Final Reflection 2013

In my Freshmen year i didn't do much for my CASL, but in this year 2013 in my sophomore year i did even more than what i expected. I joined in many different group, sports teams and participated in interesting trips. The first thing i did for my CASL was joining the group "Students For The Environment" in the begginings of the 1st semester, i was part of the recycling group, so we recycled paper, plastic, metal and glass and asked for other students around campus to do the same thing. For my IC trip i went to Bobong, an amazing expirience to learn new cultures and tribes of Kenya, the camel riding was great, we had to cook our own food which was a very nice thing to improve owr culinary skills and interacting with our classmates and meeting new people made this trip worth it. I joined the Drumline and the Jazz band, one of the reasons is because i love music and i like playing it, also because i wanted to prove myself that there are many other genres of music in the world and its good to learn new styles to play in the drums. Another trip that i participated in was the Kilifi band trip, just like last year we spent time interacting with the kids of Kivukoni Elementary school and ended up our trip by playing at the hotel we were staying, a very nice experience that i hope i can repeat it next year. In sports, I joined the rugby team just like last year, we didnt win many matches but we enjoyed the game in every aspect, we bonded better as a team and we played even better than last year. In the annual ISK rugby tournament we came in 6th place, although we did not won, we had a lot of fun.

Overall, this year was pretty good for me, i enjoyed being part of many clubs and teams, and the fact that i participated in many amazing trips made my sophomore year one of the most interesting in highschool. I am hoping that all this things can be part of my CASL again and i hope that there could be even more other interesting groups that i could join in.

International School Of Kenya: Students For The Environment

In the 1st Semester i joined in a club called Students For The Environment in which its main goal is to create a healthier environment in our campus and Kenya. We organize found raisers to earn money for solar panels that will help us to save energy and electricity in the school. There is a tree nursery were we plant trees and take care of them so we can plant them in certain parts of the campus in the future. This group has a very interesting goal and i would like to see the results in the future.

Jazz Band

jazz band is a very fun group, its made of middleschoolers and highschoolers and gives you the opportunity of learning a new genre of music and the opportunity to learn how to play a new instrument. We practiced wednesdays and fridays in the mornings, and all our effords sometimes pay off in every show at school. We are the "elite" band out of all in ISK but sometimes we have our bad moments.

Personally this group has opened my mind to a new style of music and now i can play more than rock or blues. Jazz band is an amazing experience so if you can play any instrument whether it is flute, clarinet or percussion i recommend you to join.

International School of Kenya: Drumline

One of the groups in the music department in ISK that was created this year, a fantastic experience using percussion. This group is made up of both middleschoolers and Highschoolers, we practice Mondays and Thursdays of each week, every single practice is fun and we enjoy it so much. It was a fantastic experience for me, i have been practicing percussion since i was 12 years old, this group made me improve my skills and personally, i feel i am a much better drummer than before.

Our shows at school were always excellent, students and teachers liked our rhythms and our style of playing which made us one of the best musical groups in the whole school. Looking forward to next year, we are going to have new equipment and drums, so the experience of playing should be much better than this year.

Drumline performing with local  Kenyan slum band at ISK

International School Of Kenya: Rugby Varsity Team 2013

Our team is composed of students from grades 9-12, i am one of four sophomores in the team. The season starts at the 2nd semester of every school year, we play against schools all around Nairobi such as Peponi, RVA, Braeburn gardens, etc. We try to enjoy all our matches, even if we get beaten and bruised up in the process. Just weeks ago we hosted our annual rugby tournament at ISK in which we came 6th, at least it was better than last year, that we came 8th. We had lots of fun, there were not many injuries so that was something good. In the middle of our last match i got tackled and landed on my face, I was bleeding so the coach had to send me out for the rest of the game. That left me very angry, i had to miss the final match just because of such a small thing.

I enjoy every rugby season at ISK, it helps me improve my athleticism and build up muscle, its a very tough sport but really like it and its worth playing it. People in my grade say that the sport is suicidal, but in my own opinion, i found it rather relaxing.

International School of Kenya Rugby Varsity Team

Kilifi Band trip 2013

The kilifi band trip, maybe one of the best trips that the isk´s arts department has ever made. Its a trip outside of Nairobi to make a concert at kilifi and interacting with the children of kivukoni school in the process. Unlike last year, the music students had to work together with the drama students, it made our experience with the kids of the school really fun. On May 2nd we left to coast, it was an hour and a half flight but all of us had a great time making jokes and singing in the plane. When we arrived to the hotel, we just had an hour rest because we had to visit the school, it was amazing to see the children again and they have grown so much since our last visit, and a kid named Mohamed recognize right away, i met him last year and he is such a cool kid it really shocked me how, after an year had passed, he still recognized me. We started Practicing with the kids for the concert with their parents. After hours of practice we finally had the confidence for the concert at the school. There was no pressure at all, we knew that our practices before and after the trip were enough for us to do an explendid job. While we were at the hotel, we spent our time playing water polo at the pool, play ping-pong, play pool, relax at the beach or just sleep gave us the chance to have fun while waiting for our concerts. Bonding with new people was maybe a big highlight in the trip, meeting new people and interact more with your own friends. The final concert at Mnanari hotel, where we were staying, was awesome, weeks of practice ended up with a very promising result. It was our final night in Kilifi so we decided to dance with the kivuconi kids while the other bands were playing and we had a lot of fun.

This trip was 10 times better than last year, we were more people, the hotel was better, the food was better and the experience that we had in this trip was unforgettable and it will be difficult not to remember all the happy and fun times at kilifi, i only wish that we could have spent another week. Still looking forward to next year.

High school and Middle school band of ISK with the children of Kivukoni elementary School

IC Trip: Bobong 2013

I chose to go the Bobong for my IC trip this year. Although i didn't knew half the people that were going in this trip, it gave me the chance to get to know them and make new friends throughout the whole trip. In this trip maybe the biggest highlights were at the end of the day, were we had to cook for the whole group in teams and have some fun in the process. Another big highlight must be the knowledge and experiences that we gather, when we interacted with the local tribes of that region of Kenya, visiting their villages and doing work that they have to do each day, we visited a school as well, while we were teaching the students about general things such as the world, the animals and the people that we live nowadays, another group of students were helping the school by painting the walls of the classrooms. Maybe one of the best experiences in the trip was to have the chance of milking and riding camels, i know it sounds dumb, but when in your life are you gonna have a chance to do that?.

I found this trip pretty amazing, it gives you the chance to do things that in my own opinion, would not have been able to do. It gave me the chance of knowing new people, have better relationships with your current friends and have a lot of fun with them. I think I would have loved if we stayed for more time.