Jamal's CAS Blog

A blog detailing my creativity, action and service hours for the past 2 years. Reflections are also include

[anaelejf-blog]

Global Issues Network October

8 Hours

This month has gone by very slow. We have discussed issues over the debate and the Republican candidates are involved. Politics bores me very much but everyone else seems to be genuinely interested. I had to force myself to do prep research on the canidate from Texas. Apparently he supports guns. The debates have come rarely but they are fun as they give me time to flex my MUN muscle. I have learned that I can't accomplish much if I am not motivated and frankly I'm not very motivated. I am ending the activity this month to focus full-time on school and my other activites.

I am not sure that this activity was indeed a success as it was very repetitive doing this and MUN at the same time. I have engaged of issues of global importance by discussing the Arab Spring and the Oil Spills and their effects on the world. I could have been more lively to make it better.

[anaelejf-blog]

Leadership and Diversity October

Cre

16 Hours

This was a month of preparation. We were asked to create a workshop in which we could teach middleschoolers things about the diversity of the world. Not just racial and physical diversity but also cultural diversity. We did this by pairing up in groups. I was in a group of 4. The 3 others were all seniors but they are cool. We ended up creating a 5 plan activity involving people winning skittles if they can answer the questions correctly. I was tasked with buying the skittles at Walgreens and I did so. The seniors are very easy to socialize with and I am glad I was put in their group. One of the challenges I've faced alot this month is group members not doing an equal share of the work. I dont want to say any names but one girl in particular is just completly indolent. To resolve this, my group and I gave her a huge chunk of work on the workshop and told her if she did not do it we would tell the teacher. It actually worked. It feels like blackmail though.

I have learned that I always meet deadlines by doing the work way before the deadline. When I was given the task of the journals on Monday, I did the journals on Tuesday and Wednesday when I had spare time.

[anaelejf-blog]

Model United Nations October

8 Hours

I chose Model United Nations because I love debating. It is not the first time I have done this course. I did MUN in Senegal and Ghana and loved it so I chose to continue it here in America. I hope to improve my UN debating skills by learning more of the "rules" of MUN. There will be a conference in February and I will hope to get as much preparation for it as possible. I also enjoy meeting different people in my school who share the same views as myself. My school has over 3000 people thus it is hard to meet everyone but I can meet some. I am particularly nervous about speaking infront of everyone, even the people I do not know. My speaking skills should improve by time the conference comes around.

We have had mock debates and many people are impressed by ability to be funny and yet critical at the same time. I guess it is a natural talent. It is getting easier to speak infront of everyone. I need to however, improve my prep research on my country so my words can be more accurate.

[anaelejf-blog]

Global Issues Network September

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2 Hours

I chose this activity as my Leadership and Diversity prefect recommended we do it for extra hours. I have done Global Issues Network in Ghana so it is not a completly new thing. It does differ quite substantially from how it was run in Ghana and how it was run here. Although we are supposed to cover global issues, we usually cover domestic issues of the news in the United States of America.

I hope to gain more knowledge on issues all across the globe by choosing this course. It will also help me improve my speaking skills for Leadership and Diversity. I want to have interesting discussion and debates about issues I feels strongly about. This course will also prepare me for MUN in October. My challenge again in this course is speaking, but I will get better.

[anaelejf-blog]

Leadership and Diversity Service Day of the Month

3 hours

We went to Rose Gardens and offered to help with any of the cleaning. Mostly public areas.  I was there for 2 hours and it was very hot. We managed to clean up alot. We also went outside Courtland Towers and commenced cleaning up the leaves. This took about 1 hour. Today was a stressful day. I am tired but atleast we only have to do this once a month. Hopefully, we can choose funner activities to do next time.

[anaelejf-blog]

Junior Varsity Basketball September

September 8-September 30th: 12 Hours

Usually, I only play basketball for recreation with friends and family. However, I took this activity as an opportunity to better my basketball skills in general. I enjoy watching basketball but playing it is a whole different story. I wanted to increase my interest in basketball by engaging in it. For this reason, I chose this activty. This first week has been hectic. Most of my teammates are way better than me. Hopefully, I'll be able to improve as the year goes on. I need to improve my free throws and passing dramatically.

I got injured and had to sit out the last game. I need to improve by going to the gym if possible. I'm learning the overhand pass better. I can slowly see that are team is improving. We lost the game against Fairfax High the other day but only by a few points. I have to admit I am becoming much less selfish and even becoming to generous by passing the ball on numerous occasions. Most of the times I am turning it over. I will have to improve on my passing.

[anaelejf-blog]

Leadership and Diversity September

September 8-September 30th: 16 Hours

Today we had an introduction to the course and discussed how the activity would be planned. Asked to bring photo that represents something in our lives.

I chose this activity as it is unique and I've always wanted to discuss diversity issues in America as I have traveled around the world for half of my life. Hopefully this activity will give me new perspectives on the what exactly defines diversity and how to lead a group more efficiently. After attending the seminar today, I learned that I will have to give speeches and this will be very difficult for me I presume. Hopefully, I will get better at these speeches as time progresses.

It is progressing very slowly but I am learning more about the other people in this activity. We played several icebreakers to break tension between us all this week .

So far the course is getting challenging, but I have learned a great deal about the my peers. We have worked collaboratively to create a discussion plan for next month.