and initiating activities because I am setting goals and working my way towards achieving them. Through practice, I am hopefully developing new skills in swimming.

This Chrsitmas break, I plan on going swimming everyday and following the usual routine to improve my swimming!