The Bright Side of my Music Makers Setback

Sadly, while attempting to balance the workload of finishing my IA's and studying for my final exams, I did not have time to properly prepare a performance-ready piece for the Music Makers event at my school.

However, it did allow me to do something which I have never done before.

I have recently composed my first instrumental guitar piece. it was meant to be for the Music Makers show but because of other obligations I was unable to finish it in time. This a great achievement for me because composition has been one of my weak points for the longest time, with most of my ability lying in in my improvisational ability. 

Through this, it has increased my awareness of my strengths and areas for growth and allowed me to undertake a completely new challenge. I'm sure that this primary success will allow to to grow further as a musician.

New Community Service Endeavor

Following the end of my participation in the SOS Children's Village Community Service Activity at my school, i felt that there was a gap in my participation in service oriented activities.

To remedy this, I consulted the head of the Colombo Archery School to begin a training program which would incorporate archery training into local schools for a reduced rate. This would provide many under privileged children with the ability to develop a new skill as well as providing the opportunity to gain recognition on the competitive level.

This program has not yet begun, but contact has been made with school such as Nalanda College and St. Peters, among others, to start this program with their students.

This has allowed me to plan and/or initiate an activity, which has been an aspect missing from my extracurricular life in the past two years. In addition, it also allows me to deal with an issue of global importance by possibly providing opportunities for those who have less facilities than i do.

Last Day of SOS Children's Village Community Service

For the past two years, I have participated in the SOS Children Village Community Service Activity held at my school. Through this activity I have taught two children, Thilini and Harsha, to read, speak, and write English. It has been a wonderful experience to see them grow throughout the course of my IB Diploma program.

I personally have never been very fond of children, but with my exposure to Thilini and Harsha, and therefore never imagined that I would come to enjoy teaching Thilini and Harsha as much as I do. They have been wonderful to teach and their innocence is very soothing to me. It is all these things which makes stopping this activity as difficult as it is. However, it is necessarily, in order for me to have ample time to prepare for my exams, which are in only a little over a month's time.

I even made goodbye cards for each of my children. I am not the best at artistic things, but I felt that i should have, and genuinely wanted to, especially after the wonderful cards the two of them had made me during Christmas time.

Through my participation in this activity over the past 2 years I have Increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, because I never imagined that I would become as personally attached to "my kids" as I did, and I also became aware of communication skills which I never thought I had. It has also allowed me to engage in an issue of global importance as it allowed me to teach a language to those less fortunate that I am.