CAS Journal Entry No.8: Yearbook Committee

Every year our school publishes a yearbook, a summary of everything that took place in school that year. From the student exchange programs to the class trips, every single activity gets a mention in some fashion or other in the yearbook. This is all well and good for the students, but for those of us who have to co-ordinate and organize such a massive undertaking, it’s truly a logistical nightmare. From heckling students to turn in their articles to planning and putting together the pages for the final edition, all the hours that went into this yearbook were truly worth it however.

From writing the editorial at the beginning of the yearbook to submitting a few creative writing pieces of my own, I tried to participate as much as possible in this yearbook process. It also helped me understand the responsibility involved in putting together a magazine of this scale and importance. This committee along with the planning for Spectra is what truly imbibed me with a sense of responsibility. I hope the end product is looked at as something our entire school can be proud of, and even though nothing is perfect, I think we did a fantastic job putting together the yearbook with all the challenges we faced.

CAS Journal Entry No.7: Sports Day

            Sports have always been a big part of our school’s curriculum, and I think we are one of the few school that actually offer physical education classes to even the senior-most classes. That being said, sports day, I think is a wonderful way to just enjoy and participate in whatever event you think you’re good at. Me (I’m not much of a runner) being me, I decided to take part in the field throw events, which this year consist of both shot put and discus. For a few weeks, we were given coaching by the P.E. staff prior to the event, but because I was attending DSMUN I was unable to help setup the track and field as we did last year.

            Typical of Kerala weather, without rain for three days, I could almost smell my face burning as we took the field that day. But, it was a great day to celebrate the beauty of sport and it helped the entire school have a sense of loyalty because the house that scores the most points at the end of the day, earns a trophy. Being part of Vayu house (Go Vayu!), I tried my best to win, but only ended up with a single silver medal in shot put.

            Regardless of victory or defeat, sport has always been all about the spirit in which you participate and the same holds true for individual sports as well. I can honestly say, I was not this loyal or caring about anything before I began participating in sports and I’m sure that every other student in the school feels the same way. Brought together by a sense of unity and loyalty, sports day is about more than just which house wins the trophy, its about learning to accept winning or losing with equal happiness and going home with your head held high.

            

CAS Journal Entry No. 6: Founder's Day Choir

The curtain rises, the shine on the bleacher at the back of the stage. A band of students in white and black begin to sing, and their voices ring through the auditorium. As part of the school choir that performed on Founder’s Day, I had the opportunity to take part in this event and I am very happy I did so. Initially, I was very apprehensive about joining the choir because it is not a very popular club in my school. Unlike other schools, my school does not have a permanent choir where students who are interested are invited to join; instead a rather chaotic method is used where choirs are put together as necessary.

When I was younger, I used to be part of the school choir but it was after a break of around 5 years that I took part in this one. Practicing with Mr. Denzel and the rest of the group helped me get better and more confident, and as one of the only bass voices in the ensemble, it was quite a good experience. Was our choir perfect? Of  course not, but we did the best we could in the time that we had, and because I had to juggle responsibilities and change really quickly because I was also one of the hosts of the event, it was an even more energetic performance. Although we certainly didn’t blow the crowd away with our amazing vocal styling, I’m sure that with some practice and time to develop we could become much better.