Strand: Creativity, Service

Farwell is a very important and memorable event for all those who are graduating from their school life onto greater opportunities. We, the students of grade 11 organised one for our seniors to bid farewell that will always be very memorable for them. The main thing of this event was games, decorations and food. I along with 3 other members of my grade were leading the decoration team during preparation of this event. Along with that, I was also a part of the games team where I had to make and find interesting games to make them play during the farewell. 

There are numerous learning outcomes that I achieved in the process, they include:

LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

We divided our roles equally in the best possible manner that we could do justice to it. Me along with one other leader took up the responsibility of getting done with the invitation cards and props and ideas for the entrance. While other 2 leaders took up props and set up for lawn decoration for dinner and stage. or respectively. We all together took charge of hall decoration later. This way we could work out the best of our strengths and with help of each other we could develop on our weaknesses. This bifurcation made the execution more smooth. 

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

We had to work with a team of approximately 30 people, which was a very tedious task. People used to find excuses to get away with the work they were not interested in, and it was very challenging for the 4 of us to convince everyone to help us with their best efforts. Differences in opinions and reluctance to being told what to do, many team members showed disagreement at multiple stages of the execution. I personally built a better leadership skill to understand how every person acts differently. Moreover, I became more open minded towards people’s opposing opinions that helped bring out better ideas for the event. 

LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

I and other leaders of the decor team started with brainstorming ideas about everything before we finalize anything or convey it to our team members. We planned it with plotting a mind map of our rough ideas about themes and related decorations, this is how we initiated this CAS experience. As we were 4 leaders, we divided work, responsibility as well as the entire team equally to reap out the best possible outcome. We overlooked one another’s mistakes and helped each other, which made it possible to make the event as it was planned. Moreover, we had a fixed budget that we had to take care of, and for that, we had to make appropriate choices and decisions that will benefit us the most without wastage of money or resources. 

LO 4:Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

The planning for the event had started a month prior to the event. We had to balance our academics and still involve ourselves in the preparation of the event daily. We faced many difficulties to give equal time to everything, yet we showed commitment towards the responsibility we had taken because we knew we had to play an important role in the success of this event. 

LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Planning and decorating an event with 3 venues with a team of about 30 people was a very difficult job. Every planning needed evaluation and we had to make sure everyone was on the same page. Collaborative working was very beneficial because everyone had different interests and capabilities, so the work got distributed such that efficiency was maintained. 

LO 7:Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

We had to use a lot of resources and materials to make the decorations. We made sure we don’t use materials that are not sustainable like thermals, cellotape, etc. We knew how to select sustainable and just the right materials. We knew about how much use and discarding of such materials could damage the environment, hence we knew and considered that to what extent our choices were ethical.