Year of France Gala

Last Saturday I volunteered once again at my school's annual country of the year gala. On the Tuesday before, all the gala volunteers met in the art room during lunch to prepare with the gala's organizers, Ms. Kozah and Ms. Poirot. We were given a very detailed packet of our duties and the timeline for the gala. It was good to be able to go over it and ask questions once before the actual event. I found out that I was going to be a greeter and  "table expert" for the health table and beauty/apparel table. Everything was prepared very well.
Instead of wearing traditional dress from the country of the year like last year, we were asked to wear black dresses and berets.
The day of the gala I was rushing to go get shoes and tights the hour before I arrived. Luckily I wasn't late and was the fourth person to arrive. I was very relieved. We then went into the auction room to familiarize ourselves with the items. Once people began arriving, my partner and I went to the front doors to greet and direct guests to the auction room for around an hour and a half. Once the auction room was cleared out, we started packing up the items that had been sold with bags from underneath the table. This procedure was designed to make the process of checking out much quicker and less hectic than it was the year before. Afterwards, we sold "treasure boxes" to the guests dining. The treasure boxes held surprise gifts inside and were all sold very quickly. When we were done all the student volunteers had dinner in an empty room and then came back out to help with the checkout. Unfortunately, a few of the items stickers had gone missing and  the numbering system didn't completely make sense but overall it wasn't too bad and I'm told that it was much better than last year. Checkout being closed, all the students went out for pictures and a few minutes of dancing before we left, which was  a wonderful conclusion to the night. Oh, and just as we were leaving, Mrs. Poirot gave my friend and me a little boxes of chocolates in appreciation, which I certainly did appreciate and tasted right away. (Thank you Mrs. Poirot!)
I hope that my presence at the gala helped make it go more smoothly. I was very happy to be there and enjoyed volunteering. I have to say that I was very impressed with the organization of the gala and also the decor for the dining room. There were trellises bordering all sides and mini lampposts on each table. Best of all, I loved the gorgeous mural of the Eiffel Tower that was used as a background for the stage. I'm glad I  was able to participate in the gala for two years in a row and I'm sure each gala my school holds will be better than the last.

Completion Reflection

When I knew that I would be completing the International Baccalaureate I knew I would have to take on C.A.S in addition to my other subjects.  I was excited to begin knowing that it would give me opportunities to not only perform community service, but to do creative and active things as well.

  Let’s start with the C, Creativity. I believe that I have most of my hours in this category. I did little creative things like face painting and set design at times, but my most important activities in this category were Boum-Committee and my Piano/Vocal lessons. Boum-Committee is something that I’ve worked a lot and it has provided me with many creativity hours for CAS spent planning events, painting posters for the events, holding meetings for the event, advertising for the event, and setting up the events. Although it has been stressful it was definitely worth it because I really enjoyed it and I did receive many CAS hours because I put my time into it. If I had to list just one reason that I am grateful for CAS, it would be that it gave me an excuse to finally start taking piano and vocal lessons, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It also made me document my progress in this activity, so it is fun to look back and see how far I’ve come.

For Action, I took an extra two hour class of P.E. each week and also participated in some activities that overlapped between action and service, such as the Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer Run I ran in each year.

In Service, I mostly did activities that served my school: from babysitting teacher’s children to admissions previews, movie nights, and being involved with student-run organizations like the Student Council and Fundraising Committee. Honestly, I wish I could have been involved with one service organization continually but unfortunately my schedule these past two years has not allowed for that. Nevertheless, I did have meaningful community service opportunities.

Overall, C.A.S was a good experience and I would tell anyone attempting it in the future to not be afraid, they can do it!

                

P.E.

   Well, P.E. has been one of my favorite classes to take, simply because it is a great way to de-stress myself during the week, and at times I have not been doing any other sports besides P.E. Some of the sports have been easier to catch onto than others, and my motivation has not always been consistent. I'll take this reflection through each sport taught and a few anecdotes to give an overview of my experience in this course.
    Soccer is a sport that I have played all my life, and was usually very enjoyable in P.E. However there were some days last year towards the end and some this year that I wasn't on top of my game while playing. Some days would be great, I would be constantly running, but others I didn't make as much effort and felt very ashamed. Today was a good day for soccer though and I'm happy to end my last few weeks of high school with this sport. However, playing soccer in gym class reminds me that it's something I would like to play in college on a team if at all possible.
Volleyball is something that is difficult for me and many of my classmates. We played it this year and last year, but each time we have to relearn how to hit the ball and how to serve. It can really hurt if you don't hit the ball correctly, and even if you do. Serves are difficult as well, even though we're allowed to serve underhand and often from any point on the court, my serves were definitely better last year than this year. Luckily our coach gave us many opportunities to practice our serves, hitting the ball, and playing each position on the court. It isn't as intense as soccer- there are less opportunities to hit the ball, at least for me. But our teams were always very supportive of  each other as long as the player hit the ball or at least tried.
Kickball was a sport that while not very strenuous, still required the development of certain skills such as the correct way to hit the ball. I also had to learn all the rules as I wasn't that familiar with even the rules of baseball. One thing that made me consider ethics was the practice of some players "at bat" kicking the ball only a few inches before they ran. This to me seemed very lazy.

Student Council Meetings

This has been the busiest year ever that I've been involved with student council. The president, Noor, works very hard and always organizes the meetings with papers outlining every detail of meeting. A couple weeks ago we had a long awaited constitution meeting that took three hours. It was terrible. Every point that we had to vote on needed a thirty minute discussion, and I wasn't even voting!  I won't elaborate on the tedious debates of that evening but only mention that in the future the student council will be operating differently, both in the constitution meetings and in the structure of the council itself. Hopefully I will graduate before another constitution meeting comes to pass. I'll go happily if needed but honestly I'd rather not.
Otherwise, elections are coming up and I'm very excited to see who runs for Boum-Committee President! They will have a challenging time next year, but I'm going to make a binder of everything they need to know for next year. That was something voted on during the constitution meeting that passed. Also, they will actually be the Special-Events Committee President. Exciting!

Piano / Vocal Lessons

I just had my last piano and voice lesson on Saturday. I'm stopping because the end of the school year is coming up and next year I'll be in college and not continuing anyway. I really wish I could have continued until the end of the school year because I love singing and learning to play piano, so the last lesson was saddening for me. I will definitely continue to develop these skills in the future and hopefully at university. My instructor, Linda Morrow, gave me some tips on how to continue singing and different places I could get experience. I've been working on developing my range, which she told me has at least doubled since I began. She said I would probably be a soprano if I continued and at the moment could definitely sing in a choir as first alto. I would really like to continue for this reason. Of all my CAS activities this one has probably been the most rewarding and is something I will continue for the rest of my life.

Candyland Boum Part II

This past Saturday was the day of the boum and I was busy all day preparing it, just as I had been the entire week. I actually think I went a bit over the top with it all- 3 huge cupcakes and a hoard of smaller ones, cotton candy cloud props, six giant lollipops, smaller candy props, candy props made of balls, giant candy cane lights, TONS of candy. It took me, four members of the committee, and our teacher sponsor 2 hours to set up everything the afternoon before. I was rushing around up until the time of the event and didn't begin to change my clothes until seven, when of course, a few students showed up right on the dot. I didn't really super stress about everything so much as I didn't let up preparing it- I didn't have time to let stress enter my mind. I think I went a bit overboard because we did advertise much more than the last boum with flyers and a big poster. I promised a magical Candyland Boum to the student population and I had to give it to them. I don't think I would have been able to stand seeing disappointment on their faces. Unfortunately despite the advertisements only three seniors showed up, but at least this time around many attendees brought friends outside of school. Also there were lights in the space we were using that we were absolutely unable to turn off. That was very disappointing after all my hard work but luckily it didn't stop people from dancing. One thing that went really well was the idea of giving out goody bags to the attendees so they could take home the candy and we wouldn't have any left over. We did that during the last dance and at the end of it everyone rushed to the tables to get candy. We didn't have much pizza left over either. Although our set up team was large, our clean up team wasn't. Only one of the two people that were supposed to help stayed (and I thank her for that.) Our teacher sponsor helped as well as a couple of the chaperones and students whose parents hadn't picked them up yet. However it did take us an hour to clean up as that extra help soon left. I took the mess as a sign of a good party though.

Seating Set-Up before the guests arrived.

Candyland Boum! Part I

So the February Boum is on the 11th, and the theme is Candyland! I'm really excited because I've been wanting to use Candyland as a theme since I became President of the Boum Committee. Last Friday I spent a while shopping for candy and other supplies needed for the Boum. I was able to do so most frugally as well, which made me really happy. At home I spent time making props and did more shopping on Sunday. On Tuesday a couple of Boum Committee members and I made a big poster for the Boum and called some DJs. I've gone over the floorplan with Mme. Gachelin and there's still alot to do but I'm very excited. There are nine days left, so far so good- I really want to make this boum the most memorable of the year for the high school students.

The Candyland Boum poster!

"Hard Candy" Props