The Made-Up Social Lives of IB Students

Welcome to the fun part of IB!

Ah, the wonderful world of CAS (also known as Creativity, Action and Service), the heart of the IB programme

. If all the work the IB already gives you does NOT take up all your time, this certainly will. Not only that, CAS ensures that your two years of IB will be filled with joy and activity keeping you busy at all times. Including holidays. And summer. And pretty much every waking moment you have.  We will proceed an try to enlighten you on the subject of CAS and show you how to get the most of this 'burdening' workload by reflecting on our own experiences. Hopefully. Indeed it is a lot of work on top of all the work we are already doing, but you just have to bite your lip and make the best of it. After all, go all the way or go home, that is what IB is about.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C.A.S 

..? 

To begin, you will be obliged to do just about 150 hours of CAS during your two years of IB, in which you will have to do approximately 50 hours of each activity (Creativity, Action and Service). Even though this work will not be graded and will not affect your final points after the finals, you will not receive your diploma without successfully completing all your CAS hours. Including a CAS project with three or more students, which we will talk about soon. However, you will still be receiving your diploma if you are under the 150 hours by a small amount, it is not that strict.
There is this site these days called ManageBac where you can record your activities and your progress by writing up reflections. When completing your activities, you will need a supervisor at all times who is over 18 years of age and is not a relative of yours. At the end of your activity, he or she will be required to write a supervisor's report or letter on your behavior and performance. Your activity will not be completed before your CAS coordinator receives this report and you will have to write several reflections that show your learning outcomes that are the following:

 Now, choosing your learning outcomes doesn't sound too hard does it? Because it's not. What's hard is writing a few paragraphs on each one and picking your brain for the little details you did each time you went and completed a few of those hours you had earned. That my friends, is the difficult part. Below you can find a good diagram to help you get started with CAS when the time comes:

If you still feel like you have nothing to do to get you CAS points/hours, we thought it would be a good idea to show you what we are doing at the moment in order to earn CAS hours. It's always good to wonder when you are starting a new hobby or for instance, helping out your school with something, whether you can get CAS hours from this. This is the question we ask most frequently in the IB programme. Just saying.

We're going to introduce ourselves individually and tell you about our own CAS experiences.

First of all we, the Four Musketeers, have one thing in common when it comes to CAS: we are all writing up this blog as our CAS project which is obviously a great and creative solution to have as a CAS project. Simple too and doesn't require too much research.

Hello, my name is Heidi and I'll be the first to discuss my CAS activities. Hopefully this helps you when choosing your activities.

1. I participated in EYP (European Youth Parliament) which lasted for three days. From this activity I gained several hours for all activities (Creativity, Action and Service). I recommend you to participate in these types of things if you are interested in issues facing the international community.

2. Another activity that I did was being Santa's Little Helper in a "Christmas World" which was a small market held during the Christmas holiday. I helped with organizing the small cottages in which differnet products were sold. Of course I was not allowed to sell anything because I'm a minor. But it was still cool being there and helping out. Something like this is great for gaining hours for Service as well as for Action. It's not too hard is it?

3. I was one of the in-school organizers for our annual International Show with Tilda Rose, one of the Musketeers. We planned and executed an amazing show for our school in exchange for a few Service hours. However, this is probably the first and the last time I'm going to plan any show in school due to some inconveniences. This just goes to show that ´CAS can't always be a fun experience but you can still learn from this.

4. I'm also planning on getting some of my Action hours from my hobby; ice hockey. Hobbies are always something you can fall back on if you can't think of anything better to do.

5. Another good way to learn something and profit from CAS is going to driving school- of course if you are of age to do so. This is what most IB students here in Finland do in order to get some Action and/or Creativity hours.

6. Next summer I'm planning on helping at an elderly care center. This is actually a perfect way to gain CAS hours and impress your CAS coordinator.

Well, that's all for me for now.

-------- 

Alright, so, I am Tilda Rose and I'm gonna give you guys some more examples on CAS from my own experiences:

1. First of all, I participated in an art course a while back to get my Creativity hours up and learn something new since I'm building up a portfolio to apply to an Art College in the States. It's good to use this CAS to find your interests and to improve your skills and passions and maybe even increase your chances in getting into a university or college of your choosing. The picture on the right is one of my creations during that class: accounted for about four hours of CAS. Pretty sweet. 

2. I went to an elderly home for a day and got some good Service hours from this, giving me great reflections that impressed my CAS coordinator - I think.. This is always an important aspect to CAS.


3. As Heidi just mentioned, I was also an in-school organizer for the International Christmas show with her, and my outcomes of it were pretty much alike to the ones made by Heidi. 


4. To add to the blog we are doing here right now with the Four Musketeers, I also have my very own 'art-oriented' blog for Action and Creativity, which is pretty cool for me and I can share all my interests with the world. If you want to check out my blog and see what I'm talking about, here is the address -> http://whereisyour-mind.blogspot.fi/ Feel free follow... ;-) This is a great and free way to get CAS hours, just talking about the things you love which is kind of my hobby since I don't have an actual one anymore.


5. As for Action, I'm planning on starting working out with my good buddy, just turned 18 years old, for a few months. So there are always creative solutions to gaining CAS hours when you are running out of options. Not to say that I am!



6. Like Heidi, I helped out in a school event as a guest 'welcomer', when our school turned 50 years old. I gave out slips to ALL those people you see on the right. MOST OF THEM. It was quite painful but worth it. So those thing always count for some hours or points- don't hesitate to ask your CAS Coordinators!

Hope this helped! 

Heyoo, I'm SusanMoreen and here are my CAS experiences.

1. I went to EYP (European Youth parliament) along with Heidi. It was a three day programme where we learned about Europe and participated in debates. This covered all aspects of CAS; Creativity, Action and Service.It was and is a good idea for CAS as well as extra curricular activity for insight as well as experience to resolve global issues. It's a global organization for youths and most countries have it so you can also choose to participate, as a plus you get great reflections on this!

2. I helped out in an elderly home every Saturday for a month. It was interesting because i got to work with the elderly and learned a lot from them. It's a good opportunity to work along with others as well as do something for the community. However, after all the work you will have a guaranteed smile on your face.

 

3. I thought it was a good idea to learn Finnish since i'm living in  Finland,  i attended a Finnish language course at our school to expand on my my Finnish skills and vocabulary. My outcomes were positive since i'm now able to speak more and with confidence. You should definitely try this if you live in a foreign country and don't speak the language too well or if you love to expand on your language studies. It is know that studying different languages can help in other aspects of studying and brain activity. 

4. I'm also planning on volunteering to work with the Red Cross . I love volunteering in different places and most of my summers were spent volunteering instead of actual work. If your town has an organization of some sought, you should go ask them if they need assistance and i assure you they appreciate all the help they can get.

When I choose my CAS activities, i try to choose something that i'm interested in and would have fun doing it and not to just get CAS points. Some of the CAS activities we do can also have an influence on my CV as well as help when applying for Colleges or Universities.



Hi! I'm Nelli and I've had to do CAS since the 7th grade so it wasn't a new thing for me coming into the IB. 

1. I've been doing a lot of baby sitting lately. It's a good and fun way to get CAS hours (especially Service, that's a tough one), but remember, it doesn't count for CAS if you get paid for it!!

2. In the autumn, I joined a 9th grade trip which lasted for four days. I got plenty of hours for all of the activities in CAS from helping with organizing activities, cooking and taking pictures. 

3. Like Heidi, I've gained many CAS hours from hobbies. I play basketball so I get a lot of my action hours from this. I stopped playing the clarinet a few years ago which I now regret since it would have been a great way to get some hours for Action. 

4. Unlike the other three Musketeers, I'm taking part in the Wanhojen Tanssit, which is kind of a prom like event for the second year upper-secondary school students to take part in. It's a fun way to get Creativity, Action and Service. 

And that is the run down by all the Four Musketeers. 

Next week we will be diving into the deep subject of Theory of Knowledge and might be introducing you into the magical world of the Extended Essays. We shall see next week, won't we... See ya's next week!