Photography

As the yearbook photographer, I have atteneded on two consecutive events. The following were the events:

1. Sports Day
2. Versus Cancer
3. The Primary Play - Seussical

Photos will be uploaded soon!

Update of Grade 11 (Details will be updated soon)

1. SGA - OSCars (Create, Service)
2. Week Without Walls (Create, Service, Action?)
3. Habitat for Humanity - 5K Run (Service, Action)
4. The Crucible (Create)
5. Track and Field (Action)

- Increase the awareness of strengths and areas for growth
- Undertake new challenges
- Plan and initiate activities
- Worked collaboratively with others
- Show perseverance and commitment to activities
- Engage with issues of global importance
- Consider the ethical implications of actions
- Develop new skills

Eco+ ~Second Season~

The first semester has ended in December 2009, concluding the first half of the Eco+ season. Although we only had one session every other week, we were able to establish a stable ground for the members of Eco+.

To evaluate the first semester of Eco+, I would like to talk about our accomplishments.

First of all, what we planned to do were the following three activities: secondary assembly, primary assembly, and a tree growing project. Out of these plans, the secondary assembly was the only one that actually succeeded; but, because of the frequency of the assembly, it seemed to be a significant accomplishment of our Service. Although, when I think about the other activities we could not accomplish, I feel that our elective could do more. Especially, the primary assembly was one step from completion, but because of the amount of times we meet, we could not finish the project.

My plan this year, is to meet once every week, even though we do not have electives during some weeks. By doing so, we will be able to build some more unification between the elective members, and also do some more work. I am also expecting another assembly, at least for the secondary.

Ice^3

Ice Cube, the Winter Formal, took place on the 11th of December. This event was the second most important event for us, SGA -since the OSCars which is the most important- and we had a great time preparing for it. Using our president's idea, we tried something new making the OSC auditorium feel more winter-like. As the event's name suggests, huge ice cubes were set up in the auditorium foyer. Although it did not work as we thought, the consequences were not just mere failure. Yes, our greatest lesson was not to leave ice cubes in a foyer, and if there is really a need for it, use a lot of saw dust. But other than that, we also learned that these kinds of new ideas stimulate the students as well. We were able to gather more than 100 people, which I would state as a success in total. Our next objective would be to plan more wisely, and think of new ideas that do not use so much money, since our profit from this event was exceptionally low.

Writing, Thinking, Writing

As reading, especially literature, is one of my loving activities in life, I decided to start writing my first novella in Japanese - for Japanese is my best language I can write with. Of course, this is not an easy task to accomplish, although my desire and passion drove me into writing. Like all literature, this work will also have an attempt of demanding to the readers. With my questioning to the world, I hope I can finish writing this piece.

Although I have said I started writing a work, I am still at brain-storming phase. By using the help of other books in the grammar and vocabulary, I have started to develop a Science Fiction story upon my thesis. It would be my best to keep all thoughts secret, for I do not like spoilers. The thesis is a questioning to every society, especially developed countries, using an Utopia.

I wish it to be done by the end of next month, with the December vacation taking place.

Habitat for Humanity

Since the beginning of school - as I obviously forgot to mention - I have been joining the Habitat for Humanity CAS Activity. The Habitat for Humanity is a world recognized organization, which share the same objectives. The primary objective of this CAS Party is to support the poverty by building houses and raising charity for it.

The Habitat for Humanity (HfH) CAS has just started this year, by president and friend Ali Khan. Because Sri Lanka is a country with poverty, it is a major attempt to support their lives by HfH. Although the activity has just started, the organization has already provided us the opportunity to paint walls of a girl’s home - a home for who lost their relatives in the Tsunami. For educational reasons, I was not able to attend this event, but I have heard that this had been a great time for the students, and would be a positive motivation towards further attempts. The photo on the left is a photo during the painting session with the leader.

After this painting event, a movie night was developed to raise charity. As we started of with a blur aim, we ended up with a pretty nice amount of people at the Primary Multi-Purpose Room (PMPR). We served popcorn and Coca-Cola(c) to the children before showing them the movie - obviously making them all hyper - with cones made by ourselves. We were approached by around 100 kids at the PMPR, eager to watch the Monster House(c). Children generally behaved well during the show and was a pleasant place to be at with laughters of the children.

Although we cannot expect major house construction during this year, these events would significantly help us way for next year's HfH project.

Eco + Update

Throughout the several months from the beginning of the year, Eco + has acted upon re-encouraging solutions for environmental issues.

The first activity was done on assembly, where two of the Eco + students have presented a power point presentation about electricity consumption. It has been a good attempt to show the school about how the electricity system worked. Several people had cards in their hand, standing, showing their status in their society. The low class representatives were told to be seated as they were violated by rich people using too much electricity. This should have had a significant impact upon certain people, and would make them think before using their electricity.

As this presentation has been going well, the team is now attempting on a presentation upon primary school children. This presentation would be an attempt to show the young children the way environmental solutions work - rather focused on recycling. If this goes as planned, which has already been delayed few weeks, this would happen on the 25th of November. For children at younger age are more likely to listen to elder people, there are high expectations of these children to act upon the environment - sooner or later but much more significant than now.

Additional to these advertisements, a battery drive is planned. There are two problems: one, that the boxes to collect the batteries are not secure - although, once the box can be set, the drive can be started anytime - and two, the place to send the batteries are not secure as well. There are phone battery collectors, but general battery collectors seem to be harder to find. After these problems are fixed, the drive can be started, which I expect it to be soon.