Category: Creativity

June 2021 (4) – KASPER Social Issues Posts

allche22Leave a comment

For the summer, I originally planned to do several different service activities, but due to COVID, I needed a change of plans. With the release of KASPER’s end-of-the-year magazine, I proposed a new project to Paula. The new project consists of posting social issues infographics on KASPER’s Instagram page (@kas_newspaper). We already had experience transforming our peers’ articles into social media posts, but we wanted to have more control over which social issues we wanted to introduce to our community. Therefore, the project consists of directly creating these social issues infographics.

The first step of our planning process was to create a schedule on Google Sheets. Paula and I would post about twice a week, but that was subject to change if there were other people that wanted to post about a social issue. With June being Pride month, the first two posts were on LGBTQ+ related issues. We used a share Canva file to create these graphics. The website already has Pride month templates and we customized the layout for our own topics (by adding different pictures and elements). The first post made by Paula was about the history of pride month, and mine was on queerbaiting and rainbow-washing. To further provide resources for our community, I also created two Instagram stories that consisted of links that elaborated more on the content of our posts. Towards the bottom, I included hotline resources and information on LGBTQ+ communities (both in Taiwan and internationally). I have learned a lot about the LGBTQ+ community in particular through my research to create these resources and infographics for KASPER.

The hardest part of this project is sticking to our own timeline as we have other school-related responsibilities during the summer. However, I think a good way we have addressed this was to choose social issues we are very passionate and interested about. We can also ask more people to join as that would provide variety and new perspectives.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ✏️KASPER (@kas_newspaper)

June 2021 (3) – My Sister’s Dance Video

allche22Leave a comment

Unlike me, my little sister attends a local middle school near our house. Her teacher wanted to create an outside-of-class service project with the help of her students and their families, asking everyone to choreograph and film our own dances to a section of a song. The song is a Chinese song thanking frontline workers for their service during the pandemic.

Our family worked together to choreograph a 4 eight-count dance. This process actually took longer than anticipated; it took a lot of trial and error to come up with cohesive dance moves.

After establishing the choreography, we began to rehearse. The rehearsing included setting up the camera and our positions. The location of our video was the front of my parents’ clinic. There was not a lot of room for the camera to be set up on the floor, so it had to be standing on the couch. The couch was lopsided, which presented many problems throughout filming. This problem was addressed by placing a wooden stool upside-down so that there would be a sturdier surface for the tripod to stand on.

Lastly, having our video clip filmed, the last step is to make the video! I taught my sister how to cut out the excess beginning and end, rotate the video until it is not tilted, and add the background music. I was surprised how she was able to pick up these skills quickly. So, to enhance the video further, we drew a graphic that said, “Go Taiwan!” in Chinese.

Here was the final video with all of my sister’s classmates and family members! (We are at 1:56 and 4:58)

June 2021 (2) – Baking With Family!

allche22Leave a comment

To celebrate the end of the school year, my mom and I decided to bake some cupcakes for the family. After gathering the tools and ingredients, the next step was to sort out measurements. We tried to find online recipes that were fit for the number of cupcakes we wanted, but we decided to try out our own recipe. Little by little, we added the ingredients together to check on the consistency of the batter. This was the most creative part of the process!

Here were the ingredients we ended up with:

  1. 3/4 cup of water
  2. 1/5 cup of oil
  3. 2 eggs
  4. 220 g of flour

For a bonus: I added some sprinkles to decorate the cakes, though some did sink to the middle of the cupcakes.

April 2021 (4) – Transforming Articles into Posts

allche22Leave a comment

For one of my KASPER articles, I decided to talk about Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is April. The article I wrote is linked here.

Since KASPER wants to start raising awareness and educating students about global issues through Instagram posts, the club asked members to write about social issues that are important to them. I chose to talk about sexual assault and violence against women. I don’t think that this is discussed enough at our school, and would like to bring this issue onto the table. This article was later transformed into a post on Instagram.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ✏️KASPER (@kas_newspaper)

One of the club’s concern is that not enough students actually read the article. To address this issue, we began creating social media posts. This was inspired by accounts such as @soyouwanttotalkabout, where there are infographics on important social issues. Directly reposting on my Instagram page allows my friends and other students in the community to be exposed to my article and its content. In the second slide, I decided to include statistics to educate my peers. On the last slide, the infographic contains a paragraph of my article and resources in Taiwan. I think that in this way, my article can be more impactful.

I would like to make a series of post, perhaps throughout summer, to continue to post educational infographics on KASPER’s Instagram page.

June 2021 (1) – End of Year 1 CAS Reflection

allche22Leave a comment

Throughout this year for CAS, I have done several different experiences such as for:

Creativity:

  • Filming/editing videos
  • Singing
  • Cooking
  • Dancing
  • Drawing
  • StuCo Campaign
  • Raising Awareness for Clubs (KASPER, MUN)

Activity:

  • Taekwondo
  • Sports Day
  • Dancing

Service:

  • Tutoring Physics
  • Volunteering at the school library
  • Raising Awareness for Clubs (KASPER, MUN)
  • Bake Sale

I realized that through all of these CAS experiences and projects, I have learned a lot about my passions and organizing time to carry out these tasks.

Singing is something that I love to do in my own free time by myself. However, I decided to be a risk-taker and audition for Cadenza Confidence in this skill and having the courage to perform in front of people was something I really struggled with before I was determined to put myself out there. During Cadenza performances, and even auditions, my voice would reflect my nervousness. This is something that I have been working on. I learned that this process is something that takes time and experience. Therefore, I try to work towards this goal of being comfortable both off and on stage. I was able to witness my own growth in this specific experience through CAS. This was one of the main ways I tackled the learning outcome of “[demonstrating] that challenges have been undertaken, [and] developing new skills in the process.”

As for organizing time and planning, my CAS project for STMUN is the biggest project I have been involved in for this year. This project has been teaching me how “to initiate and plan a CAS experience” and also “the benefits of working collaboratively.” From contacting IIS to communicating with KAS students I recognized how important it is for a team to collaborate. Simply coordinating dates for applications was difficult because everybody has different schedules. Moreover, being a teammate means expressing ideas or any concerns I have. It is obvious that being a communicator is extremely important in a team setting. This is my first year in the MUN executive team, so I focused on being open-minded. I always send in my first draft of infographics to the team for any critiques. By being responsible for my tasks, I am able to lift some weight off of my other team members, building trust among all of us.

Another service activity that helped me achieve a learning outcome is tutoring Physics to 8th grade students. This experience specifically taught me “commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences.” One of the obstacles I faced at the first meeting was not being able to fully convey my answer to their questions because I didn’t know my students were not as fluent in English. To improve myself as a tutor, I took home their textbook and tried to grasp the concept better. I found myself being able to translate my thoughts faster to Chinese and communicate in a clearer manner. Since they had upcoming multiple tests, I made a study guide for them. As I made these guides, I tried to break down the complex ideas into short, understandable English phrases. This way, they are still learning the English terms, but in a way that they are able to absorb more information. I actually filmed an explanation video the weekend before their Physics final. Through this experience, I really strived to be knowledgeable and caring to enhance the students’ education.


My CAS experience in activity helped me “identify [my] own strengths and develop areas for growth.” Throughout the school year, I have been going to Taekwondo classes and competitions. My goal for this 18-month experience was to be as reflective as possible to improve myself as an athlete. It is very easy to feel discouraged after going through a bad training session or a bad competition. However, I would try to perceive it as a learning experience. After these “bad” experiences, I would go back to practice what I had previously failed at. I would do my best to analyze the problem and then think of a realistic solution. This skill I have gained with my sport has also helped me in my everyday life.

Overall, my CAS experiences have definitely supported me as a learner as connected to the different learning outcomes. I am able to balance the duration of these experiences.

One thing I want to improve on for CAS in general is balance of the three strands.

One way I want to increase my service experiences is through a CAS project of creating educational posts for KASPER’s Instagram. I enjoyed my spontaneous CAS experience in transforming articles into posts, but I would like to directly focus on creating these posts. This can help me with the learning outcome of “[demonstrating] engagement with issues of global significance.” I would definitely sign up for direct service when we go back to school, because those can help me achieve the learning outcome of “[recognizing] and [considering] the ethics of choices and actions.”

For activities, I can play JustDance, follow workout routines, run, and practice mindfulness (yoga). I will still practice Taekwondo regularly with assignments from my coach.

I hope to develop myself as a balanced individual and to further meet the learning outcomes.

May 2021 (3) – STMUN Preparation

allche22Leave a comment

For my CAS project, I am working with the MUN executive team to host the 13th annual STMUN conference at our school. Throughout the months of March, April, and May, we have been meeting every week after school on Tuesday to discuss plans and coordinate activities. I am the Activities Coordinator of the club, so for the STMUN planning process, I am in charge of posting social media updates of STMUN and notify students on open applications.

Below are the posts I have created for the event and for the @STMUNXIII account:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by STMUN XIII (@stmunxiii)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by STMUN XIII (@stmunxiii)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by STMUN XIII (@stmunxiii)

Creativity

Creative skills are involved when I design the posts. Before creating these infographics, I have reviewed several other MUN Instagram pages to enlighten myself on different themes I can take on for the feed of this page. Somethings I noticed most of these posts had in common were that they are professional and neat. My first post in March is created in Procreate, where the design was hand-drawn. I thought that using this software would allow more space for me to customize the post, but I did not really like how it turned out because it wasn’t as professional. So, I decided to use Canva. They have pre-made templates that I change to accommodate the information I would like to put out. Canva allows me to easily edit stuff in and out. The last two posts are made there. It provides a clear and more consistent looking infographic. I also chose to make the feed theme be blue as STMUN’s color is blue. In the captions, I make sure to have the text laid out in a clear manner so that students who are reading it can comprehend the information more easily. Emojis used are for emphasizing certain dates and for the captions to be more interesting.

Service

MUN is a non-profit club at our school. The main purpose of the club hosting this event is to provide students from all around Taiwan an opportunity to experience a formal debate/discussion on significant political issues. As the Activities Coordinator and the manager of our social media account, I act as a facilitator between MUN and the student body. I partake in both the planning process of STMUN and also in the promotion of this activity.

Other than posting on social media, members of the MUN exec team also took time during BIG time to talk to students about this conference. It was also a time for student to ask any questions or communicate any concerns. Given that there were a high number of applicants for the student leader positions, the presentation and social media posts are proved to be somewhat helpful in raising awareness about this conference.

May 2021 (2) – Stuco Campaign

allche22Leave a comment

Earlier this month, I decided to run for next year’s Student Council President. This past week, I began coordinating my campaign through my Instagram page.

Phineas and Ferb Parody

I announced my candidacy by making a parody of Phineas and Ferb’s theme song. This was the first song I thought of because it is upbeat and is related to creating new experiences/activities. Moreover, it is a show that most people can relate to. I originally wanted to rewrite the whole song, but then I had to take into account of the time span of Instagram stories, which are 15 seconds long. So, I didn’t want to spam people’s story by having to tap through so many panels. I ended up with a 44 second video, so it was only 3 panels.

These are the screenshots of the lyrics I rewrote and the chords.

The process of rewriting consisted of

  1. Listening to the song over and over to have the tune in the back of my head
  2. Began jotting down things I would like to include in the songs – who I am, which position I am running for, and new activities I want to include next year
  3. Find words and make sure my lyrics can go along with the rhythm and tune of the song

These are the final lyrics I came up with

I still kept some of the original lyrics to connect more with my audience.

This is the final video I posted on Instagram. I did put a frame around the video on Instagram to make it look better.

The feedback I received were mostly positive. People thought it was creative and different. I think that it was something easy to connect to while being unique in itself. I enjoyed the process and was able to take my mind off of stress for the first day of Digital Days.

Making Virual Stickers 🙁

The following day, I made some virtual stickers to thank those that helped spread message about my running for stuco and also to spread the message myself. I made it in three different colors to appeal to more students, because some people may not like the pink/coral color I originally chose. I used the Procreate app to make these stickers.

The sticker says, “there’s every reason to vote for Allison.” I made these stickers have transparent background so that I am able to add them onto my Instagram story as circular images. It was fun to draw and be creative again not only for my campaign, but also just to have fun drawing and lettering.

April 2021 (3) – Cadenza Video Audition

allche22Leave a comment

For Cadenza’s farewell performance, I wasn’t able to audition in-person, so I filmed a video of me singing the song I wish to perform. The song I chose was “my future” by Billie Eilish as I thought it’s more fitting for the theme of the performance.

I re-filmed the video several times to make sure that I was able to do as well as I could. I also changed the karaoke music to better match the original music. Of course, recording myself at home, I was not as nervous I would be in an in-person audition. However, this means that I would need to practice more and be more comfortable performing, knowing that I have not actually performed to an audience yet. Another important note, I would have to work on matching the timing of the start of the music without looking at the screen if I am able to make it into the performance list.

Link to audition video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sEfGVS3Xg4aX1YlRZlkWI9T3ob4V4_Rq/view?usp=sharing

Mar 2021 (1) – a week in my life vlog

allche22Leave a comment

This week I decided to film a week in my life vlog.

Throughout this experience, I realized that collecting and filming clips is actually harder than I expected. I really had to hold myself accountable for the number of times I film throughout the day. I began editing my video on Thursday right after school. Due to the limited storage left on my computer, it was difficult to transfer my clips from my phone to the computer. I managed to clear sufficient space eventually. Throughout the editing process, I had to delete a lot of footages in order to keep the video at an appropriate length. The raw clips were around 20 minutes long, but after speeding some clips up and editing other out, I was able to congregate a near 11 minute video. I included hand-draw clips to personalize the video more. In my next video, I hope to include hand-drawn animations so that the doodles look more animated.

Feb 2021 (2) – you were good to me

allche22Leave a comment

Last Friday, Heloise and I performed “you were good to me” by Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler at Cadenza’s Valentine’s Day performance.

Prior to the performance, we had a week-long Chinese New Year break. This meant that we had limited practice time. We had to make use of afterschool time and CAS time as well. The actual performance, I felt like could be better on my part. I think I was too nervous because I didn’t think we acquired enough practice time. Some words were really shaky and could be improved. One of the major things I have noticed is that my voice grows even quieter during a performance. I should fix this through watching videos on breathing exercises and strengthening my vocals.