Final Reflection

CAS was an unforgettable experience for me which helped me to overcome many obstacles that I will definitely have to face again later in life.

In a first place, it encouraged me to get involved with other people whether it was for creative activities or service. This interaction pushed me to cross my comfort zone and become less shy and as a consequence encourage me to talk more to people.

I also learnt how to become more independent from others in activities such as cooking for example because I had to experience it myself without the help of any adult. I think that it is very beneficial for me that I was able to achieve those things as they are going to help me later in life.

Additionally, throughout many activities I was able to discover my strengths (which I reinforced) and my weaknesses (which I partially corrected). I realized that I was a creative person who really likes to express ideas whether it is in photography, music production or graphic design. Another thing that I discovered is how to work within a group, which I think is the most important thing which is going to be very beneficial for me in the job that I want to do, which involves trade through interaction with other people.

Planning was also another crucial point as my personal experience changed my perception on it. I remember at the beginning of Grade 11 I used to fix goals which I would see as unachievable right now and hope that I could get them done in the amount of time required. I became more realistic in the way I view the world today.

In terms of interacting with people and working within a group, I realized that not everybody think the same thing as me and in the end I came to a conclusion where I had to respect their opinion whether it  was right or wrong according to me.

From the fact that I am a very shy person, I would have stayed in my own corner today if I wouldn’t have experienced what I lived. When I decided to overcome new challenges and do things that I have never done before such as for example yoga, photography and music production, I had to force myself to do them because I thought that since I have never done it before I would obviously fail. I was more or less right: I had no experience in any of those activities but I however decided not to give up and stay strong if I wanted to learn things from it. Even though I failed (I was horrible at photography and music production in the first week), I decided to analyse where my weaknesses were and change them so I could benefit from them and become better in the future by learning from my mistakes.

To conclude this reflection, I was proud to contribute to fundraisings such as for example to cure leukaemia or donate money to children in Somalia and do everything I could in my power to help other people who have trouble and difficulties. At the end of each activities that I had to do to raise money, I remember that I was so proud of myself, and still am, because I feel like I could help other people by providing my aid and even though I live the type of life that every poor kid wish he could, I still think of those people who dream of it but cannot do it. 

Running

Action

Summary

I am a passionate of sports in general and I used to play soccer and table tennis four years ago when I was in France. However, when I came to Australia, I decided to stop playing them because I was focused on other things such as photography and furthermore, I didn't have time to do both of them. Since I was in grade 11, I didn't have the opportunity to do Physical Education at school anymore so I decided to do it by myself and devote some of my free time outside of school to do this. I did not want to play in a team so I chose a sport that I could practice by myself, and this was running. Fortunately, there is a beautiful lake next to the house where I live, and it provided me a beautiful place where I could run.

What I learnt

This experience encouraged me to push myself to the limit where I dedicated some of my free time outside of school to do physical exercises that I used to do at school until grade 11. It also gave me the opportunity to go outside of the house and do something diffferent from what I usually do (photography, homework, Twitter...). I still enjoy this hobby until today and I think that it is something very important for me because it encourages me to not only do physical exercises at least 3 times a week (which is essential for my health) but it also allows me to think about other things than school and enjoy the beauty of nature and wildlife (as I run around a lake). 

Car wash

Action

Summary

The car wash was an event organized by one of my classmates after school and it consisted of raising money for children in Somalia. He decided to support the program by the australian government who would match dollar for dollar and as a result, double the amount of money we would fundraise. I decided to contribute to it because it would encourage me to do physical activity during a whole week. The clients were mainly parents of the the children who go to our school, and with a  lot of advertising, we managed to attract many people. In the end, we raised more that $600 and the final sum with the contribution of the australian government was more than $1200, which was a success for us.

What I learnt

During a week of physical activity, this event allowed me to interact with people who decided to contribute to it (parents and students who were not in my grade) and talk to them. I also got to learn the students who I didn't really talk to as this was a good opportunity to engage a convesation with them. At last, the advertising lesson that I learnt from the 'Lower school games' helped me not to do the same mistake and as a result, I encouraged my classmate (who was organizing the event) to talk to people and promote what he wanted to do. To conclude, I am very proud of my achievement because: 1) I contributed to raise money for children in Somalia, 2) this event encouraged me to do physical activity 3) I got to learn people from other grades better than I used and  4) it allowed me to give an advice to my classmate which I leant by making a mistake (advertizing).

Graphic design

Creativity

Summary

Just like with music production, I decided to investigate by myself something that was new to me. I chose graphic design because the process seemed quite fun and enteraining from the videos that I've watched on the internet. As I already had the program required (Adobe Photoshop) since I do lots of photo editing with it, I decided to investigate the tools that most of the graphic designers use. As I could not figure out by myself, I went and asked experienced people for help so I could learn from them. From when I started (2 years ago) until now, I can clearly see a huge progress in my works, which is reflected by the attention paid to the advices given by professional graphic designers.

What I learnt

The process of learning is quite similar to photography and music production as it encouraged me to seek for help by asking experienced people and apply their advices. However, I have to say that it took me a longer time to improve than I thought it would take. I used to think that graphic design was just to put layers together and andjust the colors. I realized that I was wrong after the first week because there are a lot of other things to take into account such as for example the filters, the blending etc... To conclude, I have to say that it was a fun way to discover how graphic designers work because I went through the whole process by myself.

Cooking

Creativity

Summary

During the grade 12 retreat, we had to learn how to become independent and as a result, we had to prepare our own dinner for 2 days. I decided to cook with one of my classmates who had a bit of experience, just like myself. Even though I know how to cook, it was a challenge for me because I didn't have anyone to supervise me (like at home) and whatever I would make would be my responsibility. We cooked pasta with garlic and tomato sauce on the first night and did a barbecue on the second. Additionally, I also contributed to the dishwashing because it had to be done and not a lot of people volunteered.

What I learnt

It was definitely a creative experience for me because a same dish could look (and taste!) differently depending the person who cooks it. As a consequence, I carefully chose the ingredients making sure that nobody was allergic or didn't like them in order to prepare pasta. I have to say that I am very happy with the final result and would keep that recipe in mind for the future. This experience also allowed me to interact with someone else who knew how to cook and share ideas as well as give suggestions. To conclude, by now I think that in terms of cooking I am independent from other people and can make a meal for myself, which is a very important thing for me in the future.

Self-defence/Yoga

Action

Summary

Self-defence and yoga were both activities in which we had the opportunity to participate during the grade 12 retreat. I participated in both of them and really enjoyed them even thought I didn't really want to do it in the begginig because it didn't look interesting to me. We had a teacher who taught us the basics and explained the discipline in more details than I previously knew it.

What I learnt

Both activities were quite  fun to me once I've tried them. From this experience I learnt one of the most important things in life, which is not to judge anything before I try it. In fact, I used to really dislike yoga because it seemed too 'calm' for me but I proved myself wrong after I tried it and learnt a good lesson for the future. Similarly for self defence, I didn't really want to participate in it because it took place early in the morning and I was a bit tired, but however once I tried it, I said to myself that I picked the right decision because if I wouldn't have done it, I would have a missed a good opportunity to not only have fun but also learn new things. 

Grade 12 retreat: Group activities

Action

Summary

During the grade 12 retreat that lasted for 3 days, all the students participated in a serie of activities that required thinking and reflection. We were approximately 5 to 6 persons per group and had to do 8 different activities. Sometimes they required either physical ability or thinking ability, or both in certain cases. Our objective was to complete the required tasks in a certain amount of time. After each activity, we had time during which we discussed our strengths and weaknesses and corrected them for the next ones.

What I learnt

I learnt many things during this whole day of activities. Someties we had to do a task but had no idea how to do it because we were under the pressure (time) and were not organized at all. In some cases, I took the lead as I knew how we would get the task accumplished and communicated my ideas to the whole group. This experience encouraged me to manage the whole group when I knew what I was doing as it was already planned in my head. I think that it is very essential because it is going to be vital for me in the future (managment of commercial units). In the end, I not only gained communication skills but also management skills as well because I was able to direct and allocate evry single person of my group a role in some activities.