Gr.11 Highlight: Art - Bicycle Drawing

The very first project that was given to us for Art 11 AP was the Bicycle Project. This project involved students drawing a contour sketch of a section of a bicycle. Within these sections, we were further required to make emphasis on parts of the bicycle by adding depth.

Gr.11 Highlight: Academics #1 - Chemistry

On the first Chemistry 11 Unit Test, I got a mark of 42/41 which is around 102%. The first unit of the Chemistry course was quite challenging because it introduced new concepts to us. I, along with the class, was able to grasp these concepts quickly. The mark that I got was a great start to the year.

Gr.10 Reflection: Service

This year, I tried especially hard in service. I did a lot of service this year but among them all, the one with most fulfilling experience was volunteering as a referee in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. In 2011, there was a B.C Tae Kwon Do tournament held in Capilano University. Martial artists with high level in Tae Kwon Do were allowed to volunteer as referees in this tournament; I took the opportunity. We were taught how to ref prior to the tournament. Unfortunately, since I lacked experience, I could only act as a judge for the pattern competition. In pattern competition, contestants performed specific patterns in order to display their skills and knowledge. Judges were to grade them out of 10 points; 4 points were for accuracy and 6 points were for performance. I chose to write about my experience as a referee for my reflection because I believe that it was the experience where I held a lot of responsibility. I feel that it is important to assess people of lower level in order to encourage them to continue practicing Tae Kwon Do. I believe that I will continue to act as referee in near future if given the opportunity. Volunteering as a referee for a Tae Kwon Do tournament gave me a wider view of the world. I came to realize how big the world is and how large the Tae Kwon Do confederation is. It made me scared because I realized that competition is harder than I originally thought. During the tournament, I made a lot of friends. I found a lot of people who had the same interest as me. Therefore, I was able to approach them with ease. In a way, volunteering as a referee in the tournament made me even more competitive. During the tournament, I saw a lot of people who were far better than me in Tae Kwon Do. I was especially blown away by the demonstration performance where the performers with high level in Tae Kwon Do executed various intermediate moves. Before the tournament, I used to be confident in my skills. But after, I found out that I shouldn't be satisfied with my current skills and practice more in order to achieve higher level of skills. Overall, volunteering as a referee for a Tae Kwon Do tournament was a satisfying experience. I had a lot of fun from beginning to end. It was pretty awkward in the beginning since I did not know anyone but eventually, I was able to assimilate quickly with the crowd and the atmosphere.

Gr.10 Reflection: Athletics

As I said in my highlights, I did not participate in any school sports. But I was diligent with sports outside of school. I will be writing about getting a 2nd degree in Tae Kwon Do for my athletics reflection because it was the biggest achievement I accomplished. This highlight has definitely changed my life. By getting a 2nd degree, I believe that I will be practicing Tae Kwon Do for the rest of my life. Since I came this far, I do not see any reason as to why I should quit Tae Kwon Do right now. Getting a second degree shows that martial arts us very important in my life; it shows that I enjoy practicing Tae Kwon Do. 2nd degree is the level prior to 3rd degree. This means that, ultimately, acquiring 2nd degree prepared me for 3rd degree. I believe that this highlight shows how persistent and resilient I am. Most of the people who learn Tae Kwon Do quit in the middle due to their impatience. It usually takes around two years for a beginner to get a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and it takes a minimum of three years to achieve 2nd degree. I gained a lot of skills and experience by practicing the martial art. In classes, I learned self defense moves which are always beneficial to know.Furthermore, I improved my leadership by acting as an assistant instructor. Although it seems strange, Tae Kwon Do changed my way of approaching with others significantly. I learnt that I should be more patient when teaching younger students. Children, unless an individual is extremely talented, usually take longer to understand than adults do. Therefore, I should not treat them as how I treat adults. I can see myself incorporating Tae Kwon Do into my future. In fact, I am debating whether I should enter a Tae Kwon Do tournament. I will enter one once I know that I am good enough. This is definitely a lifelong activity for me. I plan on practicing Tae Kwon Do even in my university years. In my opinion, Tae Kwon Do allows me to manage stress. During classes, most of the times, I practice kicking by kicking a sand bag countless times which relieves stress considerably. In order to achieve higher levels in Tae Kwon Do, one must take promotion tests where the instructors test their students' skills. The students display their skills by performing a number of patterns and kicks. The promotion tests gets harder as you attain higher belts. Obviously, the promotion test for my 2nd degree was the hardest promotion test that I took. Overall, getting a 2nd degree black belt was definitely a fulfilling experience for me.

Gr.10 Reflection: Academics

This year, I had a lot of academic challenges where many included tests and projects. The greatest challenge, however,  was probably taking AP Calculus AB. I took AP Calculus AB because I thought that I would be able to finish the course successfully. In the beginning, I struggled quite a bit. Comparing AP Calculus from grade 12 math, there was definitely a huge gap of difficulty. As the course continued, I naturally began to adapt to it's difficulty level. By taking this course, I learned a lot of things. First, I learned a lot of math which i know will come in handy someday in my future career. Second, I became aware of my aptitude in learning new things; as I said, AP Calculus had a lot of new contents that I have never learnt before. My problem solving and    calculating skills improved significantly by taking this course. Furthermore, I gained a lot of confidence. In a way, taking AP Calculus prepared by to be successful in grade 11. Since I already took a challenging course in grade 10, I believe I will be prepared to take any courses with similar difficulty level in grade 11. There were several ways that helped me to be successful in this course. One way was setting small goals for myself. Each unit or chapter test, I set small goals for tests; this allowed me to study without any pressure since these were realistic goals that I set for myself. Other way was just looking over what I learned each day, which consisted of doing reasonable amounts of homeworks. Keeping up with homeworks was one of the most effective ways of getting an A in the class; laziness was not an option for this course. Also, it was necessary to listen to the teacher during classes. One time, I daydreamed during class and I had to relearn the entire chapter through tutorials and googling. Tutorials were a lot of help for me this year. I often attended them to get answers to questions that I did not know. I must say that I struggled a lot for the AP Calculus AB exam. Since this was my first AP exam, I was scared beyond measure. Also, there were a lot of contents to study for. I did not have any unique way of preparing myself for the AP Exam. First, I solved all the practice problems given in class and identified my weak points. Second, I solved a bunch more questions on my weak points. Third, I solved even more problems by solving practice problems and solving past AP free response questions. I believe that one's mark is concurrent to the amount of question he solves; the more he/she solves, the higher mark he/she gets. Overall, I believe I had a successful year with a final mark of 94%.

Gr.10 Reflection: Art

Throughout the year, I have worked on countless number of art projects and accomplished many satisfying paintings and drawings. Among many of them, however, I am most proud of my spring fair canvas painting. The spring fair canvas painting was a volunteer canvas painting which would be sold for money in Spring Fair. I must say, I worked my hardest in this project than I have in any other projects.  For this painting, I wanted to do something unique, something that I have never done before. I decided to paint a leopard hiding in a clump of grass, looking directly in the audience’s eyes. The procedure for this painting was quite painstaking. First, I had to sketch the concept of the painting with graphite on paper. I had to derive from many sources such as internet and books to identify the physical appearance of a leopard. Second, after having a general idea of the painting, I decided on the color. I chose to paint the leopard in a mixture of yellow, orange, and orange red and grass green and light green. Third, I painted the entire canvas with yellow orange, which would be the base color of the painting. Next, I painted the leopard and then the grass. Finishing the painting, I felt unsatisfied with how it looked. So I decided to shade out the edges. I showed the final product to my art teacher, Mrs.Geddess to check its complicity. For this painting, I worked with acrylic paint only. I considered water color, but as water color dried out on the canvas, it would leave unintended textures. I personally believe that my performance on this painting could have been better. This painting literally took the entire Spring break to finish and I believe that I could have finished this faster with the same exact product.Overall, this was one of the most important experiences and challenges I faced in grade 10 because it showed me that I am capable of doing art of higher level. The spring fair canvas painting also convinced me to take art in grade 11. 

Gr.10 Highlight: Choice #3 - AP Calculus AB

The biggest challenge for me this year was probably AP Calculus AB. I did not struggle as much as I initially thought. I slowly began to feel comfortable with the work given and I was able to understand each chapter well. I was well prepared for the AP Exam held in May 2012. My mark for the second term this year for this course was 95%.

Gr.10 Highlight: Choice #2 - Perspective Painting

I have done quite a lot of work in art this year. Among all of them, the perspective painting project was one of the assignments that took the most effort and work. I had a lot of hard time in painting and deciding on color. Overall, however, I managed to get an A on the assignment.

Gr.10 Highlight: Choice #1 - Cahsmun 2012 Delegate

This year, I was given an opportunity to participate in the Cahsmun. Cahsmun stands for Canadian High Schools Model United Nations. I was appointed to be the representative for the Kingdom of Bahrain. Prior to the conferences, I did a lot of researches on the topic. Overall, Cahsmun was an amazing experience for me; I was able to meet and work with a lot of people in Canada.

Gr.10 Highlight: Athletics - Tae Kwon Do 2nd Degree Black Belt

I did not participate in much of the school sports. But I would say that I was diligent with sports outside of school. My highlight this year was getting a 2nd degree in Tae Kwon Do. Getting a 2nd degree was very meaningful to me because it was a goal which I have been trying to achieve for a long time.

Gr.10 Highlight: Service - Honours for Term Two

Getting an honour for service was definitely the highlight of my grade 10 service; this was my first time getting an honour in service. In total, I got 81 hours for term two. This was a big achievement for me since it was also my first time surpassing my previous record of 54 hours for service. I expected an honour because I knew that I did a lot of volunteering activities outside of school.

Gr.10 Highlight: Art - Spring Fair Canvas

Spring Fair Canvas was a volunteer painting I did for the Spring Fair in 2012. I was especially proud of this panting because of its complicity. It had great contrast of color, texture, and a well emphasized focal point. I worked with acrylic color for this painting. It literally took the entire Spring break to finish the painting, which is quite a long time, considering that I worked on it everyday. 

Gr.10 Highlight: Academic #2 - Science Fair

On this year’s Science Fair, I got 87%. I was satisfied with this mark but thought that I could have done better. This year’s Science fair was especially challenging than the previous Science Fairs because the topic which I chose required much more researching. 

Gr.10 Highlight: Academic #1 - Spanish Unit Test 98%

On the Spanish unit test, I got a mark of 98%. The Spanish unit test was a very challenging test. Overall, I was more than satisfied with the mark I got.