Tennis: Sports Awards Ceremony

The first sport season of the school year ended in mid-November, and a sports awards ceremony was held at ISK to congratulate the many athletes and recognize a few who coaches believed deserved extra recognition. After every team captain gave a short speech about their team and their successes in the season, including me, we separated into individual teams so that the coach of each could give every player a certificate and award the Coaches' Choice, the Most Valuable Player, and the Most Improved Player. Since I was a member of the JV Tennis team in the first season, I joined the rest of my teammates and Mr. Derrick Quinet, who was our coach. Mr. Quinet called up each athlete individually and thanked them for being a part of the team, and after this was over, he gave out the three awards. I ended up getting Coaches' Choice, and I was very happy about this since I had only ever been given one other sports award and that was in Middle school! I was very happy to have been given this award because it made me feel as though I was a valuable member of the team, and I hope that I will continue to improve as a tennis player in next year's season.

Prom Committee: Second Major Fundraiser

In early December, the Prom Committee held its second major fundraiser of the year. In this fundraiser, for which various high school students and teachers volunteered to help out in, students were auctioned off or "sold" for a day to other ISK students and teachers. The participants gave a small speech about why they would be a good person to purchase, and afterwards, a silent auction took place, with the highest bidder "buying" a volunteer.
This event was a major success for the prom committee and for ISK as a whole, because not only did we make plenty of money that will go towards paying for the senior prom, but every ISK student had a lot of fun and the ISK community felt more closely knit that day. I hope that future fundraisers will have the same effect!

Habitat for Humanity: Second Build

In mid-November, I went on my second Habitat for Humanity building trip of the year, and it was in Mai Mahiu again. On the trip, I helped out in the usual way that I do: mixing cement, transporting sand and rocks, and playing with the local children. Although it began to rain in the middle of the trip, causing us to have to stop working for a couple of hours, this was still one of the best trips that I have been on. The reason for this is that a couple of ISK students who had never been on a Habitat build came to this one, and it was very fun to show them around the area and demonstrate various things to them. Seeing them cope really well to the hard work that was done that day made me feel confident that we have a very strong Habitat for Humanity group this year. The most memorable moment was when we got the chance to play with the child residents of Mai Mahiu, and this was where we were able to see how ecstatic the new members of Habitat for Humanity were and how much they were enjoying the whole experience. The reason this trip was so successful is because we, as a group, were able to balance work and play, and we therefore did not get overworked but were productive at the same time. I am looking forward to going on the last building trip of the school year with the same group, as we are able to work really well together and most importantly, have a good time!

Piano

It has now been 5 months since I began to use John Thompson's second level piano book, and I have been able to almost completely master about half of the pieces. This means that my goal is so far still on track, as I am aiming on mastering all the pieces in this book by the end of this school year. Over the past month, my piano teacher has been asking me to go back and re-practice even the first few pieces that I learned, and by doing this, he can be sure that my piano playing is actually improving and that I will actually be able to play the pieces at a professional level.
Although it can be tedious at times to have to play the same few pieces over and over again, it actually gives me satisfaction to hear that I have improved a lot in the past half a year, and I can feel that I am currently a much better pianist than I was half a year ago. I actually enjoy practicing the piano more now than I used to and I think this is because I am better at it. My piano instructor would actually like me to perform in public in the coming months, and I hope that I do get an opportunity to do this!