Creativity, action and service are the three components of the CAS program. This program enabled me to experience new activities, undertake new challenges and develop new essential life skills, making me both an active and balanced risk-taker and thinker. It engaged me into initiating activities and projects both independently and in collaboration with others, making me a reflective communicator and inquirer. Moreover, this CAS program allowed me to engage myself with issues of local and global importance and forced me to consider the ethical implication of my activities and projects, making me a caring, open-minded and principled individual. As a whole, CAS has turned me into a knowledgeable citizen of the world both aware of its strength, areas for growth and his surroundings.
In the two year period that this IB program lasted, I actively participated in about 30 different activities, in all three categories, for which many were long term projects and for some of them are still continuing. Likewise, I was able to accumulate over 550 CAS hours.
I have participated in numerous sport camps. The first one was a three-week summer camp in the city of Millau, where I discovered the pleasures of paragliding, a fantastic sport. Supervised by professionals I successfully passed my autopilot certificate. Later, I went to a winter camp in the Alpes. For a week, I went snowboarding with other teens. I also tried a totally new sport, ice waterfall climbing. Later, I went to another camp this time in Corsica in the Mediterranean, where I was able to go white water rafting and sea kayaking. As well as being a thrilling experience, the setting was itself pure beauty. The next year, I returned to Corsica but this time I slept in a large catamaran and sailed around the island. I learned all the basics of sailing and how to use the different navigating instruments. Through this regatta I discovered, as well as, a mind-blowing landscape.
I also would regularly set myself craft challenges. For example I designed and constructed all out of planks of wood found in my basement objects such as a tea box and a birdhouse. The work was instructive and intense and result was not always perfect, but still well-crafted objects, in my opinion. I also undertook new challenges and developed new skills in creative writing, live drawing, origami, business cards, drama and others.
At Christmas time, I first participated in a charitable program “Love in a Box” with the American Cathedral of Paris, in which I helped to wrap Christmas presents for the orphans of Paris. This was not the only charitable association I volunteered in; I also offered my help at the ‘Banque Alimentaire’, the ‘Secours Populaire’ , a soup kitchen and at the ELSA committee in my school for a day. Lastly I was a math and computer mentor for people in need for a period of time.
Now this last summer, I spent the first month of my vacation in the Reunion Island. This trip was frankly one of the best. For instance through sometimes extremely long and perilous hikes, I discovered and swam in few of the numerous waterfalls that provide the island with fresh water. In my excursions in the steep valleys, I entered in environments exclusively accessible by foot and where I appreciated one of the last few conserved primitive forest on earth. I also climbed the still very active volcano of the island. On some afternoons I would also go body boarding in the large waves. I also went scuba-diving to observe the turtles and the coral reefs. Lastly, I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of the whales that took a stopover at the Island.
Above all these activities, there are two activities that carry a particular importance to me. Indeed, they have been running for the full two years and are still continuing. The first one is swimming. I joined a swim team in the Neptune Club de France in which I regularly go to evening trainings in the hope to improve my strokes, my fitness and my strength. It also participates regularly to competitions in and outside Paris. The swimming trainings, I follow, focuses on the competitive techniques of all four strokes as well as endurance and speed. This activity greatly helped me in my academics, to gain confidence and grow as a person.
The second long term activity is the recycling program, created by me and a group of student in the school. Initially we started by raising an awareness regarding recycling in the school by making "Recycling Boards". We later set up a rotating system which allowed for the recyclable wastes produced by the school and its students to be sorted out, collected and recycled. It included wastes such as paper, plastic bottles and tin cans. Moreover, this year the recycling group wanted to make this school project international. We wanted our program to have a positive effect beyond the school campus and be part of a global movement toward sustainability. We therefore organized fund raisers and donated the collected money to a charitable association in India, the Lion's Club. In return, it has promised to plant trees with our donations, to counter the deforestation in some areas of India.
This was a brief outline of most of the different activities and projects I engaged myself in and still is engaged in. As a whole, the CAS program provided me with the structure and opportunity to become a dynamic leader in my life and in a number of activities. It also provided me with a unique life experience that able me to evolve and grow in to the person I want to become later. It gave me the right opportunities, possibilities and tools to construct my identity and help me find my place in an ever more complex society.
In the two year period that this IB program lasted, I actively participated in about 30 different activities, in all three categories, for which many were long term projects and for some of them are still continuing. Likewise, I was able to accumulate over 550 CAS hours.
I have participated in numerous sport camps. The first one was a three-week summer camp in the city of Millau, where I discovered the pleasures of paragliding, a fantastic sport. Supervised by professionals I successfully passed my autopilot certificate. Later, I went to a winter camp in the Alpes. For a week, I went snowboarding with other teens. I also tried a totally new sport, ice waterfall climbing. Later, I went to another camp this time in Corsica in the Mediterranean, where I was able to go white water rafting and sea kayaking. As well as being a thrilling experience, the setting was itself pure beauty. The next year, I returned to Corsica but this time I slept in a large catamaran and sailed around the island. I learned all the basics of sailing and how to use the different navigating instruments. Through this regatta I discovered, as well as, a mind-blowing landscape.
I also would regularly set myself craft challenges. For example I designed and constructed all out of planks of wood found in my basement objects such as a tea box and a birdhouse. The work was instructive and intense and result was not always perfect, but still well-crafted objects, in my opinion. I also undertook new challenges and developed new skills in creative writing, live drawing, origami, business cards, drama and others.
At Christmas time, I first participated in a charitable program “Love in a Box” with the American Cathedral of Paris, in which I helped to wrap Christmas presents for the orphans of Paris. This was not the only charitable association I volunteered in; I also offered my help at the ‘Banque Alimentaire’, the ‘Secours Populaire’ , a soup kitchen and at the ELSA committee in my school for a day. Lastly I was a math and computer mentor for people in need for a period of time.
Now this last summer, I spent the first month of my vacation in the Reunion Island. This trip was frankly one of the best. For instance through sometimes extremely long and perilous hikes, I discovered and swam in few of the numerous waterfalls that provide the island with fresh water. In my excursions in the steep valleys, I entered in environments exclusively accessible by foot and where I appreciated one of the last few conserved primitive forest on earth. I also climbed the still very active volcano of the island. On some afternoons I would also go body boarding in the large waves. I also went scuba-diving to observe the turtles and the coral reefs. Lastly, I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of the whales that took a stopover at the Island.
Above all these activities, there are two activities that carry a particular importance to me. Indeed, they have been running for the full two years and are still continuing. The first one is swimming. I joined a swim team in the Neptune Club de France in which I regularly go to evening trainings in the hope to improve my strokes, my fitness and my strength. It also participates regularly to competitions in and outside Paris. The swimming trainings, I follow, focuses on the competitive techniques of all four strokes as well as endurance and speed. This activity greatly helped me in my academics, to gain confidence and grow as a person.
The second long term activity is the recycling program, created by me and a group of student in the school. Initially we started by raising an awareness regarding recycling in the school by making "Recycling Boards". We later set up a rotating system which allowed for the recyclable wastes produced by the school and its students to be sorted out, collected and recycled. It included wastes such as paper, plastic bottles and tin cans. Moreover, this year the recycling group wanted to make this school project international. We wanted our program to have a positive effect beyond the school campus and be part of a global movement toward sustainability. We therefore organized fund raisers and donated the collected money to a charitable association in India, the Lion's Club. In return, it has promised to plant trees with our donations, to counter the deforestation in some areas of India.
This was a brief outline of most of the different activities and projects I engaged myself in and still is engaged in. As a whole, the CAS program provided me with the structure and opportunity to become a dynamic leader in my life and in a number of activities. It also provided me with a unique life experience that able me to evolve and grow in to the person I want to become later. It gave me the right opportunities, possibilities and tools to construct my identity and help me find my place in an ever more complex society.
