CAS Reflection: Car Boot Sale

Chelsey Hadeed
CAS Reflection
Car Boot Sale
April 16^th 2012

            Living on a Caribbean island, the percentage of destitute is relatively high. A few years ago, my aunt and a group of women founded an organization called “Feeding The Homeless” program in which they would cook a hot meal for the homeless every week and deliver it to them in our main city. On occasions I would accompany my aunt to feed these homeless and week-by-week the numbers would grow. It began becoming very expensive to continue feeding these individuals and therefore the Car Boot Sale began.

            The Car Boot Sale, is an event held and created by both my mom and my aunt in which they would raise money for this “Feeding The Homeless” program. The Car Boot Sale allowed individuals from all over the island to come and sell both used and new items from the trunk of their car. The sellers would pay an entrance fee to register their car and the buyers would pay/donate an entrance fee that went towards the “Feeding The Homeless” program. Other items that are donated would be on sale, such as books, to help raise money for this program.

            This event occurs once every three months and has been extremely successful. I help to organize and prepare for every event. During the course of the event, I play a major role helping both my aunt and mom, as well as selling drinks, food, and donated items to raise money for this program. It is a very tiring procedure to both set up and help on the day. It is usually quite a long day, and at times extremely hot making it even harder to work.

            In the beginning I did not enjoy helping very much as I would have rather spent my Saturday or Sunday with my friends, however after the first two events I grew to understand the need and importance of this and began really enjoying every part of it. I have met so many people, and continued to feel proud of myself for helping the homeless throughout my island. I am really happy to have had this opportunity and it is something I will never forget. It always feels good to know you have helped someone and I am glad I could. 

CAS Reflection: Kickboxing

Chelsey Hadeed
CAS Reflection – Kickboxing

            In 2009 I started my first kickboxing lesson in which I was afraid and nervous to begin. I had never participated in such a sport in all my life and this was a new challenge and change for me. Ever since, I have continued to practice and throughout my two years of IB I attended classes mostly every week, 2-3 times a week.

            Upon entering the class for the first time, I was not only the youngest person to attend, but I was also one of the only girls. Being in a class with all strong males I was even more intimidated then I thought. However, my assumptions were wrong, I met so many new people and became to love each and every one, I was treated so well and they were all so friendly welcoming me warmly into the class. I began to love this new sport and it became a place I could relax and wind down from my other life stresses. I was able to let out my anger, pain and fear and open up to new and different individuals, as well as the punching bag.

            Throughout the course of these lessons, I would learn new kickboxing techniques and combos, I would spar/free fight with different classmates, and also learn self-defense techniques. At times the combinations were very hard and extremely tiring, however I never let myself give up. I have become so very passionate about this sport, and I am always willing to learn and try something new. The classes would vary in terms of difficulty depending on the combinations, yet still I always enjoyed the challenge and loved fighting with the guys!

            I believe that this sport helped me in so many ways; I was able to meet new people and explore a new part of me I never new existed. It allowed me to build my strength and confidence and become a braver person. There have been days when I left class literally black and blue all over, some days I would leave crying, and others I would leave saying “woah that was really awesome, and I feel great”. The past few years of doing this sport have been really an experience. I am so happy I found a new calling that I have become so passionate about and this is a sport I wish to peruse and continue throughout university. 

CAS Reflection: Yearbook 2012

Chelsey Hadeed
CAS REFLECTION
Yearbook
April 12^th 2012

This year, my self and my classmates, along with our teacher Ms. Irving, designed and created our 2011/2012 school yearbook. The yearbook captures each child in the school, with a class photo, individual photos, candid’s, club photos etc and allows everyone to look back on the memories we all experienced throughout this school year.
            Creating the yearbook was not always an easy task, we had deadlines to meet and at times it became very nerve racking as to whether or not we would finish in time. Especially this year, our deadline came way sooner then we ever expected and we rushed right up until the last hour to get it complete.

              It was an enjoyable experience, cropping and uploading photos as well as begging students to smile for the camera. The yearbook software changed slightly this year, and it was interesting to develop new skills and become more creative and knowledgeable of the software. We also took a turn in our design and changed up the layouts and backgrounds this year, keeping a sharp and classy look with mainly a plain white background, and 4 accent colors. It is always nice to add something new and different, keeping each book unique.
           
               Most of this project was fun and creative but at times it became tedious, cropping and playing around with photos and trying hard to get a good contrast with colors and layouts. There really was not any part I disliked; it was all enjoyable in its own way. We worked so well as a team and helped to critique each others work, overall producing a well done yearbook for the whole school to look back on, I cannot wait to see the finished product.

CAS Reflection: MSND Backstage Help

A MidSummer Nights Dream

            Once again our school performed their annual school play, this year being A MidSummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare, which they turned into a musical. When talk of the play first began at school back in September, I had always planned to audition for a part, or at least participate in the dancing. However, I became extremely busy with schoolwork and never actually got the chance to be a part of the play.

            My role throughout this whole production was backstage help and managing/organizing all the microphones. It was definitely a difficult job. In the previous plays, this has always been my job however I was more aware of the script and storyline. This time I did not know much about the play and therefore it was a lot more challenging. The mic’s were very annoying as some times they worked and others they didn’t, and 2 actually broke, leaving us with 4!

            The first night, myself and my partner Lily decided to just wing it because our previous mic list got messed up. This night was definitely a success and worked out perfectly! However can we do it perfectly 2 nights in a row? – Almost! The second night, the mic’s had more technical problems and we were a bit too relaxed that we had some minor mishaps, where people forgot to put mics on. 

            Overall, we did a great job, it was hectic and confusing but we got through without any majorly noticeable mistakes, hopefully next year there will be more mics available. 

CAS Reflection MSND Painting Backdrop

MidSummer Nights Dream Backdrop Painting

            This year my school performed the play, “A MidSummer Nights Dream” by William Shakespeare. Of course every play needed backdrops and stage sets to give it the affect and atmosphere required. However, instead of having parents paint these backdrops, a group of 5 IB Art students, including myself, along with out art teacher Ms. Gouldstone were given the job of painting.

            Our task was to paint two pieces of canvas, both 12ft by 20ft (WOAH THAT’S HUGE). One was a scene of Ancient Greece, with the blue sky and pillars; the other was that of an old English woodland forest, with a moon, dark night sky and lots of trees.  We began on a Saturday, and cleared 2 classrooms to lay the canvases out on the floor and taped them down with duct tape. The process was tedious and long. We had to prime both with white paint and then draw out the scenes. The priming was easy but did take quite a while. I enjoyed the drawing, however it was quite difficult transferring such a small image onto such a huge canvas. With all the difficulties however we got threw and managed to draw out two amazing scenes.

            The painting was probably my favorite part; we used such perfect colors on each scene and managed to portray a 3-D effect to the pieces. It took about 2 weeks, however we only worked on Saturdays and at random times throughout the week. In the end the play was phenomenal and the backdrops were the icing on the cake providing realism to the sets. 

CAS Reflection: 19 Film Festival PHOTO

Quinton Aaron, Actor from The Blind Side, At The Film Festival 2011.

CAS 19 Reflection: Film Festival

Chelsey Hadeed
CAS REFLECTION
November 13^th 2011

Film Festival

            The Film Festival, held a workshop for students around the island to learn, and broaden their knowledge of the filming industry. On November 10^th 2011, I spent the day at this workshop where the main topics of: Filming, Editing, Make Up, Scrip Writing, Acting etc were discussed. Prior to the event I was very excited, I thought it would be very interactive and we would have the opportunity to meet celebrities.

            As the day started we were sent into a room with the other participating schools and many individuals from all over the world discussed their key topic. My favorite was the acting and make-up. The acting was very interactive, and students were called to the front to demonstrate and act. It was quite entertaining and kept everyone interested. The make-up section portrayed amazing talent from make-up artists in Antigua. They even had a live model, made up as an Avatar, which was done to perfection.

            At times the day was rather boring and long but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. Actors such as Quinton Aaron and Bill Duke came to discuss their lives as actors and answer any questions we had, as well as give us advice. I had never seen Bill Duke before and didn’t know who he was but he was still rather interesting. I was excited to see Quinton Aaron as his film, The Blind Side was such an amazing one – I actually cried. He spoke very well and it was so sweet to hear his story and how he felt throughout the filming of the movie. I actually didn’t recognize him very well when he had first walked in but it definitely was him.

            Overall, I was happy I went, I broadened my knowledge of this field and was grateful for the opportunity as I am so confused as to which direction I wish to pursue my career but filming and stage design has always been a huge interest to me. At the end of the day I took a photo with Quinton Aaron and I now have a memory forever!