As a participant of CASL at the International School of Kenya I have participated in several different forms of activities (sevice, action, creativity.) All of these activities have increased my overall awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses.
Firstly, the main section of my CASL that I focused on was the creativity aspect. I am co-head of Artsco a club at my school that raises awareness about the arts (music, drama, art) and organizes service/fundraising events. In this club I participated in several activities including mural painting in Kibera, and organizing the high school talent show! Being part of Artsco allowed me to work on my team skills, improve my organizational skills and become a leader. After being co-president of Artsco I can clearly see that I am able to be in charge of such a club successfully even if it takes a lot of work and commitment. Artsco taught me how to commit to something and stick to it and brought out my passion for the arts.
Secondly, for the action aspect of my CASL, I participated in the varsity volleyball team as well as working out by myself at the gym twice a week. Both these activities were a good experience and kept me in shape throughout the year. Once again I learnt to commit to something that is good for me. Committing to both these activities allowed me to stay in shape and do something weekly that I enjoy. Committing to the action part of this process was very difficult as I often was too lazy to exercise and go to the gym, however perseverance taught me that I can commit if I have the right mind set.
Thirdly, I get to the part of CASL that I enjoyed the most. I enjoyed the service aspect of the CASL project because it was easy to integrate with the creativity aspect. Since Artsco is a club that also organizes service events it was easy to dedicate my time to service projects. For example I helped organize a service trip to Kibera slum where I helped paint murals on drug awareness. Another service project that I dedicated my time to was donating clothes to local orphanages which I did at least three times this school year. Even though this activity was not linked to creativity it still taught me to appreciate what I have and give to people that are in need. After working so hard on service projects I will try not to take what I have for granted and think of others.
CASL is a project that I enjoyed and think is a good way to make a student participate in different areas (creative, action, service) while they are in high school. It is definitely a project I will remember in the future.
