Driving

Driving was also one of my goals that had to be achieved and I worked really hard in order to achieve this goal. I attended driving lessons from multiple driving instructors regularly and got my driving skills perfected. After having successfully faced two driving exams, one written and the other practical I finally became a legal driver in Sri Lanka.
This was a whole new experience to me as I developed a skill that I did not possess before. My driving experience taught me DISCIPLINE ON THE ROADS, TO BE A RESPONSIBLE DRIVER, TO BE AWARE OF MY ENVIRONMENT AND ALSO TO ABIDE BY THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF DRIVING. IT ALSO TAUGHT ME TO CONSIDER ETHICS WHEN DRIVING. IT MADE ME AWARE OF THE DANGERS AND MISHAPS OF IRRESPONSIBLE DRIVING. I AM DETERMINED TO BECOME A GOOD DRIVER AND GO BY THE THE ETHICS OF DRIVING WHENEVER I AM ON THE ROADS.

IN RETOSPECT!!!

Over the last two years with my involvement in CAS I was able to INCREASE AWARENESS OF MY OWN STRENGTHS AND AREAS FOR GROWTH through engaging in Dancing as it was one of my major objectives as well. I realised that I had a great passion towards dancing and that I had the ability and potential to develop this skill in me and make a great dancer out of me. I also realised that this skill I possessed could come in handy in the future if i wanted to choose this as an arena that I wanted to move forward in. I was able to UNDERTAKE NEW CHALLENGES like Driving for example which was a skill that I did not have at all but always wanted to learn. I must say learning how to drive taught me to CONSIDER THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF MY ACTIONS specially when it comes to observing rules and regulations on the roads when driving.
MY PLANNED AND INITIATED ACTIVITY was the Versus Cancer Concert which i did in collaboration with my colleagues who were also involved in the Hope for Kids Cancer Hospital project. I WORKED COLLABORATIVELY WITH OTHERS during the course of this concert where I had to listen to the opinions of my team mates and be considerate, negotiate with them, help them organise, find sponsors etc.
I SHOWED PERSEVERANCE AND COMMITMENT to the Hope for Kids project by working in it for two years without switching projects. I attended meetings regularly and never missed out on my cancer hospital visits.
I ENGAGED WITH ISSUES OF GLOBAL IMPORTANCE through MUN where we discussed and debated upon issues like human trafficking which was also a year long commitment.
Last but not the least I DEVELOPED NEW SKILLS like trying out for sports for example which I had never played before out of which soccer, basketball and badminton to name a few.

Piano Lessons

Learning how to play the piano was one of my goals and I am happy that I was able to achieve this goal of mine to a certain extent. As I used to play the piano in my childhood,this was a great opportunity for me to get back to my old hobby.
Music is a universal language and being able to understand and read music is a great skill to have I believe and I was able to develop this ability in me to a certain extent. As dance was always a big part of my life music is something that is inter-connected with dance so along with dance I wanted to improve my music abilities.
LEARNING HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO TAUGHT ME TO APPRECIATE MUSIC OF GREAT MUSICIANS LIKE MOZART, BACH , CHOPIN AND BEETHOVEN. IT ALSO TAUGHT ME TO STAY COMMITTED AND PERSEVERE AND PRACTICE HARD TO BE ABLE TO PLAY WELL. PLAYING THE PIANO ALLOWED ME TO RELEASE STRESS AND ENJOY THOSE CALM, SILENT MOMENTS IN LIFE. IT TAUGHT ME TO APPRECIATE THE TRANQUILITY OF NATURE.

Cancer Hospital Visits

As we all know that few years ago, OSC built a playroom for the benefit of the children in the Maharagam Cancer Hospital in order to help them escape from the medical treatment they are undergoing. The primary focus of building this playroom for the children was to allow them to play and engage in all sorts of educational and aesthetic activities to help them improve in their mental/physical contentment and stability. We pay visits to the hospital on Thursdays and interact with them; playing games, making them draw and colour etc.
This was a whole new learning experience for me as I have never interacted with sickly children suffering from cancer before.I felt like I had to play a new role when engaging with these children. This was a real challenge ahead of me because there were so many things I had to bear in mind while interacting with them. I realised that I had to be very polite and kind to these children helping them out to overcome their suffering. In a way I was in advantage as I was a native I could communicate with the children in Sinhalese and was able to understand them easily where as my colleagues had trouble mingling with them. In such circumstances I was able to help my friends as well. Besides the language barrier we all were successful in delivering to the purpose overcoming the difference.
Cancer is a global issue affecting millions of people worldwide. I realised our attempt was a small but affective one in helping combat cancer. In my two years of community service I have been able to be committed to the Hope for Kids project through out giving my fullest support in helping these cancer affected children.

VERSUS CANCER - Hope for Kids

The Hope for Kids CAS project was initially a group of five girls from grade 11 last year and that was myself, Christina, Malindie, Priyanka and Tara. We realised that we were in dire need of funds for our project in order to serve the kids in the childrens ward of the Maharagama Cancer Hospital better. So we decided to fund raise through a concert which we named VERSUS CANCER. Besides being in the organising comittee of the concert I contributed to it via performances as well. I got myself involved in three performances of the concert which were a group bollywood dance with Priyanka(12), Anishka(12), Devansh(12), Bharath(11) and Shashwath(10), another bollywood dance this time around a duo with Sandini(10) and last but not the least a solo kandyan dance by myself.
With a lot of hard work put into organisation of the concert and days and nights of hard practices the concert turned out to be a GREAT SUCCESS =) We managed to earn a profit of Rs 230,000/= and I must thank my team of five and other performers who performed from inside and outside OSC without whom this concert would not have been possible.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES - This concert brought me a whole lot of new experiences and taught me good important lessons. Specially in terms of organisation, I learnt how to work collectively as a group. Getting things done at that right time was a huge challenge and I realised you need a lot of patience and commitment to pull of such a concert of this sort. I was happy of the fact that I did this as a service for a worthy cause. On the other hand I could also improve my creativity skills through this concert by performing in three dance items. It was tough and challenging, tough because a lot of practice was needed to perfect the items and challenging because choreography for all three items had to be done on our own. Although I believe I succeeded besides all the hardships =D I really enjoyed experimenting and experiencing various different dance styles, that is kandyan and bollywood and choreographing on my won. We got a lot of positive feedback from our audiences for the performances and the successful concert we had.
VERSUS CANCER ALLOWED ME TO ACHIEVE TWO OF MY CAS OBJECTIVES AND THAT IS TO IMPROVE MY DANCING ABILITIES (CREATIVITY) AND GIVE MY FULLEST SUPPORT TO THE HOPE FOR KIDS PROJECT (SERVICES) =).........!!!!!!

Youtube links for the dancing items:
Bollywood group dance - DESI GIRL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ZN61c4W-o&feature=BF&list=UL3T2YO4qQ4Co&index=1

Duo bollywood dance with Sandini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vf1VIri4KU&feature=BF&list=UL3T2YO4qQ4Co&index=3

Kandyan dance by me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwqV_U6Aqys&feature=BF&list=UL3T2YO4qQ4Co&index=2

summer goals - CONTINUED

Goal NO.3 - To take piano lessons
As I used to play the piano in my childhood days due to some reason it stopped, although I always wanted to continue for the love of music. So this summer was a great opportunity for me to fulfill this long term yearning of mine. With the help of fellow OSC students, Sandini and Nadeera in Grade 10, I found a renowned music teacher in Sri Lanka, Mr.Duleep Gabadamudalige to take piano lessons from. I have been taking a couple of lessons lately however I look forward to learn good music and accomplish my piano skills.

Lesson learnt - Do what you want and enjoy and make your dreams come true!

Delegates, Please maintain the decorum of the house!!!

MUN experiences

CO-MUN 2010 (Colombo Model United Nations)
This was my first ever Colombo Model United Nations Conference even though I had attended Sri Lanka Model United Nations Conferences previously. As this conference is organised from OSC itself, I was proud to represent the delegation of the host school. The delegation of OSC was guided through the elective program last year on Wednesday mornings. In order for the preparation of the conference we did research on relevant topics based on various countries mainly focusing on the issue of HUMAN TRAFFICKING as it was the official theme of the conference. We also had practice debates and guest speakers briefing us on the process year long. Finally it was the three days of conference. I must say this was a very competitive experience as there were so many other students (over 500) representing other leading schools in Colombo. The delegation of OSC was distributed to different committees and we had to debate in our own committees.

Learning Experiences - Competitiveness is one big lesson I learnt. Also being spontaneous and coming up with instant debates to argue was a challenge. Being confident and articulate to a larger audience was crucial. Last but not the least DIPLOMACY AND MODESTY are the two most important things to be successful and survive in the conference. This was also a very good avenue for me to achieve my CAS objectives and that is to improve my speaking skills and learn debating and diplomacy through MUN.