CAS Program reflection

Candidate number: 000213-023

These preceding 2 years within the CASL program has broadened my scope and opened my eyes to issues within my community. I was exposed to service learning projects that could potentially improve the lives of those within the community. The activities I chose to take part in were varied in their intentions and the nature in the way they carried out and demanded my efforts.

The different clubs and groups I devoted my time to allowed me to gain new skills and abilities. As the co-chair of a club I was able to rid myself of the fear of speaking in public, I became for comfortable with addressing a room full of people. I was able to development and improve upon my own dexterity, getting more organized and managing my time well. I through CASL increased awareness of myself within my community and the role I could potentially play.

                      The new challenges I faced through the program were primarily focused within the area of leadership. As I was positioned in the leadership role for the Friends of Marich club and as well as the Captain role in the Basketball team. My weakest feature is presenting myself in public and commanding the attention of a room. This was the biggest challenged for me, and fortunately I was able to improve upon this.

                      The planned initiated activities I took part in was mainly part of Friends of Marich, the long term project we took part in was bridge building for the communities in the West Pokot region. In the last two years we have been able to raise enough money to build two bridges and install playground equipment for schools which we partnered with. The collaboration with an additional school is additionally seen in another activity I took part in with the basketball team. The activity was a Free-Throw-a-Thon in which each team member shot 1000 free throws to raise money for a local group named Africa’s Promise which raises money to supply shoes for rural kids. This collaboration combined action and service and was a very rewarding event.  

                      Over the course of the program, I have stayed committed to all the clubs and groups that I’ve joined. I have taken responsibility for any failures that resulted from my absence and/or miscommunication. I have dealt with group members who disrespect the order and methods used to run different events and activities. Accepting blame, failures and when things do not go as planned is an immense lesson to have learnt from this program.

                      As mentioned above the CASL program has allowed me to look at my community and see where my help may be useful. This has be especially true within my Marich club where I was able to go out and visit the West Pokot region of Kenya before trying to help. Indulging myself in the local culture and atmosphere of the region allowed us to be respectful of the culture and ethnic requirements. We stayed in acceptable dress code and covered our legs when going into town or any public areas. In doing this I was able to grasp a firm understanding of the needs of the people and help without over stepping a social or ethnic boundary. I’ve been able to learn that doing many little things may be as or more helpful than doing one huge thing. Global issues can be solved locally, using global thinking to implement smaller scale projects.

                      The whole program has allowed me to learn new skills which I am able to value and take with me and implement throughout my daily life. Without this program I believe I would not have had the opportunity to build a bridge and see the life changing effects it had on the community. Balancing Basketball, Athletic Council, Friends of Marich and several side projects I’ve perfected my time management and developed my people skills. The dexterity I value the highest is my leadership, which I can say was never my strong suit to begin with, but over 2 years has developed to be one of my strongest qualities. I believe that the program has allowed me to increase awareness of my strengths, given me the confidence to take on new challenges, plan bigger and better activities in collaboration with different types of groups, stay committed to more than one activity, engage with issues of grave importance and lastly but most important develop new skills. 

ISSEA XXV

ISK GIRLS BASKETBALL ARE 5 TIME CHAMPIONS! 

    The ISSEA tournament held this 2012 years was in Nairobi Kenya, the home of the Lions. Feb 29th to March 5th the Tournament was held and schools from all over east and south Africa came to Kenya to compete for the title. To prepare for the tournament our practices got more frequent and we held out annual ISK tournament in which only one other team showed up to. Preparing for this ISSEA was very different for me because it was my last one and as captain all i wanted was to see my team succeed and carry on the legacy held before us. 

      When coming into the tournament i obviously hoped for another championship, but i also wanted to make this tournament a memorable one for me and my team mates. Most of us have been playing together for 2 or 3 years so as friends and as team mates we wanted to make this ISSEA a very fun one for us all. Unfortunately before the tournament started one of our players got injured so we entered the competition with 9 people, as the competition progressed we picked up another injury leaving us down to 8 people to play one day of the tournament. Thankfully even though we got extremely tired we were able to carry on and win all our games. On the last day during the semi- final and finals we got out entire team back and we were once again a ten man team. Taking on the fierce Ugandan team in the semi- finals and later the rath of Ethiopia in the finals. It was great to beat ICS (Ethiopia) because they are one of our toughest competitors. 

   The tournament and its outcome brought the entire ISK community out to the gym to support their teams and show some team spirit. It brought pride to the school as the girls team made history and the boys played a amazing final against ICS and ended up losing a one point game. The excitement and cheering brought the ISK community pride and closer together. Also i was chosen to be on the all-tournament team which was a great experience for me.

   As this was my last ISSEA, i wouldnt change anything about it. It was perfect and in addition to this is i was to do it again i wouldn't change anything.

   We made history this ISSEA, by being the first team ever to win ISSEA 5 times in a row and go through the competition for 5 years without every losing a game. This is a tremendous accomplishment for us as a team and us as individuals.

Marich

Although unfortunately i did not attend the Marich trip this year, the work done out on site was incredible. The members of the club who went on the trip built a beautiful bridge in memory of Sharon and Marqaux Brown. The community reaction was great, filled with song and dance and appreciation. The images below show a little of what went on down at the bridge site. It is truly a great accomplishment to be a a part of a build that helps the lives of an entire community and helps to remember the lives of two people.

Senior Trip

The senior trip was a new experience which i am so happy to have had. We traveled to Watamu beach  first splitting our class into different service groups. Environment, Service, Creativity 1 and Creativity 2. As part of the Environment strand we were able to to go the Turtle watch, Create beach art with recycled material and learnt about the projects going on to preserve the Watamu beach.

The first thing we did was a beach clean up as an entire grade, all 80 of us were let lose onto the beach with plastic bags and picked up all the trash found on the beach. This trash was then used for the Creativity strand, which worked with Andrew McNaughton Creating art pieces out of garbage found up and down the beach.

As part of the Environment strand we first learnt of the different projects in effect to clean up the beach and preserve the natural beauty of Watamu. The main one we focused on was the project of beach recycling implemented by Steve. We took the left over garbage that we had picked up in our first activity, and took it to the work shop, where we learnt about what they do to the material found on the beaches. It turns out they have a machine that grinds the pieces into little pellets which can be sold for a profit. This is how the whole operation works. After seeing the inner workings of the operation we went onto the beach and started to create our beach art.

We were put into different groups, and set out to create our own art. My group decided to make me into a Mermaid, this took us about an hour, to dig the shape our of the sand, put me into the whole piece and then decorate it with bottle caps found along of the beach. The art we created is going to be used on the website of the Watamu conservation project, showing students engagement with local community projects.

The next thing we were able to see as the environment group was the Turtle watch institution, we were exposed to what they do on the beach. Which is rehabilitate injured turtles and release the turtles they find after they are well enough. We were able to meet two turtles one suffering from a growth disorder and the other one whose shell was disfigured due to an accident with a fishing boats propeller. Once we were able to learn about the way they were able to help turtles were also able to see them release a turtle. It was a wonderful experience, the turtle had be caught in local fishing net and was brought to the Turtle watch.

The entire trip was a huge learning experience and i was so glad to have been able to learn to much about environment conservation. On top of the activities mentioned above we went snorkeling to see the preserved part of the ocean. It was a wonderful experience and we got to see tons of fish which were very peaceful and beautiful. The trip had one more additional activity of choice which of me was Swahili cooking this was a very interesting experience as we got to see the methods of cooking which we do not use within our individual cultures.

 All in all this trip was the greatest learning experience and has even inspired me to go back to Watamu during my Easter break. I want to go back and work with the turtle watch, and learn more about the Watamu conservation programs. I learnt so much during this trip, and was a great way to end my senior year! 
All the cas projects we were able to join and help with really opened up my eyes to my community and really made we want to help with further projects.

Paris- Brussels

After concurring East Africa the ISK LIONS Varsity Basketball Girls team, headed into untapped territory, when visiting the Paris Rebels. Our basketball coach having worked in Paris years before, took us to Paris to play the Paris Rebels and also Travel down to Belgium and play the
- American School of Paris
- British School in the Netherlands
-St.John's International School
As the trip was very short we only have limited about of time to visit the sites, however some how we managed to visit every important historical site from the Arc de Triumph to the Eiffel Tower.

This was a crazy experience as we traveled to Europe to face teams we had never played before.  On the day we arrived after a crazy 9 hour over night flight, we played the Paris rebels. As we were all dreadfully tired and unable to compete or preform we ended up losing the game. This trip was a chance for us to broaden our horizons and expand our knowledge of the world. As international students we get exposed to different cultures all the time,and the Parisian culture is definitely a new one to me.

From this trip to Paris i had hoped that our team would grow closer together as friends and also as team mates. I had also hoped that we would improve our basketball skills and rise to the challenge of the teams that we would face. To my surprise this trip turned out to be a GREAT bonding experience for the team and surprisingly we ended up rising to the challenge greatly and defeating every team we faced. It was a lot of hard work and injuries but we came back champions and better friends than we were before.

This experience gave us confidence as a team and enabled us to be secure and confident in our team and our individual abilities. We encountered so many difficulties over the course of this trip and before the trip. Due to injury we did not have enough players so come on the trip, we had to in the last few weeks pull up two girls from JV and in a short amount of time teach them our offences and defenses. These two players played remarkably in Paris and were very helpful to the team. As a team we are very glad they were able to accompany and thank them greatly for taking the time to learn all our plays. Other difficulties we faced were injures, half our team went on this trip unhealthy and/or injured, however we were all able to compete and rise out of our injuries and keep them from holding us back. This trip really signified how far and how successful our team could be and is at the moment.

In between games it would be a rush to get ice bags and pain medication.

This trip, helped us as a team and helped the ISK community, as we were able to travel to a whole other continent and represent the ISK name in proud stature and people regard ISK as a great establishment.
If i would have this experience again, i would not change a thing, this was the perfect experience and i am so proud of the girls.
We were able to gain new friends and hopefully an exchange program can be built through this initial experience leading to bigger and better things between ISK and and its Global Counterparts

ISK LIONS and ST.JOHNS LIONS :)

Sports Awards

The Sports Awards held on the 23rd of November 2011, is a combining of all the first seasons sports accomplishments. Its a time to recap upon the season and discuss successes and potential failures. This events helps the sports come together, As a member of Athletic Council as well as attending the event, i also have to set up. This years set up was pretty standard, we came in and decorated the MPR and organized the room so socializing and small bites could be had. As people came in, they brought a dish to share, and it was my job to arrange the foods so people could access them easily.

This event is a time in which each teams meets together with the coach and the parents and discusses the season and how they thought it went. It is also a time in which prizes are given our within each team accompanied by a little speech. This year i received the Most Valuable Player award, in the speech about me our coach stated that i was the little general on the floor and if my presents wasn't there, it would be extremely noticeable.  Along with this some nice things were said about me from my peers and fellow team mates. This sports awards was surely a memorable one. As a member of athletic council the event seemed to run smoothly with people helping themselves to drinks and finger foods. The set up along with the decorations were a major aspect people took liking to. The food lines flowed fluidly and nothing got destroyed. This event was a success.

Surprisingly we did not encounter any difficulties during the event, unless putting up decorations counts. As we are a pretty short club, putting decorations in high places was a definite difficulty we had. During the activity all the help stemmed from the ISK staff and the from within the club, we pulled together and really threw a great event. The sports awards benefit the whole ISK sports community as its a great time to reflect and celebrate the ending of one season the the beginning of another. Parents, students and coach's enjoy this time as it is the last time when teams get together for the year. After this people move on to other sports and other interests. 

If i was to put on another Sports Banquette i would make sure there were videos of the season and not only pictures because videos are more interesting to look at.