Laments of an IB student

CAS activities and other muses of an IB student

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Spreadsheet containing information on which activities I did over the 18 months, and how often I did them, and for how long. 

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I'll have to think about it, a reprisal! 12/12/13

To raise money for YoungMinds, a charity that promotes mental health care for young people and helps them to deal with any problems they may have, we decided to extend an idea we first had in our IB theatre class.

We staged a short play called 'i'll have to think about it' earlier in the year, as a part of our IB theatre course, which focused on a mental health hospital for young people and the corrupt nurses, who were portrayed in a Brechtian manner as an almost hiveminded machine. I wrote the script and played the character of OCD.

We decided to expand on the script and flesh out characters, and develop more sophisticated staging and lighting in order to explore the idea of trying something new and engaging with the arts. We wanted to not only created a piece of theatre that would raise money, but also one that would communicate with people are own age, and encourage them to confront and discuss their issues, however severe. The performance preparation was a long process, spanning hour long rehearsals everyday in the two weeks leading up to performance after school, and many hours spent revising the script and learning lines/developing my role. Organisation and set up of the studio and advertisements/tickets was also laborious, but we delegated tasks to ensure everything was completed efficiently. However, after a packed audience and positive reception, we felt we had done the cause justice. As a group we managed to raise £120 from the evening.

The slogan of YoungMinds is 'Define Normal', a phrase that encapsulates what we were trying to say with our piece. It really got me thinking about my own childhood OCD, and how acting in a play discussing the issue really helped me step back and look at any problems I have had with mental health from another perspective. By working with the director and cast, I felt I had seen a side to OCD that I previously hadn't, and it has certainly helped me realise when I lapse into any ritualistic behaviour still present from the more extreme variant of the condition I had when I was younger.

I also got me thinking about the nature of mental illness, and how through my adult life, I am going to attempt to prevent any type of stigmatisation or prejudice towards those with problems beyond their control and try my hardest to encourage others to do the same. We had to consider any ethical implications relevant when portrayal characters with mental illness, for instance, we didn't want to offend anyone in the audience who may have suffered from the illnesses we explore, and therefore tried our utmost to deliver accurate and fair representations of the illnesses in a way that served our story.

All in all, I think we managed to succeed in making a difference, however small, and working together to create something we were proud of.

Oliver de Montfalcon - 24 January 2014 (written about an event that took place on 12 December 2013)

The picture attached to this post is of me performing in the play, showing a typical symptom of OCD, impuslive behaviour, much like I did in our original performance, but developed to a greater degree.

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Skiing in Morzine

Skiing in Morzine was a novelty experience for me, and really pushed me out of my comfort zone.  I stayed nearby the slopes and went out daily. It was my first time skiing. Initial my balance was poor, and I could barely control my speed with a "snow plow". By the second day however, I was already attempting some of the easier Blue runs down to the neighbouring town of Les Gets.  Attached are some of the pictures from the trip. I felt I really pushed my physical capacity and gained a new skill and love. The views were breathtaking, and the harder blue runs I attempted during the latter half of the week were exhilarating. My instructor Julian really helped me experience the awesome sport of skiing, and I was lucky to have been taken on holiday by my Girlfriend and her family to experience Morzine during the winter months.  I feel that while I could of attempted some easier red runs, I instant chose to maintain my confidence, and focus on tightening my technique. A new experience, and definitely a good chance to practice my French with locals and have a look into the French skiing culture. 

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The Four Seasons Old Folks Home

Had my first experience at the Colinton Old folks home (Four Seasons). Met some lovely people their. A lady who went to live in the USA during WW1, Jean, who is 103, and was a prisoner of war in Indonesia and Jess who was very talkative and showed me the ropes. Leah was very supportive (a carer). I recited them a Scots poem that I had previously recited in assembly this morning, they found it rather amusing. Age is only a number!

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I decided to start a youtube account for our Theatre HL class. The idea is to provide a service to classmates who missed lessons during essential projects. The channel can receive contributions from all members of the group.  It helped improve my IT skills and also gave me a chance to use media as a form communication and was definitely helpful to the class. I hope to maybe utilise youtube for other subject catch-ups too.

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"I love her, even if she is my sister; and Timothy is going to grow up to be a fine fire extinguisher." - Conrad Williamson

My personal favourite of the many bizarre lines spake in my new activity: Theatre Labs. I started Theatre Labs as a weekly activity and platform to voice our creative ideas in a group.

The group is open to all of S6. We started by improvising based on randomn items strewn accross the floow of Studio 1, with various pieces of furniture. Whilst absurd and surreal in contents, the initial meet up broke the ice and I feel it helped us all grow closer. 7 people showed up, and we decided to have a couple of weeks of improvisation before pursuing a project. I feel it has helped my team work skills and my confidence as an actor.

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While theatre is on my mind, I was taken back to our IB1 (S5) trip to Stratford Upon Avon to see the RSC's The Tempest and Richard III. Was really enriching to see a modern and sexy version of the two plays with imaginative set design. Inspired my own theatre projects a great deal when looking at modernism and grand set design ideas.

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As You Like It was awesome

I really enjoyed watching As You Like It. As a new kid at Watsons, I had no idea what to expect from the S6 production, and it blew my mind. Acting was tight and flowing. Dialogue was funny and animated. Staging was creative, lighting succinct and effective. And a certain melancholy fellow had me in stitches. I suppose the benefits of being at a big school, or at least being new, is being able to appreciate the richness of the environment and people with a novel viewpoint. Well done to everyone involved, it was a triumph!

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Theatre Labs

Today I handed in the forms to officially commence 'Theatre Labs', a weekly hour long activity I have proposed (supervised by Mr. Serrels) that enables pupils of the school to come together and devise experimental theatre, defying convention and exploring issues, such as mental health, sex, school, politics, growing up and all sorts of other areas that affect us.

I feel this allows me to build teamwork skills and my organisational capacity, and enriches the community buy providing a vehicle to build confidence, encourage people to step up into leadership roles and express themselves in a productive format. More on this later!

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Induction Day

Induction day was good fun and a very good opportunity for me to build on my team work skills and meeting others. During activities such as making towers out of newspaper, we worked collaboratively, and I made some bonds with new friends such as Carl and Kelly. By working to a common goal, barriers such as language and unfamiliarity were all but eliminated. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and made some new friends and improved my teamwork skills significantly.  Supervisor: Aileen Rees

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Cabaret Night

During the Cabaret night, I co-presented the evening between acts. It was an exhilarating experience, introducing me to a new type of public speaking; humour. Having to constantly balance the information regarding the evening's proceedings and making sure that I was entertaining the audience was a challenge that quickly became second nature. I spent the two days leading up to the event learning and memorising some non-improvisatory parts of my presenting; such as a note of thanks, and raffle prizes, and act names. I also presented for the entirety of the 3 hour event, in-between acts and intervals. I worked with my co-presenter Ms. Claudia Daventry during the Cabaret show, and members of the PTA and staff when we cleared up afterwards.  The evening went well in my opinion, and while a few things could have been improved on my part, such as the length of the note of thanks, and maybe the appropriateness of one or two improvised quips (which still managed to get laughs I hasten to add) I am pleased with my contribution. I think that the whole evening was a success and a credit to the school, featuring some of the best musical performances I have seen performed in the hall! The value of the event was a mixture of event organisation skills and public speaking performance experience, which encouraged me to think of new ways to present information and amuse an audience. The activity gave me great pride in being able to credit the performers and I was also thankful of positive feedback from event-goers. Even cleaning up was a positive experience, as it was one of the rare experiences wherein teachers and pupils worked on equal footing, sharing a mutual respect; which was nice. I will take the ability to imbue humour into possibly banal information when speaking in public, and hopefully use it in a professional career or my desired career path as an actor.   Supervisor: Aileen Rees

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Royal and Ancient Carol Singing

During the Christmas Holidays, a group of us choir members spent  a few days preparing and honing 5 traditional carols for an a capella performance at the Royal and Ancient golf club. We coordinated 4 different parts and worked together, showing team work and a good sense of musical interaction. Time management was also essential during the busy end of term season.  By the day of the performance we were confident with the Carols, including 'Once in royal David City' and 'Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.' We sung our set, and garnered a good reaction from our audience of club members. It was a challenge for me to sing a capella as my singing has never been very good when unaccompanied, but by coming together we managed to pull of a great sounding set. There were certain aspects we could have improved, such as the addition of descants of certain carols, and a more appropriate way of pitch finding (instead of using Hamish's iPhone to find a concert G.) We worked hard and our efforts were rewarded with complimentary hot chocolate and mulled wine.  Superviser name: Glynn Jenkins ([email protected])

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Pumpkin Party

The Pumpkin Party was a great opportunity to engage with younger members of the pupil community. Even during long waits at various activity stands, I found myself active, working with other members of the IB1 team play with the children and involve them in activities such as cookie designing and apple dunking. We worked for most of the evening, but I found the chance to experience younger perspectives and worth with my friends to be invaluable. We could have perhaps become further involved ourselves by dressing up in costume though. The activity has certainly made me aware of the value of engaging with pupils of the junior school and has inspired me to possibly volunteer with some local youth groups.