CERTIFIED PADI OPEN WATER DIVER

The Scuba Diving course is finally completed, with in total three pool training sessions and four ocean dives taking place over two days. The course took longer than expected and should've been completed before the winter holidays, but due to some delay I was only able to complete it January 19th, 2014. The first trip to the ocean was quite nerve wrecking But i knew I had to be more open minded  about how far I wanted to stretch my comfort zone while I have all these great opportunities available to me. By the second dive I felt more comfortable working with the equipment underwater and being able to handle the breathing and buoyancy control under water. There were so many beautiful corals and fish to see on the reef that I got inspired to get more involved with programs working to save coral reefs. The day was tiring but I felt accomplished. After doing the first two dives in the ocean we were required to take the written task which was made up of 50 multiple choice questions purely based on your knowledge.  The questions included knowledge about the equipment, safety regulations, physics factors underwater and finally calculations for breathing time and oxygen control under water. I passed this test on my first try and felt very comfortable with the knowledge I gained. 
The 3rd and 4th dives were much easier in my opinion because I was more experienced at this point. I was able to put my equipment together with no difficulties and successfully complete the dives receiving my open water diving certificate.
After each dive the diver is required to fill out a dive log based on the water conditions, the sights seen and much more. This gives the diver a chance to reflect on the dive and be able to determine what knowledge was gained and what new things there are to explore for future dives. 
I look forward to being able to go diving in different countries and being able to see new beautiful coral reefs and sea creatures such as those in the Maldives and in Jamaica. 

Creativity, Action, Service: Semester 2 Goals

Semester 2 Academic Goals:

The goal that I have been striving for continuously is to be able to raise my grade point average to be able to receive the honor roll. I have only been off by 1 point for both the intern report card and the first semester report card. After the intern report card, having received a 4 in economics, I was determined to work harder and improve my grade. I was able to achieve this at the end of the first semester and manage to have a report card fully of 5s and 6s. Although I improved the grade that was keeping me from achieving my goal, I also went down in spanish from a 6 to a 5, which i was very disappointed about. But I know that that was my own fault for slacking off and that I need to get back on top of things to ensure that my organization and work is top notch. 

Because of this, my goal academically for semester 2 is to be able to maintain my 5 in economics, bring up my 5 in spanish and hopefully either maintain or improve my other subject grades as well. 

Creativity Goals:

I have realized that most of the activities and programs I am involved in don't focus much on creativity. Though I have my Gecko Inc service leadership to account for the creativity aspect of cas, I would also like to do more activities to try and get more creative. I have two ideas that will help me achieve this. One of them being volunteering to be a part of the SAISA Badminton event crew in april. I have been part of the event crew for track and field a previous year and got a lot of different responsibilities for managing the event and making sketches of certain ceremonies or layouts. I think that another opportunity like this will definitely get me more involved in creativity. 

Another idea I had, which I am not sure I will be able to achieve before next year was to start my own after school activity. I know that a lot of primary school students are interested in tumbling and gymnastics, and me having done gymnastics for 7 years have the basic skills and knowledge to be able to teach young kids basic skills as well. My idea was to have this activity once a week for an hour. Planning out lessons and completing the class could definitely give me more creativity aspects. Not only that but it would help me be able to improve my leadership skills and communicate with children not of my age group in a caring but helpful way. Hopefully I will be able to pursue this next year. 

Action Goals: 

I will not be able to be involved in any SAISAs this semester due to many different injuries and health problems, but in order to continue physical activity, I have planned to go for swim trainings once or twice a week. I would train by myself but this would be able to keep up my fitness as well as prepare me for the next SAISA swimming in august. Mr Janaka and  Stanley who work at the pool would supervise this. 

Another action goal I have for myself is to regularly attend a gym and get a trainer to help me get in shape. I have already got a membership to "Lifetime Fitness" In thalawatugoda and I will try to get 2 hour sessions after school once or twice a week. There will be a trainer there to supervise my activity and progress over this semester. 

Service Goals:

The trip for my Gecko Inc service group is coming up soon and I hope to take that opportunity to step up as a leader to ensure that the trip is a success and that we make a positive contribution to the local community up North. I also want to try and get the members of the service group more involved by getting involved with some local schools here in colombo before the trip. This will give them a chance to practice their communication skills and hopefully they'll be able to reflect and improve in a way that the trip will be beneficial to them and the kids we will be working with. I know that the service group hasn't had a clear goal so far because the trip had been so far away but we are slowly working towards defining a clear goal not only for the trip but for the preparation time as well.