This is Who I Am

My, what a week!! So many activities, games, and practices, I can't even seem to keep up with my own life! However, a busy schedule is, apparently, not a good excuse to temporarily cease reflecting on my experiences with CAS... Which, if we're being honest, is somewhat silly. Today, because I feel like deviating from the set template of talking about one of the eight learning outcomes, I am going to talk some about my favorite subject this week: cheerleading!!! There will be many wonderful videos, pictures, and loveliness in the future, so keep reading!!

Firstly, if you think cheerleading is not a sport, you are drunk on stereotypes and garbage, and you should go home. Cheerleading accounts for more than 2/3 of catastrophic injuries in women under the age of 21, and accounts for 9 deaths a year on average. Cheerleading is not like the NFL, where ladies in skimpy outfits dance all over the football field. We, the real, all-star and competitive cheerleaders, throw girls twenty feet in the air like it's no big deal, lift girls by one foot, then proceed to toss them in the air and catch the other foot, and tumble like the bad-asses we are. Let me tell you, a double full is not easy, and I doubt many of you could just throw a standing back tuck on the fly. So, if you are going to judge the holy grail that is competitive cheerleading, let me stop you right now by saying that you are wrong (unless, of course, your judgement involves cheerleaders being bad-ass).

With that rant, completed, we can now enter into the fun part of this deviation post. First: stunting. Stunting is possibly the most fun thing ever, in the history of the world. Also, making up pyramids on the fly is really fun. Pyramids in general are quite fun. This is one of my favorite routines from Youtube, and their pyramid is the bomb!! These are the California All-Stars Bullets, everyone!! Enjoy!

Pretty rad, aren't they?? I thought so, too!! You know what else is amazing about cheerleading?? Tumbling, that;s what!! I swear, there's nothing that gives quite the same rush as tumbling!! So, in the spirit of sharing my cheerleading feelings with you, this is a pretty rad video of awesome tumbling! Also, I decided that this video should include some great stunts as well :) Have fun watching! 

That's all the ranting I have for cheerleading today :) I think I have successfully elucidated the most amazing and wonderful phenomenon that is cheerleading!!

Have a wonderful day, and more reflections are a-comin'!! 

Jordy

Flipping Out

Considering that I am cheering at a basketball game tonight, I decided that in the spirit of being an amazing cheerleader, I would talk about my cheerleading experience today. Firstly, cheerleading stopped being something I simply "do" a very, very long time ago. After my second season, I became a cheerleader. Fundamentally, cheerleading is an integral part of who I am, is a basic part of my being. I'm 95% sure that if someone were to examine my cells, they would find tiny cheer shoes and bows instead of ribosomes and mitochondria. So, for me, this "action" (as defined by the all-mighty IB Gods), defines me. 

As such, I've spent many, many hours doing cheer, and have consequently completed a few of the target "learning outcomes" set by the IB. In fact, I have completed six of the eight learning outcomes through cheerleading. However, my time is limited. This means that, rather than forcing anyone to sit through a massive, hugely boring post, I will only talk about learning outcome number 8, "develop new skills." 

As is expected for someone who has participated in the same sport for almost 9 years, my skills have greatly improved over the years. Recently, however, I gained a skill that I have been reaching for since I was about twelve. This skill: the standing back tuck. For those of you not familiar with cheerleading/gymnastics jargon, a back tuck is one of these: 

They are extremely difficult to do, mostly because there is no momentum behind the trick, meaning that it can take a very long time for a cheerleader to achieve this goal, even after they have a round-off back tuck (unless they are male, in which case they just throw the back tuck and get it on the first try, which is really annoying). For me, developing this skill was a huge accomplishment. I had been trying for years to do it, and finally doing the trick without a spot (someone helping) made me so immensely happy. There is really no feeling  I have ever had to compare to actually doing the trick for the first time by myself. It's probably something like acing a really hard test, skydiving, and facing a charging lion, all combined into one gigantic feeling of euphoria. 

So, cheer has allowed me to develop new skills. And it's freaking amazing. And, for now, I think that's all I have to say on the matter. Hard work and perseverance matter, people!! six years after starting to work on this skill, I finally did it!! (although, that video up there is not me... I'll add one here in a few weeks). 

Keep working towards your dreams!!

Jordy

Won't You Stand Up and Use Your Voice?

After a long and rather arduous month of testing, project-ing, and most certainly not sleeping, I decided to take a break from talking about CAS, and instead I slept and skied in the wonderful Rocky Mountains. It was lovely, thank you for asking!

As I pondered my existence while riding down the mountain on my skis (actually, I didn't do that, but it sounds like something I might do eventually), I decided that my next post about CAS would involve creativity, mostly my affinity for singing and music in general.

While I am no Bach or Mozart, and I certainly have forgotten the rudimentary knowledge of music reading that I was once taught in middle school, I really enjoy partaking in musical events. Now, dearest IB Gods, I know you want to ask me something along the lines of, "But what learning outcomes have you achieved through singing?" However, rather than answer that question, I'm going to begin with why I love music so much. This is my blog/CAS project, and I shall do as I wish.

Music, to me, is something universal that transcends culture, race, or language. Mood can be determined from the beat and sound of a song, from the way the artist chooses to meld certain instruments and vocal ranges into one cohesive unit. Also, I can definitively say with one hundred percent certainty that there is a song somewhere out in the world for quite literally every mood, life event, and personality type on the planet. No matter what happens to me in my daily life, I know I can go home and find a song somewhere that will either mirror my mood, make me feel better, or some combination of the two. In this way, music is like therapy. I can always return to my favorite song when everything else in my life seems to be falling apart.

Now, for the first of what may be many (or few) learning experiences related to music. In my specific case, my musical talent is concentrated in singing, which I started doing in a performance setting two years ago. One of the learning outcomes I feel I have really hit on for this activity (Creativity, in case any of you IB Gods got lost in my rant) has been Objective 2, Undertaking New Challenges.

Before I started singing in a public setting, I had never, ever before thought to sing on stage in front of an audience. Even during the brief period of time when I participated in organized religion, I would not participate in the choir or any other singing group. The prospect was simply daunting. Then, one day during my sophomore year, I decided to participate in the talent show my National Honor Society hosts every spring. I auditioned, made it into the show, and I suppose the rest is history. Now I do the same show every spring, and occasionally will try out for something else just to make sure I'm trying new things regarding singing, and with the secret childish hope that an obscure record label will be in the audience and will think I'm brilliant and sign me to their label. But, that hasn't happened (yet!). All in all, singing really has brought me out of my shell and forced me to try something new every once in a blue moon, while still allowing me to hide in my shell when I need a moment to myself.

I suppose that's all for now! Get some sleep, and make sure to work off all those extra calories from the holidays!!!
Jordy

Onward and Upward

Today in Invisible Children (if curiosity of what Invisible Children is totally overcomes your mind, visit the link to the right, their website will enlighten you), I began the arduous process of enticing young freshman minds to join us in our quest to save the world (a naive and romantic notion, I know). Since this presented such a wonderful opportunity for me to think on my journey through the club over the last four years, I decided to write my carefully thought out and obviously well done reflection here, as an attempt to further my CAS experience.

I've often thought how I have grown because of my extensive participation in Invisible Children, and the first realization that came to me as I was intently watching the hugely inspirational informational video was that I would never have become so involved in service activities (one of three required types of activities , if I had not been a complete and total loner for almost the entirety of my freshman year. In joining Invisible Children, I may have completely defined the series of events in the next four years of my life. Over the last two years, I have truly taken a leadership role, and watched as I traveled the roads of the many of the learning objectives as set down by the IB Gods.

One such learning objective - plan and initiate activities - was one of the more expected learning objectives related to Invisible Children. To be honest, the majority of the activities we do require an immense amount of planning and initiation. As much as we would like all the cards to fall into place without outside help, gargantuan book drives and fundraisers with immense goals will not and can not organize themselves, so we must do the work to see our ideas come to fruition. However, the most impressive activity I helped to bring to life was the teacher exchange we participated in last year. We raised more than $2,000 in less than three months to fund the travel and lodging for a Ugandan teacher to spend two weeks in the US! Impressive, I know! In that activity, I learned that even in the face of insurmountable challenges, it is possible to break the metaphorical brick walls facing us and reach a goal which can benefit the greater good of the world.

Overall, my experience in Invisible Children has greatly influenced how I approach a planning situation in that I now have excellent planning and organizing skills, and I am extremely adept at coming up with ideas which, while original and fun, are also attainable ideas that can be organized in steps, without a last-minute rush to complete the set-up for a fundraiser, event, or whatever else I might be planning. In some ways, Invisible Children is probably the most rewarding and fun activity I do, because while I learn valuable life skills, I also participate in something I'm truly passionate about, which I think is something not many people have the ability to boast about.

For now, that is all I have to share with you as I travel this arduously long reflection process we call CAS.

May your day be filled with unicorns and rainbows!!!! :)
Jordy

From Small Beginnings Come Great Things

As I reach the end of my time in the International Baccalaureate Program, I find myself wanting to do more than a standard, run-of-the-mill essay to reflect upon and evaluate my time executing creativity, action, and service (CAS). And with that, I have decided to post my experiences here, on the internet, so all who choose to enter these slightly questionable and most certainly certifiably insane pages may travel the journey of CAS with me, and hopefully stay beyond these few months of quiet reflection and into the great unknown that is the future. With that, the journey into deep thoughts, fond memories, and many posts begins here.

As per the directions from the higher beings (the faceless people myself and others in the IB so fondly call the "IB Gods," hereafter named so), I will spend my time here reflecting on how my time in the IB has allowed me to increase awareness of my strengths and areas of growth, undertake new challenges, plan and initiate activities, work collaboratively with others, show perseverance and commitment in my activities, engage with issues of global importance, consider the ethical implications of my actions, and finally, develop new skills. These eight points, from here on to be known as "learning outcomes," (or "lobster outfits," depending on whether I happen to be in an especially sarcastic or humorous mood) will be the focus of my impending reflections.

At this time, you have been briefed to the extent which your security clearance will allow. To gain a higher level of clearance, I suggest a hot cup of tea, cocoa, or coffee, and a few chapters of a nice book. Then, we will discuss a higher security clearance.

Until then,
Jordy