The life of an IB student is rife with challenges that make it nigh impossible to remember anything that isn’t jumping up and down and waving a threatening deadline. As such, I haven’t remembered to post anything for a while- even though I’ve been doing CAS activities- seems like life got ahead of me.
Any way- this post will encompass three CAS activities, the 26.2 with Donna marathon, the JV Brain Brawl Tournament, and the monster that was Paxon’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, all of which were exciting and enriching events.
The 26.2 with Donna Marathon took place in mid February and our job as volunteers was to set up tables filled with water cups, paint the beach with colorful pink chalk, hand out runners, and most importantly cheer on the marathoners. This was my fourth year volunteering for the event, as we’ve been there since the beginning. This year was, however, my first year being the unofficial head of our water-stop (unofficial because I’m a minor, and we can’t do things that people a few months older than us can- clearly). The event was attended by many of my comrades from school who also needed CAS hours. The event kept us active, while at the same time volunteering for the marathon to fight breast cancer, and forced us to find creative solutions to the problems that arose from being on the beach at 4:00 in the morning. One such problem was warming the paint which we used to decorate the sand. The chalk paint has to be kept at approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit for the spraying mechanism to function. To circumvent this issue we utilized our body heat to warm the cans, making for a comical and partially effective solution.
I was one of the assistant directors, as well as a chorus member. This was an interesting experience because I was directing my comrades to perform tasks, and I actually had some authority to do so. The play itself went well, and I was able to balance tech work with acting and performing. My hair did get a little crazy though, since we were going for the ‘bums on the skid row’ look (I also had a black eye made from various eye shadow colours).
I was glad to be done with it though, I was exhausted by the end of the play; and I was ready to yell at too many people who didn’t TRULY deserve my irritation (although there were many who did for various crimes, such as making too much noise backstage, and not following safety precautions). Anyway, the show went well. I learned a lot about myself and my ability to handle stressful situations.
Part three of this large blog post encompasses the JV Brain Brawl match.
The match took place one Saturday in February at Paxon. Students from all over Jacksonville came to compete in the round robin style tournament. We played seven matches that day, and only lost two. Overall our team came in second place, behind Stanton. We’ll trounce them next year, at the varsity level no less.
The matches were interesting, and it was lovely to meet students from different high schools in the area. I also enjoyed the friendly, yet competitive atmosphere. All of us were there to compete, but the competition was more against ourselves than against our fellow students. All in all, it was a great day.
Also, please enjoy this photo of Hannah modeling the costume I made for thespians. This is the costume for which I received critic's choice at districts, and a superior at State
That’s all for now, I’ll post more later.
