Creativity - XVI British Song Festival

The whole month of April was the month of rehearsing for the XVI British Song Festival in Mikołów. I decided to go for two really demanding songs - "Riptide" by Vance Joy and "Clown" by Emeli Sande. The first one is a song I recorded on my YouTube channel so I knew how to sing it quite well. However, the second one was quite a challenge as it's a hard song which may be challenging even for professional singers. It's also a song that's close to my heart and it always makes me pretty emotional; that's why I decided to choose it. Frankly speaking, after the whole month of rehearsing every single day I was finally satisfied with the results on the day before the competition.
This festival was incredibly stressful to me, as I'm afraid of stages and the audience. It was also the first time I sang a song that made me completely vulnerable and emotional in front of so many people. My heart was beating like crazy while I was entering the stage but something strange happened right after the music started to play; I became calm and ready to sing the best I could (and I really did!). All of the flaws my voice used to have suddenly disappeared and it felt oddly amazing.
All in all I got the "1st respect" which is basically a weird name for the 2nd place. I'm very very very proud of myself. During this month and this festival I've learnt that working hard on your passion is always worth it and the results can sometimes shock you, because you have no idea on how great powersyou have unless you decide to work on them and polish them up.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify own strenghts and areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan CAS experience
4. Show commitment and perservance in CAS experience

Activity - Dance workouts

It's going to be a really short and quick note. I keep on doing all those various dance workouts and it helps me with my mood swing and bad body image. I still gives me joy and energy and it also helps with my physical condition.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strenghts and areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan CAS experience
4. Show commitment and perservance in CAS experience
7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Service - IB OPEN DAY

On the 30th of March my school organised the IB Open Day for middle schoolers interested in attending an IB course. The whole event turned out to be a huge success and I can proudly say that I was a part of it.
I was helping in open history lessons about witchcraft and it was so much fun. Me and my classmates had to help students from middle school in some simple tasks and questions. Those people were surprisingly bright and clever and some of them really shook me with their knowledge and intelligence. Working with them was quite enjoyable, however I had to be really patient (which I'm terrible at) and try not to lose my cool when they didn't understand something or simply couldn't work as a team. But this whole experience made me feel important and made me realize that in that exact moment I'm some kind of a role model for those people and a lot depends on me and my attitude. I know I did my best to show IB in our school as something worth considering and I'm proud of me and all the people who helped with this event.

https://www.facebook.com/1757159704565726/videos/1910354305912931/


Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strenghts and areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
4. Show commitment and perservance in CAS experience
5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Creativity - YouTube channel

This month was great when it comes to developing my singing skills. I finally found enough courage to share my passion with the world and decided to start my YouTube channel where I post covers of songs I like. I worked really hard to achieve the effect I expected and record some valuable piece of music. Surprisingly, the most difficult part wasn't recording my voice, but mixing it all together with music and of course sharing my songs on Facebook. The first song I recorded, mixed and shared was "Riptide". I was really anxious about it but my friends responded in a very positive way which pushed me to record another song - "Make you feel my love".
 I've realized how much work it takes to record a good cover, besides singing skills. Along the way I've developed my poor computer skills which I consider incredibly unexpected but valuable. And the most important part - I've learnt that overcoming our doubts and fears is truly therapeutic and can boost our self-esteem in a second. Currently, I'm really proud of myself. :)

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strenghts and develop areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Activity - Dance Workout

The weather in March was kind of weird. Sometimes I felt like it was still winter and sometimes it was as hot as in the summer. It really messed up my running schedule and in the end I decided to quit it for good. But I still wanted to stay in shape in order to come back to running when the weather is finally 'normal'. While surfing on the Internet I stumbled across a video called "45 minutes dance workout" and decided to give it a try. And I have to say that I loved it! It was really demanding and I had to stop for a break a couple times but it turned out to be a very motivating experience. It gave me so much positive energy I couldn't believe it. There were more similar workouts and I was doing them at least 4 times a week. After a couple of those workouts something strange happened - I started to like myself. My body image didn't even change but my self-confidence was in a much better condition. As a person who used to struggle with bullying and eating disorders in middle school, I happen to feel worthless every now and then and I usually hate to look at myself in the mirror.
But those workouts help me to cope with that and after a month of doing them regularly I feel better than ever with myslef. Sure, I sometimes still feel bad about how I look but dance workouts give me motivation and help me realize that maybe I sometimes feel worthless and ugly but it doesn't mean that this is who I am.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strenghts and areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan CAS experience
4. Show commitment and perservance in CAS experience
7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions