Closing time

Well, here we are.  My blogging has been less-than-meticulous lately, but that's mostly due to a lack of new activities.  My schedule has been packed with all the old favourites that I've started and continued over these last two years, but you reach a point in each where there's not always something new and exciting to say.  I gave a pretty thorough status update in my January reflection video, but before I complete my final CAS reflection I'd like to bring this blog up to date on the new developments that I've faced over the last few months in each of my activities.

Yearbook:  Picture-taking and page editing, ahoy!

The struggles Jess and I are facing this year are the same as I've written about in the past, and with all that experience behind us we're much better equipped to deal with these hardships.  I needed dodgeball results from the student council, and so I buckled down and devoted myself to trying to get them; when they couldn't be found, I made the page work without them.  Drama is a waste of time and energy; that's what I've learnt most through yearbook.  Dig in and get things done instead of becoming overwhelmed by the task ahead; the results will be worth your effort.

Newspaper:  Another month, another issue.
 

The romance edition was published on Valentine's Day, and we're planning a grab-bag final issue to be released at the start of June.  If yearbook has taught me about the importance of hard work, I think what I've learned most through newspaper is the point where one should put perfectionism aside and just go with it.  Yes, my buttons are going to be pushed when the last line of an article get cuts off and yes, a sentence shouldn't be ended with a preposition, but it's important that one does not focus so hard on the trees that they can't see the forest.  It's important to work hard and do your best, but you'll never be content if you accept nothing less than perfection.  Our effort has created a newspaper of which I'm proud to have been a part, and that there is the forest.

Junior Achievement:  Business plan and the home stretch.

There's only a week or so left for Dechameleon, although I'd say it's a busy week ahead.  We've planned a 50%-off closing sale that has generated quite a bit of interest, so if we're lucky, this business will end with a bang, not a whimper.  Junior Achievement was the last CAS activity that I initiated, and I think that it really exemplifies how far I've come over these last two years.  We faced a lot of hurdles - troubles with the marketing department, company members resigning until only three of us remained, cancellations of selling events and production delays, sales difficulties, pretty much every problem conceivable.  In retrospect, I faced more challenges with JA then with any other of my CAS activities, except perhaps the great undertaking that is yearbook.  But I've blogged about Junior Achievement the least, because in the times of these hardships, I don't feel overwhelmed or like they're immense obstacles.  Through CAS I've expanded my horizons and my capabilities.  New challenges?  Bring them on!

I think those three are the main updates I wanted to write before I post my CAS conclusion.  This entire blog is evidence of my growth over the CAS program, but the following entries in particular are those that I think best exemplify the eight CAS learning outcomes:

1.  Increased their awareness of their own strengths and area for growth
Evidence:  Confessions of a seriously out of shape teenager (Write-up, October 8, 2012)

2.  Undertaken new challenges
Evidence:   Letters to the editor (Article/write-up, November 8, 2013)
The eleventh hour (Write-up/pictures, July 23, 2013)

3.  Planned and initiated activities
Evidence:  It's not easy being in charge (Write-up, October 29, 2012)
The end of an era (Write-up/pictures/audio, May 26, 2013)

4.  Worked collaboratively with others
Evidence:  IB victorious (Write-up, December 6, 2012)

5.  Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
Evidence:  A greener garden (Write-up/pictures, October 18 2013)
21 - 44 (Write-up/pictures, June 29, 2013)

6.  Engaged in issues of global importance
Evidence:  The road so far (Opening speech for Model UN, May 2, 2013)

7.  Considered the ethical implications of their actions
Evidence:  A trip down memory lane, 13:00 - 15:58 (Video reflection, January 29, 2014)

8.  Developed new skills
Evidence:  Easy as E, F, G (Video, August 19, 2013)

While I hadn't necessarily known it when I began my yearbook journey (Happy new yearbook, October 23, 2012), it quickly became a huge part of my high school experience, a two-year endeavour that I have no difficulty calling my major CAS project.  All my posts about this activity can be found using the yearbook search label.

It's so strange to find that my CAS experience is winding down.  I'm beginning to start new projects outside of the framework of CAS -- a literature blog with a one-hundred-book challenge for 2014, a physics enrichment class, a position writing for a Canada-wide student issues site -- and it's odd to not have a yellow sheet to sign or a reflection to write.  Before I started IB, I hadn't thought CAS would affect me much.  I was already the girl involved in way too many extracurriculars; I didn't need a push to get involved.  But over these two years I've found that CAS is so much more than just doing things.  It's about reflecting on what you've done, and using those reflections to improve how you see the world and find solutions in the future.

I might not have any "I wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for CAS" memories, but this blog is full of things I wouldn't have realized if it wasn't for CAS.  We learn by doing, but we learn more by reflecting on what we've done.  If I had to choose, I'd say that's the most important lesson I've learned through Creativity, Action, and Service.

A trip down memory lane

After extended, theory of knowledge, and works in translation essays, who has fingers left to type a CAS reflection?  And thus, an idea I stole from Jessica:  reflection à la video.  Although I did start to lose my voice towards the end, so perhaps that's karmic retribution for my attempt to save my fingers from further hardship.

I may have been shirking my blogging duties, but I think this video does a pretty good job summing up this past summer/autumn/winter and my CAS experience over that time.  In case I said it a bit quickly, the url for my Junior Achievement website is crhsja.wix.com/dechameleon.  If you decide to check it out, you'll get to see the adorable logo I mentioned.  Tempting, no?

The eleventh hour

Only two days remain of Shad Valley.  I can't believe this month has gone by so quickly; summer is almost half over, and soon I'll have to say goodbye to all these incredible people that I have had the amazing opportunity to live with this July.  It'll be a long time before I ever see these people again... everyone is from all over, be it British Columbia or Ontario or Manitoba or Newfoundland.  Here's a graphical representation I did up for monthbook:

So much has happened in such a short period of time; it's hard to put it all to words.  Not to mention the fact that our schedule is always jam-packed full of amazing things -- the only reason I have a moment to type now is because my workshop instructor wasn't feeling well and she dismissed our session early.  In any case, there is so much to talk about!

Our synchrotron experiment changed a bit since my last post.  We ended up deciding to apply lubricants to bike chains, then soak them in nitric acid for a period of a few days to simulate the long term effects of acid rain.  Then we removed the chain pieces from our sample bottles using chopsticks (something that requires a surprising amount of finesse), and placed the chains in mineral oil.  We then prepared samples out of the remaining acid which contained corroded metal to discern which lubricant better protected the chain from the corrosion.  It was a lot of fun, and working with the synchrotron was extraordinary.  More than ever I want to be a researcher; I have never felt more at home than working in that synchrotron lab.

Attaching a sample to the apparatus

In which I prepare the aforementioned samples

The hour-long rec times we have every day have also been a blast.  From kickboxing to zumba to quidditch, I've got to try out so many incredible things that I would never have conceived of otherwise.

Kickboxing!

And then there's our overall project.  My group decided to create heating insoles to keep feet warm during the winter.  Not only are they heated, but they are powered by piezoelectricity, thereby never having to be plugged in or have batteries changed; they merely siphon off waste energy as you walk.  As I wrote for our product's facebook page:

 

Our company is named Lioness (an anagram for insoles -- we're pretty clever), and all and all our project was a lot of fun.  We had some rough patches and disagreements, and we were right down to the wire finishing our business plan and presentation, but everything worked out in the end, to some extent.

The inSol logo, designed by me

Yesterday marked our final product pitches in front of all our fellow Shads, the program staff, and a panel of six judges.  As I mentioned, we hadn't finished preparing our presentation until an hour before, but we managed to not completely embarrass ourselves.  Still, by the time we sat down we were just glad that it was over and we had done it.  We were the second group to present, and after us came four more.  After everyone had presented, our program director announced awards.  There were three -- best prototype, best presentation, and most marketable idea.  We instantly knew we hadn't won any, but we were okay with that.  We'd had fun and tried our best, and we had actually finished!  Then we won best presentation.  I don't think I've ever felt so ecstatic in my life -- none of us had expected it at all.  The judges said they were extremely impressed with how we spoke and answered questions.  I couldn't even remember a word we'd said by that point, I was so overwhelmed.  It was a great way to end of our project experience, that's for sure.

My amazing teammates of Lioness Corporation (and me!)

But Shad is not over yet!  The other groups should be getting back from workshops about now, and there are still a few more days left of amazing experiences to be had.  I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it.

Of the essence

These past ten days have been so incredibly intensely busy, perhaps today most of all, so I suppose it is fitting that it is today that I am going to give up a big chunk of my time to write these words.  So much has happened since my first entry; I don't know quite where to start.  First off, everything is incredible.  The people, the events, the everything.  Maybe a bit more sleep would be nice, but seeing as I choose to wake up every morning at six to shower and read before the 7:30 breakfast, I guess lack of sleep is partially my own fault.

I suppose that going by idea is better than trying to cover the last week and a half chronologically, so I think I should start with our main project.  Every year, all the Shads at all the campuses across Canada work to solve the same problem in small groups.  There are six teams here at USask (I'm on team F).  Our problem:  How might we improve the comfort, efficiency and safety of year round, human-powered transport?  Our group has been off to a bit of a rocky start, and we don't gel as much as our house group, but despite that we're well on our way, and I think things may be looking up (not to jinx it, of course).  We're currently working on three separate ideas under what we decided was our umbrella problem of improving walking:  either piezoelectric shoes, massage insoles, or a commuter encouragement program.  Our team has nine members, so three of us were assigned to research each one and report on our progress at tomorrow's meeting.  I've been working on the third, and I'm actually pretty happy with what I've come up with.  I hope the rest of the group likes my ideas.

Every day we have organized rec from 11:30 to 12:30, and for the first week of the program my legs were in a perpetual state of soreness.  I could barely force myself to walk across campus to the engineering building where our lectures are held, but I'm feeling much better now.  I guess that's what the ringette off-season does to you, but I'm glad to be getting back in shape.  Our rec activities are always something new and fun, be it dodgeball, kickball, ultimate frisbee, a zombie adventure across campus, or basketball.  I forgot just how awesome games like basketball can be, seeing as I haven't played for years, and I'm having a great time experiencing new things and re-experiencing old ones.

Every morning from 8:30 until rec we're at the engineering building for lectures of some kind.  They all revolve around this year's Shad theme of human powered transportation, which is a little disappointing seeing as it's not my favourite field to end all fields, but there are still so many interesting things to learn about.  Our schedule is also dotted with things like workshops and projects, like the marble one I mentioned in my earlier entry.  Over the first few days we worked on this project in our house groups to design an eco-hotel, which was a lot of fun.  We split pretty naturally into a business and an engineering group with no one really having to act as leader, and it was such a remarkable experience.  I wish our main group project went as smoothly as that.  We also made a device to transport an egg 10m without human intervention -- ours was a car of sorts that had a stringed arm with an elastic band attached, and when the elastic was let go the string unraveled and the arm moved forward, propelling the car.  Our design ended up placing second, although that project was in our main groups and wasn't exactly the most phenomenal experience for that reason.  Still, we're beginning to work better together, and I think that despite these rocky starts we are going to end the project and the program strong.

Some of the other workshops I've attended have been one on critical thinking (which involved a lot of debate and was a blast), one on prototype design, and - this is the big one - I managed to get into the workshop to use the synchrotron!  I was so excited, and still am!  Today was the first of our four workshop sessions there, with another tomorrow and a third and forth next week.  Today the ten of us just took a tour, got ID badges done, and learned about what our experiment must entail.  Tomorrow we'll begin preparations, and next Wednesday is our beamtime.  After our official Shad Valley day ended at ten o'clock, we had an informal meeting of the Synchrotron team to discuss our experiment, which we must have fully designed by tomorrow.  It had to involve either bike chain lubricant or bike tires, so what I believe we've decided to go with is to apply a variety of different types of lubricants to chain segments, then use the synchrotron to deduce the amount of iron converted to ferrous oxide, thereby being able to state that the "best" lubricant is the one that caused the least amount of ferrous oxide conversion.  Hopefully all goes as planned; some tensions are obvious amongst those ranks as well, and I can see trouble going down tomorrow if some of the others object.  But even that, and all the homework entailed, isn't enough to get me down.  I don't care what kind of experiment we do -- IT'S AN ACTUAL PARTICLE ACCELERATOR THAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO USE!  I AM ECSTATIC NO MATTER WHAT!

This is the view when you first walk past reception... it's breathtaking.

A few other things have happened as well.  Weekends are still extremely busy, but they're more focused on play than work.  We went "camping" this weekend past (note the quotation marks), which basically meant we stayed in a beautiful wood lodge called Shekinah.  It was wonderful -- there were quite a lot of mosquitoes (they were extremely bad on campus last week, although this one is a bit better), but with a bit of bug spray and some bulky clothes you were fine.  We played lots of card games... there was this one called Jungle Speed which was extremely violent (and extremely fun... basically you have to grab the totem whenever another player flips up a card that matches yours, and the two of you wrestle it out), and another called Set that was pretty great (and I'm not just saying that because for some reason I won every match).  We didn't just stay inside playing cards, either.  Despite the fact that I pictured Saskatchewan as Flatland, Shekinah was in a valley.  A beautiful, beautiful valley.  We climbed to the top of the hill for a picnic snack, and the view was just incredible.

It's already almost midnight curfew and I have to brush my teeth, so I guess that marks the end of today's update.  I'll try to report again when I can, but we'll see how time flies.

The adventure begins

Yesterday morning I woke up much-too-early and began my three-airport odyssey to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I was exhausted by the time I and the other Shads on my plane arrived, but due to the wonders of time zones, it wasn't even noon yet.  Thus began the second part of a long, long day, and despite the fact that all I really wanted to do was collapse in bed and become Rip Van Winkle, it was an amazing time.  First off, we had a photo scavenger hunt around the USask campus.  By the end I could add sore feet to my exhaustion, but I think I have a good feel for the campus thanks to that 3-hour hike.  My team ended up finding all the things on the list; here are some of our photos:

I'm taking this one... what a cool elevator.

We have a rocket in the Shad Cave.

Shads are strong as a raging fire.

Sitting on top of the Engineering E for Excellence

Rocking out in the Shad Pad.

U of S in front of flowers that say U of S.

Right when I'd arrived we'd had lunch, and after the scavenger hunt a group of us watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  After that, it was dinner, and the food here is amazing.

Yum.

Our next activity was this design project.  Everyone was divided into eleven groups, and each group was tasked to make a 25cm by 25cm by 16cm box with a hole in the top and in the centre of the bottom of one of the sides, with the goal being to delay the passage of a marble from the top hole to the bottom by as much time as possible.  However, one could only use a single sheet of bristol board, a sharpie, a role of masking tape, and work with scissors and a ruler.  We made our box by cutting two slightly larger than 50 by 16 pieces, folding them in half, and then taping them into the sides of a box by folding the excess as tabs.  On the inside, a track ran along the sides of the box, forcing the marble to follow down along the perimeter before coming out through the hole in the bottom.  We then made a lid that slanted downwards towards the upper hole, to assure that wherever the marble was placed on the lid, it would end up entering the box.  Afterwards, all eleven boxes were set up on eleven consecutive steps on a staircase, with the bottom hole of each one leading out to the top of the next box.  Out of all the boxes, only two worked without requiring any outside intervention, and ours was one!

My team's is the top one with the squiggle.

After that, we wrote letters to our future selves, and lit candles and made introductions to the group.  I'll admit, by that point I was pretty dead due to it feeling like it was past midnight to me, and so by the time we went back to the Shad Pad to meet with our houses (House 6, represent), I was fairly out of it.  Then this morning I woke up at the tender time of 5:50, because my jetlagged internal clock told me it was almost nine.  Add to that the fact that at 5:50 here it is just as bright outside as it is at home at 9am, and you get a rough first couple of days.  Hopefully I'm not as completely worn out by the end of the day today... it's hard to enjoy the evening activities when you're just hoping they'd end so you can collapse into bed!

All in all, though, today was a blast!  I've met some really cool people so far, and I can't wait to get to know everyone better over the course of the month.  I think this July is going to be one to remember.

A pithy title about Nationals

So, here I am.  It's been a long journey to this point, and for a while I wasn't even sure I was going to make it  -- just look at my last post on the subject.  But I'm here, and I'm glad I didn't miss it.  So, how did I get around the trials and tribulations that I brought up last time?  A bit was luck:  seeing as we're in IB and our course runs all year, midterms aren't always that big a deal and we didn't end up having exams in every subject.  In English and History we're just having a work period for ongoing projects that it isn't extremely critical to attend, and in French we have an oral assessment that only lasts around fifteen minutes and cannot be prepared for, so it is not too difficult for me to make it up at a later date.  I am missing a chemistry exam on energetics and a french test, but since it's just the two I feel more confident on my ability to make them up.  My decision was also a compromise; technically, the tournament lasts until Saturday, but I'm returning Thursday evening to make my biology exam and attend math class on Friday.  On one hand, that's still quite difficult as I have to now find time to study while I'm away, but I'd say it is a better option than having to catch up on our new math unit and the biology exam while also doing the chemistry exam, the french test, and my french oral assessment, as well as whatever new material we're covering next week.  In any case, that's all housekeeping.  I suppose I should talk about the tournament.  We arrived on Sunday, and there were some formalities to take care of in the form of accreditation and opening ceremonies.  No games that day, but that was made up for in the days that followed.  Two games on Monday, a game yesterday, two today, two tomorrow... our schedule has been jam packed (although I found some time to make my bio notes after our game last night).  We haven't been doing fantastically well in terms of scores, but that is to be expected at a big tournament like this:  all the other provinces have heaps of players to choose from, and a league of AA teams battle it out all season for a chance to go to Nationals.  Since we have such a small pool of players, we don't have that luxury.  In any case, our first three games were in the opening pool, and we lost them all by the seven goal spread.  After losing in that first bracket, we were bumped down from the medal running into the consolation round.  That may sound like a bad thing, but it means that we're now playing against teams that are more our speed.  Both our games today we played neck and neck with, being tied at half and even leading at some points, but in both we ended up falling apart eventually, losing by five in the first and the full seven in the second.  Our play is improving, though, and I feel optimistic about our game tomorrow.  And what about me, personally?  I think I've been doing alright; I've definitely improved over this year, that's for sure.  In our second game, we scored two goals, and I assisted on both!  Right now I'm completely exhausted and sore all over from so much hard play over the last few days, but I'll get a good sleep and be ready to be up and at them again tomorrow.

Or, you know, I could always just take a snooze on the ice...

I think I'll try defying gravity

Jess made a video when we were in watering the plants today, so I thought it'd make a nice complement to my status update from yesterday.  We didn't do any planting; we just watered the lot, emptied the drip buckets (the ceiling has a horrible number of leaks), replaced a few of them with larger containers, and rocked out to the Wicked soundtrack.  Also, it was during our watering session that we got our campus assignments for Shad Valley emailed to us!  I'm going to be spending my summer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and I'm super excited for all that the future holds.

Our new spring lineup

This CAS season features some old favourites as well as new and exciting premieres.  Classics return such as newspaper and yearbook, and we'll also be seeing the swan songs of 750 Words and provincial ringette, both reaching their crescendos in April.  Now, what's new on the horizon?

First off, there is Model UN, which will run from May 3rd to May 5th and entail much preparation prior to the actual event.  I have been accepted into the school delegation of twelve students, although we have yet to hear back with regards to which country everyone will be representing and on which committee they'll be.  My first choice was Tanzania, and I somehow doubt that will be a popular selection, so I hope I will end up receiving that option, although I am sure no matter with what country I end up I'll learn some fascinating things about both it, the world, and the issues that affect the two.  My first choice of committee was ECOSOC, and its topic this year is "Commission on Sustainable Development", so I think I would learn a lot about both the current critical situation with the environment and also how developing countries regard this issue.  Recently we had a guest speaker into our school to talk about climate change, and while what is going on in our world today is undeniably terrifying, I think it is definitely something about which we are better off being informed than remaining blissfully ignorant.  My second committee choice is "A Reconsideration of the Responsibility to Protect", which is an ethical issue that I find fascinating and would love to learn more about.  It's something that is so hard to wrap your head around, and I'm not sure where I stand.  I'm reminded of all those sci fi programs and futuristic novels where the most important rule of everything is that you shouldn't interfere (think Star Trek's prime directive), yet when one is talking about things like genocides and mass killings, how is it ethical to remain uninvolved?  All in all, it would be a fascinating thing to learn more about, and while I'd still rather be accepted to ECOSOC, being part of either committee would be a great experience.  The school delegation will be meeting sometime in the near future to learn about our country and committee assignments, and I can't wait!

Secondly, we have what is going to be my major CAS group project, fitting into the realms of service and creativity:  something we've been calling alternately the "gardening club" and the "school beautification project".  It has a number of components (only befitting of a major group project), and I suppose it would be most logical if I told them in the order in which we developed them.  First of all, our chemistry teacher used to teach botany, although this year there wasn't enough student interest and the botany class wasn't offered.  Despite not having a class, it's her responsibility to tend to the sad-looking indoor garden we have in the lobby, although with all the other important things she has to do, fixing it up isn't something she has either the time or energy to do on her own.  That's why a group of us decided to start a gardening club under her leadership:  we'd have access to the school greenhouse, we'd water the three nearly-dead trees and the sad looking cactus, we'd learn which plants grow best under our school's conditions, we'd clean all the trash out of the bed as it is currently being used like one big garbage can, and we'd use our newly gained knowledge of plants to grow flowers and the like in the garden.  That sounds like a nice CAS activity in itself, but what really propelled it into the big group project level was what happened when we went to go check out the bed.  It was a mess -- even more so than we had thought.  The paint on the wall was peeling all the way back to concrete due to water damage, chocolate milk containers and muffin wrappers abounded, and one of the trees was no more than a few sticks surrounded by dead leaves.  But the garden layout was interesting:  on the bottom level of the school, there is a wall in front of the garden and you are standing below soil level, and then there is also a wall behind the bed above your head on the lower level but under you if you're standing on the school's main floor.  Looking at this, we were struck by how perfect it would be for a mural.  So, that's our plan.  We'll do all the gardening things previously mentioned, but we're also going to learn how to plaster and repair the wall, do it, and then paint two murals.  The one behind the bed will be a foliage or a jungle theme, creating a sort of 3D effect with the real plants that will jump out in front of it, and on the lower wall we'll create an underground scene, with things like tree roots and dinosaur bones and stuff like that.  It's going to be a lot of work, but we have a great team of people (we'll also be opening the gardening club up to anyone else in the school who is interested, although we'll be spearheading the project), and I'm excited to help make the school just a bit more beautiful.  Currently, Adrian is composing a proposal to send to the principal to get official approval of our idea, although she already expressed interest earlier and I strongly believe that she'll give us the go ahead.

 My third new activity is more of a summer preview than an entry to my spring lineup, but it's something that I'm too excited about not to mention.  I've been accepted to Shad Valley, which is a pretty prestigious summer program for high school students focusing on the sciences, leadership, business, teamwork, and innovation; I've already gone through an extremely intense application process just to be accepted.  That in itself was a good learning experience, particularly as it is quite similar with what one might expect to see when applying for universities in grade twelve, but the actual Shad Valley program is going to be a thousandfold more extraordinary.  For one, they're big proponents of the IB program, and they particularly cater to the IB core, including, yes, CAS!  As they write on their website:

Through their active participation in the design/entrepreneurship project that’s a key element of Shad Valley, IB diploma students fully satisfy the Creativity and Action aspects of CAS. Through their involvement in this entrepreneurial endeavor, they build their knowledge, skills and understanding; explore the ethical responsibilities that surround innovation; experience the excitement of inquiry and discovery; build confidence in their ability to initiate change, both as an individual and as a member of a team; practice autonomy and self-reliance; and develop a strong appreciation for their own, and others’ talents. Many schools acknowledge participation in Shad Valley as fully satisfying the Creativity and Action requirements; others allocate partial hours. Because CAS focuses on in-depth experiences, the month-long, residential nature of the Shad Valley program makes it strongly aligned in helping satisfy this requirement.

So that's what's on the docket for summer CAS.  I'm going to be gone all of July for Shad Valley, living on campus and engaging in so many cool activities and learning experiences.  I won't know which campus I will be attending until early April, but my A choices were Waterloo, Queen's, Saskatchewan, and Calgary, so I'm hoping to end up with one of those.

That's what to expect from me over the next few months.  I do have a couple of other activities in mind that are either still in the planning stages or are yet to be approved, but for the most part this is what I'll be looking at in terms of CAS as I enter the home stretch of my grade eleven year.  I'm looking forward to continuing with what I'm already doing, starting these new projects, and getting that satisfied yet melancholic feeling of wrapping up a long running activity.  While school is definitely going to be keeping me busy over the next few months, I'll be sure to make time for all these exciting opportunities!

Ringette problems

Over the last few months ringette has been going well, but recently I've hit a stumbling block.  We've been having a lot of practices lately in preparation for Atlantics next week, and that likely will be fine.  I will have to miss one day of school (Friday), which I don't want to do at all, but it's just one day and I'll manage to get caught up.  What worries me is what else is on the horizon:  Nationals.  I had always wanted to just go to Easterns, seeing as Nationals is kind of above our paygrade and we likely won't have as many close games than if we went to Easterns.  But the older girls decided right out the gate that for whatever reason they wanted to go to Nationals, and so that's the way it was.  I didn't like it then, and it's even worse now:  while for Easterns I'd likely only miss two days of school, for Nationals I will have to miss an entire week.  And not just any week: The week of April 2nd -- exam week.  I can't miss six major IB tests; I just can't.  I would have to do them right when I get back, and it would be impossible to study while I was there:  I'd be sharing a room with three of my teammates as we are forced to do to increase 'team bonding' and I'll have no time for myself.  Last time I was at a tournament like this I ended up sitting on the top landing of the hotel's back stairwell to read the novel that was assigned for French class.  Trying to study for six big exams is not going to end well.  So what am I going to do?  I don't want to drop provincial ringette entirely; if I tell my coach that I can't go to Nationals he'll blow his top; I can't even take a third option and drop down to the A team that they created to go to Easterns because of some 'roster rule' that states you can only be on one roster per season, even if you leave the other team.  That's a real bummer for me, as all I ever wanted to do was go to Easterns, and if I had known that they were going to make this team later in the season, I would have held out for it in a heartbeat.  I'm caught between a rock and a hard place here, and I have no idea what I'm going to do.

Out not with a bang but a whimper

It seems like it has been ages since my last blog post, but I guess that is what the Christmas season does to you.  Everything gets so busy, but even though I haven't posted in a while, I've still made quite a bit of progress on the CAS front.  I guess the most pressing CAS update is a review of our dodgeball season... we lost our last match, winning one game and losing two.  It was a disappointing defeat, but we played quite hard and made them work for the win.  All in all, I think dodgeball was an enjoyable and interesting choice for an action activity.  I now know why they have two separate divisions for girls and guys... Aid and Pat rocked, although us girls weren't too shabby ourselves.

Dodgeball superstars, right here

We were both gracious winners and losers, and I think we represented IB well towards the rest of the school.  We worked really well as a team, and I believe that this whole dodgeball ordeal has brought us closer together not just within our class, but with the grade twelves as well.  We may not have ended the dodgeball season with a bang, but we improved a lot from where the IB team was last year, and I can't wait to continue the tradition in 2013!

IB victorious

Today marked the Dodgeball debut of IB Dodgin, and we had very large shoes to fill:  last year the IB team lost their first game in thirty seconds.  With such high expectations on ourselves, the nine of us were determined to lose with a shred of dignity.  We didn't.  Instead, we won.  It was a great team effort, and when Morgan hit their last player, we all flooded in from the sidelines, high-fiving and hugging her like we had just won the championship instead of the first game in a round-robin best-of-three match.  The grade twelve team we played against were determined to not lose to a bunch of IB nerds, and they came at us in the second game with a vengeance.  Patrick was a star, and we won again.  We had not only lasted longer than our predecessors, we had won our first match.  I'd love to stop the chronicle there, since our second match of the day involved us getting creamed by the grade eleven athlete preps, but we still put up a good fight.  They were really nice about it too, congratulating us on our previous win after the game, and we were all still ecstatic from raising the bar for future IB generations.  I really felt closer to the grade twelves too, becoming fire-forged teammates with Natalie and Megan, and anything done with my grade eleven classmates is always tons of fun.  Our next game is on Tuesday against a team that supposedly we should have a close game against, and if we win that match, we'll make it into the finals.  Go IB!

Breaking bones and boundaries

Alliterative titles aside, hopefully there won't be any fractures in our near future, but you never know in the world of Dodge.  Our mild-mannered squad of IB nerds have thrown our hat in the dodgeball ring in the name of becoming more involved in our school (and for CAS), and who knows where this (potentially ill-advised) decision will take us.  Dodgeball is kind of a big deal at our school; aside from the biannual musical, I'd say the annual tournament is the most hyped event.  I didn't even consider participating last year; I'd played dodgeball before in gym classes, of course, but I'd never really thought much else of it.  I'm decent enough for phys ed, but playing in a competitive tournament like this is going to be a new experience entirely.  We do have a few secret weapons up our sleeves:  since there is no co-ed league, somehow we managed to talk the coordinators into letting our team play in the girls' category despite having a few boys, and also we're quite likely to be underestimated due to our aforementioned mild-mannered-nerdiness.  Or maybe appropriately estimated, but we do have quite a few athletes on our team (myself included), so perhaps we will have some sort of element of surprise.  In any case, it'll be a great opportunity to bond with our class, the grade twelves, and a few of the Pre-IBs, as well as interact with the school at large, and it will definitely be a step outside my comfort zone.  Our first game is on Thursday; later updates as events unfold.

Silver linings

My ringette team participated in our first tournament of the season this weekend, playing against other provincial teams in the Maritime region. The tournament takes place every year in Miramichi (about three hours away from home), and let's just say our record in past years has not been stellar. We usually come fourth.. out of four teams. In any case, I left history class a few minutes early on Friday, hopped in the car, and drove straight to Miramichi, getting there just in time for our first game at 7:05. We worked hard, but we lost by the entire seven goal spread (in ringette, only up to a seven-goal difference is put up on the scoreboard, and at that point it goes into running time. If the team with less points scores, another of the leading team's points will be displayed on the scoreboard. If that goal causes it to become less than a seven goal spread, the game returns to stopped time). As much of a humiliating defeat our first game was, that team was the hardest in the tournament, and we remained optimistic that we could make a comeback. And that we did. The next day we defeated our opponents by the full seven goal spread, and I even scored the first goal of the game on a great cross-crease pass from my forward partner. I got a few assists too, although my biggest role was in forechecking. After that high, we went into our second game of the day too cocky. By ten minutes in the score was 3-0 for our opponents, and we just didn't seem to be able to pick up our passes. We were starting to get a bit panicked, but then I returned the favour from the previous game and shot my partner a nice cross-crease, and she scored, making it 3-1. Then our team scored again. And again. And again, and we were in the lead. The game wasn't as solid as our first that day, but even after that rocky start we managed to scrape up a 12-7 win (yours truly didn't get any goals, but she did end up in the box for a four-minute double penalty. Oops). With our 2-1 record we made it to the championship game against our heated adversary: the team we were creamed by in our first game. We all were super pumped up before the game, sitting in the dressing room, listening to "300 Violin Orchestra" and our coach's pre-game spiel. We were ready to take them on, ready to turn the tables and claim victory. The game started, and they scored. Again. And again. And again. And for our part, we got penalty after penalty and poor call after poor call. The refs, in all seriousness and with not an ounce of hyperbole, patted some of the opposing team on the head and gave them high fives after they scored. At one point we had three girls in the box, and the referee gave the ring to the other team when it should have been ours, and when our coach tried to talk to him, he said that he would only speak to a captain. Our coach pointed out that the ref had already put all our captains in the penalty box (on bogus calls, I might add), and the ref shrugged and said, "Well, that's too bad". Suffice to say, this is not the story of how the underdogs overcame adversity, defeated the cocky, obnoxious favourites, and won the day. This story ends with us creamed 1-25 (although, thanks to the seven-goal spread, the marginally less humiliating 1-8 was the official score). I guess that's how the underdog/favourite story usually ends when you're not in the running for the best picture Oscar.  While it's not easy to tell from my bellyaching, the tournament went phenomenally for us.  Our team won the silver medal, something I don't think a team from here has ever done before in this tournament.  I personally have been improving a lot; being sixteen years old in a U-19 provincial tournament and competing against the best first year university players isn't exactly the easiest situation to be in, but we still came out second-to-one. We'll see this team again at Nationals, and others that are just as tough, but we are going to work hard, improve, (maybe with a rock-fueled training montage), and by the time this season is over we'll be the odds-defeating underdogs Hollywood has been training us since birth to be.

And another thing...

Woah, two posts in one day?!  Slow down, hotshot.  I considered leaving this until tomorrow, but it's already a few days old, and tomorrow I'll likely be reporting on day one of GISHWHES.  I had my final tryout for provincial ringette on Saturday, and I made the team!  I also took about two whole minutes to get the ring in the net during a shooting competition, but that's beside the point.  In any case, I've managed to make the first hurdle, and I can't wait to meet the next few challenges that I'll face in the coming weeks and over the coming season.  Our first provincial outing will likely be the Miramichi tournament late next month, although I will have a house league tournament prior to that.  Speaking of house, teams have also been picked in that division.  My team is fair; not stacked or anything, but solid enough and hopefully it'll be a good year.  I'll be playing center (joy of joys), which is going to be an immense challenge due to my firm status as a member of the endurance-impaired.  Skating from one end of the ice to the next and back again for an entire shift has never really been my forte, especially when you throw scoring, checking, and thinking into the mix.  The higher you set the bar, the more you get to grow, so I guess that'll be my mantra this season while I'm dying of asphyxia.

Ringette adventures: continued

On Saturday I had my second provincial ringette tryout, and things are getting better already.  Endurance has never been my strong suit -- I've always been more of a strategist going in for quick spurts than someone who's able to keep at top pace for an extending period of time -- but this season is already proving to be the first step in changing that.  I am proud to announce that I experienced no lightheadness or dizziness, and I was no more exhausted than everyone else as the practice wore on.  Although I suppose that isn't saying much; it was another tough practice, and everyone was breathless by its end.  Still, compared to how horribly out of shape I was last week, I feel good about my progress thus far.  I did end up running some hills after my last post, although I only did one loop, so I'll try to do two next time and so on to work my stamina up.  I also had my first house league practice last week, which wasn't a big exertion compared to provincial tryouts, but every little bit of ice time helps.  I'm still unsure about whether or not I'm going to make the team; there were quite a few older, first-year-university girls at this tryout that hadn't been at the first one.  I wouldn't say I'm the poorest player there; there are at least two girls who I would say I'd rank above, and there's another few people with whom I'd probably be in the same skill bracket, but even if I do make the team, it'll be a challenge to keep up.  I'm kind of used to being one of the best, so that's a bit of hubris I'm going to have to get over if I want to improve and meet the challenge this season will pose.

Confessions of a seriously out of shape teenager

I had my first provincial try-out for ringette out in Montague yesterday.  The second I stepped onto the ice I felt great; it's hard to believe how rejuvenating the taste of cold rink air is, the feel of gliding across ice.  So for the first few minutes before practice started, I was just skating around in circles, shooting some rings in the net, and lost in the nostalgia of how much I'd missed this over the summer.  Well, those happy-go-lucky feelings don't last for long when one hasn't done any real physical activity since soccer season ended and everyone else is apparently in the midst of training for half-marathons, playing field hockey for their school teams, and practicing for national soccer; listening to the new MatchBox 20 CD, reading HG Wells's The Time Machine in French and studying for chemistry tests don't really keep a young athlete in peak physical condition.  Suffice to say, once the real practice started I felt like I was dying on the ice.  After around twenty minutes my head started doing that thing where the edges of my vision go black, I get dizzy, and all voices sound far-away and tinny.  Thankfully, I didn't end up fainting, and after that things got marginally better.  Despite my extreme out-of-shapeness, I did manage to impress the coach with some good dekes and being one of the fastest to skate around the ice after a drill, even though I did miss some very easy passes and it likely looked like I was about to pass out for the majority of the time.  There wasn't too many people there, which was reassuring, but it is Thanksgiving weekend, and players are allowed to miss one try-out and still be eligible for the team.  I know there were quite a few girls who weren't able to make it, so it's still hard for me to gauge my chances.  It'll be tough; this year I'm playing in the Belle division, and while all other age categories are composed of only two years, Belle is three, and making a team whilst competing against first-year university students will definitely be an uphill challenge.  Speaking of uphill, the next try-out is on the 13th, and I'm going to try to jog some hills before that to get in a bit better shape and hopefully prevent an ill-timed collapse.