For the last month I have been training for motocross every Sunday afternoon in Kaluagala. This has been my goal from the beginning of the year and I have been able to stick to this. Overall my motocross skills have been improved by getting help from a motocross rider called Haren. He has given me small pointers which has helped me with improving my skills. For example he has said that I need to do some excercise apart from just driving in order to strengthen my stamina, I have therefore gone running a couple of times each week, however a lot of time is not needed, just approximately 30 minutes.
The track I have been practicing at consists of 6 jumps and i have been able to clear 5 out of 6 which is pretty good seeing can only go once a week. Below is a picture from the last time I went training. I will also be uploading a video next time in my blog.
I am aiming at clearing all the jumps before the December holidays, I think this can be possible if I really take it to the next level. My training has shown commitment and perseverance throughout the last month since I have been doing it every Sunday.
Some other hints that Haren gave me was that I need to work on my position while I am in the air during a jump, he said that i need to bend my back a little more and keep the motocross steady. Overall, my motocross riding skills are improving quite quickly and I am really enjoying the thrilling experience.
Since the second block of after school activities have started, I am no longer doing Pinhole Photography as it is not offered any longer by Mr. Lockwood. However it was a great activity, which taught me new skills such as how much light the "camera" should be exposed to and how long it should be held there for. Below is one of the pictures I was able to take, which is of myself (it has been inverted):
I am quite proud of this photograph since i managed to get it quite focused. There are quite a lot of details in the photo which means the time I disposed the camera to light was quite efficient. This after school activity has been part of my creativity for CAS which means that now that it is over I have to come up with something new to do for creativity. I was thinking about maybe learning the basics of playing guitar, since this would be a development of new skills.
What will I learn from the goals that I have set for the year?
1.By taking part in a SAISA I will increase my awareness of my own strength and areas for growth, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment in the activity and develop new skills. I have decided that I will definitely do football this year again as I really enjoyed it last year. This way I can improve the skills I have already learnt.
2.By practicing motocross riding I will be involved in action but also develop new skills and increase my awareness of my strengths as a rider. I might also be able to develop new skills by practicing.
3.As a leader in Bethlehem Crèche I am undertaking a new challenge since I have to help members in the CAS to understand what is going on. To do this I, along with the other leader have to work collaboratively with each other in order to plan and initiate activities for our CAS activity. Our community and service program is engaged with issues of global importance since we are helping out children less fortunate than us.
4.I was going to practice playing the guitar but instead of doing this for creativity I have decided to join pinhole photography as I thought this would lead to undertaking a new challenge and showing perseverance and commitment in the activity.
So far for the year I have been involved in:
Bethlehem Crèche: We have only had the community and service activity twice so far, but I and Maheshi have worked collaboratively with each other and planned and initiated activities. When we first met we discussed what the goals were for the whole year and they were as follows:
·Paint the walls/equipment at the Creche
Make a garden for the school
Plan to raise money throughout the year if needed
Have a Christmas party with the children
Teach them some nursery songs and dance moves
Donate things that they might need at the Creche.
We have already raised some money from selling “spirit bags and ribbons” on sports day (September 7th) which was a way of increasing awareness of our service program. We did this through planning and initiating what we had to do in order to get results. We sold ribbons in the house colors and bags which consisted of balloons, scrape paper, rope and ribbons. It was quite a success but we are going to sell the left over’s when the primary has their own sports day in order to increase spirit!
I have also been involved in Pinhole photography for the past 2 weeks which is held every Tuesday after school by Mr. Lockwood as our supervisor. We are only 5 members involved in this activity but we have already been able to work collaboratively with each other, undertaken a new challenge, and developed new skills. It is a great activity which helps us with photography as a whole. During the past two lessons we were able to take our own shots by using a can and exposing it to light towards an object or person or whatever we want. It is quite difficult to know how much time you have to expose the can to light; however this is something we will practice and learn as time comes. I managed to take quite a good shot of myself, I will upload a picture of it as soon as possible.
We had a school sports day on September 7th, and I, as a member of the Red house and a senior, tried to participate in all the sports that I enjoyed. I played football mainly. Of course, our main goal was to win the tournament to enjoy the tournament itself too.I personally interacted with everyone possible, not only within the red house, but also with inter-house members. I belive sports always bring people together much closely :)
Also during sports day Maheshi, Joyce and I were selling spirit bags for the primary students in order to make the day more cheerful. Below is a pictures of us preparing the bags for each house color. Each spirit bag contained balloons, ribbons, cloth and small length of rope.
We didn't make a lot of profit but we will also be selling the spirit bags during the Primary Sports day which is coming up after December holidays sometime. The money will be used to help the children at the Bethlehem Creche. By doing these spirit bags I showed commitment to the community service I take part in
Grade 12 has just begun and it is now time for all of us to make new goals for the year. My goals for this year are as follows:
Try out one of the following: Volleyball, Football or Track and Field. (Action)
Practice more motocross riding. (Action)
Participate in Bethlehem Creche on Thursdays as a leader. (Service)
Try learning to play guitar. (Creativity)
Creativity: “arts and other experience that involve creative thinking”
Action: “physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the Diploma Program”
Service: “an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected”
(from OSC Creativity Action & Service Handbook 2010-2012)
These are the aims I am sure I want to participate in, but there might be some more as the year progresses.
Over the past months, I have been involved in the action which is actually my favorite since I love sports. By participating in SAISA football I was undertakinga new challenge by trying this new sport. Overall I was able to develop skills while also strengthening old skills.
I have loved running since I was small so by participating in track and field I was able to work collaboratively with the team and I was able to increase my awareness of my track and field skills.
Service:
I have been involved in service activity for the whole year starting of with DAWG where I was encouraged to work collaboratively not only with the group member but with different organizations. Most of my time involved fund raising which involved a lot of planning and initiating activities. By participating in Bethlehem Crèche I have also been engaged with issues of global importance. There are a number of children which get neglected from the society they are in if they don’t have a proper family or if their mother or father is in jail. Also as a leader for the Bethlehem Crèche I was able to undertake a new challenge since I have never actually been a leader for a service activity.
Creativity:
I have not been involved in a lot of creativity this year however I have developed previous skills and increased my awareness of my own skills such as painting on week without walls trip and painting the back drop for the primary production at the beginning of the year. I will be focusing more on creativity next year. For example I am planning to take part in pinhole photography or sewing.
Overall it has been a great year and I have learnt a lot of different things due to Service, Action and Creativity. It has made me grow as a student and to learn how to manage time properly. I am looking forward to another year of CAS where I can show my strengths to my community.
Today during lunch at 12.30 in the SMPR, Key Club had an meeting with all the CAS leaders for each community and service project. During the meeting we collected the projected reports from the leaders. The President (Damien) also went ahead to tell everyone what we are going to do over the following month which are:
1. New Director- Harshini Karunarathne 2. Project Report should be given monthly to the Key Club from all Community and Service Projects 3. There will be a website set up and an appointed technical crew. 4. Hee Soo will control the overall website.
The leaders that attended today were: Maheshi, Charity, Hee Soo, Harini, Sky, Alex, Aparna, Terunaga, Damien, Uthpala, Avin, Conzi, Rasmus, Bharat, Camille, Antonia, Keisha, Mo, Uphanda, Harshini, Iain and me.
As for me I now have to keep the club materials organized and these items on file:
inventory of all key club property
club bylaws
key club guidebook
district by laws
minutes of all regular club meeting and board meetings
names and addresses of present key club officers
copies of current and past key club magazines and district publications
collected committee reports from committee chairmen
list of committee chairman and members
clubs past achievement reports
clubs past monthly reports
Due to the key club a I am now undertaking a new challenge and showing commitment to the role I have to carry out.
