Community Action Service and Me: August 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Goals For This YeAr!!

One of my major goals this year is to focus more on activities which involve the creativity aspect of CAS. Last year, there were plenty of occasions where I had the opportunity to express the action and service components but not so many for creativity.

Alongside, I would like highlight the following components of the 8 criteria listed below in more specific than the others because they were not successfully met compared to the remaining 5.

Considered ethical implications of their actions

The main purpose of this programe is to help those children in the local community to develop their swimming skills whether it be from scratch or improvement of what they alredy have. We have the blessed privilage of a swimming pool where we can learn how to swim. These cildren however, do not and have to rely on natrual enviroments to engage in swimming activities. By providing this program to the local comunity who lack these facilites that we sometimes take for granted, probably is amogst the greatest morally ethical sevice we as the community of OSC can offer. In this manner the very service of the Sunflower Program has tought me the importance of ethical implications to the society around the walls of OSC.

Engaged with issues of global importance.

When we started the Sunflower project this year, we considered the aspect of including issues of global importance. A great deal of the worlds population that lack access to computer technology. Those populations are mainly located in either less economically developed countries or developing countries. Major humanitarian organizations have made it a priority that people are literate in such areas for the benefit of the future of the nation itself. Therefore it is important that we contribute to this process in the least possible way. We live in a country where its development has boomed in the past 3-5 years. Alongside this development, there are those communities who have little exposure to the changing modern world. Where technology takes another step each day. Our school is a fruitful, loaded with some of the latest technology one could ask for. Having these facilities available makes OSC a significant resource for all service projects not only Sunflower Village itself.

Increased awareness of their strengths and weaknesses

Addressing these criteria in specific, I will have addressed the greater majority of the 8 criteria throughout 2011. If aim to accomplish these three goals by December break (1st semester), then I would have fully accomplished the 8 criteria related to Community Action and Service. Of course there may be some interference with the scheduled dates for swimming due to bad weather or the children not showing up on a particular day, but it is an obstical that must be faced.

The Eight Criteria

• Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth

They are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, some more developed than others, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward.

Undertaken new challenges

A new challenge may be an unfamiliar activity, or an extension to an existing one.

• Planned and initiated activities

Planning and initiation will often be in collaboration with others. It can be shown in activities that are part of larger projects, for example, ongoing school activities in the local community, as well as in small student led activities.

• Worked collaboratively with others

Collaboration can be shown in many different activities, such as team sports, playing music in a band, or helping in a kindergarten. At least one project, involving collaboration and the integration of at least two of creativity, action and service, is required.

• Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities

At a minimum, this implies attending regularly and accepting a share of the responsibility for dealing with problems that arise in the course of activities.

• Engaged with issues of global importance

Students may be involved in international projects but there are many global issues that can be acted upon locally or nationally (for example, environmental concerns, caring for the elderly).

• Considered the ethical implications of their actions

Ethical decisions arise in almost any CAS activity (for example, on the sports field, in musical composition, in relationships with others involved in service activities). Evidence of thinking about ethical issues can be shown in various ways, including journal entries and conversations with CAS advisers.

• Developed new skills

As with new challenges, new skills may be shown in activities that the student has not previously undertaken, or in increased expertise in an established area.