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.