Have I achieved my goals? Final reflection

These were the goals I set at the beginning of IB Diploma:

Creativity- Colombo Model United Nations: This is my third year taking part in COMUN and my second year in the excercative comitee. Since next year will be my final year, my ultimate goal is to be Secretary General.- My passion is undoubtably fashion and up until now I've had my own clothing line (in which all the proceeds I recieved were donated towards an orgnization to aid dogs), taken part in fashion shows, etc. My other goal would be to take part in at least two more fashion shows displaying my creative skills. 
Action:- In order to stay fit I will be taking three zumba lessons a week. This will ensure I stay fit and it would also be a healthy break from the IB.
Service :- This is my second year in Cleft Palette and in my senior year I hope to become a leader along with Imran. My goal is to work with him in order to raise more awarness and funds and change the lives of little children. My goal would be to raise Rs. 300,000.

Have i accomplished my goals?

- I achieved my first goal in becoming Secretary General for 2013. This was one of my proudest accomplishments and COMUN 2013 was definitely the best in years! (http://yanika--cas.blogspot.com/2013/03/comun-2013.html) Through the entire process I showered perseverance by going through the ups and downs, dealing with conflicts amongst my peers and faculty and really sticking by COMUN in general whilst trying to make it a success. Through this experience I got to engage with issues of global importance whether it be issues dealing with human trafficking in 2010, issues to do with global warming in 2011, the energy crisis in 2012 and issues of crisis and conflict in 2013. Not only was I exposed to these issues from  a security, economical and humanitarian point of view but I saw these issues from the eyes of a 180 countries. However most of all, I gained a lot of self confidence and developed as a person.
Unfortunately, given that I had to balance my IB, University applications, SAT's and COMUN, I could not complete a fashion show yet at the same time, my interest in fashion did reduce and I have formed new interests throughout the past couple of years such as politics which triggered my to study Political Economy at UC Berkeley.

Action: My actions goals too changed slightly as the Zumba classes clashed with some of my other personal obligations thus I took up yoga. A lady called Malka would come home twice a week and yoga did help me stay in shape to an extent and helped take my mind off things!

Service: One of my goals was achieved in which we raised over Rs. 300,000 for the children through the battle of the bands! This was very special to all of us! The progress from this is evident from the link given (http://yanika--cas.blogspot.com/2012/12/battle-of-bands.html). However, I was not able to make leader and I think this was for the best because I simply would not have the time. However, as a group we did help members in society and helped change their lives!

An article that appeared on the Sunday Times regarding COMUN - http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130303/education/the-colombo-operated-model-united-nations-comun-brings-together-29-schools-in-its-19th-successful-session-held-from-march-1-3-34641.html

At the opening ceremony, welcoming the chief guest, the Hon. Sarath N Silva, PC. and the Head of School Miss Williams

 At the opening ceremony.

 Lighting the oil lamp at the opening ceremony.

 During session (on the head table)

 During session

Handing out prizes at the closing ceremony.

COMUN 2013

COMUN 2013 WAS A GREAT SUCCESS! Being the Secretary General was a goal I set for myself all the way back in 2011. It required a lot of work, maturity and responsibility yet I have a passion for COMUN and after being apart of it for 4 years, it only seemed natural. The past 8 months consisted of a lot of ups and downs as conflict arose when having to deal with certain faculty advisors and peers yet this showed me the necessity and importance of compromise and seeing a view from the other persons point of view instead of just your own. The entire process made me engage with issues of global importance and broaden my own knowledge on the events that shape our world.. This is helped me even for the IB as I now have a comprehensive outlook on the worlds economy, security issues and humanitarian issues. However the most important thing I gained was confidence in public speaking. Even though I've always been confident, I've never felt comfortable public speaking and when I first spoke on the 1st of March at the opening ceremony, I was shaking. However throughout the 3 days, like all the delegates, I too grew up and built up my confidence even further and when I gave the final speech at the closing ceremony, I was able to deliver it with complete confidence and ease.

The conference itself went smoothly. From an administrative point of view, the conference ran like clockwork and was organized to the heights quality. From a debating point of view, I believe this was the best conference in the past 4 years! Sachin and I made it a point to train the chairs and the training paid off as they were absolutely amazing and stimulated great debate which triggered all the delegates to blossom as well. A great improvement within the delegates of OSC was evident too as Sanoj Jayakody won an award for the best new bee. The calibre of the conference too was outstanding due to the incredible chief guests we had including the former chief justice of Sri Lanka, the Hon. Sarath N. Silva, PC.

Throughout the past 4 years, COMUN more than simply catalyzing my growth has marked my growth. I started 9th grade as a rather shallow teenager not worried about issues that shape our world yet as each year progressed, I grew. I learnt how to collaborate with people of different ages, classes and view points. I gained more confidence than ever whilst broadening my knowledge and lastly, I realized if I set a goal for myself, it can be achieved as i beat out 500 other children for the position of Secretary General.

MUN PR

For the COMUN conference we had to do a lot of PR in which Sachin and I spearheaded it.. They ranged from interviews for MTV to articles to newspapers! Below are the links to the respective sites:

First Part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq_opuRIpFM

Second Part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzQqonZbMsM

By doing these interviews, I gained more confidence than I could have possibly imagined. It made me realize the importance of the necessity to sometimes hide nerves and essentially, "fake it till you make it"

Updates February 14th.

These past couple of months have been so busy! I have been continuing with yoga and Cleft Lip and Pallete in which we have been raising awareness about the disorder however my main focus has been on COMUN which is taking place from the 1st-3rd March.

As the Secretary General, the amount of work needed to get done has been quite overwhelming. Whether it be making sure sessions run smoothly during practice debates (which were held on the 12th of January and 9th of February) or finalizing certificates, I really have had to work on my leadership skills. I've had to learn how to allocate tasks to all member of the team, multi-task whilst improving my own knowledge on this issues being discusses which has been both challenging and rewarding. However, I developed my leadership skills in terms of organization during last years conference in which I was Head of Administration thus in order to gain even more confidence and challenge myself, I have been chairing. It has been a little intimidating as all the delegates present are extremely intelligence but it gave me a sense of confidence and love for COMUN I haven't had before which is also great as that was my goal for my senior year!

The theme for this year has been Conflict and Crisis which has turned out to be extremely interesting as it not only involves issues of global importance but it allows a variety of issues such as the Israelian-Palestine Crisis, Eurozone Crisis and legalizing of gay marriage, amongst others to all be explored.

We have one more practice debate left and thereafter, a hopefully amazing conference will take place!

Updates with COMUN and Yoga

COMUN has been quite stressful as sometimes working collaboratively with others in different age groups who have extremely strong views can certainly be a challenge however through this I've learnt the importance of compromise and communication. We are in the process of collecting funds while trying to prepare the team for workshops/practice debates which will be held at the start of 2013.

Yoga: yoga in it's own way has managed to kept my sanity during the past couple of months as I have been extremely stressed out by SAT's, university applications, IB and COMUN.