Doing well in the academic aspect of IB has proven to be a challenge on its own. Throughout my school career, including all my recent years and my younger years, I have always strived to do the best I can at everything. This does not only involve putting all of my effort into academics, but it also involves putting all of my effort into other areas such as CAS activities and sports. Therefore it has been a challenge in itself to continuously perform well in all these school aspects. This challenge was one that I was happy to take on as it would mean that I would develop and improve my skills as a student, athlete, and ultimately as a better person.
I have especially taken on a lot of challenges in the past two IB years. After the challenge of excelling at school academics, I challenged myself to be the best athlete I could be and to use my experience to be a leader for other athletes. As a CAS student, I challenged myself to develop my overall skills significantly across all three aspects of CAS. I was specifically determined to help develop and grow the Friends of Marich group that a few friends and I started just over two years ago. I believe that, now reflecting on the whole experience, I have been very successful at accomplishing these goals of mine and I therefore am satisfied that I have fully fulfilled my role as a CAS IB student.
Looking specifically at the eight different learning outcomes, I am comfortable that I have completed all of them effectively. Throughout both years I have continuously been aware of my own strengths and I have done my best to use these strengths to help others. An area where this is evident is my role in both the Varsity Boys Football teams and the Rugby team. My leadership skills and my developed experience earned me the role of captain in both these sports. This allowed me to use my strength as a leader to help and lead the other athletes. I have also used my strengths as a keeper to coach other keepers that are less experienced than me such as the girl’s football keepers and several younger keepers from Sags’ Academy. I have also been very aware of my areas for growth and this has allowed me to develop as a leader, as an athlete and as an instrument player. I have been able to develop because I always do my best to improve on everything I do so that I can be the best person I can be. Among others, I have worked on areas of weakness in certain football skills by playing several different positions on the field during competitive matches and I have worked on improving my improvisation skills as a saxophonist by attempting various solos. This has helped me grow in all aspects of my capabilities and my challenges.
As previously mentioned, I have taken up many new challenges over my IB years. One of my main ones was taking up the role of captain in the Varsity Boys Football teams and the Rugby team. This challenged my skills as a leader and as a role model to other players. It also helped me realize the significance of respect in a team, both to the captain and from the captain to the rest of the players and the coach. This challenge has significantly boosted my skills as a leader and as an athlete.
Probably the most successful and most influential CAS project that I was involved in was the Friends of Marich group. I am one of the founding members and over the last two years I have been one of the leading members, my specific role being Co-Head Fundraiser of the group. This project has impacted my views of life significantly over the past years that I have been privileged to be a part of this group. I have had the privilege to go to the Marich area three times and each time I have come away with new realizations of the diversity around the world. I personally believe that being part of a project for so long is the most effective way of truly getting something meaningful out of the CAS program. I have therefore remained committed to the Friends of Marich group and I sincerely hope that this group will continue to grow and prosper in the years after us founding members have left.
Marich has given me the opportunity to be engaged with issues of global importance through its development projects such as supporting the local schools in Marich and helping to build bridges for the local people. This experience has helped me consider the ethical implications of my actions on other people around the world. The opening ceremony to the Memorial Bridge in Marich opened my eyes to the great respect that elders receive in communities such as those of the Pokot people and the great reliance that these people feel they have on foreign aid such as the one that we have provided and continue to provide.
Overall, the CAS program has greatly encouraged me to develop new skills in creativity, action and service. A few examples show that I have learnt how to be an effective all-round football player, I have learnt how to improvise solos on the saxophone, and I have learnt how to make the most of service activities that involve other communities. As is probably evident from this final reflection and all of my previous ones, the skill that I am most satisfied at having learnt and significantly developed is my skill as a leader. I have continuously worked on this aspect of myself by taking on challenges of being in charge of large groups, such as leading the student group when helping to run the Mini World Cup, and by taking on challenges of being a significant and influential athlete in sports teams, such as being the captain.
In conclusion, the entire CAS experience has been a very significant one and it has definitely helped to develop me as a global person. Since I have continuously attempted to challenge myself in all aspects of CAS and since I have been successful at achieving my goals, I feel that I have accomplished the overall goal of the CAS program. The experiences and skills that I have developed through the program will remain with me for my entire life. That, I believe, is in the end the entire reason why the CAS program was started in the first place.
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