CAS Final Essay

I have been working on my CAS program with the IB for the past two years. This program has helped shape the activities I chose to do as well as being a constant encouragement to be an active member of my community. Over this period I have grown as an individual, as well as growing as a member of my community. I have participated in many different activities over this time and all of them have influenced me in at least one way. I’m going to talk about each aspect of the CAS program: creativity, action, and service; that and how each aspect effected me.

Before joining the IB program, I was not a very creativity oriented person. However, I never really tried to push myself into being creative. Needing to fulfill the creativity aspect of CAS was a helpful starting push toward growth in this area. I had been playing drums and bass for about one year each when I started the CAS program, however, I had only ever played in ensembles with my bass. Luckily, in tenth grade I had begun to explore my musical musings more deeply. I joined the ISK Jazz band in my second semester of tenth grade. I then chose to continue this in my eleventh and twelfth grade years as each year I participated in it I only enjoyed it more. My increased interest in music led me to other musical aspects. I joined one of my friend’s bands in eleventh grade, and I started to learn to play the saxophone. I also ended the year by playing in the ISK Composer’s club concert. In twelfth grade I was a part of Composer’s club all year, participating in several songs in the final Composer Club concerts, and playing both Bass and drums. The personal growth I found I experienced most in my musical musings was, as well as improving my ability, the ability to commit to a creative activity. Previously, an interest would spark; I would chase it for a few weeks maybe, then drop it. However, after experiencing so many activities that I enjoyed, and keeping with them, I found that I enjoyed staying with my interests, even if they’re difficult for the first few months, I still enjoy the learning process, and enjoy it even more once I’m past the beginner phase.

As for my activity aspect of CAS, I progressed through the program in a different way. I’ve always been a very athletic person. I’ve been playing organized sports since I was 4 and I’ve done individual sports since I was coordinated enough. I’ve always enjoyed pushing myself in sports, and that’s one of the reasons that I’m a good athlete, I push myself, give 100%, no matter what sport I’m playing. Whether I’m new at the sport, or just not experienced in the sport, or whether I’m a veteran player from the varsity team. In my time in the IB I’ve been on multiple varsity teams, including Basketball and Volleyball varsity throughout the two years. I’ve also done a training period in Mixed Martial Arts in some of my free time. The action aspect of CAS influenced me differently than the creativity aspect. Whereas the creativity aspect helped me develop new interests and encouraged me to stick to them, through the action aspect I further developed my own abilities in the sports, as well as developing leadership skills. Now, the manner in which CAS was a part of my development isn’t quite the norm for this aspect. If I had been a non-IB student I still would have progressed as a player and further grown in ability; however, my leadership wouldn’t have been the same, and it wouldn’t have developed anywhere near as much. In eleventh grade I was on both Varsity Volleyball and Varsity Basketball (for team sports), however, I wasn’t a leader on the teams. Both times there were people on the team who had been with the team for more years than I had, and who were more experienced.  However, as the IB requires written reflections on our activities I was forced to sit and think about the sport I had played, the people I had played with, my own involvement, and how I was influenced. With the IB requiring this, I never would have taken the time to simply sit and think about any of this. I found that during these reflection processes I could think about the leadership and what worked best to bring the team together in times of joy, sadness, and during high intensity games. Thanks to these reflections, I think I grew into a leader with a much better grasp of what to do, and how to act. I didn’t have to write notes, or study, but the reflection process really enabled me to pick up on key things such as positive encouragement, keeping players level headed, and giving it my own 100% in order to encourage others to do the same. There are always times in some games when you want to berate another player for an error, or push back when getting pushed by a player on the opposing team; however, I found myself being able to pause mentally and neutralize myself before doing either. Through this, and encouraging my teammates I was a clear leader in both the Varsity Basketball and Volleyball seasons this year (in twelfth grade), and I think that without the reflection process I wouldn’t have been able to that at all.

Now onto service, this aspect of the CAS program was the aspect that I had the most difficulty finding an activity in which I wanted to or was able to participate in. However, looking back, I’m glad I participated I the activities that I did. I enjoyed myself, and each day I felt like I could say that I was helpful to my community. For my different service activities I think I grew in different areas. My two primary service activities were a one-week period working for as a volunteer steward at the AISA Conference and a two-week period as a volunteer basketball coach. From working as a volunteer steward I think that my growth was primarily in my commitment to a service activity. Before this I hadn’t been in an extended service activity ever. I feel like this activity was a solid start into committing to a service activity. Also, I think it showed perseverance on my part, as my job was not particularly exciting. However, I got to listen to some very interesting presentations, and that was certainly fun as well, as well as, a good learning experience. From my time as a volunteer basketball coach I developed teaching abilities. I got to experience coaching two different age groups (6-9 and 9-13), and found that the teaching that I did was done significantly different. I also gained a new respect for teachers of any age group. Another interesting aspect of teaching was that I improved on my own abilities. In the age groups we were teaching we focused strongly on the fundamentals, from this I noticed a few small tweaks I could make to my own fundamentals (such as shooting form and pivot movement) in order to improve my own playing. Both of these activities influenced me to value volunteer work more. I enjoyed learning from my experience as a steward and I enjoyed interacting with kids and seeing them improve during my coaching activity.

In conclusion, I think that my experience in the CAS program was nothing but beneficial to my personal growth. I’ve been influenced in a variety of ways, and all of those ways have been a positive influence. Another way in which I think that the CAS program was a good experience was because it pushed me to do new things, to improve myself, be an active part of my community, and to commit to my personal interests. I think that my growth through the program will help me as I move onto higher education.

Jazz Band 2011-2012

Throughout this year (12^th grade) I have been the bass player for the high school jazz band. Practices were every Wednesday morning and Friday morning before school, from 7am – 8am. However, as I’ve been doing Varsity Volleyball and Basketball all year I’ve only been able to attend one of two practices all year. Throughout the year I’ve improved in my own personal Bass ability. As a player I haven’t grown as much as I did the first few months I was in Jazz Band. However, as it becomes harder to improve the better you get, it is understandable. Nevertheless, I did improve.

            One important way in which the Jazz band has influenced me is that I’ve improved on my bass playing as a whole, as well as improving in being a part of an ensemble. Being a part of a musical group, whether a four-person band, or a 20 person band, certainly has relatable aspects to every kind of teamwork. One needs to know when to play what, and needs to be alert so as not to enter the song at the wrong time. Also, it shows that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, or in this circumstance, a band is only as good as it’s worst player. That’s why it’s also important to try your hardest, just as I would in a team sport. This includes practicing at home, particularly for working on important parts. This is the primary area where I believe I should improve. I need to practice more. I generally don’t have the time to do it at home, however, I feel like I didn’t try my hardest to make time. I believe that in order to improve my usefulness to the Jazz Band I need to practice more, and that’s what I intend to do. I’m going to set aside 20 minutes, three times per week, outside of Jazz band practice, to practice my parts at home. I think that with this structure it should be easier to find the time to do so.

            Our performances haven’t had a grand effect on the world as we know it. However, music in general can be a great way to relieve stress. Whether listening to it, or being in a band. So hopefully we can some people a few minutes of enjoying music in our performances.

            Overall, I think this experience was influential to me as a bass player, as well as an all around musician. I think that with a structure set for practicing I’ll be able to improve more than just practicing randomly when I find I have some unfilled time. I’m also going to use this method for other musical groups that I’m a part of in order to better our group performance. Being in the High School Jazz Band has been a great experience, and I’ll certainly miss it in the following years. The energy that I could feel from the band, both in performances and practice was a great feeling to experience.

Organizing Basketball (1st semester, senior year)

In the first semester of Senior Year I decided to organize basketball once a week after school. The reason for this was so that people who were interested in trying out for the basketball team in the second semester. I thought that this would be beneficial for everyone. The benefits would come from the likely varsity players being able to start to get to know everyone’s playing style, so team-play would be better. As for the kids that were not likely to make varsity, i.e. newer people to the sport, it was a chance for them to better themselves in the off-season.

            As I was the organizer for the basketball I first decided on a day that would be best. However, everyday after school the gym was being used for an already organized activity. So to solve this problem I decided to have the basketball be from 5pm-6:30 pm, since the gym was only taken at this time on Mondays I just chose to do it on Thursdays; there was no particular reason for this, I just picked a day.

            During the first few Thursdays the organization proceeded as follows. We would all shoot free-throws to choose the starting 10 people. We then proceed to play a game of 5x5. This game then went to 21. Then the losing team would take the substitutes that hadn’t played. As there were usually around 12-14 people this worked really well. However, after the first few weeks the gameplay changed. Instead of changing teams we just had the not starting people sub on for a few people that were already playing. There would be substitutes every 5 minutes. This limit was set in place so substitutes wouldn’t go off then try to come back on after a minute. However, people tended to wait a few extra minutes after the limit and just sub on for players that were tired. The points per game weren’t really kept track of after this change, however, nobody minded as the important thing was to being playing basketball in a team environment. Once we changed to this method we easily gained an extra 15 minutes of playing time. With the previous method there was too much time being spent organizing the teams between each game

            Overall, I’m glad with the way that the organized basketball worked the way it did. The process was pretty good, and it’s clear that it improved over time. I think that it was definitely helpful for the off-season, as well as just being fun. The organized basketball ended around the time that basketball tryouts started and it was fairly clear who had been athletic during the off-season, whether from the Thursday basketball, or from doing something.

Mural Painting

            Two friends of mine (Reggie and Ajit) and I have been working on a Mural on the white wall that is surrounding the construction area for the new Commons Building. We came up with the idea to do a Mural of our favorite kid’s show, Pokémon.

            The first thing we had to do was fill out an application. In order to do this we made the basic design of our mural. We also had to decide how big it was going to be and where we wanted it. We decided to make it pan across three panels, the reason for this was that we wanted to include the three original starter Pokémon (Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur) and we decided to give each one their own panel. We also put it by the Primary School so that the younger kids could enjoy it, also people will walk past it every day. After we filled out the application, handed it in, and got it accepted, we had the hardest part; actually doing the mural.

            The application part of the process took us about a week to do, and we waited for a week on the acceptance. The “doing” part of the mural has taken us about 3 months so far. We decided to do the mural in steps. The steps we decided on were: outline in pencil, do the basic painting (the colors that filled a large area or were in the background), then do the finer painting markings. So far we have completed the first step and are halfway through the second step. The reason this has taken us so long is because two of us are full IB and we all have lots of extracurricular.

            Despite these setbacks we’re making progress on the mural slow and steady, each time we work on it starts to look better and better. However, with IB exams coming up it’s going to be even harder to find time to work on it. Nevertheless, we’re all determined to finish it, even if we have to come to school for a day after we graduate. We’ve made a pact to make sure it’s finished before we all leave this year. I’m looking forward to spending more time working on it. It’s going to be a great mural when it’s done, and it’s great spending time with my friends before going off to college and not seeing them for a while.

Varsity/ISSEA Basketball 2012

Activity – Varsity/ISSEA Basketball

Location – ISK – International School of Kenya

The process of this was tryouts, then practice, then ISL season then ISSEA. This season was my second season on varsity, and my first season as Captain. This season I played in a post-position. As a post I’m considered one of the big men on the team. I was one of the players that stayed under the basket while the guards stay at a distance. Throughout the season I improved upon my skills as post player. However, as Captain I tried to focus on being a positive model for the rest of the team. I encouraged intensity and encouraged the players to always give it 100% and their best. I believe I modeled this fairly well as I did just that at each practice and game. The coach, Mr. Robbins, also noticed this and I received the Coach’s Choice Award at the end of the season.

Throughout the season there were different levels of intensity for different games, and as we had a very naturally basketball-savvy team we won a few of our league games without full intensity, but I still encouraged everyone to push themselves in such games, even though it is hard to push yourself mentally when playing a team that you know you could beat at only half intensity. However, I think that during the ISSEA Tournament (held at ISK this year) we played every game with more intensity than I had seen all season. Along with myself, every player on our team played to win every game.

It was also clear that we as a team grew tremendously in the short time that ISSEA is over. We lost our first ISSEA game, Wednesday night, which was disappointing as we were undefeated the past two years. However, we didn’t let that effect us the next three days. We won all our other round robin games and had the number 1 seed going into the semi finals. In the semi-finals we played a team we’d already beaten and won again. In the finals we played the team which we had lost two the first night. This game was the most intense sports game I have ever played in. Only subbing out for about two minutes total myself (due to a dead leg), and having players that didn’t sub out at all, this was absolutely the most intense game I have played in. We ended the regular time in a draw, going into overtime. At the end of the 5 minute overtime we lost by 1 point. Despite being disappointed for the next week, I’m still glad to have played in this game, it was truly an amazing feeling to being playing on a court with such high intensity.

At the end of the ISSEA tournament the ISL league was about to finish. We had one more game to decide the first place seed in our division and then the semi-finals. We won the first place seed, however, we did it only playing with about half the spirit we had at ISSEA. Not because we were sad, but because three days of straight high-intensity basketball will leech you of every ounce of energy you have. However, we lost the semi-finals. We lost the lead we had in the first 3 quarters due to the other team making a few lucky shots, and our team play fell apart after that.

However, despite this loss, I didn’t feel two down. I think it’s because of the ISSEA tournament. Even though we came in second, the energy in that tournament was incredible. It was my fifth ISSEA and it had more energy than any other by far. I’m truly glad to have been on the basketball team this year. It was a great experience and I’m glad I got to experience it before I graduate.