olazukowska

[olazukowska]

CAS reflection post

Looking back, the thing I enjoyed most about CAS was probably the wide variety of activities, both creative and otherwise, which I tried every month. I started knitting, which I’va wanted to do for the longest time, I sewed a Halloween costume for myself, after not using a sewing machine for many years, I learned to cook more responsibly and incorporate healthier, more nutritious food into my daily life. I also joined a gym and a pole dance class, which I never would have expected to be as fun as it ended up being. 

The greatest challenge when it comes to CAS was finding a meaningful service that I would be happy to partake in. I walked dogs from a local shelter for the first year, and even though I loved that, the shelter was about a two hour commute by train from my apartment, so I had to give it up in IB2, as I just didn’t have enough time to commute that far every week. I did manage to find a meaningful service - tutoring one of my sister’s friends, who was struggling with chemistry just a few months ago. I was able to give him some of my knowledge and help him achieve good grades in his first year of high school. 

Through CAS, I have achieved a greater awareness of issues of global importance, as well as those on a local level. I developed the skill of successfully building a healthy routine, and working collaboratively with other people on bigger projects. 

The learning outcome I found the easiest to achieve was LO2 - undertaking new challenges and developing new skills, as I am eager to try new things, and once I start doing something I strive to be as good at it as I can be. On the other hand, the learning outcome I found the most difficult to achieve was linking my CAS activities to issues of global importance, as I usually think in a narrower way, and consider every issue more locally than globally.

[olazukowska]

CAS summarising post

1. Evidence for completion of CAS project.

I haven’t yet completed my CAS project. This post will be updated once I do. 

2. Evidence of identification of strengths and areas for personal growth (LO1).

end of schoolyear ceremony: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/2306-creativity-service/0l19gb3ipgfu 

pole dance class: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/march-activity-2/w56ddzg4kbab 

3. Evidence of undertaking new challenges and developing new skills in the process (LO2).

joined the gym: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1411-activity-gym/wjhbbxwtmmog

making progress at the gym: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1212-activity-gym/48v2yqfluwqr 

4. Evidence of initiating and planning a CAS experience (LO3).

end of schoolyear planning: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/may-service-2/wrddgm8hvzvj 

prom planning committee: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/may-service-1/ka8chboqt8o9 

5. Evidence of commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences (LO4).

cooking at home: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/2702-creativity-pad-thai/wlsl7ipvxypx 

gym: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1702-activity-gym/81wpbp2a89p4 

6. Evidence of demonstrating the skills and recognizing the benefits of working collaboratively (LO5).

care packages for Ukrainian people: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1612-service-packages-for-ukraine/kmlh7ryfmbvu 

graduation ceremony: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/april-creativity-service/socmdsvb08m6  

7. Evidence of engagement with issues of global significance (LO6).

helping victims of war: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1612-service-packages-for-ukraine/kmlh7ryfmbvu

mental health day act at school council: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/march-service-2/qtjjvwwsj7oe 

8. Evidence of recognizing and considering the ethics of choices and actions (LO7).

helping victims of war: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1612-service-packages-for-ukraine/kmlh7ryfmbvu

helping old neighbour: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/2407-service-helping-the-elderly/zk74o84v68b2 

9. Evidence of reflection on significant CAS experiences. 

Links to 3 posts with well developed reflection. Each post addressing different strand of CAS (one post with reflection on Activity, one post with reflection on Creativity, one post with reflection on Service).

Service reflection: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/1611-service-tutoring/4oh0db2czupr 

Activity reflection: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/508-activity-%C5%82abaj%C3%B3w-sto%C5%BCek-wielki-sto%C5%BCek/qjsvrfqmi4et 

Creativity reflection: https://at.tumblr.com/olazukowska/april-creativity-service/socmdsvb08m6 

[olazukowska]

CAS Project - Demonstration

March 30th, 2023

I've just posted my last recipe on our shared document in Notion, and I'm happy that I managed to stick to the schedule for the duration of the project. We plan on making those 20 recipes that we've tested and rated available to our colleagues and families so that they too can try out the healthy recipes of all diets that we compiled. During the project, I bettered my skills at cooking, specifically meat dishes, but I also developed other skills, such as group work and the planning and execution of long-term projects. I am grateful we had the opportunity to do something that will hopefully benefit a lot of other people.

[olazukowska]

29.03 Creativity - Studio

Today my friends and I went to the studio to practice the songs we plan to perform during the graduation ceremony. It was really fun, although I've got a lot of lyrics to learn by heart, since the songs we've chosen aren't ones I know very well yet.

[olazukowska]

28.03 Creativity - Yellow Curry

Today I cooked yellow curry for dinner, with the help of my dad. During my CAS Project, I decided to practice cooking meat more often, since I normally only cook vegetarian and vegan recipes. I started eating meat just a year ago, mostly because of my boyfriend and his family, but I noticed I hadn't really cooked that many meat dishes on my own, so this curry was a perfect poultry cooking lesson. Sadly, I overcooked the chicken a little, and instead of being juicy it just turned dry and chewy. I guess I will have to practice more.

[olazukowska]

13.03 Activity - Gym

Today I went to the gym, but I wasn't that happy with my performance, as I am a bit sick and feeling definitely under the weather. I had to push myself really hard today, and I still wasn't satisfied with my results. I have to learn that not every day is my best day and I should give myself time to get better instead of pushing myself.

[olazukowska]

8.03 Activity - Gym

Today I went to the gym as usual, but given my current workload, I was more than happy to express my frustrations and get rid of the stress in a healthy way. I did mostly legs and lower back today, and even right after the session was over it was difficult for me to go down the stairs to the subway, so I'm expecting some pain to still linger tomorrow.

[olazukowska]

4.03 Service - Entrance Exams

Today I was a volunteer at my school and helped organise and carry out the entrance exams to my high school. It wasn't really hard work, as I was assigned to be a receptionist. Nevertheless, my work quickly became pretty tiring, mostly because I had to operate very fast with so many people coming in at once. Overall, I spent the entire Saturday at school, but it wasn't too unpleasant.

[olazukowska]

CAS Project - Reflection

March 17th, 2023

My group and I had a meeting to discuss an issue we noticed in our project. After some conversations, we have decided that we'll not only include recipes that are vegan and vegetarian, but pescatarian and with meat, too. I think it is a good idea, since a lot of people eat meat and healthy recipes containing meat should be as wildly available as vegan ones. I was raised vegetarian and only started eating meat about a year ago, mostly because of my boyfriend and his family, so I think a deep dive into healthy recipes with meat will be interesting to me. I haven't really cooked meat before at all, so I'm excited to see what I will be able to learn.

[olazukowska]

CAS Project - Action

March 9th, 2023

Today I will test and post my first recipe - peanut butter noodles from Eat With Clarity. They're quick and easy to make - the recipe promises a filling meal in 15 minutes, which is why I chose it for today as I've got a lot of work this week. The lack of time to cook elaborate meals is our leading problem right now since all of us are flooded with deadlines for IAs and the Extended Essay. This is why I chose a simple recipe, and hopefully, over the next three weeks, I will be able to cook more complex and difficult meals. Nevertheless, I hope the hardships I'm facing right now will lead to a better outcome.

[olazukowska]

CAS Project - Preparation

March 5th, 2023

My group has decided that for our CAS project, we will start a blog where we test and share healthy vegetarian and vegan recipes in order to inspire people to eat healthily and sustainably. We chose Notion as a platform where we plan out the project and collect all the recipes we've found and tested, as well as our thoughts and reflections on the preparation of the recipe. Notion was our choice because it lets us collaborate and work on the same document from different email addresses, similar to MS Teams, but better. Wiktoria made the page and added our emails so that we could participate in the document. Tosia and I created a table where we will present the findings of our research, with multiple categories to list out the difficulty, type of diet, and overall rating out of five stars. Michał and Maks created schedules for everyone so that we all had specific days allocated to posting our new recipes. I got all the Thursdays left in March, so I will be posting then. There are four posts per person, which will hopefully give us 20 different healthy recipes to share by the end of March.

[olazukowska]

CAS Project - Investigation

February 28th, 2023

I have always been interested in cooking and preparing food for my family and friends, and with my newfound passion for sports and health, I started thinking about combining the two during my CAS project. My friends and I discussed many ideas, for example starting a film club, but we ultimately decided to start a blog, where we will test out healthy recipes found on the internet in an attempt to show people that healthy eating isn't impossible.

[olazukowska]

January & February Learning Outcomes

[olazukowska]

28.02 Service - Tutoring

Since the last time we talked about oxides, today Mirek and I discussed the creation of salts. We went over the three main methods of obtaining salts, their solubility and the rules for naming salts.

[olazukowska]

27.02 Creativity - Pad thai

I attempted to make pad thai at home for the first time in my life, with the help of my friend, Wiktoria. We bought the ingredients at an Asian supermarket and went home to cook. We ended up making way too much pad thai, and the sauce-to-noodles ratio wasn't perfect, but we still thoroughly enjoyed eating it and even saved the leftovers for Wiktoria’s dad.

[olazukowska]

17.02 Activity - Gym

I went to the gym for the last time before I go on a winter holiday with my parents, and it was a good day, strength-wise. I did bench presses, barbell squats, and ran a bit on the treadmill. I talked to the gym owner about Spain, as that’s where I’m going with my parents next week, and he plans on moving there in the future.

[olazukowska]

14.02 Activity - Ice skating

I went ice skating today for the first time in years, and as anxious as I was about it, I had a lot of fun. It was a great time to awkwardly roll around the rink and look at skilled ice skaters dancing around me. The best part about this trip was the fact that I went with my boyfriend, Maks, and we were both so inexperienced that we made a bet on which one of us would fall first. It ended up being me, and I had a bruise the size of my knee for the next week.