Haunted Halloween Fundraiser



The Canteen

Basically, the Haunted Halloween Fundraiser was a Halloween "party" for elementary kids were they could come and participate in activities such as cookie-decorating, pumpkin weight guessing, a haunted maze, etc. for a couple of hours. The entrance fee was a simple donation that would go towards the orphanage (our CAS goal for the year). Considering all the parts that went into this event, I believe it was both the Creativity and Service part of CAS. Creativity was found in creating halloween-themed events appropriate for young children, and Service is, of course, taking into account all the time we spent; not only for the actual event, but for organizing, setting up, taking down, etc.

Cross-Country Running

Having been part of the Westwood's cross-country team for the past 3 years, I am rather familiar with how it is organized and run for the most part. However, at the same time, the short season (September to mid-October) and unpredictability of the weather always makes for a new and different experience each year. During my JV seasons, for example, my coach had been Ms. Beachell, and I had always been able to easily make 3 practices (or more) a week and all of the meets. However, this year, many changes were abound. With Ms. Beachell leaving Westwood Collegiate, our new coach became Mr. Sdrolias. Everyone who is familiar with him knows that he loves to push students to (and often, past) their limits in order to reach maximum performance. Knowing this, I entered this season tentative yet eager for this new change in pace. What I hadn't counted on was the demanding courseload of IB. Admittedly, in the past I have been a student to miss many classes due to numerous extracurricular events. I always justified that since I maintained good grades as well as had reliable friends to catch me up it would be no problem to miss class time.

Enter a full Grade 11 IB courseload.


2009 Provincials

Watershed Project at Sturgeon Creek

Our first painted tree...with love.

This past Thursday, a group of Gr. 11 IB students tagged along on a Gr. 12 Bio field trip. Our purpose? To clean up Sturgeon Creek and prepare it for the looming autumn/winter months. Our tasks included protecting trees from beavers by covering them by stucco wire or paint, picking up garbage, and pulling out thistle bushes that tend to grow wild along the creek. Needless to say, it was day filled with humbling work for everybody involved. This project actually spans beyond the day that our group helped out, but our part was only  for October 7  from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. It included the "Action" and "Service" part of CAS, since lots of physical labor was involved (see: pulling out thistle bushes, etc.) and it was a voluntarily missed day of school. Though of course, it was hardly something to complain about.

Welcome! A nudge in the right direction...

Welcome to my CAS blog!
I've already been debating for a while now about becoming a 'blogger'. I'm so sentimental in that I've always loved the idea of having my spur-of-the-moment thoughts recorded for future references. With that said, however, being a procrastinator definitely doesn't help my cause. I've already thrown around ideas for blogs about my lovely kitchen adventures (otherwise known as experimental baking), or even just the random ramblings that I'm known for. These obviously never turned into something tangible. Turns out, it's a school requirement that gets me to create this account. Not that I'm complaining...
So, get ready for posts that revolve around my experiences within and around the community. I enjoy experiencing different things, so you can probably count on a diverse set of activities. I'm a person who volunteers not only to complete hours, but to be able to know that for that certain amount of time, be it one hour or one day, I was able to help and make a difference.