CAS Final Reflection

As the year comes to an end, it is sad to see my fellow classmates getting ready to leave and head on to University. Looking back at my CAS goals, I believe I have achieved many of my goals.

Creativity: This year, I have participated in the secondary production even though it was not obligatory. I have learned many things such as: where and which area I am good and comfortable in, Changing my body movement (language) was quite difficult for me but in the end I did very well the head of school said " I admire how you embody a character so well, I am very impressed". Also this time I wasn't the lead character and had to work with other cast members as a team like learning lines or repeating a scene that needed work . When we did scene knight I was performing as a Cuban gangster and had to swear. This was an issue because the local people did complain after the show. I have learned that it is important where you are and to who you are performing, one must learn about the culture and respect their beliefs before doing something so risque. I also develop a new skill, motivation and confidence. Doing this play i felt more at ease and relax then last year. It has become second nature for me.


Action: This year I did lose some weight. too much if i may say so. I was sick for a part of the year and could not do anything physical. This resulted in me not being able to join the basketball or track and field team. I did do a training program which is called Insanity ASYLUM. Two months of hard work I was in the best shape of my life so far. I learned that when working out or not, one must watch what he eats and be careful how much. My eating habits and lifestyle have changed for the better.

Service: I stayed committed and finished my IB Program doing Habitat for Humanity. At first I wanted to change and do something like Recycling or DAWG. It was hard to choose because I love being outside and working with my hands. Hence I stayed in habitat and learned skills that will be helpful for me in the future. I learned how to mix cement and dig a foundation. It was also great to interact with the community and be part of something more then school social life. This summer my brother will be joining me in Sri Lanka and we will go on builds for the fun of it. My brother also never had this experience, I will be his chaperon and show him things that i have learned. I cannot wait.

Update on Secondary Production

The play was fantastic. The auditorium was packed. It was a success. People came to complement me after the show and reviews from students were very positive. My performance was exactly what I wanted it to be. My character was a "Gangster" and teachers were contemplating how could actually be an Italian thug if I wanted too. It’s great to see how your acting comes across to other people. I can only thank my teacher and director Mr. Mather for his patience and understanding. I hope to be part of other plays in the future. Unfortunately this was my last at The Overseas School of Colombo. But this is not the last you will hear of me.

Update on Habitat Build for Seniors.

 

The Habitat build was successful. We engaged with the community and other construction workers in mixing cement and digging a foundation for the community hall. This will also be used a s a school for little children. In the picture below you can see the kids dressed up. They performed a dance for us as a thank you gift and gave us flowers. It was really nice to see how all the children and mothers of the community come together and put on a show for us. I enjoyed every minute of it.

The hard work and back pains the next day were all worth it.



SAISA Housing

This weekend is the SAISA tournament for track and field. It will be hosted at our school The Overseas School of Colombo. As I was on the Basket-ball team last year, Mr. Shipley trusts me and knows I will be suitable to host kids in my house because I’m a senior. I will be hosting three kids. Two of them are from American origins and the last is Swedish. I have hosted before (last year) but I only had two kids which wasn’t much trouble for we played together and had the same schedule. This year it will be quite different. I no longer am a part of the SAISA and driving them early in the morning will be a challenge. Although I am excited to see what they are like and how they act when overseas. It is something I am looking forward to and I am glad to help Mr. Shipley with housing issues. I am also happy that he trusts me. He gives me opportunities to talk in front of the whole school in assembly and be part of his "show". This is great experience for me and I hope more events will come up in the near future.

 

"Administrative Documents." Saisa-org. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013.

Senior Habitat Build

For our last semester in OSC, our Habitat group decided to do a build with seniors only as we are leaving soon. The build will be on the 16th of march. It will be my third build and I am very exited for it may be our last. My goal when I go back to canada is to join this organisation if possible. Building and helping is two things I truly enjoy doing. I am looking forward to this experience and hopefully gain something from it.

Oscar Night

This year I am the host for the school's Oscar Night. It happened last weekend and was a success to what people have told me and the feedback I got from the teachers. Oscar Night is an event where the secondary school comes together and awards are given to students and teachers. (Example: Most bubbly and most likely to become a billionaire).

 For the event I worked with my co-host Imran to write a script and perform skits as well as an opening monologue which included me singing and running around the dance floor. It was my intension to make an impact and show my acting skills as this was an opportunity to broadcast my talent. Making jokes and persuading people to laugh and be willing to move and interact with me is something I truly enjoy.

 It last about 3 hours and was one of the best I've had in school. This event wasn’t only fun for me but also made me see that writing a script is something I am capable of doing. I found out that I can be quite creative. People said I was funny and that they really enjoyed the show. This is something I wouldn’t mind doing another time, even if I did write the script the morning of, I am sure it could have been phenomenal if I had more time.

This was a learning experience that I enjoy much more than sitting in class and taking notes. Being able to move and express myself gives me the freedom I've wanted my whole life. I now truly feel that I am part of this school and that my reputation is something great that I have gained through hard work and dedication.

Secondary Production 2013

This year we are doing a production with the new teacher Mr. Mather. He came to this school in January and is not knowledgeable of the IB and criteria. Although we are helping him learn he is also helping us with projects needed to be done. He is a great actor and a great personality. While struggling to teach ourselves, Mr. Mather is of great help.

For the Secondary production we are doing a play called “The Night of January 16th". It is a play about a murder and the whole play is done in the setting of a courtroom. My character is called Guts’ Regan. I am a thug gangster who is in love with the victim’s wife. It is an interesting role for I always wanted to act tough on stage. Also my character needs to be confident like the character "Fonzie" from the 70's hit show "Happy Days". This play is approximately 1 hour long.

In the next month or so, we will be having rehearsals every Monday as well as Saturday. At this moment I am working on memorizing my lines because I have a lot of monologues. This is a character I want to perfect because he has the same personality as me and I can easily relate to him.

The performance will be in March and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.

Assembly Performance

This week I had to finally talk in front of the whole school about habitat. I didn't have much prepared so I thought of everything the night before. Fortunately after embarrassing myself and putting on a good skit for the people of my school, everyone loved it. I had compliment after compliment. It was a good experience and I hope to do it again. Habitat for Humanity is my community activity and allowed me to be out of my comfort zone. I am much appreciative of this experience.

New Department

As you know I am part of the Habitat for Humanity community group and going on build is a requirement needed to fulfill the criteria. Last year I had drama production every single weekend which interfered with these trips. This year the same has happened. Fortunately me and Mr. Rhiem had a conversation and came up with the idea that posters and advertisement or info posters would be a good idea to paste all over campus. People in the lower grades are not sure what they want to do once they start the DP program. My job is to design posters or pamphlets with computer designing to teach these Locals and tell everyone what this group is all about. Talking about the build and how we aid the community by visiting rural areas to help locals with their homes. This semester I will only be going on one build which will be December 1st. So I accepted to take on this project and help my group as much as I can since I’ve been absent for long periods of time.

"The House is on Fire!"

At the beginning of September our Drama DP class had a performance to perform in the month of November. In august our teacher which was here for the last year had gone back to the U.S.A and we then had a replacement teacher for that time. Unfortunately we did not due much but read about a play called "ART" which was supposed to be our piece for the 12th grade performance. I and the other classmates did not really like this play and asked for another one which is more interesting and fun to play. Miss. Grant fortunately found one of her old plays in which she performed when she was an actress. This play only contains 3 characters: Ted, Shirley and Gloria. Now this play is both dramatic and funny. The character of Gloria in which I am playing is a transvestite. We have been rehearsing for this play very hard. This week is drill week, every day after school we go to the auditorium and fine tune the play for we are performing this Thursday & Friday. I hope this show goes well and I don't break from my character by laughing.

 

I am also part of another play called “The Night of January 16th". This piece is about a murder or so the court and jury are trying to figure out. My character is called Guts o' Regan. I am a thug gangster who is in love with the defendant but unfortunately she loves another man (the one suspected of killing the victim). With all the work being done in school I am grateful that this play will be in March and that my part is only 10 minutes. Not that I don’t want to be in the play, there is a lot of dialog for me in that ten minutes. Altogether, I am rehearsing very hard to be up to the expectations of Miss. Grant and hope that these plays will shock and entertaining for the audience.

Basketball- Football

This semester before Christmas, I will be joining the basketball and football practices if they are not on the same day. I will not join the team for I need to focus on my school work but I will definitely go to every practice that I can so I can be active.

The reason I do not want to join the teams is that I don’t want to let down my team when I tell them that I cannot travel. Also I am already committed to other school project and I do not want them to interfere with my activities in and outside of school. I'm also not that great at football. Hopefully I will get better with the practices.

This semester will be solely focused on habitat and my studies. In the next semester starting in January, my plan is to definitely join the track and field team. I have never done this sport in a team and it would be good experience for me before I graduate.

 

Sports Day

Sports day is a school event where all of the kids have no classes and play a variety of sports all day. This year there was: football, basket-ball, track & field and tug of war. The school is split up in 4 houses the blue house, green, yellow and red house. I am part of the red house. Compared to the other houses we are very little and consist mostly of young kids that are from 9 to 12 grades. In a long battle against the other students, we were failing miserably. I was exhausted and beat up really badly from the wet field. Fortunately in an unexpected turn of event, out of all the houses we won!

It was incredible I couldn't believe it. It was truly a team effort. Bonding and participating with the other kids was a fun experience, especially whilst playing sports. It was also good for us DP students who don't have PE class. It gave us an opportunity to play sports and get active instead of keeping our eyes on the books.

 

In this picture you can see me in action. Heading for the goal and bring us to GLORY!!

Year 2 Goals ( A new Begining )

       After one year of being part of a community (Overseas school of Colombo) and a well-deserved summer, I am back in Sri Lanka and ready to do my best so I can move on and start searching for my dream career. Last year my goals were very vague and in a way, easy to accomplish. This year I am really going to challenge myself and be more involved with the school and the student life on campus and off.

C.A.S Goals

       In the first part of my two year program, I was part of Habitat for Humanity, The under 19 Basket-Ball team and the Lead role in the school play (Fiddler on The Roof). These are activities that I really enjoyed, it is time to try something new and start fresh.


Creativity

    Since I was part of a lead role in a play and developed new skills that I did no tknow I had. For creativity I want to be able to share my learning and work. Over the summer I have been introduced to a program that lets me make music beats. I have already made a song last year but I accidentally deleted it from my computer. My intentions are to learn about music software's and be able to make music with ease.
       My other passion would be film and television, my plan is to film a short movie or show that I can share with my family and friends. I enjoy the whole process of movie making (Casting, Directing, Producing, Filming and Acting). If possible my dream would be to work in the Entertainment Industry, I love the business part of it as much as the creative process. In fact I would love to become like James Cameron or Steven Spielberg. Its a long way to go but I am fully committed to make my dream a reality.


Action

       This summer I spent my time in Lebanon with my grandparents and family members. If you are Lebanese then you know that the food is amazing and my family is generous and insist that their guest have a good meal. The variety is just as big as the quantity they make you eat. Unfortunately I gained some weight and laziness is settling in very quickly.
       Therefor my plan for this year is to lose this weight and gain muscle at the same time. I found this program called P90X and it is very demanding. Its demanding, every day for an hour or more. In school I would like to try something new Track and Field. I've never done this sport before so I am going to give it a shot and hopefully succeed.
    


Service


       Habitat was a great experience, I would like to continue this but for one semester only, I might change to something different just to have a point of view what other students are experiencing. It also allows me to Undertake new challenges by working and collaborating with other students.Habitat has shown me that team effort is necessary to get the job done. The leader is usually Mr. Rhiem and the students get together and help one another in completing the task. My cousin in Lebanon is in the Red Cross organization. I spent a week with them in a camp and I got to see what its like to be involved, I think that many places in the world are being neglected and awareness is not being advertised. This is what I want to change and also I hope to continue my learning with the community and embrace life by seeing and hearing what people are limited to in countries like Sri Lanka. Also I believe that this gives me the chance to learn about the culture and ethics of environment which are alien to me.


In time I hope and I wish that I accomplish these goals and become a better person, not only in CAS but in life. I hear once that if you don't have education you have limited chance of success.

" It's either Family or Money, I hate to choose, because you need the money just to feed the family"
- Meek Mill

First Habitat for Humanity Build

As you know I am part of a group called Habitat for Humanity. As this activity allows us to explore the local community and help them with construction or digging up foundations. All year, because of acedemic work and being part of a play, I never had the chance to go out and realise this experience, but last weekend was my first time and it was a blast! Our location was about 45 minutes away from school in a neighborhood that was relatively poor. We Helped one of the local people dig a foundation for her and her family wanted to extend their house. I also met other local kids and gave them a show with my juggling skills.  All though it was a helping people, it was also a physical challenge. The next day my back was sore and my legs were cramping. Hence I hope to be part of the next habitat build and continueing to explore the local environements.

Sinharaja

In geography class we had to do some sort of study on the tropical rainforest here in Sri Lanka. Their were a variation of choices and subjects to study, after great thought I chose to study the soil. My study was based on soil and how soil quality can affect plants in the near by area. We were meny students so people would chose the same subject, in that case I was partnered with Roger who he too is studying soil. Our plan was to get soil sample from diferent lacations in the forest such as: tea estate, home garden, primary forest and secondary forest. Collecting 3 samples in each area to do different studies, which will be conducted at our school. After gathering data from the experiments I will wright an investigation study essay. This trip not only helped me get data but made me apreciate nature, every aspect of the forest is essencial for life. Thus I will and hope to go back to the forest and enjoy its peace with my friends and family.

enjoy this picture of me!!

Last week was april break. Me and my family flew to lebanon to spend time with my grandfather who is very ill. On the good side of things my cosin is part of a group called THE LEBANESE RED CROSS. During that week he had a camp and invited me to go. It was a 2 day program. So i went and had a blast. We participated in games and activities that tested our skills in critical situations. Even though i was a guest i meet meny people and made new friends. it was a great way to bond and develop new skills in ideas and strategies. After all the work we whent to a court and played football. My muscles were finish... But over all it was a great experience and I hope to participate again next time I go.

food and fun fair

this next weekend on saturday the 10th of march 2012, the school is organising a food and fun fair. There will be families comming and selling their food from different countries. For the children we students are organising games for fun but also for charity. It is a fundraising event where everybody is invited. My parents have decided to go and sell food, so i will be there also promoting my moms delicious Lebanese\Italian food.

Hope to see you there!

Basket ball

This weekend we have a tournament involving 4 schools, including us (OSC Geckos). we have been practicing for the last months  and are mentaly READY. I hope we win but most of all i hope we have fun. I think thats why we play, to have fun. Today(march 2) we have 2 games, then tomorow we have another 2 and sunday its the finals. I'm exitede to see what happens and very stressed because i dont wanna mess up or disapoint my team. Over all I beleave we can win and make a good impression since we are playing on our home court.

CAS trip to Hambantota

my expectations of hambantota were worse than it actualy was. The schools were pretty well maintained but  needed muh work. My goals were to
-finish painting
-fix the playground
-clean up the school
-play with the children
and have fun.









My first day there, I got to bond with my friends while visiting our hotel.
Since i was the leader for maintenance at our school, we went to buy the supplys needed
to fix the school.
the next day we wnt to the schools and started working . Even dough it was hot and humid,
we overcame the tempature and got most of the job done. I painted, sand papered and cleaned
the inside of the school. Later that day we went back to the hotel and had a nice swimming break before reflexions and show practice.
Today is our third day, at the school we finished the job quickly and then performed for the children,we even gave them presents(school utilities).
the last day we went back home happy with our success and experience.

Semester 2 Goals

This semester will highlight my first year attending OSC. My hopes are that I remain working hard and getting good grades. Last semester I  lacked in english, so I will work harder in that. Also, looking at my report, my grades for science and geography were not very high, which was surprising because i worked the hardest in those classes. Enyway I will give it my all and hopefully acomplish my goal. Which is to pass.

Since my performance for fiddler on the roof is finish and my saturdays are free. I am ready to go on a trip with Habitat and help build homes for the poor. Also continue my envolvement as much as posible.
I'm also proud to be a leader for week without walls in the maintenence group.

BASIC GOALS
- Get good Grades
-Be involved in Habitat
-Become a reliable leader
-play well on the Basket-ball team
-Learn as much as I can