Creativity
This aspect of CAS is interpreted as imaginatively as possible to cover a wide range of arts and other experiences outside the normal curriculum which include creative thinking in the design and carrying out of service projects. Experiences and projects falling under this category can imitate or mimic work completed in IB classes, but they cannot be for a grade of any kind. Creativity must be an active process as well. Attendance at meetings of Student Senate or Key Club does not constitute creativity. Creativity is both active and deliberate, and it results in a tangible product. The mere process of thinking does not meet this threshold.
Examples of Creativity:
Drama and Theatre (cast, lighting and sound, set design, costume design and sewing, make-up)
Musical ensembles (teach others; perform for public, such as Jazz Band, String Ensemble or Interlude)
Talent show production or act
Debate preparation or tournament (outside of class)
Producing banners and posters for clubs
Forensics preparation and performance (outside of class)
Teaching cultural cooking to a group of others
Setting up and running a school-wide video game championship
Emceeing or deejaying for a public event
Face painting at a charity event
Catering an authentic tea ceremony
Writing/Publishing research from an off-site science or lab experience
Photography (perhaps as evidence of other CAS experiences)
Webpage design for school or community organization
Preparation for public speaking
School newspaper or yearbook writing and editing
Choreographing dance (i.e. IASA) –learning a new dance form or starting a dance group for younger students
Learning sign language
Making bracelets or dolls for an international charity
Art – learning a new style outside of IB classes
Scrapbooking (perhaps as documentation of one's CAS project)
Making crafts for a charity sale
Pottery classes in the local community
Prepare and making resources for teaching a series of language lessons or working with young children groups (CAMP, Girl or Boy Scouts).
Producing a display for a class, school/community event, or public message
Making a video for a local charity
Putting on a UAIS school play
Cooking classes where you create your own recipes and/ or menu planning
Designing a new UAIS Olympic game
UAIS yearbook
National Art Honors Society
Learning to play a new instrument
Junior Leadership Macomb: Are you interested in being a more socially aware and active member of your county? Are you open to collaborating with student leaders in other school throughout Macomb County? Do you want to serve as a representative to your school on behalf of leaders of Macomb County? If so, apply to the Junior Leadership Macomb program by June 30th at http://www.leadershipmacomb.org.
Activity
According to the IB CAS handbook, activity hours are define as "physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle." Like all other CAS experiences, these should be challenging, so think sweat. Below is a general list of experiences that may serve as activity experiences for students.
Examples of Activity:
Option 1: Team Sports at your home schools or through travel teams, where your coach will serve as supervisor, such as: Volleyball, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Golf, Football, Track, Cheer, Cross-Country, Tennis, Swimming, Softball, Etc.
Option 2: Sports outside UCS, where a certified trainer/teacher/coach will serve as supervisor, such as: Rowing, Fencing, Gymnastics, Yoga, Tai chi, Martial Arts (Kendo, Karate, Judo...), Dance (e.g. dance and cheer group)
Option 3: Elective gym class: With the addition of elective classes that can count for CAS, plan a reasonable goal with a sponsoring elective gym teacher and complete hours within that class.
Option 4: Physical Therapy: For students who are injured or suffering from a medical condition that causes pain, or students who have undergone surgery, physical therapy is an excellent option for CAS hours because it is challenging in its own right. Please use your physical therapist as a supervisor for your progress.
Option 5: Occasionally during the process of other CAS events, a small number of hours can justifiably be counted toward activity because they are so physically taxing. Examples include the following: planting trees or flowers as part of a beautification project, hiking or backpacking (not with family), a car wash fundraiser, powderpuff participation, running in a fundraising triathlon (with newspaper documentation of your name), and so on. Please note that this option may earn some students a few hours but is not generally considered a method to attain the required 50 hours of Activity.
Service
Under the new CAS handbook guidelines, CAS Service falls into one of four categories:
1. Direct service: Student interaction involves people, the environment or animals. For example, this can appear as one-on-one tutoring, volunteering at a nursing home/hospital/elementary school, or working at an animal shelter. All UAIS students are encouraged to have at least one direct service experience, as direct contact provides students with the most meaningful of service experiences and often becomes a story that can be expounded upon in college application essays. Other examples include:
Model for the GLK-UAIS Fashion Show (30 hours)
Volunteer at local elementary schools' SACC programs
Setting up for and participating in school-related program, orientations, and assemblies
Providing free tutoring to elementary, junior-high, or high school students
Running or helping out with a blood bank
Volunteering on election days at polling locations
Habitat for Humanity
Volunteering at a senior living facility
Volunteering at any number of UCS elementary schools for after-school fairs, projects, and activities
Coaching younger athletes
Organizing a series of Gleaners food bank volunteering opportunities for students
Organizing a Kids Against Hunger event
Volunteering or planning freshman orientation at UAIS
Volunteering at UCS sponsored evening events (UCS Career Expo or UCS College Night)
Becoming a Key Club or NHS officer
Volunteering at a local animal shelter
Sponsoring a Christmas party at an elementary school
Volunteering at a soup kitchen
Organizing Thanksgiving baskets for the needy
Surveying a grade or the entire school on a topic of cultural importance and presenting your findings to adminstration
Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (MCREST)
Teaching a musical instrument or foreign language to younger children
2. Indirect service: Though students do not see the recipients of indirect service, they have verified their actions will benefit the community or environment. For example, this can appear as re-designing a non-profit organization's website, conducting a beautification project at a local park, or fundraising supplies or a monetary donation to a local or international organization. Students should conduct proper research to determine if a community need exists for an indirect service project, such as a fundraising campaign. Other examples include:
Canned food donations and delivery
Clothing, stuffed animal, school supply, US soldier, or book drives
Cleaning up or planting flowers at a local park
Taking a CPR class and becoming certified
Running the UAIS dodgeball tournament to raise money for freshman orientation
Completing an Eagle Scout project
Strategically organizing a group bottle drive to raise funds to support a UAIS department
Raising money for and participating in an activity event to raise money for a cause (Relay for Life, 3-Day Cancer Walk)
3. Advocacy: Students speak on behalf of a cause or concern to promote action on an issue of public interest. For example, this may appear as initiating an awareness campaign on hunger, presenting a PowerPoint to a group of students to inform them of an important issue, or creating a video on sustainable water solutions. Students need to recognized that advocacy is often a necessary step on the part of a CAS project to encourage direct or indirect service. Other examples include:
Bringing in a guest speaker to a class or club to speak on an important issue
Organizing a presentation to a group of students on an important issue to you or one related to class curricula
Joining and working with Amnesty International
Encouraging your local community to (register to) vote in an upcoming election
Writing letters to local, state or international representatives regarding legislation or policy
Speaking at a local organization or charity event in support of an important issue
Creating engaging posters, videos, and websites that you can demonstrate as
Recruiting Relay for Life teams in your community
Projects/tasks within a student leadership committee: Student Senate, Student Advisory Board, Student Voice Committee, or Superintendent's Advisory Board
4. Research: Students collect information through varied sources, analyze data, and report on a topic of importance to influence policy or practice. For example, they may conduct environmental surveys to influence their school, contribute to a study of animal migration, compile effective means to reduce litter in public places, conducting social research by interviewing people on topics such as homelessness, unemployment and isolation. All students looking to fundraise for an organization must perform diligent research to verify that the organization is authentic and will utilize any funds for the purpose they claim. Students should also note that data collection that is not followed by an attempt to change policy or practice does not constitute CAS. Other examples include:
Researching a critical issue as part of designed advocacy presentation for a club, grade, or other event
Organizing, collecting and summarizing plus-delta surveys from classroom teachers to present ideas for change
Collecting student data on SurveyMonkey, Naviance or other survey form to effect change within our school
Designing a fundraiser for the art/music/science department based on a meeting with staff to compile a wish list
Working alongside IB diploma candidates in an elective class to design a survey that benefits the local community
Keep in mind that one of your CAS project is not required to but most likely involve some type of service. This aspect of CAS may be the single most important one to your college applications, as universities are extremely interested in how well you reach out in the community in which you live as a predictor of your potential value to theirs in the future. Being part of NHS, Student Senate, Student Advisory Board, or Key Club will provide you with some of these opportunities automatically, if you are stuck on ideas. If you need help fundraising to complete your project, please see Mr. Spear for help and ideas, which can come from either Key Club or grants and in-house scholarships here at UAIS.
CAS Experiences That Satisfy Multiple CAS Strands
By nature, many CAS experiences and projects extend into two strands of the CAS requirements, and the benefits of proposing and completing these experiences and projects are obvious. It means that students need to worry about a fewer number of CAS projects and can focus on deeper, more elaborate, and more impressive ones that may allow for deeper reflection, intrinsic value, and even college application benefits.
However, students should note that when they propose a project that is both creative and service-oriented in nature, they may not double-up on hours for both categories. If the total project, for example, takes roughly 20 hours, the student cannot count 20 hours of creativity AND service. The student may split them as he/she wishes, however.
Examples of CAS experiences and projects that meet two or three of the CAS requirements:
In the School Community...
Teaching children how to swim (activity, service)
Coaching/managing a sports team (activity, service)
Teaching a Catechism class (creativity, service)
Writing for a school newspaper (creativity, possibly service)
Organize a ropes course event with current or new students to build trust (creativity, activity)
In the Local Community...
Working with abandoned children to paint murals in their care institution (creativity, service)
Teaching a language to recently arrived immigrant children (creativity, service)
Exchanging artistic or musical skills with other students in a local school (creativity, service)
Adopting a local highway (activity, service)
Leading a hiking expedition (activity, service)
Organizing a “Walkathon” to raise money for guide dogs for people who are blind (creativity, activity, service)
Working at Coldstone Creamery to raise funds for a local charity (creativity, service)
Kiwanis-sponsored youth group at a local school
Participating in DCON for Key Club (creativity, service)
Singing Christmas carols at a local nursing home (creativity, service)
At the International Level...
Organizing student participation and raising funds for the Model United Nations (creativity, service)
Finding another group of IB students in a IB World School to work jointly on a developed project (creativity, service)
Raisings funds for Amnesty International/ Greenpeace/ World Wide Fund of Nature/ other such international organizations (creativity, service)
Providing a water supply in a village for leprosy patients (creativity, activity, service)
Assisting victims of natural disasters (creativity, activity, service)
Raising funds for and traveling to another country for an on-site project (creativity, activity, service)
Providing gift baskets to US military troops serving in the armed forces abroad (creativity, service)