olaaacasblog

[olaaacasblog]

FINAL REFLECTION

In duration of three-year period of CAS experience, I had the opportunity to develop myself creativity, work on my physical built and mental fitness during hours of activity practice and dedicate myself voluntarily to the needs of my community through service. While fulfilling creativity, I was enabled to unleash the ingenuity that I often lack; as the school subject choice I fulfilled is heavily science-based, creative pursuits made it possible for me to think outside the box; due to that, I became a better problem solver in areas of life which require an unconventional, almost nonlinear process of thought. The practice of creativity allowed me the to better deal with uncertainty as inventive thinking allows one to better adapt their thinking process to allow for the flow of an abstract concept.

Additionally to enabling me the outlet for my creative needs, CAS also challenged my physicality. In the beginning of the experience I took the notice to the fact that with age I tended to neglect the area of good physical health. The activity strand of CAS necessitated the increase in the frequency in which I work out. Despite the subject obligation, I admit to having a periods of time in which I would still abandon physical activity due to discouragement and motivation. I would often enlist the reasons such as “business”, when in reality I disposed with plenty of time to exercise, physical discomfort of being in my own skin, the lack of expertise on certain work out routines, the lack of facilities in my area or equipment. In more recent courses of time, I was enabled to pursue indoor workouts, which would allow me to reduce my stress factors and demotivators. I finally found the sport in which I am able to cherish and be satisfied with my own performance in it: running, in particular interval training. Despite the initial mismatched practice of ice skating, which was not suited to my physical capabilities or skills, I was able to go back to the roots (I used to run track in middle school) and simplify my routine with running outdoors.

Surprisingly, the service enabled me to continue the habit of contribution to my community via volunteering, although through service I was able to widen my perspective on groups in need. In the course of three years, I could volunteer with the community of individuals suffering from cerebral palsy, organise creative workshops for paediatric patients, become educated on and openminded to the issue of shortage and unaffordability of housing as well as fight for the rights of animals. 

It is definite that over the period of three years in CAS pursuit, I enabled myself to be challenged in the areas of creativity, activity and service. In consequence, I hope to have developed into an inventive individual, who enables herself to supervise her health actively and is sensitive to the issues of both the globe and local community. 

[olaaacasblog]

SUMMARIZING POST

1. Evidence for completion of CAS project.

CAS PROJECT: Graffiti painting dedicated to Warsowian healthcare workers.

Link 1: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/640606887659880448/cas-project

Link 2: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/643136380631973888/cas-project

Link 3: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/644311174995968000/cas-project

Link 4: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/644311582750474240/cas-project

Link 5: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/644312489925984256/cas-project

2. Evidence of identification of strengths and areas for personal growth (LO1).

Runner’s Cross Train Workout: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/644311958490890240/activity

Ice skating training: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/184877644917/activity

3. Evidence of undertaking new challenges and developing new skills in the process (LO2).

Recovery from a fail in painting: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/619589380734124033/creativity

The morning stroll: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/619589460619870208/activity

4. Evidence of initiating and planning a CAS experience (LO3).

The creation of self-portrait: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/619303347269386240/creativity

The brainstorm and initiation of planning for the CAS project: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/640606887659880448/cas-project

5. Evidence of commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences (LO4).

Learning numbers in French: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/190608524037/creativity

Ice Skating Training: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/182162172872/activity

6. Evidence of demonstrating the skills and recognizing the benefits of working collaboratively (LO5).

The Christmas creative workshop: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/190630585042/service

School Debates-Warsaw: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/179276165802/creativity

7. Evidence of engagement with issues of global significance (LO6).

Discussion on the effect of deforestation on the environment’s fauna (Animal Rights Faculty): https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/638978458862682112/service

The painting of a stray cat (Drawing and Painting): https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/182400137432/creativity

8. Evidence of recognizing and considering the ethics of choices and actions (LO7).

Prisoners Dillema (Introduction to Psychology Course): https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/638978602278518784/creativity

Discussion on animal shelters (Animal Rights Faculty): https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/644311984996859904/service

9. Evidence of reflection on significant CAS experiences.

Creativity: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/619588375679303680/creativity

Activity: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/619303565703380992/activity

Service: https://olaaacasblog.tumblr.com/post/619588333980483584/service

[olaaacasblog]

LEARNING OUTCOMES

[olaaacasblog]

CAS SIGNATURES

[olaaacasblog]

CAS PROJECT

The middle of the February was the perhaps not an ideal phase of the year to create an extensive painting outside for few yours, but the pandemic lockdown made both of us feeling desperate to go outside despite the cold weather. The morning was definitely a better choice of the day to commence on the painting as the light of the day provided us with the required lightning condition. I wish we had thought about the daytime timing when painting the base for the grafitti (If one stands close enough, or even looks closely, the misses of the paint as well as the leaks are to be seen.)

I am sad to admit the fact that the work with the stencil (and my hadn't injury due to making it) did not pay off in the end; the mermaid had to be crafted by the hand. Nevertheless, the mermaid had resurfaced, thanks to Zosia’s experience with the graffiti art form. In addition to the graffiti, we have decided to paint the writing on the wall as an inclusion to the overall work. The decision has been made in order to improve the clear passage of the graffiti as not every person passing by may pay attention to the white coat, signifying the health worker.

The effect of our hard work and immense planning is illustrated in the middle and bottom of the picture. Both of us are satisfied with the result, although we acknowledge the demanding process that took us to the final execution of the project: from birthing the initial idea and purchase of the materials, to the considerable choice of the location, preparation of the base to the graffiti, creating a stencil to finally making a graffiti dedicated to the healthcare workers. 

[olaaacasblog]

Service

During today's meeting of Animal Rights group, it has been decided to discuss the problems with which animal shelters struggle. In particular, the meeting focused on the institutions that provide shelters to dogs exclusively. The presenter covered the matter of problems with which the dog shelters tend to struggle. One of them, which occurs commonly is overcrowding the shelters. Overcrowding is the major factor in the transmission of diseases with epidemic potential, when acute respiratory infections, meningitis, cholera, typhus are considered. The more disease is the population on a certain area, the more probable is the outbreak of the disease. The development of additional shelters, along with the increase of adoption tendency in a certain society would help reduce the overcrowding in shelters.

Another issue, being less publicly discussed concerns behavior tests that are developed by animal shelters. Shelters have used such exercise for some 20 years to assess whether a dog is safe enough to be placed with a family. The participation in aggression testing can lead to the euthanasia of that animal that fails to pass it. Data results show that in the US, between January and June 2016, 536 dogs were euthanised for behaviour due to the failure of the test. It has been concluded that the they are unreliable predictors of whether a dog will be aggressive in a home.

Currently, shelters are wrestling with whether to abandon behaviour testing altogether in their work to match dogs with adopters and determine which may be too dangerous to a family/individuals that want to pursue the adoption.

[olaaacasblog]

Activity

The adverse weather conditions persuaded me enough to remain indoors for today. Nevertheless, my need for working out was not dependent on the location of the practice, hence I’ve decided to pursue the routine at home. 

The workout that I have opted for today is recommended to the run-practicants who wish to beat their personal record; for that matter it focusses on the development of the quadruplet muscle tissue. One of the largest and strongest muscles in one’s body was exercised immensely durning this session; the workout consisted of warmup (foam roll quads, quad stretches, high planks, wall slides), two intense circuits (1:speed skaters and single leg Romanian deadlifts; 2:squat jumps and split squat jumps) and a cool down section (not obligatory, however recommended.)

I must admit that while the majority of the workout routines I pick are somewhat bearable, this exercise practise did not being to my most fortunate decision-making; while I was able to exercise the quadriceps, the intensity of the training exceeded my personal capabilities, leading to the feeling of sore muscles and heaviness of my limbs around the area. For future reference I must remember that the workout of my choice should be throughly suit to my physical capabilities and not exceed then as I will end up in pain.

[olaaacasblog]

Creativity

Since the last lecture has been stressful and required huge amounts of concentration, the teacher has decided to make our meeting equally educational, yet more entertaining. For the practice of listening, we watched a German movie called “Nicos Weg”, distributed by Deutsche Welle (DW). The content of  movie reveals the story of Nico Gonzalez, who is a Spanish newcomer to Germany, German language and the country's many different customs. As soon as he runs into Emma and her mother, who offer him a helping hand in finding the family relative, Nico’s feeling of alienation subsides. 

I took quite a liking to the movie as it relate to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people who come to Germany and want to become part of the society share Nico's experience. 

Later in the lesson, I had the opportunity to exercise the adjective gradability. The teacher has explained thee rules of gradability and numerous exceptions that come with it. Once the rules have been explained, we commenced on the speaking practise, a realm within which I struggle with. The exercise has allowed me to develop my verbal communication abilities in German as well as reminded me of the primary grammar rules of adjective gradability.

[olaaacasblog]

CAS PROJECT

The stencil for the creation of our CAS project was the next step in the process: although taking several hours of my day, the constriction of it turned out to be more challenging than I had expected. The sketch was definitely the easier and less demanding part of the stencil preparation. Despite taking a lot more meticulous attention to the detail, the sketch-making was quite enjoyable as it is a skill I have already familiarised myself with. Almost any painting/ creative project I pursue is sketched in the initial stage.

The process of cutting out the stencil turned out to be more difficult to execute successfully: when pursuing crafts, I am definitely not used to using a sharp craft knife for cutting out the stencil (which I am also not used to crafting). The blunt blade I owned made the task more difficult. I must admit that this process really tests one’s patience as the process is largely slow-paced, which causes one to get frustrated and less careful with it. For future reference, I would begin working the stencil out along the longest, straightest edges of the design as these are the easiest and the least risky areas, a property that could be used for the initial practice. I, unfortunately, began the process reversely; not only did I lose my patience, but almost my finger.

[olaaacasblog]

Service

As aforementioned, the production of magnets is currently my only possible contribution to the Ronald McDonald House Charities due to the ongoing circumstances. Since the visitation of the hospitals during pandemic (including the volunteering) goes against the recommendations of the foundation as it imposes additional risk of COVID-19 transmission on the paediatric patients suffering from chronic diseases, which may in undesirable health complications. Because of, the foundation came up with the initiative of by promoting its actions by encouraging any monetary contributors within the reach.  

Once I had submitted the stack of finished magnets, I was instantly given another packet of full of the supplies needed for the construction of the magnet. To my surprise, the packet I was given was identical to the previous one; it even included the same quotation. As it turns out, despite allegedly producing the variety of quotes, our coordination have decided to produce the majority of the magnets including this quote.

Having asked my fellow volunteer who similarity engage in the magnet making, we have concluded that obtaining the variety of quotes on magnets would more successfully attract the possible contributors to foundation. Pitching this idea to the coordinations is the action that is to be pursued next as such change might benefit the foundation.

[olaaacasblog]

Activity

Today’s training session began quite unexpectedly, as due to my business with schoolwork, foul weather and fatigue the workout would normally not be my first choice. Nevertheless, for some time I have been longing for the outside; the pandemic has resulted in me not being able to enjoy the outdoors as much as I would like to. I made my decision to explore the area in my neighbourhood despite the cold temperature. This time, I picked the trip around the area where I live instead of going to the park as I usually tend to do. This experience allowed me to move around the district, which exactly satisfied my needs since being stuck indoors. 

As I was exercising my running practice, I was able to notice many changes within my neighbourhood; many businesses I have known and supported have undergone complete change or closed completely. It is not uncommon for a small business to become financially fragile amid pandemic, yet seeing it happen with the businesses frequently attended by me for many years in the past felt saddening, especially to the ones owned by members of our neighbourhood that I acquainted. Despite quite pleasant workout routine of interval training, this thought completely overwhelmed my day.

[olaaacasblog]

Creativity

Today’s lesson has put me in a quite focus as I have been tested on the knowledge I already posses. The quiz has concluded the knowledge I have learned while attending the lessons. The material covered included the conjugation od regular and irregular verbs , the use of articles in Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ, and Akkusativ, the formation of possessive, the use of connective  in context of three orders in which a sentence may be formed: simple, inverted and ending order.

Despite the stress, I have managed to maintain calm while being tested. The element that did surprise me on the test was the translation exercise; the tests in middle school have been formed in the similar manner as our teacher utterly believed their effectiveness. It might be argued that while aiding some students with the acquisition and understanding of German, this form of testing never helped me; I maintain that languages should be taught independently from other languages. The exercise did cause me struggle as Polish-to-German translation has always been my blind-spot. 

I must admit that the results obtained caused me to feel encouraged in my abilities and gave me motivation via positive reinforcement to continue my growth in German.

[olaaacasblog]

CAS PROJECT

The choice of the graffiti location was proceeded by marking our art territory. The occasion was used to provide a background to the graffiti paining. This February evening, both of us decided to arrange an in-promptu meeting to paint over the already-existing graffiti as to prepare the clean slate for our painting. 

An expert painter would recommend anyone to paint a wall in the daylight; it must be stated that the phase of the day was not ideal as the city was setting into dark. The assessment of any imperfections induced during painting in the form of damp patches was quite impossible as such paint leaks are almost invisible in the darkness of evening. Though, some of them could be detected in the photos taken. 

The measure that can be taken from this experience is to plan such events in advance with more insight into the time of the day of the happening, equipment (some of the brushes turned out to be missing/at home when most needed) or even weather conditions, which eventually influence the success of the wall painting (high humidity during the evening certainly did not help the paint dry.)

[olaaacasblog]

Service

Today’s meeting of Habitat for Humanity was dedicated to the discussion on the affect of the pandemic on the homelessness worldwide and the Habitat’s for Humanity actions to change the fates of individuals affected by it for the better. The outbreak of COVID-19 is influencing unhoused people especially hard. The meeting pointed explicitly to the to widespread struggles with housing affordability. The root of the problem that has been identified stems from the fact that the low-cost house production is on the decrease due to the numerous budget cuts and construction slowdowns. Habitat for Humanity International has developed detailed guidance to assist HfH entities in their decision-making and in the resumption of construction activity, ReStore functionality and offices across the globe. Additionally, Habitat for Humanity headquarters in the US have pursued a cooperation with International Disaster Assistance and Migration and USDA to provide food assistance to the individuals struggling with homelessness and inability to obtain sustenance during this trying time.

[olaaacasblog]

Activity

Despite the slight chillness outside (which I usually enjoy while running, especially in interval training sessions), I made the decision to stay indoors, which is quite an unusual pick in my case; each opportunity to go outside is ceased. Today I respond to your body’s need of the take it easy and pursue a bit milder workout. Though not that unnecessarily speedy, hasty and abrupt as usual, the workout deemed to be equally rewarding.

The routine consisted of one circuit made of four repeated rounds. One round would include 6 TRX single leg squats (performed on both sides), the slider leg curls (repeated 12 times), 6 Bulgarian split squats (performed on both sides) and 12 slider lunges (performed on both sides).

I would conclude the workout as a refreshing experience as this one focused in the build of the muscle without hurried approach to the exercise. I must admit that it is always the first round of each circuit that is most difficult to complete and seems endless; the repetition is what build a habit in a man, allowing us to adapt to even the most challenging exercise.

[olaaacasblog]

Creativity

This is my first post on the German lessons I’ve been attending for quite some time now. After the unsuccessful attempt to learn French, I have decided to come back to the language I learned for 4 years in the past in total, being German. My journey with German has started in the middle school an essential and obligatory subject to my overall course. I must admit that despite giving the  process of learning patience and making sure to fulfil my revision frequently, I was not successful in the subject and hence made an abrupt decision to let go of the language. 

I must admit that the break from German acquisition that lasted in total 2 years has made it quite difficult to catch up on the knowledge. With each lesson I learn the importance of the frequent revision that is consistent and continuous. Despite the hardship I experience with not being able to recall grammar rules, words or phrases as quickly as I used to, I do realise that the only thing I can do is to trust the process and revise and much as I can. After all, the recall of the information that has been already memorised is a tad less difficult than learning things anew.

[olaaacasblog]

CAS PROJECT

As arranged in the plan of the CAS project execution, once the materials needed needed for the completion have been ordered (a set of spray paints, paint markers, graffiti remover, a set of 10 graffiti caps, wall paint, 6 paint brushes of different sized and 2 rollers) the location in which our CAS project could be brought about safely and within the area in the city designated for grafitti art had to be selected. Numerous locations in the city have been considered as the areas designated for grafitti art are scattered around the city, yet most of the locations are already occupied by somebody else’s artwork. To name a few, the areas in which one may legally pursue the art of graffiti are appointed with the sign (the middle picture) and could be found on ul. Dolina Służewiecka, ul. Puławska and the tunnels on both ul. B. Chrobrego and ul. Globusowa. Nevertheless, our pick for the location to place the grafitti can be found on the Al. 3 Maja in the area of the Poniatowski Bridge (the last picture). The convenience of the location stems from its distance, as the travel duration is less than 30 minutes for both of us, as well as the huge amount of people visiting the location; the benefit that may guarantee us a significant number of recipients.