IB CAS & INTERNSHIP BLOG

Many more weeks of quarantine have passed, and staying active has actually been a bit of a challenge. I’ve had to really push myself, but the challenge is more mental this time rather than physical. I still have remained physically active and have made it a routine to swim each day. I find it’s my strength to stay committed to activities once I start, but once I do fall out of a routine, I struggle to get back onto it. Identifying these strengths and weaknesses connects too LO1. I will continue to do my best stay active and focus on maintaining my mental health as well.  

We’ve been in quarantine for some time now since the Corona Virus pandemic became worse. It’s been really difficult suddenly isolating myself from everyone besides my family. However, I’ve worked really hard to stay active despite all of the challenges, which connects to LO4. I’ve formalized a work out routine with a schedule and videos to guide me. I’ve done further research into technique, and have been working out for 5-6 days per week for over an hour doing weight training.

I recently got a new camera called a Panasonic GH5. I got this because I wanted to use it on a school trip to make a film documenting our experiences. After returning home from the trip, I started using the camera a lot more with the skills I gained from the three weeks I spent in Costa Rica. I experimented some more with different settings and used some techniques I learned from my friend I took yearbook photos with. I also spent some time editing photos I took in Costa Rica. I’ve used a program called Affinity Photo to alter the contrast, brightness, shadows, and colors slightly. I’ve added this photo below. These experiences connect to LO2. I have spent a lot of time working with the camera and the editing program, and had many failed attempts at capturing and editing photos, but I’ve become more successful with time. The photo below is one I took on a timer after setting manual settings on the camera. 

I’ve returned to Costa Rica for a second time for a short exchange program with an IB high school. As part of our after school activities, I have taken on surfing with some of the other students. This has actually been a huge challenge, even though I have started surfing in the past. For the first few days, I could hardly get up on the board, which I had done many times before in the previous year. This highlights the importance of practicing skills. This connects to LO2, as I had to continually challenge myself each day going out into the ocean and tiring myself as I tried to get up on the board. I would frequently be completely out of breath after coming back onto the beach following this attempt, but I was always invigorated, and I eventually redeveloped some of my skills.

As part of my leadership position as president with the national honor Society chapter, I've had to plan multiple service events. And one event In particular, where are our group was a volunteering with an organization that cleaned homes of people and the, we had some interesting experiences that we all learned from. At one of the multiple homes that we visited, we had to clean a yard full of leaves. We brought the materials, but we were informed that the man living at that house was older, and in the words of his daughter, stubborn. We tried to start working, but there was some minor conflict. He didn't necessarily want that's at his home, even though his family requested that we help. He was working with the lawn mower, and was clearly struggling with it, so we had to him all make a decision with my leadership about what to do about this man. Even though he was not related to us, I still have to take a leadership position and consider the impact of my decision. I wasn...

I've continued to grow my passion for photography. This November I need to take my senior photos. I reached out to a friend of a friend, who is the photographer that's my age. I met with him to discuss doing a photo shoot for me, and we eventually met at this photo shoot, but I also discussed photography a lot with them. We actually experimented with a few different things, such as long shutter photography. We work together to move lights in the background photos while I stood still as the subject, and it made it look like there were light strips in the background despite only using a small light. We had to work together on this, and he said that he hadn't really been able to do it before. We worked together and made some really cool photos that couldn’t have been done otherwise, which connects to LO5.

One my extracurricular's is with the National Honor Society. So far, I've already learned a lot in the position of president. I've had to reach out to many organizations and contact them about potential volunteer opportunities. Although it may seem like easy work, there is so much coordination has to go on behind the scenes. I've been reaching out to a few different organizations, and discussing ideas with our NHS members. In many cases, I've actually reached out to the organization, confirmed a project, and had the other person fall throughout their commitment. This is caused me a lot of stress, as I put a lot of work into informing our group members about the upcoming projects. This connects to LO4, as I had to stay committed to this, despite the setbacks.