Creativity: Guitar Lessons

For the last couple of weeks I have been taking beginner’s guitar as my after school activity. I chose guitar because I really enjoy music and it was a pleasant surprise to see an instrument being offered to learn at school. I also wanted to undertake a new challenge that I would need to regularly work at to show results. These lessons took place Monday afternoons in Ms. Skelly’s classroom and were offered to anyone from grades 6 through 12. Ms. Skelly gradually taught us several of the basic guitar chords all the while having us practice them by playing along to fun modern songs that she had picked out. Our only ‘’homework’’ after each class was to practice the guitar whenever we had the chance for the following week.

When I started beginner’s guitar I was uncertain as to whether this would be something I would want to continue in the future; I am happy to say that it most definitely is. I owe most to all of the reason I so enjoyed learning guitar to Ms. Skelly who was in every respect a fantastic teacher. Her enthusiasm and patience was never ending and for that I am truly grateful. In the end I am glad to say that I developed new skills in guitar that I never had before and will continue to work on improving.

Action/Service- Habitat For Humanity Build: My First Build

On the 25^th of September the community service group I’m in, Habitat For Humanity, set out on our monthly build. We were only a small group: Ms. Wolf, Ali, Sascha, Camie, Esfar and I but I think we were all very excited to get our hands dirty and really see how we would be making a difference. We left the school early Saturday morning and arrived in a small village about an hour and a half later. We soon found out that unlike on a previous build were the group laid the foundation for the not yet built house; this time we would be mixing and laying on cement to create the floor for the house. We first took a look at a few of the completed houses to get an idea of the size and overall look of the finished product, all the while taking pictures for later use in our CAS blogs, then we decided that it was about time we got to work! To start things off, we had to make the cement, the items needed to put this together are: pebbles, sand, cement powder and water. We formed a chain and starting off with the sand we passed it along to one another using an object that resembled a wok until it reached a designated open area where it could be dumped. We then did the same thing with the pebbles. Once this had been done two people carried the heavy cement powder bag to the mound of sand and pebbles and broke open the contents of the bag with a shovel. These three items were then mixed together with the aid of the shovels and hoes while water was thrown unto the pile, which would in the end, create the cement. We once again formed our chain and passed containers full of cement until it reached the mason who in turn laid it down and made a proper concrete floor for the house.

A little later in the day a large group of employees from a bank came to do some work with us. We all together went through the same steps as with the first house and quickly completed a second concrete floor. We had one last thing to do before we departed for the day, partake in a lunch the women from the village had prepared for us. With lunch finished we all got back into the van and returned to OSC, exhausted but pleased with our work.

What I hope to achieve in my 11th grade year in CAS

It's only been a couple weeks since we first started the IB DP but it's already quite clear that it involves A LOT of work! Free time is a thing of the past. That being said I'm excited to rise to the occasion in a course that is both challenging and rigorous. Therefore, to make the most out of the next two years I will set goals for myself that if reached I think will make for a more enjoyable IB experience.

Creativity: My goal is to reach a basic level of competence in a musical instrument I have never tried before.

So I have just started the after school activity, guitar. My goal in this activity is to visibly improve on a weekly basis.

Action: My goal is to stay fit and hopefully have fun at the same time, therefore I recently signed up with a trainer and will now be taking classes a couple times a week. I think this will be tough but might also be a bit of fun because the trainer will switch up my workout routines every once in a while so that it doesn't get boring. This, I think, will help me achieve my goal along with a steady diet.

Service: Last school year I joined the CAS group Habitat For Humanity, we did several fundraisers to raise money. This year though we will be going on builds one saturday a month to build houses for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.