Global Odyssey a student-led event,lead on 5 February 2020, where we students of IB Business Management and IB Economics had to lead the event. This event was majorly organized to let the student perceive the knowledge of real life business and economics situation and crises and to make connections with local to global brands as well. So we had to set up a small flea market in the school lawn area, competing with the global brands. The event majorly had 3 sectors; food, fun, fashion. I was one of the four food team leader for this event and my job was to decide the food which we would be selling on the day of event, its price, dividing the work, collecting the money and prepare food during the event as well. We has an idea of keeping different of dishes from different countries as we had to compete with global brands as well. We even donated 10% of our profit earned to Friends with tails.

The learning outcomes covered in this CAS experience include: LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5, LO6, and LO7.

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

This event was really an tiring job because of it needed a lot of mentally and physical work as we had to co ordinate several things and the same time. However, I took it as a challenge and used all my problem solving skills combing with my team working skills. I even realized that I was a good leader and  I have the skill to manage a lot of work and deal with new people. However, after the event was completed I realized that I should be working on my communication skills a bit more while working in group of 20 people. Overall I performed the task well which helped the food department to succeed.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

As my team and I had to plan for entire food department, we had many deadlines and work pressure with us. My team had never done such huge scale event previously of this sort, hence to decide the menu for whole school and even competing with other global brands and deciding the menu according school food policy was really challenging and stressful. While we were outsourcing products, we ensured that we receive at the product at the lowest cost possible to remain competitive in the market. Combing all these issues it resulted in a huge challenge for all of us. I developed my communication skills and my team working skills in this project as we had to meet very often and we had many deadlines so we all communicate well hence we were able to make this event successful.

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Food is an extremely wide field, so the first thing which we decided to do was brainstorming and shortlisting options which was according to school food policy. As a team, we had decided that we wanted to do something unique which was never previously done in school, so that we stand out and attract more customers to our stall. This is the reason, we chose different culture/country food. To brainstorm we all meet and noted down all the ideas so that we have a variety hence it is easy to shortlist as well. Our target customers were mainly senior school students and teachers, as they are willing to try different food compared to PYP students. Some of us had different ideas for same problem, which made the process a little difficult, however, we decided to come on a consensus after seeing what majority agrees on and what is teachers comments on it.

It was a challenging task for me to keep myself organised throughout the planning and execution process as I had to work on my item, manage my team, serve food on time with proper hygiene and take care of all the resources as well and to meet all the deadline as well.

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

We were committed to providing our consumers with best quality and quantity of food, we were successful in doing so by choosing the best raw material. Even though there were many difficulties that we had to face, like the cost was bit high, however we were able to deal with it by bulk buying the raw material and make this event possible. My team and I had started planning few weeks prior to the event by coming to school early, working in free slots, and meeting outside the school which was a commitment in itself. Being committed to something is a challenging task however our team was prone towards in this event and food hence we had no problem.

LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Overall the event was based on teamwork. Working with others is generally easy for me as I enjoy working with others because it makes me more motivated and there are also specialized people in team so the task gets super simple. Without working collaboratively we would not have fulfill all the deadlines. During the event, we had worked as a team for the serving food and were able to serve food without any issue only because we were working in a team which made the process more efficient. Due to working collaboratively, entire event went very smoothly and had not faced any issue.

LO6- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

10% of the money earned was donated to a renowned NGO called Friends with tails This is an non-profit organization having a vision of creating a society with a controlled population of stray dogs and to intend to take it further by making sure that all of them are vaccinated against rabies. Through this we were able to reduce animal cruelty which have been increasing day by day. Also the food department covered the aspect of zero hunger as we were able to serve over 150 people with quality food for their better life.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

While the day of the event, we made sure that no price discrimination made between teachers and students as every customer was equally important to us, be it a teacher or a student. We also made sure that all the food we sold were of high quality. Furthermore, we even made sure that we were considerate and kind to all the customers as our service matters to our consumers. When the event was over, we could have kept all money with us to make super-normal profits, however, we made sure no such practices were followed. We enforced ourselves to maintain proper hygiene while serving. Adding on, after we planned to not use plastic to pollute, we also considered its alternatives which would be more sustainable and cheap. This project help me learn how ethics should be applied in real life business and why is it necessary.

Overall, this was a successful event, the customers were satisfied and I was able to use my book knowledge to real life business and learned practical lessons which made me more intellectual. This even gave me opportunity to identify and develop my skills. Lastly, we were able to make profits that helped  NGO’s like Friends with tails.