Raina's CAS Portfolio

CAS PORTFOLIO

Panisra (Raina) Sakulsacha

As a brief introduction, my name is Raina and I am an aspiring veterinarian. Some of my hobbies include making art, baking and horse-riding. My core values consist of family, balance, positivity and kindness.

Creativity

Activity

Service

CAS Project

Creativity #1

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.

2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

In June 2022, I decided to try and expand my artwork by trying a different style. Since I already know the basics and feel that I have a strong base, I tried to create more original artwork. This challenged me as it was hard to come up with new designs and it was difficult to convey my ideas onto paper. Through this experience I learned that the techniques involved in art, such as shading come easy to me, but creating new pieces by myself was difficult. I think that by trying to come up with my own ideas, I have further developed my creativity and art skills.

Creativity #2

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.

In March 2022, I joined the LOL club (Love Ocean Life club) with my friends and found that the club was still starting to build its brand and name, so we thought of designing a t-shirt for the club. We believed that by making these we could help promote the club and influence more people to join. We planned how many designs, colours and type of shirts we were going to make before starting the initial design and then worked on it together in our free time after school. Through this experience I was able to appreciate and acknowledge the benefits of collaborating with others. As, when working as a group, we were able to come up with more ideas were more open-mided about different suggestions made. We were able to adapt to outside critisim and change the designs accordingly so that it was more appealling to our targeted audience. Overall, this was a fun experience for me and my group as we got to express our creativity and explore different opinions while being open-minded.

Baking

Baking has been one of my hobbies for four years and during this CAS experience I was able to try new recipes and techniques. I baked a cake and eclairs for my grandparents anniversary on 9th May 2021.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

In May 2021, I baked a cake and some chocolate eclairs for my grabdparents 50th anniversary. I did this as we were still in quarentine and couldn't go out to celebrate like we normally do. I planned ahead as baking a cake takes a lot of time and from my past experiences I have learnt that it needs time to cool down before I can start decorating. I was able to coordinate the cooking times of both desserts so that I could finish them in time. Through this experience I was able to improve on my previous baking skills and learn new recipes, such as eclairs. I was able to see where my weaknesses were and where I would usually go wrong and this helped me to develop my abilities further.

Activity #1

I started horseback riding when I was 12 and I found it to be very calming and a great stress-relieving sport. In June 2021, I started training for horse riding competitions.

Horseback-riding

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.

2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

In June 2021, I started training for a horse riding competition and throughout this experience, I learned a lot. I was already able to do the basics, so I started learning new skills such as the sidepass which is when the horse walks sideways. It was a challenge to learn and be able to do the new techniques as it took time and perseverance to slowly be able to control the horse's movement. I fell off the horse a few times but was able to keep moving forward and I learnt from my mistakes so that I wouldn't fall off again. From this experience I realized that I still have more to learn in this sport and that I want to keep doing it.

Activity #2

Thai-Sikh Marathon

In February 2023, my family an I ran in the annual Thai-Sikh marathon. It is a 10 kilometre run and we go every year. This activity is something that our family loves to do together.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

In February 2023, my family and I ran in the Thai-Sikh marathon. It was 10 km long as it was a challenge for us as the event hadn't been held in two years due to the pandemic, so we haven't run that far in a long time. Although it was challenging, it was also fun to run along side the whole family as we don't get to do activities together very often. We were able to complete to entire 10 km and it felt very rewarding. I think that some skills that we developed during this experience would be positive thinking and perseverance.

Activity #3

Sand surfing in Australia

In 2022, we went to Australia and was able to do many activities, one of them was sand surfing. This was our first time doing this activity and it was an interesting experience.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

In July 2022, my family and I went to Australia and we got to do some new activities that we haven't tried before. Sand surfing was very fun activity as we got to slide down a hill of sand. At first we all laid down on the board so that we wouldn't fall off, but as we kept doing it we tried to slide down while standing. This was difficult as we had to be able to keep our balance otherwise we would fall. Although most of us couldn't do it while standing, it was still fun and exciting. To be able to get up to the top of the hill of sand to start sliding down, we had to work together as it was hard for some of the older members of our family to get up by themselves. By doing this it made me feel good and happy that they also got to enjoy the experience and that we were able to help make that possible for them.

Service #1

Volunteer at Vaisakhi Mela

Vaisakhi Mela is a festival usually celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs. This event was held on 28th March 2021 in emquatier. My cousins and I volunteered to help set up and handle performances and booths in this event.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

In March 2021, a Vaisakhi Mela festival was held in the emquatier shopping centre. My cousins and I volunteered to help set everything up as well as monitor the performances and food booths. We planned the itinerary for the event and was able to find other volunteers to help us control the event. It was easier to have a group to work with as it would have been too overwhelming to do by myself, as there were a lot of details that needed to be taken care of. Working collaboratively also allowed us to gather more resources to make this a memorable event.

Service #2

Baking for an Orphanage

In November 2020 when everyone was quarantined, I baked 100 cupcakes for a local orphanage. During that time they were very affected by the pandemic and I wanted to help lift their spirits.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

In November 2020, I had the opportunity to bake 100 cupcakes for a local orphanage. As I already knew approximately how long it would take to bake one batch, I decided to plan ahead and start baking a day earlier. It took me two whole days to complete 100 cupcakes as well as decorate them. It was tiring, but after finishing them I felt very proud and accomplished. It also felt good to know that the cupcakes I made could potentially help lift the spirits fo the kids in the orphanage. During the pandemic local orphanages suffered a lot and this was one of the ways I was able to help.

Service #3

Sending food to orphanage

In February 2022, my family and I sent some food to an orphanage that we usually visit every year. We weren't able to go that year so we decided to send some food instead.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

In February 2022, my family and I wanted to help and support an orphanage, so we sent some food to them. We planned the different things each person in the family could make or buy. By working together we were able to provide one weeks worth of food. It was easy to collaborate with my own family as it was easy to communicate and discuss the various details. A lot of orphanages were low on supplies especially at the time of the pandemic, so we felt that we should try and help in any way possible.

CAS Project

I went on a veterinary volunteer trip to Chiang Mai during the summer of 2022.

Youtube Video

It was a program created by a company called Loop Abroad and it has various veterinary volunteer programs.

Investigation

In the summer of 2022, I researched anout opportunities for pre-vets. I wanted to experience and learn more about being a vet, so that I could determine if I really wanted to go into this field.

Preparation

I prepared all my medical documents for the trip as they needed to have them before I could join the program. I read about people's previous experiences on the trip and was able to get an idea of what I was going to be doing. It also helped me pack the essentials that I knew I would need.

Action

First, we went to the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. There we got to help out in walking the disabled dogs, observing and investigating the elephants diet, injections for the elephants as well and cleaning the elephants. We stayed there for a week and was taught a lot aboubt elephants and large animals in general. The second week we went to a local dog rescue clinic. We were able to learn about administering IVs, injections, blood withdrawal and got to practice suturing. We learnt how to calculate the drip rate needed for surgery and the concentration of anaesthesia needed for each animal. We also got to assist in 4 surgeries, where we took turns (in groups) administrating the anaesthesia and taking part in the surgery itself.

Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

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2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

This was an amazing and very beneficial experience for me as I made me more confident in my decision to pursue veterinary science. By going on this trip I learned a lot about the veterinary field and about people from other countries and cultures. I met new people from the US, UK and from Spain. We were a part of the same program group so we got to work together on various activities during the trip. By working collaboratively we were able to share ideas and opinions on various subjects and topics. During the trip I learnt a lot of new skills including suturing, inserting IVs, giving injections, monitoring anaesthesia during surgery etc. Overall it was an incredible and unforgettable experience.