Round Square Conference 2010 Steering Committee Meetings

Our final t-shirt designs

Continuing on from term 1 I have been working with 15 other student in preparation for the International RS conference which we will be hosting this October.

What did I do?

This term we got a lot of feedback from the delegates who just returned from the latest conference in India. They explained to us what was successful about the conference and what could perhaps have been done better. Any good points we have tried to merge into our program and we have taken note of any points to improve on. As mentioned in my previous post, everyone has been categorized into one of the 5 subcommittees: creative committee, barazza committee (discussion groups which will be help during the conference), entertainment committee, activities committee or the miscellaneous committee. We are hoping this will make us able to work more efficiently and precisely as we can each focus on a smaller aspect of the conference. As I am part of the creative committee, we have spent the majority of this term designing and producing a digital copy of the conference t-shirts which will be given out to all the delegates.

Did I achieve my goals?

This term I have continued to send out the minutes on time which was one of my main aims. I have also been participating actively in discussions and taking detailed notes and any important issues. For next term I hope to continue work on the t-shirt designs, as well as to get started on the delegates’ goodie bags and their contents.

Were there any problems along the way?

The main problems we encountered were trying to fit all the necessary info onto the t-shirts in a nice presentable manner. However after a lot of discussion, sketching and a little help from the school’s marketing director, we managed to get a design which we are all happy with.

What have I learnt?

I have learnt that splitting the workload amongst all member of the committee (through using subcommittees) is the most effective methods for getting work done. Feedback is necessary as well in order to get everyone’s input and thus, the best possible outcome.

CAS Hours for Term 1 of Year 12

Volleyball Training and Matches

Shaking hands after the match

What did the activity involve?

Volleyball training was held during Thursday and Wednesday lunchtimes in the gym. A couple times during the term we also had the opportunity to travel to different schools in the area in order to compete.

What were my main aims?

When I signed up for this activity I was mainly hoping to develop my volleyball skills and to work on my serve in particular. I was also hoping to get to get to know each and every one of my teammates a little better and to make new friends. As I haven’t played much volleyball before I was also aiming to step outside of my physical comfort zone.

What did I do?

Practices were more intense than I’d originally expected. They required a lot of focus and effort which definitely paid off in the long run as I am proud to say that my serving, although not perfect, is definitely much better than it was prior to commencing this activity. Everyone on the team got along really well and I even managed to make a couple new friends like I’d hoped. The strong friendships we created made it easy for us to communicate on the court which definitely helped when it came to competing against other local schools. The other teams in the area had clearly had much more practice than we had because when we competed for the first time we lost all our matches. By the end of the term though every one of us had improved and so when we competed again, although we didn’t win the whole tournament, we managed to win a couple of our matches which made us proud.

Were there any problems along the way?

Occasionally a team member would be unable to show up for practice which complicated things a little but we quickly filled them in on what they’d missed and trained with them outside of practice time instead. Another minor problem we came across was the fact that the teams we were competing against had had far more training than us. This turned out to only be a minor setback though because if anything this disadvantage only made us more eager to learn and improve our skills. The most important thing we did that helped us overcome all our difficulties was to keep team spirit high. We did this through always having a team shout before and after any match. We also complimented people on any good hits or passes and encouraged them when perhaps a serve didn’t go as planned.

What have I learnt?

Overall this experience made me realize how much I truly enjoy participating in team sports and how much I can achieve when I really put my mind to something. In the future I will definitely be participating in more of our school’s sports fixtures.

Thai Dance

Blue house performing their Thai dance

What was the activity?

Loy Kratong is a Thai festival celebrated every year. At our school we celebrated it on the 30th of October and it was a day filled with many Thai cultural shows, one of which I was a part of. I signed up for the inter house Thai dance competition which involved daily practices for a week leading up to our final performance.

What were my aims?

My aims were to develop my Thai dancing skills, step outside my comfort zone, to memorize all the dance moves, contribute my own ideas and help put on a good show.

There were eight people involved in this performance and we met every lunch time to practice our dance. After about two weeks of practicing we performed our dance on the 30th of October. On the day we had to first of all get ready which involved getting our hair and makeup done and getting dressed up in our traditional Thai outfits. We ended up coming 3rd place out of the four positions and even though we didn’t win we were all really happy because we knew we’d done our best. Overall I feel the activity was a success, everyone involved had to push themselves and learnt something new.

What did I do?

I took me a few rehearsals but eventually I learnt the whole dance off by heart. On the day of the performance I didn’t have to rely too much on looking at the other dancers in order to remember all the moves. I definitely feel that I stepped outside my comfort zone as I haven’t put on many dance performances in my life and definitely not Thai ones. I have only Thai danced a few times before so this was a big challenge for me. Since our final performance was quite a success I feel that I reached most of my goals successfully. One of my aims was to contribute my own ideas however this was something I struggled with as I have a very limited Thai dancing background. Next time I will try to have a little more input.

Were there any difficulties along the way?

During the first few rehearsals we had to design the actual dance which we struggled with a little bit but we managed to get a hold of a Thai dance DVD which helped us immensely. Another major problem we came across was that two of our dancers decided to drop out on the day of the performance. We had to solve this by finding two new dancers and teaching them all the moves in just a few hours. Fortunately they learnt the dance very fast so our performance was a success.

What did I achieve?

This dance allowed me to develop my creativity skills as I haven’t done much Thai dancing before. I also became more of a risk taker seeing as this was a new experience for me. Next time I come across a new and unfamiliar situation I will know that if I try my best I will be able to overcome the challenge.

Costume Design (Blood Brothers Senior Production)

The whole cast in their costumes

What was the activity?

This activity involved designing and organising costumes for the entire cast of the senior production Blood Brothers. It was an ongoing activity which I have been working on since last half term. All this work led up to two final performances at the beginning of December which were a huge success.

What were my main aims?

My goals and objectives were to design costumes for every single member of the cast, to develop my creativity skills and to neatly organize all the costumes the drama department already owns. The two performances of the play were very successful and everyone was wearing appropriate costumes. No one was missing any of their clothes and they were all neatly hung on a rack with labels, therefore I feel that I managed to meet my objectives successfully.

What did I do?

During this project I was working with Eline and Ms. Redler who were also part of the costume design team. The first thing we did was collect design ideas from all cast members depicting what they wanted their costumes to look like. We did this by sitting down with them, posing questions and asking them to draw a design idea on a piece of paper we handed out to them. As a member of the costume design team I have been attending all the rehearsals, researched into attire appropriate for this play and I have watched a version of the play done in England. On the nights of the performances Eline and I made sure no one’s costumes were missing and that everything was in place. We were also asked to help out with microphones. This was a new experience as I had never been involved in the technical aspects of plays before.

Were there any problems along the way?

There were admittedly quite a few difficulties which we encountered during this project. Firstly not all the costumes we needed were available in the drama department. This was quite an easy fix though as we hired a tailor to come into school and sew us some costumes. Also when we were checking all the costumes the weekend before the play we realized that some of the clothes which the actors had picked out for themselves weren’t in period or appropriate for the play. We solved this problem by searching through pre-existing costumes in the drama department. On the night of the play Eline and I found out that we would also be helping out with microphones as well as costumes. During the second performance of the play one of the lead actresses was having a problem with her microphone as it simply wasn’t working. We quickly swapped her batteries between scenes but unfortunately it still didn’t work. We finally managed to solve the problem though by using a microphone from one of the minor characters who didn’t really need it. As we were solving these problems I learnt that in stressful situations such as these one just needs to remain calm and communicate with the people around you. It is much easier to fix situations when you work as a team.

What have I learnt?

I have learnt that preparing for a play requires a lot of time and effort, even if you are just helping out backstage. I now have a new found respect for people involved in plays as I’ve realized they aren’t very easy to organize. I have also been able to work on my communicative skills while discussing costume designs etc. with the cast. If I ever get involved in working backstage in a play again, I will know that before you get started you need to do some research to get background information on the play. I also now know how to arrange and design costumes.

Round Square Conference 2010 Steering Committee Meetings

What does the activity involve?

This activity involves meeting with 15 other committee members twice a week to discuss and prepare for the 2010 Round Square Conference which we will be hosting at the Regents. I am the secretary of this committee so as well as sharing ideas I will also be taking notes on all important matters we discuss. This is an ongoing activity which I will be involved in up until October of 2010 when the conference is being held.

The official logo design by Pau yr 11

What were my aims?

My objectives for this activity are to get actively involved in the discussions which we have at these meetings. I hope to become more confident by sharing my ideas with everyone else. As well as this I hope to take good notes during our discussions and then send them out via email to everyone as soon as possible after the meeting is over.

What did I do?

This activity has not yet ended but so far we have already gotten a lot done. The latest project we completed was preparing for a performance which 8 of our members would be performing in India. This was a huge success and we got a lot of positive feedback from the audience. Recently we launched a website for our conference and we have also created a countdown board at our school. We have also met with all our keynote speakers that are attending our conference next year. Another idea we had was to divide our committee up into smaller sub committees which we have now done. This way we can all focus on certain, more specific aspects of the conference. The main thing we have done is agreed upon the theme We Walk Together and we launched a logo competition and picked the winner.

The whole committee

Did I achieve all my goals?

Since this activity is not yet over I have not reached all my goals. I have though been getting involved in our discussions by sharing my ideas and I hope to continue to do so at the rest of our meetings. I have taken notes at all our meetings however some of them I sent out a little late. For next term I hope to get all the notes sent out on time.

Were there any problems encountered along the way?

So far the main challenge we’ve come across was preparing for our performance in India. We had a lot of ideas but the problem was putting everything together into a 15 minute long performance. We decided that in order to get it done we needed to assign people specific tasks. Some people were in charge of the presentation and others worked on the Thai dance. We learnt that delegating tasks ended up being a very wise and successful decision. Everything got done much faster and people were less stressed. We are definitely going to use this strategy in the future.

What have I learnt?

So far I have learnt that the best way to run these meetings are to have a leader to run them so that not everyone is speaking at once. This is useful because I can apply it to any future meetings I have e.g. during barazza sessions which we have a lot at our school. I have also learnt that the best way to take notes during these meetings is to quickly scribble them down as they are being discussed and then to type them up neatly once I get home.

Check out our website: http://www.rs-wewalktogether.org/

Check out our India presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M83W38m_zis

Pattaya Players Halloween Event

Painting kids' faces

What was the activity?

For this activity I had to help out at the annual Pattaya Players Halloween Event. I mainly helped out with the setting up of the area and was in charge of the face painting stall.

What were my aims?

My objectives were to help in making this event as successful as possible, help raise a lot of money for charity, make this event as enjoyable as possible for the participants and develop my face painting skills.

What did I do?

Throughout the evening a lot of people came by dressed up in costumes and everyone actively participated in the events available. Many kids came forward to the face painting table and were extremely happy when they got their faces painted. I can therefore say that I successfully managed to raise a sufficient amount of money for charity and helped in making some kids very happy, thus reaching my objectives.

Were there any problems along the way?

Seeing as I had never face painted before, the biggest difficulty I encountered was to overcome this problem. We had no pictures to work or get ideas from and because we were working at night, the amount of light available to us was far too little. We had to overcome these problems by resorting to two small flashlights and by making up different designs to paint off the top of our heads. At first I was a little nervous as I was scared the children wouldn’t be satisfied with the outcome, however throughout the night my designs were definitely improving and so was the popularity of the face painting stall. There was also an issue with language since a large number of children were Thai and found it difficult to describe to us what the designs they wanted. Luckily I had come across a similar situation before during the Croston House walk (described in paragraph of Croston House Prep and Walk) and thanks to this I was able to overcome the difficulty through the use of hand gestures.

What have I learnt?

I now know that if I ever am unfamiliar with a certain situation I should not panic and do my best to work with the resources which are available to me.