By Jaime Pérez Merino
Student of Prepa IB of the Universidad de Celaya
4th semester - June 2022
Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) is one of the three core elements that all IB students must complete as part of the IB Diploma Programme (DP); you can also identify it as a subject that is at the heart of the IB Diploma Programme along with two other subjects: Theory of Knowledge(TOK ) and Extended Essay (EE).
With this article I intend to present you the reasons why it is worth being an IB student thanks to the benefits that CAS gives you or, as some young people describe it, the best bit of the IB Diploma... read on and I'll tell you more !
We can describe CAS as a subject that motivates young students, like you and me, to show initiative, perseverance and to develop collaboration, problem solving and decision making skills; it helps us to live new experiences. In my case, I can tell you that I have had the advantage of discovering how important it is to recycle oil, since it is very harmful to the environment; I have also made a vegetable garden at home, which has allowed me to discover skills that I did not know I had and I was able to acquire new knowledge about the growth cycle of a plant, an experience that gave me the responsibility of care and monitoring. These two CAS activities that I give you as an example, did not take me one or two months to complete, but took me at least six months during which I learned about the responsibility of giving continuity to a project and also taught me to be persevering in order to achieve a more real learning based on experience.
Experiential learning supports personal and interpersonal development, while fostering important skills, such as: critical and abstract thinking, memory, stress management, etc... and social competencies, such as: communication, active listening, cordiality or friendliness, which positively shape and enrich IB students.
But to understand CAS from its formal definition, let's start from the fact that it is divided into three areas, Creativity, Activity and Service:
Creativity: refers to the exploration and expansion of ideas that lead to an original or interpretive product or performance. You can learn to play a musical instrument, for example.
Activity: has to do with physical exertion that contributes to a healthy lifestyle. You can practice the sport of your choice.
Service: it is related to the collaborative and reciprocal participation with the community in response to a real need. You can help foundations, homes or any civil association.
Having the CAS subject gives IB Diploma Programme students benefits for life, even after university... Yes, you read that right! these will last forever and I list them below:
- It gives a practical sense to those who do not have a theoretical or scientific point of comparison.
- It leads to self-knowledge.
- It may exceed the logical.
Every IB Diploma Programme student must do both CAS projects and live CAS experiences, because experiences are individual, and projects are in teams. Both experiences and projects help us to be inquirers, bold, collaborative and informed. The experiences you choose can be of any CAS letter, but the projects are obligatorily of Service and some other letter, but the benefits will be the same. For example, an experience can be to learn to knit and a project would be to make a collection of clothes to donate to a specific place.
Benefits of CAS
With the time I have spent in the IB Diploma Program, I can share with you the following benefits that I value from my personal experience and that I have acquired through the CAS subject matter or even skills that I have strengthened through the work I have put into my experiences and projects as an IB student:
- You choose what you want to do, because the teacher gives you ideas about experiences, but in the end you are the one who decides what you want to work on, what your goals will be and, ultimately, how you want to leave your mark on the world, making it a better place.
- It allows you to improve skills, such as: perseverance, self-management, collaborative work, creativity, etc...
- It de-stresses and inspires you.
- It allows you to live new experiences; for example, you can go to do community work at a home or a nursing home, and learn what they do there and how you can help them achieve their goals.
- You organize your own time, working hours are up to you.
- Freedom, because you decide the days on which you want to carry out your CAS responsibilities.
- Independence, since the teacher gives you the forms to fill out, but you are the one who does the work; that is, the teacher only guides you if you feel confused, but you advance at your own pace.
- Reflection on your actions; for example, you realize the global impact that some products you consume or use in your daily life can have.
- You develop communication skills, collaboration and trust.
- You get out of your comfort zone, because you go out into the real world and learn based on experimentation, rather than just based on theory.
- It is challenging and rewarding.
- Personal development, because you know yourself better, as you improve your own qualities, such as empathy and leadership.
CAS makes you reflect on your impact on society
During the CAS course, all IB students must complete a portfolio with both evidence and reflections that demonstrate their work in this program that they develop during the semester.
In addition, you can make your blogs in different ways; for example, I write poems when I write my blogs, other colleagues make stories with morals and even some make works of art (draw or paint), the important thing is to reflect on how you are leaving your mark on your community through your actions, but the format in which you do it is your decision.
Ideas for experiences/projects you can do at CAS
Now I would like to share with you some ideas of CAS projects and/or experiences if you are considering becoming a high performance IB student, hoping they will be very useful for you when it is your turn to live the experience:
In the field of Creativity, you can do activities such as:
- Learning to cook or bake
- Learning to play a musical instrument
- Making a magazine
- Writing and illustrating a children's book
- Writing a cookbook
- Drawing or painting
- Create a blog
- Writing a novel or short story
- Create a travel vlog
- Making a stop motion video
- Learning to apply make-up
- Make your own jigsaw puzzle
- Create your own jewelry
- Learning a choreography
- Learning to dance a style of music
And any other activity that you can think of that can benefit the community; have you already done any service activity in which you seek to benefit the common good? How have you felt about this type of experience?
Undoubtedly, the great advantage of CAS is that it will allow you to discover and understand your own competencies (skills, knowledge and attitudes), enhance them and put them at the service of others to make the difference you want to see in the world; see why some call it the best bit of the IB Diploma? Because from your passions, hobbies and love for helping others you have the opportunity to leave an important mark in your environment. Being IB is worth it!
If you are interested in receiving more information about the IB Diploma Program at the University of Celaya, please contact us at https://www.udec.edu.mx/prepa–uni/ or to answer any questions or concerns that you or your parents may have about this program, please feel free to contact the IB Diploma Program Coordinator at Uni de Celaya: Alejandra Núñez via email at: alenugo@udec.edu.mx or by phone +52 (461) 613 90 99 Ext. 1411.
Bibliographic References
CAS project guidance. (2014, October 24). International Baccalaureate®.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject synopsis (n. d.). Retrieved February 2, 2023, from.
IB Revising (2020, February 17). 100 CAS Ideas (from past IB Students) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnBUy9M2uVE
Why choose IB: 10 reasons to study the International Baccalaureate diploma in high school (2020, December 22). EF Blog Mexico.
Education, E. D. E. E. E. (2022, November 14). Definition and benefits of experiential learning. VIU. https://www.universidadviu.com/co/actualidad/nuestrosexperts/definition–And–benefits–from–apprenticeship–experiential Juan, D. S. (n. d.). Empirical knowledge - Revista Cero Grados. https://0grados.com/conocimiento–empirical/