THE FINAL REFLECTION

To write this final piece, I decided to go through my CAS blog and remind myself of all the things that I should include here. I have to say, that such retrospection moved me a little. Don’t get me wrong – I am really happy with closing this stage of my life and finishing IBDP and moving forward, because I’m this kind of person who likes changes. But while looking at all those paragraphs and photos from my blog, I realized that past 2 years were filled with things that are worth remembering; things that shaped my character and brought joy into my life.

My CAS experience was really diverse, as I decided to do a lot of random things instead of going for just three different ones. I don’t regret this decision, because it let me develop myself in many different ways and gain a wide range of experiences.

Creative part of CAS was in my case the most consistent one. For the past 2 years I was practising singing almost every day and it made me realize how much I love and cherish it. Except for pure singing practice (that I’ve actually been familiar with for about 10 years now) I felt empowered enough to do things like setting up a band called ‘Hiraeth’, opening my YouTube channel or even taking part in a XVI British Song Festival in Gliwice. All of the above helped me in developing my singing skills, confidence and empowered me even in my everyday life; because if I can stand in front of all these people and sing my heart out, then is there anything I couldn’t do?

When it comes to activity, there’s a huge improvement! At the very beginning I used to think ‘No way. I’m not a sports person, don’t make me do it.’ I started running a little bit and it turned out to be refreshing and fun, but it wasn’t quite ‘that’. Later on I started my dance workouts and these were also nice but not challenging enough for me not to give up after 2 months. Throughout my CAS journey I was also taking up random activities like walks with my dog, practising American football with my boyfriend or sightseeing. And finally – I started going to the gym. It turned out to be amazing. Weight lifting and cardio helped me in developing my body and mind, I’ve realized that I have incredible strength in me and seeing all the results during exercises (and while looking in the mirror) really encouraged me to do more and more. Now I totally love gym and I promise not to stop going there even after I finish IB.

Service was the most diverse part of my CAS experience. Aside from regular participation in Model United Nations conferences (and even organising one of them in Katowice), fundraising for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity once a year and regularly providing a poor man from Stawowa Street with small sum of money, I was also participating in such events as IB Open Day (in 2017 and 2018), Teachers’ Day and Project Travel Conference. All of the above taught me kindness, compassion, teamwork, diplomatic skills and humanity. I had a chance to help people in need, to attempt to solve some global issues and to spread the importance of education among younger generation and I am really thankful for it.

All in all, CAS at first seemed to me as something tiring and time-consuming, but it turned out that when you’re doing what you like and see some purpose in it – CAS becomes a pleasure. I will forever be happy with the development and improvement of my character that occurred thanks to CAS.

And thank you Mrs. Nowak, for always supporting me and reminding me about all the deadlines (because we all know I have such a bad memory). You’re great!