Final Reflection
After 18 months, this December marks the end of my CAS journey! There have definitely been some ups and downs but overall it was an experience I will keep with me for the rest of my life. It is so unique for highschool student to be pushed to find something they are passionate about and have then experience it before they go out into the real world. I truly believe that this course and these last 2 years of my life I have grown and changed as a person. I am able to understand the implications of my actions better, step up to be a leader when it is needed and work collaboratively with others.
The first project I embarked on was the Wine Dinner in collaboration with the non profit CEPIA. This was the first time I was hosting an event for adults, I learned how to make flyers, plan and organize events. At the same time I was able to communicate my ideas to adults who would be attending the event. From that point I was glad to be in charge of CAS night where I was able to apply my knowledge and put together events for the community.
The other main project I was involved in was the mangrove reforestation project lead by Sebastian and I. We were both passionate about environmental issues and how there is not much done about them on some occasions mainly because people get tired. We decided to take matters into our own hands and begin involving other people to do the same. As of today there our team has grown, Rochelle, Felipe and Connect Ocean are also just as involved in the process. Due to this change Sebas and I had to adapt the way we worked to be more structured, that way we would be able to effectively work together. At first we did struggle with communication because we now had a new dynamic. Now we are able to understand each other's strength and use it to our advantage. Taking on a project like this meant we had to be very patient and committed. Because it takes a long time for mangrove plants to grow many times we felt like what we were doing was not actually going to make a difference. However this made us realize that the true objective for our project was to inspire people to realize that they can be part of a change if enough people are committed and work together.
Below the seven learning outcomes are mentioned and how I was able to achieve each one of them.
1. Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
Before I started CAS much of what I would do would be to impress others or prove to teachers what my abilities were. However, I in the mangrove project we are doing lots of work behind the scenes such as building the nursery or extensive trials to see what would be more effective for plant growth that I do not feel like I need recognition for. It was not until the last presentation when people noticed what were were actually doing and I was fine with that. Through this cAS journey I have realized that a person is never done growing. There is always a way for me to become more positive more courageous more compassionate with the people around me. One aspect that I will always have to continue working on is my communication. During this time I have become better at transmitting my ideas and objectives to another person, however I realized that I am very closed off emotionally which is not effective when working in a group. By letting stress and other factors of my life bottle up there is a point where I am overwhelmed by everything going on but that can all be solved with initial communication.
One thing that I learned about myself during my CAS journey is how much I value organization. Whenever I was in charge of an event I loved making documents and note cards that help me organize and plan how the event will take place. For example the last CAS night I planned I had scheduled meetings with every single student to listen to their presentation, promotional flyers for both the movie and CAS night, spreadsheets for kids sign up, and a list of all of the upcoming elements I had to prepare such as projectors, food and drinks, screen, speaker ect. Despite all of the preparation for this night I have learned that at some point there you cannot prepare for an event all that well. There will always be technical difficulties or something will go wrong that cannot be controlled beforehand, instead it is something I had to figure out on the spot.
2. Undertaken new challenges and developed new skills.
Over the last 18 months I have grown in ways I would have never imagined when I began this experience. I feel like I have learned to look at situations differently, analyze and create connections that I was not able to make before. This is mainly because I was constantly challenged to be the best version of myself that I could be. Whether this was academic, social or physical I was always growing.
One of my main challenges as a dancer in this time was presenting my choreography to the community. It was the first time that I was presenting my work but also I had to be the teacher which was harder than I expected. I realized how hard it was to communicate your thoughts to other people and motivate them to do the best work they could. It made me appreciate the teachers and mentor I have in my life because I realized how hard it is to constantly be the one in charge and making decisions. I definitely struggled with being assertive while working on this project but I definitely think that I saw this profession of being a teacher from a new perspective.
Girls from the Movement Dance Studio preforming my choreography
I think something that is a big factor in everyone's life at some point is that they do not feel capable of doing a certain activity. I still am challenged by this however, after I participated in the Tamarindo Beach Marathon two years in a row I realized the importance of positivity in a person's life. I never thought I was capable of running 21km, this was extremely challenging both physically and mentally but afterwards I felt as if I was able to do anything! Mostly because I realized how much a mindset has the power to affect a person. From this I have learned to motivate people to push themselves because I went through experience that challenged me in that way.
After running the half marathon
3. Planned and initiated activities
Through my CAS journey by initiating and planning activities I was able to bring awareness of my project to the community. Whether it was raising money through bake sales for the IB lounge, organizing the CAS night and Wine Dinner, or planning a the Mangrove Reforestation Day I was always busy planning, organizing and coordinating events. However, I was not only focused on the community. It is very important to me to have a healthy balanced life. This is why I also made sure to plan my weeks where I would always have exercise or some sort of physical activity involved such as tennis, dancing swimming, or simply working out.
Flyer for CAS night
Rochelle, Felipe Sebas and I presenting at CAS night about mangrove project
4. Worked collaboratively with others
There have been many instances in the last 18 months where I had to work in groups or members of the community a few prominent times were during the tennis marathon and in my mangrove reforestation project.
When the class below me (current 11th graders) started IB they began looking for CAS projects to be a part of. Until this point it was only Sebas and I the ones who were in charge of planning and coordinating. When Rochelle Felipe and Connect Ocean became a part of the team it was hard for us to make the switch because were were not used to communicating with so many people. It turned out that Sebas and I had been planning a mangrove reforestation day, we decided to make a presentation to the high school to raise awareness about the day. However, we
Forgot to communicate about this to Rochelle and Felipe. Sebas and I had made a mistake and we had to overcome it as a team...slowly. We could not rush the process we had to learn how to work together and utilize each of our strengths in order to make our team the best it would be.
After a few weeks I began to understand the importance of positivity. If one of us was not in the mood for something or had a negative attitude toward and idea it was hard to create a workplace where we were able to effectively work and be productive. I do believe that there was no way for us to begin as a good team, we all had to get to know each other and learn what each of us needed.
Flyer for the mangrove reforestation day
5. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
During the first few months of any new activity or program I am a part of I am extremely motivated partially because I am so excited to start on something new. However, this excitement slowly fades with time. I feel like I struggled with this both in school and with some of my long term CAS projects. When I began the mangrove reforestation project I was so motivated to get everything done quickly. I did not realize that I could not fast track the process of my CAS project which meant that I did not pace my motivation. There were many times that I wanted to quit and give up on the mangrove project because I did not feel like what I was doing was important and I could not see a difference. Most of the time when I felt this way was because we had to wait for plants to grow or for it to be seed season. I remember a specific instance where I truly thought that the mangrove project had faded away, The Wonderment group came to Costa Rica and they interviewed Sebas and I. It reminded me why I began the project and the reasons I was passionate about it. I feel like people need that sort of push especially with long term projects like this because it is hard to maintain motivation for that long.
6. Engaged with issues of global importance
What I love about CAS is that every student is able to find what they are passionate about and pursue it. In my case I have always been fascinated by nature and it makes me sad to see how we take it for granted. Sometimes we do not realize how much of an impact our actions have on the world both to help or harm the environment. With the mangrove project Sebas and I wanted to be part of the change to restore our local ecosystem in the mangrove forest of Avellanas. We understood the the results would not be seen when we would be around but we continued with the project with hopes that it would inspire others to also be the change in our community.This project and CAS in general taught me so much about how to present information to other people to motivate them to help, awareness is the most powerful tool when working on projects like these ones, for this reason our main goal was to inform the community of what was going on in the forest and prepare all the seeds available to us to be planted into the mangrove.
A mangrove seedling planted into the mangrove forest
7. Considered the ethical implications of their actions
The first project I organized was the Wine DInner in collaboration with CEPIA and Seasons. Our goal was to raise $3000 in order to provide, emotional, and financial support to three families in a local neighborhood. Before I was able to begin with this project I had to consider if it was ethical to give this money to people without them working for it which may lead for them to take it for granted. Although they were never in charge of the money in the first place, CEPIA were the ones responsible for sending them a monthly food basket and uniforms for school etc; and there is no way to know if in the long term this contribution was beneficial for the family to progress and be sustainable.
Two boys from the CEPIA families that I met
Pictures from the wine dinner
The mangrove reforestation project also had a few ethical implications that our group had to take into consideration. It was clear to us that the mangrove had died because of the earthquake in Costa Rica in 2012. It was a natural event that caused the sandbar to raise, and there we were a group of student who are trying to go against nature. It was never a human induced deforestation yet we still felt like we have the power to change it. At the end of the day we came into this project with the best intentions of doing good for the community and nature. Afterall it would not harm anyone to have more trees in this world. Our main goal is to help the mangrove go through the reforestation process more quickly by inserting the correct type of mangrove seeds into the forest.