CAS 17: Reflection - Swim Meet Volunteer

Swim Meet Volunteering

On Saturday September 24th, 2011 i volunteered my services at the Antigua Swim Meet time trials competition. Before the competition i was a little unsure as to what i would be asked to do, i know nothing about swimming and only watch the swimmers while i work out in the gym. However, i was up for anything and willing to help. 

The event was held at the Antigua Athletic Club and started at 10 am, i was very impressed with the timing and as i walked in there were swimmers everywhere. You could see the nerves and excitement on the faces of the children and i felt so happy for all of them, wishing them the best of luck. There were 3 main swim teams participating and the crowd was very anxious. 

Due to the fact that there were many volunteers, i had little to do in the beginning. However, after about an hour or so i was asked to time the swimmers. Here i became anxious, what if i didn't press the button at the right time, or my hand slipped. I was nervous to miss calculate the time, but it all went smoothly. I spent the day in the hot sun, yes, getting sun burnt and recording times. Watching the swimmer was so inspiring, there movements were beyond impressive and some were as young as 5 years old. At times i felt bad for them as they must have been so exhausted. 

I really enjoyed my day, and was more then happy i helped. Although the day was hot and long, it was worth it and i became inspired by the swimmers. 

CAS 16: Reflection - Recycling Art Project

Chelsey Hadeed
CAS Reflection
Art Recycling Project

Recycling Art Project

            Myself, and my three other classmates along with the guidance of our art teacher entered an art competition. The theme of the project was recycling from our beaches. We came up with the idea of creating an image of a beach using all recycled objects that we had found on the beaches in Antigua. We used a piece of cardboard that was approximately 8x6 ft, and sectioned it into 3 major areas – the sky, the sea and the sand. Using plastic bags, bottles, random toys found on the beach, and every possible form of garbage we could find we stuck them all over the cardboard.

            In the 3 main sections we divided up our recycled objects. Rope and plastic bags were used for the sky to help create the shape of the clouds and the movement in the sky. Circular bottle caps and covers were used for the sea and random objects were used for the sand. It was extremely interesting and fun to do but became very annoying and boring after a while. Sticking the objects in the same places and doing the same things it was rather irritating.

            Towards the end I got exciting to do the painting, and that became fun, although the paint STANK! We spent extra hours during the last week of school trying to paint everything. The painting was the hardest on the sand because all the different objects were sticking up and it was hard to get in every tiny crack. Two of my classmates got bored and stopped helping towards the end and it was me and another girl left to finish.

            I was always kind of worried about how it would turn out but the final product looked amazing, the colors, the shapes, and the image itself was so fascinating and interesting to look at. As a whole it looked fantastic and it came out way better then I expected. Besides the annoying work at times I am happy we completed it so well. 

CAS 15: Reflection Bugsy Malone

Chelsey Hadeed
CAS Reflection
Bugsy Malone

Bugsy Malone

            As tradition, my school does a primary school play every year, this year the title was Bugsy Malone, the Musical. The stage was continuously full of excitement with kids between the ages of 8-12.  The talent portrayed by the young students was beyond amazing and the audience was captivated by every act.

 Although it was during my last 2 weeks of school, where exams were coming up and papers were due I still volunteered my time to help with the play. Having never heard of or seen the play until the day before I was extremely stressed, nervous and confused. The dress rehearsal was the worst, I had no idea who the main characters were, who needed to have a microphone and what side of the stage individuals were entering and exiting. It really was a disaster. I decided the best way to do it though was being calm and take everything one-step at a time.

My main job was to make sure all actors and actresses had microphones and that they were switched throughout scenes. In order to do so, I made a list of the microphones and where they needed to be in each scene. The stress eased as the list was a good guideline. However, the first night of the performance felt like a disaster. I based myself on one side of the stage with my partner on the other yet it was extremely stressful. I didn’t have a script and never new which scene we were on, kids didn’t know if they had to have microphones or what was going on, we were all a little clueless. Thankfully the audience never noticed our stressed.

The second night of the performance was a lot better and I had mastered my task. We did have a few mess-ups but overall it was a pretty good show. I enjoyed working backstage and the crew was very nice. I love watching the play from backstage and feeling the nerves of all the kids before they go on. It always looks like they are having so much fun and makes me want to be on stage with them – but maybe one day. 

Overall, I am happy I volunteered, I carried on the stress well for the 3 long days and nights and once the audience was happy with the performance so was I.  Yes, it was stressful but, no one said it was going to be easy.