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Interim reflection on CAS experience in DP1

Every month I regularly posted the CAS declaration. Through the whole 2 semesters of DP1, CAS was always near me. It motivated me to move, to do something creative that would rest my brain from learning and service. That was an amazingly enriching process, teaching me about people and world problems and also learning different skills.

What did I enjoy most about CAS?

I think that CAS opened for me beautiful opportunities that possibly I would never use or appreciate throughout my educational path. It was great that even if I had the worst day of my life, CAS motivated me to do something that would be a break from reality.

What was my great challenge, and how did you overcome this?

I think it was the mastering of the tool named "Kendama." I had an idea months ago to learn how to do tricks with Kendama, as I saw it on the internet, and I really liked the idea and concept. In the beginning, learning the easiest tricks was very tough. I just wanted to give up when I saw the pros making freaky tricks with it. But I never gave up, eventually mastering the tool after months of heavy training.

What abilities and skills did you develop most significantly in CAS?

Definitely the ability/skill that I developed the most throughout these two semesters was communication and time management. Many of my actions on CAS include the use of that skill. Actually, I use these two abilities on a daily basis. As an example, on open days, which were planned from the top, I had to use my time management skills to stay on schedule or use my communication skills to provide the best possible representation of our school.

Which IB Learner Profile attributes did you develop through CAS experiences?

Communicator—CAS activities developed my communication skills, as most of the things I did were with a friend or a group/team. Whether it was planning an event or just doing some activity with friends, communication is needed.

Risk taker—Trying risky or new things like doing risky tricks on kitesurfing or learning how to do tricks with Kendama, skiing, snowboarding, etc. I faced unfamiliar situations and overcame my fears.

Balanced—CAS taught me how to find balance between education, activity, creativity, and service. It showed me that I have time for everything; it only depends on how I plan my journey.

Reflective—CAS taught me what and how I should extract reflections from different actions. I also learned how to use them and analyze them in such a way that I would develop.

Concluding CAS is a great motivator to do something other than learning. Running a blog is an enriching activity where I develop from many different sides. It is great how developing it can be and that we can share the good from it with other people.

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Reflection on progress with each of the Learning Outcomes

Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.

Throughout my CAS journey, I became more aware of my strengths and limitations. I initially struggled with consistency but gradually improved my endurance and precision through focused practice. Likewise, in photography I knew from the beginning that I had a good eye for composition, but my handling was wrong (which, throughout CAS, I mastered).

Link -> Tennis, photography

2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

Learning acrobatics and snowboarding really tested me; it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I learned very risky tricks that were extremely skillful and hard mentally. I overcame fear and developed new abilities.

Link -> Acrobatics, Snowboarding, Kitesurfing

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

Planning the action in the Prometeusz Foundation involved time management, packing optimization, setting goals, and promoting the event. I was in this project from start to finish and tried to manage my section. I definitely improved my time-management skills, as everything was scheduled, and it was a big event where there was no space for error.

Link -> Fundacja Prometeusz

4. Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences.

I regularly trained and am still training in kite surfing and skiing. These sports demand a lot of commitment; they are exhausting and difficult. To master that sport, you need a long time period. The only way to develop in this sport is to show commitment and perseverance. Weather conditions and physical exhaustion were tough, but my dedication helped me to overcome these impediments.

Link -> Kite surfing, Skiing

5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

I was a participant in open days organized by our school. In these events I had to communicate with my peers and team and, at the same time, with the guests and application students that were flowing in. I had to organize certain things and watch different things. In this process I learned how collaborative work is important and how effective it is.

Link -> Open days

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

I attended physics clubs where we often led a discussion about some factors of physics that are connected to global problems (examples: discussion about the effectiveness of the different car engines, how effective nuclear power plants are, and the greenhouse effect in real life). helped me explore real-world scientific issues and raise awareness about global climate change.

Link -> Physics Club.

7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

In different types of services, I had to keep in mind the ethical choices about how to address different things to different people. I had to be respectful and calm and manage my role and response. As an example, I had an interesting situation on one of the slopes when I was snowboarding. I saw a man that needed help. I trained him for a bit and gave him some tips (all sticking to a proper language that would be understood by him and not make him uncomfortable).

Link -> Teaching a Man on a Slope, Open Days, Fundacja Prometeusz

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 Tabelka

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CAS project action

In this stage we started printing out our posters. Afterwards we started hanging them out around school in two buildings. I personally was responsible for hanging the posters around Raszyńska and Przemysłowa. I wanted to hang the poster in a smart and reasonable way. I was hanging the water waste poster in the Przemysłowa student kitchen, the plastic waste poster above the trash bins, and the carbon footprint poster near the stairs, as it is a place often viewed by students. We also conducted a survey where we asked students that saw the posters to complete a series of questions. The survey was successful, and the outcome was stunning and made me think about our school community and how it functions on a daily basis.

I think our project was very educational for us, but especially for the addressees, as it was a campaign where we encouraged the students to live a more eco-friendly life. I learned and developed many skills. It was a beautiful project that was enriching for me and my group. I am grateful that I could participate in such activity.

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CAS project preparation

During this stage of our project, everyone started working. We divided the labor in such a way that everyone had to construct one poster and a design for a sticker. Additionally, each had an additional task dedicated to them (like making the survey and hanging up the posters on Przemysłowa and Raszynska). I was responsible for making a poster about water overuse. Posters had to be simple and easy to read but at the same time informative and knowledgeable.

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CAS Project Planning

The first step of the project was thinking up the idea that would satisfy the CAS project requirements. To improve this process, we made a group on Messenger where we could share our ideas and exchange our feedback. Afterwards, we gathered the selected and organized idea onto a CAS project proposal form (which was later accepted and signed by Mr. Mrożewski). Immediately when we got a thumbs-up on our idea, we divided the work in our group. The planning process was flawless; thanks to the cooperation of my peers, we had done it unbelievably quickly, and we could start working right after.

Skills developed:

Planning—planning was crucial in this stage; it was a perfect opportunity to develop our planning skills.

Communication—because we were working in a group, we had a great opportunity to develop some communication skills.

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Service - 3h - May

PIKNIK NAUKOWY—The day has finally come. The massive preparations through multiple weeks and months had come to an end. Everything to proudly represent our school on a high level. This whole event was a massive organization, as people were needed for a whole 24 h and even more.

I personally had a duty at our presenting position from 14:00 till 20:00 (the end). Additionally, I had to stay afterward till approximately 23:00 to dismantle the whole stand and prepare every single project for transport back to the school.

The standard presenting itself was very pleasant; I had a lot of interactions with completely different people. Classically I would be the person presenting to the viewers who had the knowledge about a specific topic, but sometimes I could meet people with very high knowledge about our projects where, instead of a classic presentation, I could converse on a high level where we would discuss different physics aspects and concepts, which was very enriching.

The disassembly was very challenging as we had a giant stand including various projects. We had to make sure that we do not leave anything but, at the same time, care about our project and very carefully secure them for transport.

Summarizing I think our team did a remarkable job presenting our school on an adequate level.

Skills developed:

Communication—as I interacted with people all day, I developed my communication skills.

Time management—I had to stick to timetables as everything was planned in advance.

Critical thinking—not everything was always going according to plan, so I had to use my critical thinking to develop an appropriate solution.

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Service - 3h - May

On the physics club I expand and develop in my love of physics. We make many demanding projects in the physics club. We can expand our knowledge in terms of physics, but also we learn and develop many manual skills because of constructing the project. If need we can always ask Mr. Przemysław, our physics teacher, to explain something from physics that we don’t understand or just something that we want to know additionally.

What changed/what we did specifically in this month:

In this month we continued preparing for "piknik naukowy." I and my other two friends were selected to construct a model of a black hole.

Because Piknik was in a few weeks, it was a final stretch in completing the project. We had some complications, and we had to disassemble the whole project and assemble it from scratch. Fortunately, we already had experience because of the first assembly. But we worked all day and all night, and we completed the project in time.

Skills developed:

Motor skills—by constructing different projects, we learn in sterile and prepared conditions how to use different tools.

Creative skills—thinking up the new projects that we want to complete.

Communication—using good communication with my peers and teacher allows me to complete everything smoothly.

Critical thinking—it is always good to see some critical thinking skills used in the physics club.

Every physics club is a great opportunity to develop different skills and learn something new.

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Activity—3h—May

Every Saturday I had a lesson on the tennis court. Where I learn how to play tennis. Every practice has a similar scheme. It starts with a warm-up where I do 2 running loops around the court and some active stretching to activate the muscles. After that we start playing some little warmup games near the net. Afterwards we start doing the exercises that train my skills and muscles. After all of the tasks, we tend to end the lesson with a little friendly match. Every lesson partially makes me better. It is a great time for me when I can develop actively and clear my mind from school problems.

What I learn/develop:

I passed the barrier of serving 130 km/h.

I developed my kick serve.

I developed the drop shot.

I am getting even better in backhand returns (as it is my weaker side, I tend to train it often).

Time management—we have to stick to the plan to complete the full training.

Communication—communicating is crucial in my lessons to make progress. Simultaneously I have to listen to my trainer and his tips and reply to him with my struggles.

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Activity—3h—May

Gym—Me and my friend would stick to the plan that we made in the past to maintain the progress.

Monday—It would be the day when we train our back and biceps.

Wednesday—On that day we planned to train our chest and triceps.

Friday—the day responsible for developing our legs.

Sunday—This would be the day when we would do upper body exercises that were not done yet.

Sticking to that plan and additionally leading a well-balanced diet adapted to our personal needs allowed us to make visible progress at the gym. Our estimated progress in strength is more or less 5 kg per exercise.

Progress:

For the first time, I could train in series with 40 kg of weight on the bench press.

For the first time, I could do a pull-up.

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Creativity—3h—May

I am mastering one of the niche skill toys named "Kendama." Kendama is a wooden tool with two parts: ken, which is the specifically carved wooden cross, and dama, which is a wooden ball with a hole on one side. Both are connected with a single string. Kendama is a very skillful tool, but at the same time it is engaging creativity.

I really like to interact with kendama; as I play with it, I can forget about everything and focus on developing my skill and getting better and better. It is an amazing opportunity to develop agility skills.

Progress:

I learned the sickomode.

I learned the NAUTOFON.

I learned the sloppy bond

I learned the pardon power

I learned the trap pattern

Skills developed:

Manual skills—mastering the skill of doing different tricks with ken and dama

Creative thinking skills—inventing tricks and new sequences of tricks

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Creativity - 3h - May

On the physics club I expand and develop in my love of physics. We make many demanding projects in the physics club. We can expand our knowledge in terms of physics, but also we learn and develop many manual skills because of constructing the project. If need we can always ask Mr. Przemysław, our physics teacher, to explain something from physics that we don’t understand or just something that we want to know additionally.

What changed/what we did specifically in this month:

In this month we continued preparing for "piknik naukowy." I and my other two friends were selected to construct a model of a black hole.

Because Piknik was in a few weeks, it was a final stretch in completing the project. We had some complications, and we had to disassemble the whole project and assemble it from scratch. Fortunately, we already had experience because of the first assembly. But we worked all day and all night, and we completed the project in time.

Skills developed:

Motor skills—by constructing different projects, we learn in sterile and prepared conditions how to use different tools.

Creative skills—thinking up the new projects that we want to complete.

Communication—using good communication with my peers and teacher allows me to complete everything smoothly.

Critical thinking—it is always good to see some critical thinking skills used in the physics club.

Every physics club is a great opportunity to develop different skills and learn something new.

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Service - 3h - April

In RYNIA, the whole PIKNIK team was working very hard. Regarding the classic lessons during the day that we had to attend, we were working every night to have every project on PIKNIK finished in tip-top shape. Firstly, I and my friends made sure that our black hole simulation was ready and was prepared for transport. It took us some time as we had to change our approach to assembling the project.

Afterwards I asked Mr. Miszta in what I could help him; he answered that I could help with the giant Newton's cradle. I helped assemble the balls in place and make the strings fixed so the cradle would work properly everywhere and always. In the end, I labeled every part and prepared it for transport.

Finally, to end the day, I started drilling balls, which had to have 4 drills from different sides so it could be a part of a chemical bond project. Fortunately, I had a very professional tool to complete that task, which surely improved the efficiency. After drilling approximately 200 balls, I went to sleep.

Motor skills—by constructing different projects, we learn in sterile and prepared conditions how to use different tools.

Creative skills—thinking up the new projects that we want to complete.

Communication—using good communication with my peers and teacher allows me to complete everything smoothly.

Critical thinking—it is always good to see some critical thinking skills used in the physics club.

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Service - 3h - April

Being in Centrum Nauki Kopernik to listen about every needed piece of information to successfully prepare our station that would represent our school at Piknik Naukowy. We had to be very curious about the presentation as they explained the basic rules of the whole event. They were talking about aspects such as safety features (everyone had to had at their station), accessible places, and policies with different objects that could be brought. We had to listen, as our performance was based on how well we would understand the rules and how well we would use them. Also, we had to pay attention, as it was our safety we were speaking about.

Developed skills:

critical thinking—thinking up different outcomes and preparing solutions for them

creative thinking—thinking up creative solutions

communication—I was constantly consulting with my team to make sure that we would complete the best plan possible.

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Creativity - 3h - April

On the physics club I expand and develop in my love of physics. We make many demanding projects in the physics club. We can expand our knowledge in terms of physics, but also we learn and develop many manual skills because of constructing the project. If need we can always ask Mr. Przemysław, our physics teacher, to explain something from physics that we don’t understand or just something that we want to know additionally.

What changed/what we did specifically in this month:

In this month we continued preparing for "piknik naukowy." I and my other two friends were selected to construct a model of a black hole.

We started gathering needed elements to construct the final project. We obtained 2 hula hoops, 2 stretchy materials of approximately 4 m^2, and 2 euro pallets of different sizes.

Skills developed:

Motor skills—by constructing different projects, we learn in sterile and prepared conditions how to use different tools.

Creative skills—thinking up the new projects that we want to complete.

Communication—using good communication with my peers and teacher allows me to complete everything smoothly.

Critical thinking—it is always good to see some critical thinking skills used in the physics club.

Every physics club is a great opportunity to develop different skills and learn something new.

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Creativity—3h—April

I am mastering one of the niche skill toys named "Kendama." Kendama is a wooden tool with two parts: ken, which is the specifically carved wooden cross, and dama, which is a wooden ball with a hole on one side. Both are connected with a single string. Kendama is a very skillful tool, but at the same time it is engaging creativity.

I really like to interact with kendama; as I play with it, I can forget about everything and focus on developing my skill and getting better and better. It is an amazing opportunity to develop agility skills.

Progress:

I learned how to Ken flip.

I learned big cup to spike

I learned lighthouse.

I learned the flying low taper fade on Ninja's head.

Skills developed:

Manual skills—mastering the skill of doing different tricks with ken and dama

Creative thinking skills—inventing tricks and new sequences of tricks

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Activity—3h—April

Gym—Me and my friend would stick to the plan that we made in the past to maintain the progress.

Monday—It would be the day when we train our back and biceps.

Wednesday—On that day we planned to train our chest and triceps.

Friday—the day responsible for developing our legs.

Sunday—This would be the day when we would do upper body exercises that were not done yet.

Sticking to that plan and additionally leading a well-balanced diet adapted to our personal needs allowed us to make visible progress at the gym. Our estimated progress in strength is more or less 5 kg per exercise.

Progress:

I noticed an increase in muscle tissue, I see that I am much stronger as I train on much heavier loads.

I started feeling much better as I trained more often and ate healthier.