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.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS!

Battle of The Bands was a huge success! in addition to an amazing concert, both tickets and raffle tickets were sold in order to raise funds. Through this process, I learnt the importance of producing a "quality" event as people ultimately pay to be entertained. On the day of the concert, I was working the front door and in charge of body checking. Thereafter, our CAS group went inside the concert and made sure things were running smoothly. Through this event not only did we help raise money for a good cause but we engaged with issues of a global importance and worked collaboratively with others in order to achieve this goal.


Below are some pictures taken by Amila Withanage and the link to the album.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.495542797152474.118733.100000902741391&type=1

COMUN UPDATES!

There has been a lot going on in COMUN within the past month! We have been getting in a lot of sponsorship deals and a lot in terms of advertising (including an interview I will have to do on TV regarding COMUN) furthermore, things have been extremely stressful as registration forms have been coming in and we have had to keep track whilst creating letters of terms and conditions, the country matrix and contacting all the foreign schools. This has all taken a lot of collaborative effort in which we all worked together to get the tasks completed.

 (harshini's photpgraphy!)

Two weekends ago, we have the Student Coordinator/Faculty Advisor meeting which was very successful from our end as everyone was well rehearsed and organized. However we encountered a speed bump thereafter due to an incident, which took place with the OSC faculty advisor. I won’t get into detail about it, however it really brought out our diplomatic side as we had to handle the situation in the most professional and mature way. This certainly wasn’t easy however it really did show our “MUN” colours and it helped develop my leadership skills as I had to guide the entire group through this process. COMUN has certainly gotten interesting however we are proceeding forward!

Pictures&sites

COMUN is coming along quite well. We're still in the middle of raising sponosors. This is a picture taken at a usual Wednesday afternoon meeting.
This is the URL to the site www.comun2013.com
The concert for Cleft Lip and Pallate is coming along as we however we've also decided to make monthly trips to the hospital.

COMUN progress.

These past two weeks have been interesting as I have been working with both my executive committee and the OSC delegates. For both activities, I have been undertaking new challenges. During the EXCO meetings, I have had to work collaboratively with others in organizing the conference which is going to take a lot of perseverance however I have 2 years of experience in the EXCO hence it is relatively easy. Training the OSC COMUN members to be good delegates however has been a task as it is a completely new challenge to me however whilst dealing with issues of global importance and working collaboratively with other members such as Raya and Nikhil, we have been doing a pretty good job so far.

Summer 2012

During the summer, I took my part in a summer program in Columbia, New York. The experience was amazing but the highlight was the venture we created for my course, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. My group consisted of me, Anisha from Dubai and Joe from California. We were inspired by a service project Joe had undertook in California in which he interviewed the elderly in order to get an insight into their values, morals and life lessons eventually composing a documentary with the footage collected.

While brainstorming ideas we realized that people hold on so closely to photographs, jewelry, clothes, etc. of lost loved ones as that is the last relic left of them. Hence we developed the idea of creating a company in which families would hire us and we create documentaries (for any during per requested by families) documenting their life lessons, morals, values, advice for their children/grandchildren, stories and answers to questions asked by us. The questions would revolve around topics of regret, love, loss, etc. The aim of the documentaries would be to capture the essence of the elderly and hopefully bring back good memories for the family while watching them. It could hopefully give future generations an insight to a lost loved one. We were told to form the business proposal from start to finish focusing on costing, income flow, marketing strategy, etc. Throughout this process I improved my skills of working collaborately with others as I had to week for three weeks with two people I had never met before who had different viewpoints from me. I increase my awareness of my own strengths in which I realized I'm quite creative (for example, I came up with the vision statement for our venture "keep the lost found") and also showed perseverance for three weeks, even when things got hard. Lastly, it was rewarding to come up with such an original venture which we got great feedback for!

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Senior year goals (2012-2013)

As senior year finally came along, so did my final year of CAS. I achieved the main goal I set for last year which was becoming Secretary General for COMUN for the coming year. Furthermore, I was an active member of the Cleft Lip and Palette group and also kept active throughout the year by doing yoga and going to the gym with a friend. For this coming year, my goals are merely to develop upon these activities.

Creativity: My passion truly does lie with COMUN. After becoming Secretary General, I met with the other two head positions as well as Miss Jasmine (COMUN faculty advisor) and organized interviews towards the end of June. All in all we interviewed over 42 people over two weekends. The process was definitely exhausting but rewarding as we found an excellent executive committee. While performing the interviews, it raised my awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses as I realized I have good people skills and organizational skills however I could possibly improve on my overall knowledge of current events. We had our first meeting with the 30 selected members at my house which was also successful. Meetings would be every Wednesday after school for 2 hours in addition to random weekends which would take place throughout the course of the week. My goal as Secretary General would be to improve the quality and smoothness of the entire conference by working collaboratively with others and encouraging my team to persevere through the rough times. My personal goal however is to develop my confidence with public speaking and improve my knowledge with world issues as I will be engaging with issues of global importance. 

Service: This year for service, we are planning on organizing a repeat performance of last year’s event as it was very successful. We still have to plan out and work out the finer details however my overall goal for this activity is mainly to help in planning and initiating it. During this process and during the actual event, I am hoping to undertake new challenges.

Action: Last year I opted to go to the gym and learn yoga instead of taking part in a sport as I was extremely busy with my other commitments and gyming and yoga were two activities I really enjoyed. I'm hoping to continue the same routine this year as the flexible hours of these activities allowed me to perform them constantly for the past 8 months. My main goals would be to go to the gym twice a week and do one lesson of yoga. I hope to show both perseverance and commitment to this activity as they enable me to feel a sense of personal accomplishment

Updates - 25th May

These past couple months have been extremely busy and stressful, however I have still been keeping upto date with CAS.
Creativity - Around two weeks ago, Miss Jasmine officially appointed me Secretary General from COMUN 2013. This was very exciting as I was chosen amonst a number of candidates, 2 of them being from OSC as well. Furthermore, this was the initial goal I set at the begining of the year hence I felt a sense of achievement. Even though we haven't started working on the conference yet I have been doing minor duties such as collecting post conference money, working on EXCO interview letters as well as undertaking new challenges. I have also had to work collaboratively with Sachin and Nelaka who're the PGA and Head of Admin for 2013.
Action - For action I have been working out at the gym as I mentioned on a previous post. I either swim, or gym, according to the weather and have been developing my personal skills when it comes to fitness.
Service - For Cleft Lip and Pallate, we started planning and initiating another event, a battle of the bands - redemption, for next year. We've still been brainstorming ideas on the ideal dates, etc. Furthermore, we sold goodies at the carnival in order to raise money for the service group.

For Action, I've been going to the gym around 3 times a week. The purpose of this is merely to keep in shape. I don't do much cardio however I do a lot of stomach exercise and arm exercises. Due to the fact that I go with a friend, I feel constantly motivated. Through this I have increases my own awareness of my strengths as when I started going to the gym I was only able to do minimal exercises (such as a pull up, while doing a stomach) however now I am able to do 10 which shows improvement. The gym is a relaxing place to be while simultaneously improving my health.

Personal Project Blog

http://personalprojectyanika.blogspot.com/

MUN 2012

COMUN  2012 was a great success. As the Head of Administration which is the 3^rd highest position, I had a lot of responsibility, perhaps even more than the two positions above me. To the week leading up to conference, I did SO much work and stayed late in school almost everyday whether it be sorting out placards with my deputy head of admin or sorting out packages, parcels, certificates, purchase requisitions, placards, etc. In addition, I single handedly handled the 3^rd day which was taking place at Cinnamon Grand thus I was always in contact finalizing details, etc. with my contact from Cinnamon Grand. In addition to organizational aspects, Suleik, my deputy head and I had a lot to do in terms of training the admins and assigning them final responsibilities, etc.

The day prior to conference which was the 1^st of March, I along with some others were at school till around 11.00pm working on MUN related things. As conference finally approached and after 8 months of hard work, things went really smoothly, especially aspects I was in charge of. There were a few errors such as one room not having enough seats, a slight mix up with assigning of countries however they were all things that the EXCO worked around and problem solved. On the 3^rd night, the Head of Logistics (Jaish) along with myself transported all the banners, equipment, printers, etc. to Cinnamon Grand in the night and later on that night most of the EXCO joint us as Cinnamon Grand to set up for the following day.

The 3^rd day was an absolute success and everyone was completely impressed whether it be delegates, faculty advisors, viewers, etc. this made me feel especially good as I was completely in charge of the final day. The arrangements, food, setting, staff were all very helpful and I received very good feedback from the faculty advisors who said I did an excellent job. In addition, Suleik and I received an award for the Best Admistrative staff which were decided upon feedback from the faculty advisors as well as Miss Jasmine and Miss Snyder. The conference went amazingly well!

I learnt many skills through the entire experience. I increased the awareness of my own strengths as I realized I’m very good at organizing events, getting people to listen to me, etc. I also learnt what I need to work on in the context of COMUN as I realized I need to get slightly more familiar with MUN protocol and world issues.  Throughout this entire process I undertook new challenges such as being completely in charge of the final day in which I had a lot riding on me. This process forced me to plan and initiate activities but more importantly it allowed me to collaborate with others and that is something I think I did quite well. Despite me getting extremely stressed out during tense situations, I felt as if I got the opportunity to work with different people ranging from different ages to races and people with different outlooks. The conference itself engaged with issues of global importance and lastly, throughout the past 8 months, despite things getting hard I believe I showed a lot of perseverance. I am right now most likely to get the position of Secretary General 2013 as every single member of the EXCO excluding one voted for me. If and when it finally is made official, I would achieve a goal I set at the beginning of the year in which I said I want to be Sec Gen ’13. I’m proud of myself :)

MUN 2012

COMUN  2012 was a great success. As the Head of Administration which is the 3^rd highest position, I had a lot of responsibility, perhaps even more than the two positions above me. To the week leading up to conference, I did SO much work and stayed late in school almost everyday whether it be sorting out placards with my deputy head of admin or sorting out packages, parcels, certificates, purchase requisitions, placards, etc. In addition, I single handedly handled the 3^rd day which was taking place at Cinnamon Grand thus I was always in contact finalizing details, etc. with my contact from Cinnamon Grand. In addition to organizational aspects, Suleik, my deputy head and I had a lot to do in terms of training the admins and assigning them final responsibilities, etc.

The day prior to conference which was the 1^st of March, I along with some others were at school till around 11.00pm working on MUN related things. As conference finally approached and after 8 months of hard work, things went really smoothly, especially aspects I was in charge of. There were a few errors such as one room not having enough seats, a slight mix up with assigning of countries however they were all things that the EXCO worked around and problem solved. On the 3^rd night, the Head of Logistics (Jaish) along with myself transported all the banners, equipment, printers, etc. to Cinnamon Grand in the night and later on that night most of the EXCO joint us as Cinnamon Grand to set up for the following day.

The 3^rd day was an absolute success and everyone was completely impressed whether it be delegates, faculty advisors, viewers, etc. this made me feel especially good as I was completely in charge of the final day. The arrangements, food, setting, staff were all very helpful and I received very good feedback from the faculty advisors who said I did an excellent job. In addition, Suleik and I received an award for the Best Admistrative staff which were decided upon feedback from the faculty advisors as well as Miss Jasmine and Miss Snyder. The conference went amazingly well!

I learnt many skills through the entire experience. I increased the awareness of my own strengths as I realized I’m very good at organizing events, getting people to listen to me, etc. I also learnt what I need to work on in the context of COMUN as I realized I need to get slightly more familiar with MUN protocol and world issues.  Throughout this entire process I undertook new challenges such as being completely in charge of the final day in which I had a lot riding on me. This process forced me to plan and initiate activities but more importantly it allowed me to collaborate with others and that is something I think I did quite well. Despite me getting extremely stressed out during tense situations, I felt as if I got the opportunity to work with different people ranging from different ages to races and people with different outlooks. The conference itself engaged with issues of global importance and lastly, throughout the past 8 months, despite things getting hard I believe I showed a lot of perseverance. I am right now most likely to get the position of Secretary General 2013 as every single member of the EXCO excluding one voted for me. If and when it finally is made official, I would achieve a goal I set at the beginning of the year in which I said I want to be Sec Gen ’13. I’m proud of myself :)

Updates

Creativity (MUN) - MUN has been crazy recently as the conference is two weeks away. I've had A LOT of work to do such as sorting out the invitations, organizing all things relating to Cinnamon Grand, sorting out ID cards, sorting out banners and sponsorships, etc. It's been a little stressful however I've got all my tasks completed whilst balancing them out with my acedemics. I've shown both collaborative skills as well as leadership skills within the past weeks as I've also had to delegate. The conference should be interesting :)

WWW

Goals -
1) Give the children a pleasent learning environment.
2) make sure he murals painted are attractive and colourful.
3) Make a child's day.
4) Make something the kids will be proud of.
5) Help develop the school. The tsunami which took place on the 26th of December 2004 destroyed many houses/schools, etc. along the costal area.. thus everyone school/house being created or imprpoved is a symbol of development.

Tuesday 24th January 2012 - On tuesday we first played with the children for the first half an hour but at a point, some people went off to start working on their induvidual projects such as maintanence work, murals, etc. The wall we had to create a mural on had a couple of elephants drawn on it and we were instructed on keeping those elephants. Hence my group mates and I (Zara and Margarret) decided to turn it into an underwater world. We used blue's to paint the water and there after painted fish, star fish, turtles, etc. we ensured that it was very colourful.We were orginally going to paint trees in the background however due to time constrains we decided to paint the background light blue. We planned on completing and adding finishing touches to the mural the following day. I was quite impressed at my groups cooperation today as having to work with an existing image was tricky yet we came through. In addition, even though I was group leader, I didn't feel as if I needed to tell people what to do as everyone did an outstanding job, all collaborating really well.

Wednesday 25th January 2012 - On Wednesday we added final touches to the mural and Onkar and Bryce helped paint the top bits of the mural as we couldn't reach. Thereafter Ashwini and I had to write sinhalese on the inside of the school which was definetely tricky as I havn't written sinhalese in a long time but it came through in the end. There after I drew flowers on the wall and tried to make it more attractive. There after I helped with minor jobs here and there such as sanding, painting, etc. The day however was a short day as we had to do a performance. We sand "Stand by me" and a sinhala song "rambari". The sinhala song was a little bit of a fail as I didn't know the words but everyone had fun with it. We got to see the children performing too and they were absolutely adorable.

Thursday 26th January 2012 - The following day we went site seeing and saw two temples. One temple was on the top of a rock so it was tiring getting up there in the really hot sun. Later on we went on a safari which was quite fun.

During this week I believe I really undertook new challenges as I had never painted a mural prior to this and taking into consideration the preasure to make it look appealing, I think I did a good job. We also had to make use of our collaborative skills as we had to collaborate with other people in our class. Even though it was tricky at times, it was a group effort which eventually made everything a success. Lastly, peservereance was shown as the murals did get tedious to do due to the heat, etc. however everyone struck through it in order to make it succesful.

Goals for 2012

Last year was quite a successful year regarding my CAS activities. I felt like I did a lot when it came to MUN (creative) and Cleft Palette (Service). For MUN last year we really focused on raising funds for the conference as well as general organization. I raised Rs. 400,000 in addition to organizing the venue for the 3rd day of conference (Cinnamon Grand) and sorting out the admistrative staff which is my job as Head of Admin. For service, the Cleft Lip and Palette group organized an extremely successful charity concert in which we made a large profit.
This year for CAS my goals will be as follows:
MUN - I will continue to do what I have done except myself and the entire group may have to work a little harder as we are getting closer to the conference and everything is going to become more hectic. My goal is still the same in which I want to become Sec Gen for next years conference thus I am just going to continue doing what I've done.
Service - For service this semester we decided to do smaller yet more frequent fund raisers (such as a movie night) rather than one big event. Hence the group and I will have bake sales, movie nights, etc. and my goal for the service activity is to become a leader next year as I have done 2 years of Cleft Lip and Palette.
Action - the action aspect of CAS would probably be my least active area. I did a little bit of Zumba however during christmas break I started doing Zumba and Pilates which were really fun. So my goal is to keep doing Zumba and Pilates twice a week in order to keep fit.