Basket Brigade!

One of my long-term projects during these two years includes the organisation of the basket brigade in order to support the Salvation Army's Christmas Appeal. This involves donating goods as potential christmas present for children who would otherwise miss out. For this myself and a fellow peer have coordinated a program from which all of the Year 1 students can work from. First we needed to write a letter to the principals of our school confirming that we could send out letters to parents asking for donations, and to email the Salvation army, confirming our participation in the Christmas Appeal the date at which they can pick up the donations. The following week we typed a letter that was to be sent out to the parents of the school, and the following week we labelled them and sent them out. The next few days after that we organised boxes to hand out to the different classrooms, working collaboratively to complete it in time to get the most donations possible. Every day leading up to the 4th of December we collected the boxes, and on that date we donated all goods to the Salvation Army! The experience I had trying to organise the group was tough but eventually everything was completed in time to fill several boxes to donate to those in need. Through this project I have been able to recognise issues of global importance, and the ethical implications associated with it. For this reason, I would say that this fundraiser has been one of the most important project's that I have both organised and participated in during the IB course. It took quite a while to coordinate, but knowing that our hard work was going to ensure that children did not go without presents this christmas made everything worth it. 

Hours gained from activity:

Creativity: 0

Activity: 0

Service: 10

Learning to Play the Drums!

At the start of this year I started to learn how to play the drums! I began lessons because I had previously learned how to play the guitar at the same place, and the teachers were really nice and made learning extremely easy and relaxed. I went into my first few lessons expecting to come out knowing how to play my favourite songs using the instrument, but was surprised to find that playing the drums is much harder than that - you can only learn so much in one lesson. At first, I felt like giving up learning to play the instrument because I aimed to play songs with impressive rolls and complex double beats. As the lessons progressed, and as I persevered despite wanting to quit, I found that trying to play my favourite songs was unrealistic, as I had not yet learned how to maintain a steady meter. Eventually, after months of going back and learning more, I managed to balance my meter and keep in rhythm. Because of my perseverance I am now able to play a few of my favourite songs!

Hours gained from activity:
Creativity: 10
Activity: 0
Service: 0

Prep for the Year 12 IB Visual Arts Exhibition!

The year 1 IB Visual Arts students are always in charge of preparing and catering for the year 2 art exhibition. It is a very long process that involves organising the art hall, location, entertainment and catering for the event. Once the art gallery was confirmed we gathered many different people from the Lower Secondary and organised entertainment and food! On the day of the exhibition, we all were required to set up, so we left school to the gallery and spent a few hours preparing. I am glad we were able to help out the year 2's in this way, because next year we are going to be in their position, needing all the help we can get!

Hours gained from activity:
Creativity: 0
Activity: 0
Service: 10