The staff garba fest is one of the most awaited events at school, which brings together teachers to celebrate the vibrant festival of Garba. This year, I volunteered as part of the decor team, a role that required creativity and teamwork. I chose to count this experience as my CAS service component because it allowed me to contribute to the school community in a meaningful way and also develop important life skills.
LO 1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
There were various skills I have achieved while completing this task, and I overcame one of my weaknesses while completing this task, which was socializing with people. I am not good at socializing with people, and decorating the venue was a group task. I overcame my weakness by working with other team members and dividing roles so that we could complete the work faster and efficiently. My role was to stick the ready-made decorations in the venue, which were initially made by other team members. Now that I am fully aware of my weakness, I would like to work upon my weakness and try to socialize with other team members to improve my performance and social skills. This would help in improving my performance in further events and boosting my confidence. Overcoming this weakness would have benefited me as I would be able to connect with the team more, and this would have helped me in understanding the task better.
LO 2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
One of the biggest challenges we faced as a team was ensuring that the decorations were both aesthetically pleasing and durable enough to last through the event. We had to deal with unexpected issues like materials not arriving on time due to weather conditions, as the air pressure was high and most of the decorations were falling apart, which was challenging. I have experienced being a volunteer for decorations before in school events, and some of those skills helped me improve my performance throughout. Undertaking new challenges is important because it promotes our growth by pushing us out of our comfort zone, enhancing our skills and knowledge. It also boosts confidence as we overcome obstacles.
LO 3 – Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
Being part of the planning process was an important learning experience. We had to decide on color themes, gather materials, and make sure everything was ready before the event. I took the initiative to decorate the venue with various different decorative objects which were related to the theme. Dividing roles amongst the team members made the work more smooth and efficient. It was good to see how working as a team could reduce stress of work and complete the work faster. Initiating anything in the future will be easy now as I got to discover new skills while working as a team and experience different types of barriers and challenges while completing the task. This would help me improve my own performance and efficiency in any other group task. Knowing these skills would help me improve my time-management skills and social skills, which could also help me further in life.
LO 5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Working with a team was one of the best parts of this experience. I learned the importance of patience and cooperation, which made me a more caring and understanding team member. It also showed me that taking risks can lead to great results when everyone works together. I prefer to work as a team rather than working alone because working as a team collaboratively collects different ideas and produces a better final idea. It was better working together for this event as we could complete the work faster by allocating different tasks to each member.
The Staff Garba Fest decor experience was more than just a CAS project for me; it was a chance to grow as a person. I improved my communication skills, became more caring towards my teammates, and learned to take creative risks. It was fulfilling to see our hard work come to success and make the event even more special. This experience taught me valuable lessons that I will carry with me in future projects and collaborations.
