International Baccelorate Diploma Programme (IBDP) students in addition to their rigorous academic schedule participate in CAS. CAS stands for Creativity Activity and Service. A core tenet of the IBDP is to be globally-minded citizens and seek out opportunities to serve their communities and the world. Last school year, diploma students met with a representative from the Swiss branch of SOS Kinderdorf, who is also a former ISSH Drama and German teacher, Mr. Marc Kempe. He explained the SOS Kinderdorf global mission and the different groups that the Swiss branch supports and invited the students to plan an event to support this cause. The students chose to focus on a vocational programme in Lesotho, South Africa for teenagers and began discussing ideas to raise awareness and funds. The decision was made to plan and organize a Charity Fun Run, based on the success of this kind of event in previous years. DP scholarship student, Ms. Thi Ngoc Anh Ha (Madeline) who had worked with SOS Kinderdorf in Vietnam and has a passion for supporting young people to reach their full academic potential, took on the role of project manager.
To help foster engagement between the ISSH students and the Lesotho students, Madeline with the help of her classmates created a video to introduce themselves to the vocational students in Lesotho. The students in Lesotho loved the ISSH student video and sent grade the DP CAS students a video about their programme and many expressions of gratitude for focusing on their programme.
This school year, planning and organising the Charity Fun Run dominated all the time allotted to DP CAS students. Grade 12 students prepared stations along a running route in the forest across the street to make running for the cause, fun. Grade 12 students sought the assistance of grade 11 students, new to CAS, to help with the event. Supplies were purchased, announcements and posters were made and distributed, the route was planned, and many adjustments were made as the day of the event neared.
On the day of the event, grade 12 students were relieved to see clear skies and quickly went to the forest to set up their stations. Madeline welcomed our SOS Kinderdorf representative, Ms. Maria Macieira and with some music and a bit of chaos the event began. The primary students came first with a few brave teachers and wished they had more time to stay at the popular glitter tattoo station. Then the secondary students ran the route with our sporty secondary staff and loved the holi powder splash. Finally, three dedicated parents came and admired the initiative of our DP CAS students.
The event was fun and sporty, and of course, there were lessons learned about planning and organizing an event on this scale but most importantly, DP students raised over 2,900.00 CHF to help their friends in Lesotho. Thank you ISSH community and good work DP CAS students!
