CAS Portfolio

[ibcas421]

Strands: Service, Creative

What: Hope for Houston CAS Project

When: Fall 2017

Evidence: our booth, where we collected donations; bracelets that we sold at our school cafe to collect money; flyers that promoted our sponsored fundraisers - the second flyer is mine

The aim of this project was to aid the people in Houston, Texas who were affected by Hurricane Harvey. The strands used were creative and service. Our main way of helping was to raise money, which we did by organizing fundraisers and other events.

Although we could always do better and we didn’t really stick to our main goal, when I look back on our work, I feel like we did well. At least, our money collected was impressive. There were many jobs shared among our members, and even though mine were not that many, I put a lot of effort into one of my jobs - the Chipotle fundraiser. I had no idea that organizing a fundraiser at a restaurant took so much work and communication! I emailed staff at our school for an idea of how I would have to go about the project. Then, I had to search and request the fundraiser online. There were issues with dates, so I had to fill in a form and send it to them by email. There was some back-and-forth communication then as I emailed them about the date I wanted, which I eventually received. After that, it was another form, with more things - most notably, the bank account information, which I had to talk to Mr. Reid about. He sent me to another person in the school’s office, and then I submitted the form. Then, it went to marketing and letting everyone know about the date. I posted it on my social media and shared the flyer with my members to spread too. Ah! And then the day came and I was stressed that nobody would show up. I bought my dinner at Chipotle, and I communicated with my members about who bought, etc. At the end we collected a good amount. It wasn’t as much as I had hoped, but it definitely contributed to our overall goal.

[ibcas421]

Strands: Service, Active

When: 18 Feb 2018

As part of my friend’s club, we gathered in her garage to organize donated clothing into boxes. There were so many bags of donated clothes! I was glad and impressed. The boxes were previously purchased, of the large and extra large variety, by my friends from Lowe’s. We labeled the boxes by their contents (“womens tops” for example) and organized the clothing that way. I thought it was especially cool the way that different parts of our community were involved in this - the people who donated, the ones who organized it (us), the people receiving the donations, etc. I had to leave before we were finished, but I was there when we got a substantial part of it organized.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Creative

Title: Die Rache des Computers

Word Count: 29,760

When: early summer 2017

Kann ein Buch mehr klischee und langweilig sein? Die einzige Zweck des Buchs, die gut war, war dass ich mein Deutsch geübt habe. Und auch, dass es so kurz war. Außerdem war es nicht meine Zeit wert. Vorher wusste ich nicht, ob ich es wirklich lesen oder verstehen könnte. Aber, weil dieses Buch eine die ersten deutsches Buch das ich selbst gelesen habe war, war es ein Typ Erfolg, oder Erlebnis. Es gab mir Sicherheit, mehr Bücher auf Deutsch zu lesen.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Service

What: Trinity Free Clinic 5K Run

When: 15 Oct 2017

This was a simple volunteering job, in which I watched young children whose parents ran the marathon. It was out of my comfort zone, as I do not know exactly how I should act with such young children, but I managed to do just fine and even have some fun.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Creative

What: learning songs on the piano

When: all throughout (see description)

I have so much to say about piano! I played it for about 2 years and stopped right before senior year, but this is the only video I could find. I took it when I was in Germany (that’s my host sister’s bedroom, and her piano!), and I learned the entire song while I stayed with my host family, although the clip is only one part of the song.

I learned so many songs for the piano, about 50 if I were to count each one. They’re all from memory, however, because I cannot read sheet music. But learning them is so satisfying, and playing them is even more, because I can taste the notes when I play them on the keys, and each song has its own different palette of colors. When I did play and learn piano music, it was successful in that I persevered to learn each song, and whenever there was a piano at hand, I could pull the songs out of my memory at will. That is the most successful part because the biggest challenge for me was finding the motivation to sit down and learn a song, especially since I cannot read sheet music. Motivation affects me in anything I do, especially school. It is the biggest reason why I stopped playing senior year.

There really can’t be a “global significance” to playing piano, but I think that when I reflect on the skills needed for learning to play piano, especially in potentially picking it up again after almost a year, then I can improve myself in my actions beyond the musical instrument.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Active

What: Swimming and working out at the gym

When: all throughout (see description)

Evidence: umm, here are some selfies of me in the locker rooms I guess

A major contributor to my active part of CAS were my visits to the gym. I wasn’t sure at all what I should do as evidence for this, because the last thing I’m doing is taking pictures of me working out, but I do take selfies after every workout, either because I think my hair looks funny or I want to show my friends that I’m being healthy. However, the length of time is proven by the length of my hair. Also, in the first two photos I am wearing pajama-like clothes because it was the evening and because I swam, took a shower, and then sat in the sauna. The third was a different gym, where I worked more with weights. The first photo was taken in the summer before junior year (2016). The second was taken in the middle of junior year (Dec 2016). The third was from the summer after junior year (June 2017). The day immediately following the third photo, I drove to the airport for my flight to Germany. Therefore, that was the last time I worked out at the gym. My senior year, I took physical conditioning as a class both semesters, so I had no point to visit the gym anymore. However, I still learned a lot from these experiences.

In terms of CAS, I challenged myself by doing an exercise which I knew little about: swimming. Because I swam with my friend, she was able to show me the best ways to swim, so I practiced the different strokes, especially my discovered favorite, the backstroke. However, I knew I had to practice more of the ones I didn’t know well, and so I improved then. That was at the Monon, which differs from when I worked with weights, at a different gym. At the other gym, I ran and did more cardio, including classes which were for me free, and was also introduced to the weights. I think I learned and grew the most at the second gym, because I explored and did things that I thought I wouldn’t do well in. For example, one of the classes I took was a boot camp course, and so it was super rigorous and I thought I wasn’t physically fit enough. However, when I was there I put in my effort, and although I wasn’t as good as the other regulars, I was able to improve my own fitness.

I know that beyond high school, I will continue improving my health and fitness at the gym or with a sport. PC taught more about form, but my experiences outside of school dealing with personal fitness also benefited my mentality about perseverance and achievement of goals. I realize the importance of tracking progress and sticking to a plan or schedule. 

[ibcas421]

Strand: Creative

Title:  ...y no se lo tragó la tierra

Word Count: 35,650

When: April 2017

Estuve en la biblioteca de la escuela cuando encontré este libro. Busque en la sección de idiomas extranjeros porque quería otro libro en espanol, despues de leer la primera, Esperanza Renace, que también era de la biblioteca de la escuela. Lo comencé sin saber nada de lo que trataba. Después de leer la primera capitula, decidí que era un libro muy extraño y no sabía dónde me iba a llevar. Pero aprendí que cada capitula era como una historia diferente, y todos tomaron lugar en la misma ciudad, con temas similares, y que algunos tenían personajes en común. Me gusto un fragmento/pasaje; era una historia completa pero solo se tomo una mitad de página. No recuerdo cómo me sentí al final del libro, pero no era un libro malo. Los personajes vivían una vida muy diferente al mío, entonces yo pude aprender algo de ese libro.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Creative

What: Edited videos of gameplay

When: Sept - Dec 2016

Evidence: the link to the user page with all my videos, https://vimeo.com/user56306339 

Film is one of my favorite things to do, along with video games, so it was both enjoyable and beneficial for me to learn how to use an editing program (Sony Vegas Pro) well enough to make videos like these. Later on, I would use the knowledge from this editing for projects for my IB Film class. It was difficult to have appropriate transitions, and to know when and where and how long to cut things, but the knowledge for that I learned quickly doing something that I love!

[ibcas421]

Strand: Active

What: Garba

When: 1 Oct 2016

This was a religious event, but because I myself am not Hindi, this contributes towards CAS. Garba takes place over three weekends, involving lots of dancing in a circle. I absolutely adored the experience! Not only did I learn more about my friends’ culture, I also loved the feeling of knowing the dances to participate with everybody else. I danced so much and so hard that I always ended the night with blisters on my feet. It is one of my favorite celebrations, and I knew I would return next year.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Service

What: Carmel Clay Public Library book sale

When: 3 Oct 2017

Pictured: a book and a movie that I received for my service

I knew about the book sale and I visited it the first day to get first pick of good books. When I got there, somebody asked me if I was a teen volunteer, which is how I found out about the opportunity. I returned the next day to volunteer there (although I forgot to clock in at the teen desk). It was relaxing, productive, and so satisfying! The most successful things I did are the following: pointed a woman out to the science fiction section, which had the Stephen King books she was looking for; offering a bag to a woman who had her arms full of books and she accepted; and the most satisfying part, which was organizing the paperback fiction novels so that the extra books on the floor, which couldn’t fit on the tables, could be moved to the spaces that I freed up in the paperback fiction section. At the end I bought what I wanted. I think the most significant thing about this experience was that I took the opportunity offered to me, because I did return after a day to take that volunteering opportunity. This was before I applied to my job, and it showed me the kind of communication and decisive skills that I would use in any paid work that I did.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Active

What: ice skating with friends

When: 3 Feb 2017

The four of us went to the local ice rink to skate for a while. Although I knew how to ice skate, a few of my friends did not, so we had fun teaching them. I challenged myself to skate backwards, which I did a little bit. But I tried my best at fast (but safe) skating, and the next morning I woke up with sore legs.

[ibcas421]

Strand: Creative

Title: Esperanza Renace

Word Count: 81,220 (English)

When: March 2017

Cuando yo vi este libro en la biblioteca, me recordaba de la clase de espanol en mi escuela católica, donde unos leyeron ese libro. Me gustaría leerlo en su idioma original, pero como la historia tuvo lugar también en México, con una paisana que solo hablaba español, era muy adecuado y apropiado. Lo leí solo en el bus yendo a la casa, y me gusto mucho. No era una historia de verdad, pero era muy auténtico todo lo que la protagonista vivía. Esos son los tipos de libros que a mi me gustan mucho. Tambien aprendi mucho de una cultura diferente y similar al mio. Ver la perspectiva de una como la del libro ayuda mucho en tener una actitud internacional e imparcial, especialmente cuando esa tema es una problema en nuestro mundo hoy.

[ibcas421]

CAS profile plans and update

Creative

Language Learning - Throughout my junior and senior year, I have used apps and websites such as Duolingo, Memrise, and Linguti to improve my languages. Also, because I am more fluent in other languages, I thought it would be more beneficial to read books in those languages instead. That’s mostly what I did my junior year. I continue to read books in German and Spanish and use Duolingo.

Piano - I played piano on my own time, so far only during junior year. However, my trip to Germany in the summer sort of interrupted my routine, and I have not been able to play since. In October though I bought a few piano books that teach basic theory (which I do not know) so I will try to pick it up again, this time learning it in a different way.

Active

In my junior year, what I mostly did for active was go to the gym at my dad’s work place. However, now that I take Physical Conditioning as a class in school, I have stopped going there. Instead I focus on dance; in the summer I did Zumba with my mom and now I work on trying to learn dances off of YouTube. I have done other activities throughout these months as well, including swimming, biking, running, martial arts, and ice skating.

Service

This part has been the most difficult for me, but only because I haven’t looked. However, beginning in September-October of senior year I signed up to be a Teen Volunteer at the Carmel Clay Public Library. I hope to also contribute to the Do Something Club at my school and also help out at shelters like the Humane Society. Also, after visiting my family in Mexico, I hope to help out more over there, even though I live so far away. I will write more about all that in the Experiences section.