Hello fellow IB Diploma learners! My name is Eric Chen, and I’m currently a junior (and IB Diploma newbie) at Kaohsiung American School. As a CAS newbie, I am extremely confused by the strands of CAS before the start of the IB Core lesson. For example, I was quite confused about the “S” part of CAS, as previously the IB required us to do an additional 180 hours of community service (that requirement was canceled this year.) However, thanks to the IB Core lesson, I was able to realize that CAS was actually the easiest part to excel in the IB Diploma!
Throughout the summer, in which I have been stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, I was able to brainstorm with some activities that I can use for my CAS experiences. After running for the next activities coordinator of the Student Council but lost to one of my best friends in class, I recognized that there were many events that could be held in order to improve the KAS House System. Connecting that to CAS, I believe that these events would serve as a great way for completing the CAS strands, especially the Creativity and Activity strands. I believe that these events are extremely creative as it revolves around students’ talents, and I would be actively cooperating with the Student Council in order to bring these events to life. These events are loosely based on games featured on American talk shows (e.g. Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon) as well as game shows (e.g. America’s Got Talent, Lip Sync Battle, …) that I have been watching since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. I would like to gain my skills in event planning through this “talent” series of CAS experiences.
Apart from the “talent” series, I also believe that my health is very important besides my academic success. Therefore, I have planned numerous “activity” events so that I can stay in shape. This would serve my personal challenges throughout the program. (I even hope that I can finally step away from the world of obesity as a result lol) For the “service” strand, I have signed up for GIN Club and I hope that environmentally-friendly events hosted by the club can fulfill this strand.
I am extremely excited to be on this marvelous journey with all of you. I can’t wait to demonstrate and improve my event planning skills with my CAS experiences! I’ll see yall around!
Oh, there is one more thing. While you’re here, why don’t you check out the shows that I have been watching since the onset of the pandemic so that you can get a closer look at the events I will be hosting as part of this program?