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BaLMUN hospitality

🏛️Activity title: Volunteering for BaLMUN

🏛️Duration and date: 3 whole days, 20.5-22.5.2023.

🏛️Type of activity: Service and action

🏛️Activity description: Being a part of hospitality BaLMUN volunteering team, helping foreign citizens explore Banja Luka city and our culture, participating in walking tours around the city, helping participants feel welcomed and showing them important buildings such as city administration and restaurants

Learning outcomes

🏛️Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🏛️Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

🏛️Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

🏛️Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Reflection

Being a member of the BaLMUN Hospitality team has been an incredibly fulfilling and enlightening experience. Volunteering to assist foreign participants in exploring Banja Luka allowed me to actively contribute to their experience of exploring the city. Leading walking tours around the city involved showcasing significant landmarks like the city administration and local restaurants, helped them feel welcomed and to enjoy the city as much as possible. Although, long walks surprisingly caused me sore muscles, the genuine excitement of participants discovering the city after a long bus rides made it easier. I have realized that my previously gained experience from travelling made me really suitable for this sector of volunteers because I have managed to transfer my knowledge and communicate in the manner of travel guides I met before.

Along the way, I met interesting friends and formed new friendships and I am really grateful for this experience. This adventure has not only deepened my understanding of cultural exchange but has also shown me how hospitality can bring people together from different parts of the world.

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Volunteering in American Corner🌎

🌎Activity title: Volunteering in American Corner

🌎Duration and date: long term, 3 hours per month

🌎Type of activity: Service

🌎Activity description: Volunteering and discussing important and relevant topics that help students extend themselves; decorating the American Corner and participating in interesting presentations

Learning outcomes

🌎Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🌎Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

🌎Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

🌎Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Reflection

Volunteering and facilitating discussions on crucial topics has been an enriching experience, fostering both personal and collective growth. Engaging with fellow students in thoughtful conversations has not only broadened my perspectives but also created a platform for us to extend ourselves intellectually and emotionally. My favorite experience was having a discussion with American ambassador. The experience of participating in these presentations, sharing insights, and learning from others is a truly unique experience in our city. I am really grateful for this opportunity to contribute positively to my academic community. It reinforces the importance of active participation, community engagement, and the collective pursuit of knowledge and volunteering in American Corner taught me to work collaboratively and it taught me a lot of valuable lessons along the way.

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Outdoor cinema

🎟️Activity title: Going to the outdoors movie night

🎟️Duration and date: 3 hours, 2.8.2023.

🎟️Type of activity: Creativity

🎟️Activity description: Making a small picnic and watching a movie in outdoor cinema with my friends @marijamilasinovic, @gojicvanja and @matijamandic

Learning outcomes

🎟️Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

🎟️Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🎟️Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

Reflection

Creating a small picnic and watching a movie under the stars in an outdoor cinema with my friends was a simple yet delightful escape. The laughter, shared snacks, and the open sky made this experience amazing and remarkable. Surrounded by nature and the glow of the screen, it felt like we were in our own little world, away from the hustle. This casual gathering, blending the joy of good company with the charm of an outdoor setting, turned an ordinary evening into a cherished memory, highlighting the beauty of enjoying life's simple pleasures with those who matter. The movie we watched initiated new topics for conversations and gave us a new outlook on life.

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Making soaps for Christmas fair🧼

🧼Activity title: Making soaps

🧼Duration and date: 2 hours, 1.12.2023.

🧼Type of activity: Creativity and service

🧼Activity description: Making soaps in chemistry lab, preparing products for sale on Christmas fair and collecting funds for the charity

Learning outcomes

🧼Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🧼Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

🧼Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

🧼Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Reflection

Making soaps in the chemistry lab was surprisingly fun. We got hands-on experience with ingredients, learned about chemical reactions, and got creative with unique soap designs. It was more than just studying science, it was like making art with our hands. Then, we took our handmade soaps to a Christmas fair to sell them. It felt good to know that the money we made would go to charity. The best part was knowing that the money we collected at the fair would help others. It wasn't just about making and selling soaps, it was about making a difference in our community. This whole experience taught us of importance of helping others and working collaboratively. It was a simple but meaningful way to combine education, creativity, and kindness.

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Long hike on Plitvice lakes

🏞️Activity title: Hiking on Plitvice lakes 🏞️Duration and date: the entire day, 1.8.2023. 🏞️Type of activity: Action 🏞️Activity description: Organizing and going on a road trip to Plitvice lakes with my family, exploring nature and taking on of the longest hiking trails.

Learning outcomes:

🏞️Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process 🏞️Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience 🏞️Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences 🏞️Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

Reflection

National park Plitvice lakes is a truly rare gem and the nature was absolutely breathtaking. This long hike was pretty exhilarating and exhausting, but being surrounded by my family and beautiful waterfalls motivated me to complete this challenging activity. Despite the tiredness, the joy of exploring as a family overshadowed everything. The hike was a simple yet profound reminder of the beauty found in shared adventures and the bonding power of nature. This activity pushed me beyond my previous limits thanks to the constant up and down 10 kilometer trail and made me test out my endurance and form. I certainly plan to visit Plitvice lakes again and observe its unique beauty in the future.

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Promotional video for BaLMUN

🩰Activity title: Filming promotional video for BaLMUN

🩰Date: 21.3.2023. and 24.3.2023.

🩰Duration: two whole days

🩰Type of activity: Creativity, action and service

🩰Activity description: Making a dance choreography and filming a short video to promote and support Model of UN in our school

Learning outcomes

🩰Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

🩰Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

🩰Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🩰Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

🩰Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

Reflection

Embarking on the journey of creating a dance choreography and filming a short video to promote and support Model United Nations (MUN) in our school was a truly enriching experience. Collaborating with my friends, we seamlessly blended creativity with purpose, using the universal language of dance to show the significance of MUN. We embraced the value of friendship and supporting people around us to achieve their goals and we showcased it by using a Bruno Mars' song Count On Me. The process not only deepened our understanding of international relations but also fostered teamwork and creativity. As we navigated the world of editing and cinematography, we realized the power of multimedia in advocating for meaningful causes. This was a great and profound experience and I am proud to had been part of it.

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School trip🎡

🎡Activity title: Going on a school trip

🎡Duration and date: 5 days, 15.5-19.5.2023.

🎡Type of activity: Action and Creativity

🎡Activity description: Visiting Budapest, Prague, Dresden and Vienna as a part of a organized school trip and exploring cities with a guide and on our own while meeting other customs, cultures and traditions

Learning outcomes🎡

🎡Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

🎡Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

🎡Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

🎡Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🎡Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Reflection🎡

Exploring 4 different cities in only five days was an exhausting, but amazing experience. Visiting Budapest, Prague, Dresden, and Vienna on a school trip with guides, we learned about the rich history and breathtaking architecture of each city. But what made it special was having time to explore on our own. We gained understanding of these cultural hubs, unearthing hidden gems and authentic local experiences, but most importantly my school mates and I formed a stronger bond which made the whole experience more memorable.

My favorite moment of our school trip was sadly the shortest one-day trip to Dresden, where we hade the most time to explore on our own. We climbed up the Dresden Frauenkirche and dived into the city from a bird's perspective, getting to know its buildings and settlements. This day was a rite of a passage for me because it was the pivotal point of friendship for my friends and I and out of all these cities I would like to visit Dresden again the most. In conclusion the memories made during this school trip will be etched in my heart forever, making it one of the most beloved and remarkable trips I've had in my life.

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Week of Arts💃

💃Activity title: Performing on Week of arts 💃Date of the performance: 10.3.2023. 💃Duration: One month including preparations 💃Type of activity: Creativity, action and service 💃Activity description: Performing two choreographies on the Week of Arts in my school, preparing for one month and donating collected funds to charity and other people in need.

Learning outcomes:

💃Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process 💃Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience 💃Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences 💃Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively 💃Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

Reflection

Week of Arts is one of the most challenging, demanding, beautiful, fulfilling and enriching weeks of every participant's high school experience. My friends and I decides to create a group choreography and to show our years of dance practice. We opted for a upbeat and fast movements and songs to offer the best show of the week and we did it successfully since the Dance Evening collected the most funds out of all arts. Preparation for this short performance was rather long and tiring considering it took a lot of afterschool practicing and forfeitures, but it was all worth it at the end. We worked together and overcame many obstacles by working collaboratively. In the end we managed to collect enough funds for charities and I cannot wait for the future performances with my friends.

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Road trip to Krupa

🍀Activity title: Road trip to Krupa

🍀Duration and date: the entire day, 28.7.2023.

🍀Type of activity: Action and Creativity

🍀Activity description: Organizing and going on a road trip to Krupa with my friends, learning how to barbecue, exploring the nature and having a great time with my friends.

Learning outcomes:

🍀Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

🍀Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🍀Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

🍀Identify own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

🍀Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Reflection

This was my first time organizing a road trip with my friends and working collaboratively played an important role. We travelled by bus and bought and brought everything we need for barbecue except silverware and plates. Since I have close to none experience with cooking and food preparation my friends decided to help me and let me participate in making a barbecue which was a bit challenging. We enjoyed spending time together outdoors and now that I reflect on this trip I think that this is one of my favorite experiences this summer. Even though planning was a bit difficult, this was a great opportunity to develop new skills and generally rewarding experience for which I am really grateful.

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Zmijanje half-marathon

🧗‍♂️Activity title: 12 kilometer hike on Manjača 🧗‍♂️Duration and date: the entire day, 1.10.2023. 🧗‍♂️Type of activity: Action 🧗‍♂️Activity description: Joining half-marathon on Manjača and hiking for 5 hours, while enjoying nature and beautiful sights.

Learning outcomes:

🧗‍♂️Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

🧗‍♂️Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

🧗‍♂️Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

🧗‍♂️Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Reflection

Since this was my first time participating in half-marathon and completely new role for me I feel very accomplished and grateful for this opportunity. Zmijanje half-marathon is a event organized for students to undertake a demanding challenge and to honor our tradition and natural wealth. Besides spending quality time with my friends, the thing a liked the most about this adventure was spending time in nature and appreciating breathtaking views. People tend to forget importance of spending time in nature, breathing fresh air and to be at peace. Although, I felt like giving up at some really steep hill, my friends encouraged me and I found strength to complete this half-marathon and it was a truly rewarding experience. We were surrounded by animals and felt connected with nature. Overall, I am proud of myself for taking up this new challenge and pushing myself beyond my previous limits.

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(Still) going to the gym ¹

Going to the gym is a long-term activity I have been pursuing for more than two years now. In this blog, I will reflect on my progress since the first time I turned in going to the gym as my CAS activity.

🏋🏼‍♀️Activity title: Training at the gym

🏋🏼‍♀️Duration: 5 hours per week

🏋🏼‍♀️Type of activity: Action

🏋🏼‍♀️Location *currently*: Gym Cartel

Activity description

In the last few months, I have changed several gyms and my gym habits around them. The most progress has been noticeable in the last month since I started going to the new gym Cartel. I am mainly focused on getting back in shape for the upcoming week of arts in March because it is a significant event and it takes a lot of strength and endurance. For this reason, I have been attending the gym every two days and I spend around an hour and a half each time. I am doing various types of exercises which are focused on cardio and strength increase.

Learning outcomes

🏋🏼‍♀️Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

🏋🏼‍♀️ Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

🏋🏼‍♀️Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experience.

Reflection

Going to the gym has definitely helped me to form healthier habits and be more organized. It requires a solid amount of time management to keep up with IB obligations and other aspects of everyday life. It helps me with my mental health as well because the last few months of IB have been extremely stressful and full of internal assessments. By going to the gym I have managed to lower stress levels and improve my physical health and the best part is seeing the progress, feeling more strong and confident, and more prepared for dancing on the week of arts in my school. Going to the gym became a really important part of my daily routine and I am proud of that.

¹Vanja Gojić, CAS blog

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Skiing trip

🎿Activity title: Skiing

🎿Date: 11.2.2023.

🎿Duration: One whole day

🎿Type of activity: Action

Activity description🎿

My friends and I share passion for skiing so we decided to go on a small skiing trip together on Kupres. We have recently started skiing and we wanted to improve our skills. Since Kupres is a few hours away from Banja Luka, we started our tip early in the morning and played chess on the way. We were skiing for one whole day and it was an interesting experience.

Learning outcomes🎿

🎿Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

🎿Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

🎿Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

🎿Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Reflection🎿

This was a great CAS experience and I had a great time. The challenging part was initiating and planning the trip and skiing as well because I haven't skied for a year and it took me some time to get back in shape. My friend and I "competed" who would fall the most times and luckily he won. Skiing is my favourite winter sport and even though it can be really challenging at the times it never fails to make me feel alive. It is a great activity in which I managed to test my endurance and it was overall a great experience since we managed to improve our skiing skills and spend time together.

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Field trip to Zagreb

🎄Date: 30.11.2022

🎄Duration: 1 whole day

🎄Type of activity: Creativity

Activity description🎄

My classmates and I visited XV Gimnazija and then went sightseeing together. The main purpose of this field trip was to meet another students from IB program, to exchange ideas and to share experiences from IB. They presented many interesting ideas and projects and afterwards they showed us around their school which was really impressive. We talked with our guides and we compared our schedules and subjects we took. Afterwards, we visited city center, some monuments and found a place to eat. We struggled with the orientation and organization because we hadn't planned anything earlier. In the evening we visited the famous Christmas Advent and had great time there.

Learning outcomes🎄

🎄Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth 🎄Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process 🎄Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience 🎄Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences 🎄Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Reflection🎄

This was such a nice opportunity for many reasons. Firstly, I met new people who share similar experiences. Projects in which they participated were creative and they gave me inspiration for some future projects. What I liked the most were five free hours we got to spend however we wanted and it was a great opportunity to improve my managing skills. My classmates and I made plans together and it brought us closer together. The exchange of the knowledge was very beneficial for both schools and I had great time overall in Zagreb.

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World Diabetes Day

✨Activity title: Volunteering at World Diabetes Day

✨Date: 14.11.2022

✨Duration: 2 hours

✨Type of activity: Action and service

Activity description✨

On November 14th we marked the World Diabetes Day in the park Petar Kočić. My sister, friend and I were in charge of organizing the fun activity for little kids who are fighting this disease. Firstly we warmed up because it was a bit cold outside and then we played various games. The main activity was the obstacle course. Some of the participants were very young so we had to adapt activities for all ages and to help out some of them. In the end my sister showed them beginners dance performance and they learned it together while my friend and I had to make sure that everyone managed to follow the step and had fun.

Learning outcomes✨

✨Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth ✨Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process ✨Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience ✨Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences ✨Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Reflection✨

I was somewhat surprised that event like this was organized in my city, but I was really happy take part especially since this was my first time volunteering and because I helped with the organization of the second part of the event. In the beginning some doctors and professors gave a lecture about modernization of the diabetes treatment in our country which was very useful. Afterwards we entertained the kids and the whole event was successfully marked. I really enjoyed the time I spent with children there because they were really kind but also competitive and excited about the obstacle course. In addition to the great time I had I also realized how beneficial is volunteering to me as well and I hope to have more opportunities like this one.

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“Ko su bile žrtve nacista”

Acticity title: Visiting exhibition "Ko su bile žrtve nacista"

Date: 13.10.2022

Activity duration: 2 hours

Type of activity: Creativity

Activity description

My classmates, teachers and I visited Banski dvor in order to support history exhibition “Ko su bile žrtve nacista” which was organised by students from our school. The main theme of the exhibition were lives of victims of Jasenovac which was one of concertation camps during World War II.

Learning outcomes

•Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences •Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance •Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Reflection

Visiting this exhibition had several benefits for me and other students. Firstly, we showed support students from national and IB program that planned and organized this exhibition and who put a lot of effort into this. Also, it is significant to be aware of our history and events that happened in the past that had huge impact on people from our country because this is somewhat controversial topic which people sometimes tend to forget. Lives of the victims were really well represented and posters included some information that we didn't know of and it helped us expand our prior knowledge. What made me emotional was special section for very young students from the school nearby my city who were also victims. After the exhibition we had a discussion as a part of TOK class and it was an overall great experience.

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Trip to Belgrade

♡Activity title: Trip to Belgrade

♡Duration: 29.10-5.11

♡Type of activity: creativity and action

♡Activity description

I spent my whole autumn break in Belgrade so there were many activities I did. Some of them were:

♡Sightseeing with my family-We mainly spent time in city center and some other parts of town that I have never visited before

♡Visiting 65th International Belgrade Book Fair- regional largest event devoted to books

♡Visiting School of Electrical Engineering-My friend Jelena who is a student there showed me her university, took me to lectures with her and introduced her new life routine since she moved from Banja Luka to Belgrade

♡Exploring the city with my friends from Belgrade-I met them this summer during physics summer camp and since we are still in contact we decided to hang out together and visit some places they usually go to in order to get better sense of the city

♡Learning outcomes

Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

♡Reflection

This trip to Belgrade was one of my favorites for so many reasons. The autumn break was much needed and the best way for me to spend it was in my favorite city with my grandparents, nephews and friends. Each experience was really interesting and useful. I explored the city with my family who knows Belgrade pretty well, but sightseeing with my friends was a bit different because I got the chance to see what would my life look like if I lived there. I visited Temple of Sveti Sava, Dedinje and city center with my parents and I liked visiting Dedinje the most because even though I spent most of my summer and winter breaks in Belgrade, that was my first time visiting that part of the town and I really liked the view from there. Sightseeing with my friends was way more fun because we got the chance to catch up on things that are going on in our lives and sightseeing itself was more suited for our age and it was a interesting to experience the city from their perspective. What was common to all of these visits was it is actually normal to get lost in the city no matter how long you live there. I would also like to mention my whole day visit to Faculty of Engineering with my other friend Jelena. She has just started going there this autumn and she is adjusting to the new city and all challenges living in big city brings and the most interesting part was that I got the opportunity to experience all these things too. Starting from transportation which is a bit complicated to lectures on the faculty and planning the whole day as a student. I met a lot of people who studied there and heard their experiences with the faculty and living as a college student. By the end of the day I got so used to the environment that I felt like I was student there as well. This experience was really important because it helped me realize that it is really similar to the IB program and that I already feel more prepared for university even though I don't plan on studying engineering. This week was one of the best trips I had this year and I hope to have many more experiences like this.

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Field trip to Novi Sad

🚍Date: 8.10.2022

🚍Duration: One whole day

🚍Type of activity: Action and creativity

Activity description🗺️

Geography class and teacher from national program of Grammar school planned to go on a whole day trip to Novi Sad with stopping by in Sremski Karlovci and monastery Krušedol. Even though I am not on national program anymore I decided to go with my previous class becuase we don't see each other as much and I am still learning geography on IB so it was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge.

Learning outcomes🗺️

🚍 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively 🚍Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process 🚍Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Reflection🗺️

This trip was a great experience, but it was a little bit exhausting because we were going by a bus and we spent more than 12 hours driving. What I liked the most were three free hours we got to spend however we wanted and it was a great opportunity to improve my managing skills. My friends and I had to make plans together and it brought us closer together. Also, we talked to local people from Novi Sad in order to find best activities and places for us. What surprised us was the fact that there were many tourists too. Monastery Krušedol was a nice experience also because the priest talked to us and told us about the long history of the place. Overall, this was a great adventure for me and my friends (classmates) and we had a great time and I think that traveling is the best way to learn new things about different places and people .