What are your CAS activities

[Rachel_97]

I sometimes go to the community pool to swim non- competitively. Does this count for CAS?

[ShootingStars]

I sometimes go to the community pool to swim non- competitively. Does this count for CAS?

Yes it does. But when you have queries such as what counts and what doesn't, its best to ask your CAS coordinator, not IBS. Because schools deal with CAS differently, and what is accepted by one school as CAS may not be completely sufficient at another.

[kim luffy]

Well, my school might have it. I'm just in pre-IB so I don't know. How many hours can you get for CAS there? How much does the trip cost?

Oh okay well i hope you have one because it's fun to do CAS outside of school because it's like a whole new experience with friends and teachers. Ow well our minimum is 150 hours? and if you pass that then you're in the safe zone. I don't know how many hours of each activity we're intended to do because we have no CAS co-ordinator. It costs around 200,000 Tshs? around 123 dollars? from the exchange rate i got.

[lueakic]

C:

Cookbook

A:

Running,gym

S:

Volunteering at the local animal shelter

UNICEF

According to my CAS-cordinator we're not allowed to do our activities for a short time, so we can only do 1-2 things for each of them in a long-period of time...

Edited September 3, 2011 by lueakic

[jess1ca]

I skate every week, but I'm not sure how to get my CAS forms signed there. It's just recreational skating, but the skate patrol people are different every time.... Any ideas?

Sometimes I feel like asking for signatures just annoys people

(Sorry if this is off topic, I didn't want to start a new thread for such a tiny question!)

[madisongrace]

Not sure how to list them or whatever, but i do school soccer and i've never played before,

i made 1000 paper cranes and got my school involved to raise money of the victims of the Tsunami in Japan, which was lots of fun

and went to Ethiopia for a week with 10 other people and we made taps and accessible water and this trip seriously changed my life, it was so amazing!

[morganwhatever]

How does CAS work? My school/ IB counselor won't explain it. They said wait till like the middle of my senior year to start, and I need 175 I think? O.o

[Emmi]

How does CAS work? My school/ IB counselor won't explain it. They said wait till like the middle of my senior year to start, and I need 175 I think? O.o

CAS stands for creativity, action, and service. Basically it's things designed to make us IB kids more "wholesome." What you're required to do is perform activities in each one of the three areas. Creativity is anything that involves arts or creative thinking. Things like theater, playing an instrument, art classes, planning a project count as creativity. Action is physical things, so things like sports or physical exercise will count for this. Lastly service is basically community service and bettering your community. You need at least 150 hours total, but your balance must be somewhat spread out. Like you can't have 100 creative hours, 40 action, and 10 service lol. You need to have proof of your activities, and you can get that several ways. You can get a supervisor's signature, take photos of you there, or reflect in a journal. I have a CAS journal that I do my reflections in, but I also have photos of some of my activities, letters of appreciation, and some signatures. You'll be reflecting periodically on your activities to show IBO that you're growing as an individual. You also need to demonstrate all 8 learning outcomes at least once:

- increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth

- undertaken new challenges

- planned and initiated activities

- worked collaboratively with others

- shown perseverance/commitment in their activities

- engaged with issues of global importance

- considered the ethical applications of their actions

- developed new skills

It's also good to have at least one project that combines two or more areas of CAS. I'm not sure if this is a requirement though. You have until about the spring of IB2 to get your hours done, and you're *supposed* to do CAS throughout the program instead of all during IB1. It's not hard, and if you pick activities you like it getting your hours can be bearable.

Reading this thread is a good idea for other peoples' CAS ideas. For creativity I participate in my school's homecoming hallway decorating, I get action through martial arts, and for service I help an elementary school teacher teach summer school and volunteer at an aquarium. My "multi-area CAS thing" is that a group of friends and I are training for a short marathon in the spring that benefits a charity and then giving the money people pledge us to a charity.

Good luck

[survive it]

For Service Hours: I worked at my mother's office as an admin staff over the summer, and also the same at my dad's office. There was also a fundraise for autism so I signed up as a volunteer and stood in the Autism stall helping with the sellings. I also gave some after school tution to the younger grades.

For Creativity Hours:

I joined the local theatre they were hosting "West Side Story" and therefore they needed some help with the costumes, materials, hair and make-up. They also needed help in sheparoning and therefore it double counted service and creativity hours. I also took some professional photography classes, and spent some time designing some clothes and making them as well which all counted towards my hours

For Action Hours:

I joined a number of the school sports teams, e.g.: swimming, basketball, badminton and tennis. And trust me on this, time passes super quickly and it all counts towards your hours.

GOOD LUCK

[hellwo]

Creativity:

played in pit orchestra for school play

taking classes in my free time

creative problem solving in leadership roles

general techie for a few school plays

electronics design have some prototypes of a sad thingamabob

starting to learn how to play the piano

Model UN

etc.

Service:

Raised funds for a few NGOs

volunteered/helped fund a school for kids orphaned by AIDS

Red Cross blood drives

Tutored for K-12 in a range of subjects during school, had a math tutoring program at community center.

Political campaigning

etc.

Action:

Walking between classes I'll work on it.

[hedwig]

Omg wow.

Our school doesn't offer anything. All your activities - you have to find them on your own. I mean yes there are a bunch of clubs in the school but they are all made by students and not all counts as CAS either. So for service, creativity and action - it is all your responsibility.

Same in my school! They offer basically no help; everything is up to the students. And to make matters worse, there are next to zero places where I can volunteer in my area because I'm under 18 years old.

[Andyboi]

For Service: I went to Argentina over the summer with my school and we helped build houses and we helped kids living in rural areas learn english

For Creativity: Yearbook Club, Chinese Club, Astronomy Club, etc.

For Action: Dance Team.... which is like 1 hour ; Possibly will be the manager for my school's Varsity boys soccer team

[holly]

At my school, CAS is the easiest to finish. Our school offers a ton of activities, and pretty much everyone is involved with something. I don't know anyone who isn't, or at least know VERY few. Plus, our coordinator is super chill and he doesn't require us to have 50 hours minimum in each category - so you could have 150 hours in just one.

Creativity (200? hours) in one year - all theatre. Participated in pretty much every theatre opportunity there was.

Action - I didn't submit any of my CAS hours for action, but going to gym counts for action at our school.

Service (No idea how many hours) - Tutored a visually impaired Chinese student English, helped out with something that was sort of like a mini "special olympics", talked to Korean students about the IB program (for some reason our coordinator said it counted as service...), and volunteered at an animal shelter for a day.

[Haari]

Wow, all these CAS activities are mental! My school timetables one hour a week for CAS ad offers a few activities, but we have to find most of them on our own. Last year I did the school newsletter for creative and service, then debating for creative and service and finally sport for action - this year I'm using the hour to do my CAS project, which is a series of Christmas fundraisers to raise money for the charity Education For All

For Creative, I do flute, drums and making posters for charity events. For action I did martial arts for a bit and I also play badminton and basketball. For service, I teach at the high school one hour every week, work at reception for an hour a week taking calls, and meeting with visitors

So far I have one CAS project, a collaboration between my music college and the dance college, performing to gain interest from children who might want to dance or take up an instrument. I'm working on two more with friends at the moment, doing the fundraiser I mentioned and also creating a website where IB students can upload and share revision resources

Good luck everyone with your CAS!!!

[khalid]

My Cas activities are

Action : Tennis

Service : Coaching Tennis, Charity club

Creativity: Yearbook committee

I Collected 28 hours till now

[Daniel Inchan Jung]

I have a lot of things here and there.

Creativity: Mainly poetry. I'll also be starting video editting this Christmas thanks to a new rig update.

Action: Martial Arts in general - TKD, kickboxing, boxing and some karate -, improving my juggling in soccer along with honing my shots, stamina building, etc.

Service: Volunteering here and there, it's actually pretty fun volunteering for festivals.

I have to say creativity is by far my favourite.

For those interested in poetry, or even wanting to have a go at poetry, try this site:

http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/author.html?id=474548 (that's me)

My IB co-coordinator say's its a go and says that it's a wonderful CAS activity.

Edited November 9, 2011 by Daniel Inchan Jung

[crazy girl]

in our school cas hours are a fun activity but service hours are the hardest to attain so ib students plan activities in and around town such as gardening at an old age home. this gave us about 6 hours a day for everyday we did it.

the students plan actuvties to atain them nothing is planed for us so its a fun experience for us

[Jaydon]

We have some activities within our school that we often use for CAS hours. These include some sports (these are action only, as would make sense), the Rotary Interact club, Oaktree, and Chess Club, along with a few student-run activities such as an Anime Club, Ping Pong club, Retro Gaming club, etc. I myself also take Navy Cadets, as it gets me hours in all 3 sections

[Goncalo Santos]

My school don't offer much CAS... They give us 3 major activities and if we want we choose some activity.

I don't like much their activities so i am doing my CAS almost alone with the help of supervisors and other students.

I was in Azores Island during 10 days helping in a old persons house (Service).

and i'm organizing activities in my school like IB football tournaments, cultural trips and music festivals (creativity)

and for action i plan to do some mountain trips with some students of my school.

If you want check my CAS blog goncalosantosvolunteer.blogspot.com

[Joe Boyle]

Playing guitar and acting for my creative; rugby, dance and ninjutsu for my active (martial arts are great for goals, just use belts ) and so far I'm teaching guitar for service (for free, in exchange for dance lessons - double CAS!)

Edited November 19, 2011 by Joe Boyle