Thursday, April 21, 2011
THE GATEWAY QUIZ.
I was asked, along with some other people in our class and the class below, to take part in a quiz at Gateway College in Colombo. I was asked because of my links with MUN and History. The quiz was on history and current affairs, two very interesting topics. We haven't really participated in an event like this before, and we were all quite intimidated in the beginning, because of this as well as the little time that we had to prepare for such an event. This developed the skills that I have from MUN, and the idea of current affairs and global issues. It was a very fun day out, and we learnt a lot. Despite our initial intimidation, we managed to get 6th place out of 16 schools, a fine achievement for a group of four students who found out about the quiz the day before.
FINAL REFLECTION.
CREATIVITY.
Over the course of the last two years, my greatest focus of CAS has been through Creativity. This is because many of the extra-curricular activities that I have participated in have been under the umbrella of Creativity. My leadership duties in SGA (G11), CO-MUN (G11&12) and Prom Committee (G11) and my participation in the plays the Crucible (G11) and the Curious Savage (G12), both helping out with stage craft elements, yearbook (G11), the Gateway quiz (G12) and ISTA TAPS (G12) have been what I have done in the last two years, in terms of Creativity.
Because of this large array of Creativity options that I have taken upon me over the course of the last two years, I have seen that I have various skills and interests that both generated my choice in participation in these activities, as well as made me want to do them again. Especially in the case of the plays that I helped with; The Crucible, the first one, because we were doing costume, I found that I love sewing and that I am quite good at it, which I did not think I would be before I tried it. From the skills that I learnt here, I was able to apply them elsewhere, and have become quite the tailor when it comes to altering my own clothes. The other play, the Curious Savage, I asked to help with the make-up because it is one part of stage craft that I find very interesting and wanted to learn more about. From this experience, I learnt how to put make-up on actors properly, especially in the case of aging characters, which is an interesting and sometimes difficult technique. I have done yearbook after MUN finishes in March since 9th grade, and so since then I have used Photoshop, and I have a competency in it, and every year these skills expand, no more so than G11, when I learnt how to do a variety of different effects which I did not know how to do before.
SGA and CO-MUN thoroughly showed my initiative and planning, because I held such key roles in both these events. For SGA I was secretary, and because of complicated issues with our President, I was second in command, and felt this role greatly because I felt like we had a lot of pressure on us to be one of the best SGA OSC has seen in years, which motivated me to work even harder at this role. CO-MUN is one of the largest student run MUN conferences in the world, and as a result of this heavy reliance on student planning to pull off this colossal event, especially in a leadership role such as the one that I had in G12, requires great amount of planning and initiative. This activity in itself is the greatest source of learning of global issues in school than any other activity, my participation in the Gateway Quiz further built on my interest in global affairs, and was an excellent exposure to the competition, as well as increasing knowledge. Prom, in addition to this, showed our initiative and motivation to plan it, as it was not an event that was something that we wanted to do, and had not been done in OSC, and so getting the numbers up took some work, because of issues such as the cost of the tickets. However, we pursued, and the event turned out to be a huge success. All of these things allowed me to work collaboratively with others, because if i wasn't able to do this, and other people were not able to do this, none of the events would have been pulled off with the success that they were.
ACTION
Because I am a much more creative person than I am active, my action is much less than creativity. My major action for the two years was SAISA Football, which I did in G11. I was going to continue it in G12, but found that I had too much on my plate at that time of the year. Football was not something that I was very good at, or sport in general, but in G10, I tried it, and found that I really enjoyed it and even though I did not make the team the year before, I tried very hard and was able to make the team G11. This activity greatly developed new skills, allowed me to work collaboratively and as a team, allowed me to undertake new challenges, as well as increased my awareness of my own strengths as a person, by doing something that was so out of my comfort zone.
SERVICE
My service component was dominated by the Service Hope for Kids, which aims at raising money for the children at the Maharagama Cancer Hospital. We met every week, at least for a meeting, and if not we went to the hospital to play with the children. In October, we organized a charity concert, which was named Versus Cancer, where acts from many different schools performed and people came and bought tickets, supporting this cause. We had to consider the ethical implications of this act, because people weren't really getting the point of the concert other than the fact that it was a performance. So we decided to include videos about the disease, especially in children, as well as selling t-shirts that were supporting the cause. Again, we had to work collaboratively to make this a success.
For CO-MUN, we chose to have a rations drive to add a new dimension to the very intellect-based Model United Nations, and managed to collect a great amount rations for the people in the North and East of Sri Lanka, which was heavily affected by flooding. This was a new initiative that we thought of ourselves, and I think that this worked very well, and hopefully the collection made a difference.
Over the course of the last two years, my greatest focus of CAS has been through Creativity. This is because many of the extra-curricular activities that I have participated in have been under the umbrella of Creativity. My leadership duties in SGA (G11), CO-MUN (G11&12) and Prom Committee (G11) and my participation in the plays the Crucible (G11) and the Curious Savage (G12), both helping out with stage craft elements, yearbook (G11), the Gateway quiz (G12) and ISTA TAPS (G12) have been what I have done in the last two years, in terms of Creativity.
Because of this large array of Creativity options that I have taken upon me over the course of the last two years, I have seen that I have various skills and interests that both generated my choice in participation in these activities, as well as made me want to do them again. Especially in the case of the plays that I helped with; The Crucible, the first one, because we were doing costume, I found that I love sewing and that I am quite good at it, which I did not think I would be before I tried it. From the skills that I learnt here, I was able to apply them elsewhere, and have become quite the tailor when it comes to altering my own clothes. The other play, the Curious Savage, I asked to help with the make-up because it is one part of stage craft that I find very interesting and wanted to learn more about. From this experience, I learnt how to put make-up on actors properly, especially in the case of aging characters, which is an interesting and sometimes difficult technique. I have done yearbook after MUN finishes in March since 9th grade, and so since then I have used Photoshop, and I have a competency in it, and every year these skills expand, no more so than G11, when I learnt how to do a variety of different effects which I did not know how to do before.
SGA and CO-MUN thoroughly showed my initiative and planning, because I held such key roles in both these events. For SGA I was secretary, and because of complicated issues with our President, I was second in command, and felt this role greatly because I felt like we had a lot of pressure on us to be one of the best SGA OSC has seen in years, which motivated me to work even harder at this role. CO-MUN is one of the largest student run MUN conferences in the world, and as a result of this heavy reliance on student planning to pull off this colossal event, especially in a leadership role such as the one that I had in G12, requires great amount of planning and initiative. This activity in itself is the greatest source of learning of global issues in school than any other activity, my participation in the Gateway Quiz further built on my interest in global affairs, and was an excellent exposure to the competition, as well as increasing knowledge. Prom, in addition to this, showed our initiative and motivation to plan it, as it was not an event that was something that we wanted to do, and had not been done in OSC, and so getting the numbers up took some work, because of issues such as the cost of the tickets. However, we pursued, and the event turned out to be a huge success. All of these things allowed me to work collaboratively with others, because if i wasn't able to do this, and other people were not able to do this, none of the events would have been pulled off with the success that they were.
ACTION
Because I am a much more creative person than I am active, my action is much less than creativity. My major action for the two years was SAISA Football, which I did in G11. I was going to continue it in G12, but found that I had too much on my plate at that time of the year. Football was not something that I was very good at, or sport in general, but in G10, I tried it, and found that I really enjoyed it and even though I did not make the team the year before, I tried very hard and was able to make the team G11. This activity greatly developed new skills, allowed me to work collaboratively and as a team, allowed me to undertake new challenges, as well as increased my awareness of my own strengths as a person, by doing something that was so out of my comfort zone.
SERVICE
My service component was dominated by the Service Hope for Kids, which aims at raising money for the children at the Maharagama Cancer Hospital. We met every week, at least for a meeting, and if not we went to the hospital to play with the children. In October, we organized a charity concert, which was named Versus Cancer, where acts from many different schools performed and people came and bought tickets, supporting this cause. We had to consider the ethical implications of this act, because people weren't really getting the point of the concert other than the fact that it was a performance. So we decided to include videos about the disease, especially in children, as well as selling t-shirts that were supporting the cause. Again, we had to work collaboratively to make this a success.
For CO-MUN, we chose to have a rations drive to add a new dimension to the very intellect-based Model United Nations, and managed to collect a great amount rations for the people in the North and East of Sri Lanka, which was heavily affected by flooding. This was a new initiative that we thought of ourselves, and I think that this worked very well, and hopefully the collection made a difference.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
THE CURIOUS SAVAGE.
The Secondary Production this year is a play called the Curious Savage, which is about a woman whose children put her in a mental home because they don't want her spending the fortune that her husband left behind, and they want it for themselves. It is quite a light play, and in some parts very funny.
Because they did not have many people helping with make-up, I volunteered to help. From our own drama productions in school, I found that I really enjoy doing make-up, and wanted to learn more about doing it. From this experience, I actually learned a lot about doing make up, such as how to make people look older. I really enjoyed doing it, and it was a very good learning experience for me.
Because they did not have many people helping with make-up, I volunteered to help. From our own drama productions in school, I found that I really enjoy doing make-up, and wanted to learn more about doing it. From this experience, I actually learned a lot about doing make up, such as how to make people look older. I really enjoyed doing it, and it was a very good learning experience for me.
HOPE FOR KIDS.
Something that I forgot to include last year was my participation in the service activity, Hope for Kids. In this service activity, we aim to spend one thursday planning what we are doing, and the next thursday visiting the Children's Ward at the Cancer Hospital in Maharagama, which is about 20 minutes away from OSC. Although there have been difficulties in sometimes getting to the Cancer Hospital for various reasons, we try and get there as often as we can. When we are there, we play with the children, as well as sometimes cleaning the space.
The year before, we raised money so that we were able to renovate the children's play room at the ward, so when we go there we try to maintain it.
Sometimes it is difficult to play with the children because I am not fluent in Sinhala, and so the children don't really understand when I try to speak to them, and I just about understand what they are saying. Also, they are very shy, and not always willing to do things with us.
Because the school hired a teacher to be with the children and teach them when they can get to the play area, we have to pay her and so we have to raise money for her salary, which is one of the main goals of our CAS. As we were told that when we raise money, we have to make it "personal to the CAS", we decided to have a movie afternoon, where we showed the film, "My Sister's Keeper". Although it was not a huge sucess, it was a good start to our fundraising.
The year before, we raised money so that we were able to renovate the children's play room at the ward, so when we go there we try to maintain it.
Sometimes it is difficult to play with the children because I am not fluent in Sinhala, and so the children don't really understand when I try to speak to them, and I just about understand what they are saying. Also, they are very shy, and not always willing to do things with us.
Because the school hired a teacher to be with the children and teach them when they can get to the play area, we have to pay her and so we have to raise money for her salary, which is one of the main goals of our CAS. As we were told that when we raise money, we have to make it "personal to the CAS", we decided to have a movie afternoon, where we showed the film, "My Sister's Keeper". Although it was not a huge sucess, it was a good start to our fundraising.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
TENNIS.
Grace and I started playing tennis at the Swimming Club every Saturday since January, right after Mocks finished. Both of us used to play tennis before, and have been planning it for a while, but because of work and other things getting in our way, we haven't been able to put our plan into action until now.
Goals:
- Get fit
- Better my skills in tennis
- Have fun while exercising
For the last couple of times that we have done it, I have really enjoyed myself, and I had forgotten how much I like playing tennis, as it has been about four years since the last time I played. It is also, for me, one of the best sports to do, as it is not a team game so you do not have to get a lot of people together, you just need one extra person, two raquets and a ball and you are on your way. It has been a lot of fun, and a good way to relax from a week of school.
Goals:
- Get fit
- Better my skills in tennis
- Have fun while exercising
For the last couple of times that we have done it, I have really enjoyed myself, and I had forgotten how much I like playing tennis, as it has been about four years since the last time I played. It is also, for me, one of the best sports to do, as it is not a team game so you do not have to get a lot of people together, you just need one extra person, two raquets and a ball and you are on your way. It has been a lot of fun, and a good way to relax from a week of school.
COMUN 2011
4 - 6 March 2011,
As I have said before, I was Secretary General of COMUN 2011. We started planning for this huge event in September, and the organizing committee is made up of 20 members, including me. There are five committees, three General Assembly Committees, ECOSOC, Sec Council. There are about 450 people taking part as delegates debating over the three day conference. Before the conference, we had three full Saturdays of Practice Debates, where the delegates, as well as the chairs can practice what to do before the actual conference. About 25 schools in Sri Lanka took part, as well as 3 schools from India and Pakistan.
Although this activity is not new to me (this is my 4th year in MUN, 3rd on the organizing committee), I continue to learn more every year, as well as the fact that I have moved further up the ladder to gain the highest position. It is always fun, and there are always many new people that you meet every year, and you always learn so much, because the issues that are discussed are relevant to current affairs. This year's topic was Natural Disasters and Humanitarian Assistance.
Before the conference, we had things to sort out, such as the food, water, and every year we give the delegates a folder, which has things such as paper, pens, etc in it. This also has to be sorted out before the conference. Possibly the hardest thing to do is finding sponsorships so that we can balance all our expenses. This year, we were lucky, because we had one large sponsor, but we still had to find other sponsors on top of this because the amount the delegates pay does not completely cover costs.
Ironically, the thing that I hate doing the most is public speaking. During the duration of the conference, I had to make multiple speeches, something that I was really worried about. However, I managed to overcome this fear of public speaking and open the Conference with a speech. After I had made it, I was pleased with myself for being able to do it. I also had a lot of positive feedback about it, which also made me feel much better, and slightly more confident about public speaking.
Overall, the conference went much better than expected. One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to have a conference were more overseas international schools attended, and making the conference more international, and also for people to say at the end that this was the best COMUN they ever attended. Although my first goal wasn't really fulfilled, although we did have more people attending from overseas than the previous years, my last goal definitely was. People in OSC, such as Ms. Shanthi in the IT lab, and Mr. Kularatne in the Photocopy room, who have been working in OSC in MUN for the last ten or so years, have been saying that this was the best conference they have ever seen, which made me ecstatic. As this was the most important goal.
I think that as a team, the whole committee worked very well together and we worked very efficiently. In previous years that I have been in MUN, on the second day when we are setting up at the hotel, we are fully finished at around 3 am. Yet this year, we managed to be out of there at 11pm, which is a huge achievement. Also, things ran almost seamlessly throughout the three days, and I am so happy with all of the hard work that we have done over the last three months to get to this point. It has all definitely paid off.
As I have said before, I was Secretary General of COMUN 2011. We started planning for this huge event in September, and the organizing committee is made up of 20 members, including me. There are five committees, three General Assembly Committees, ECOSOC, Sec Council. There are about 450 people taking part as delegates debating over the three day conference. Before the conference, we had three full Saturdays of Practice Debates, where the delegates, as well as the chairs can practice what to do before the actual conference. About 25 schools in Sri Lanka took part, as well as 3 schools from India and Pakistan.
Although this activity is not new to me (this is my 4th year in MUN, 3rd on the organizing committee), I continue to learn more every year, as well as the fact that I have moved further up the ladder to gain the highest position. It is always fun, and there are always many new people that you meet every year, and you always learn so much, because the issues that are discussed are relevant to current affairs. This year's topic was Natural Disasters and Humanitarian Assistance.
Before the conference, we had things to sort out, such as the food, water, and every year we give the delegates a folder, which has things such as paper, pens, etc in it. This also has to be sorted out before the conference. Possibly the hardest thing to do is finding sponsorships so that we can balance all our expenses. This year, we were lucky, because we had one large sponsor, but we still had to find other sponsors on top of this because the amount the delegates pay does not completely cover costs.
Ironically, the thing that I hate doing the most is public speaking. During the duration of the conference, I had to make multiple speeches, something that I was really worried about. However, I managed to overcome this fear of public speaking and open the Conference with a speech. After I had made it, I was pleased with myself for being able to do it. I also had a lot of positive feedback about it, which also made me feel much better, and slightly more confident about public speaking.
Overall, the conference went much better than expected. One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to have a conference were more overseas international schools attended, and making the conference more international, and also for people to say at the end that this was the best COMUN they ever attended. Although my first goal wasn't really fulfilled, although we did have more people attending from overseas than the previous years, my last goal definitely was. People in OSC, such as Ms. Shanthi in the IT lab, and Mr. Kularatne in the Photocopy room, who have been working in OSC in MUN for the last ten or so years, have been saying that this was the best conference they have ever seen, which made me ecstatic. As this was the most important goal.
I think that as a team, the whole committee worked very well together and we worked very efficiently. In previous years that I have been in MUN, on the second day when we are setting up at the hotel, we are fully finished at around 3 am. Yet this year, we managed to be out of there at 11pm, which is a huge achievement. Also, things ran almost seamlessly throughout the three days, and I am so happy with all of the hard work that we have done over the last three months to get to this point. It has all definitely paid off.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
MUN DRY RATIONS DRIVE
Because of the recent floods that have devestated the North of the country, the Organizing Committee for MUN has decided to have a dry rations drive to support those that are in desperate need. We will be going through the Red Cross in our drive. As a Model United Nations Conference Organizing Committee, we wanted to better mock the United Nations by also involving ourselves in service work. In our drive, we approached all the schools, reaching out past the 450 delegates that will be attending the conference, and asked them to donate as much as they could for the drive, which was collecting basic things such as saris, toothbrushes, rice, soap, etc. so that they are able to support themselves in this harsh period.
We managed to collect boxes and boxes of equipment, as well as some money, to be donated to those who are suffering in the North. Overall, this drive was a huge success, because of the people that were involved.
We managed to collect boxes and boxes of equipment, as well as some money, to be donated to those who are suffering in the North. Overall, this drive was a huge success, because of the people that were involved.
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