BGIC IX Crisis Committee - 4 hours (S)

As this would be not only my final year at ISB, but also my final chance to participate in BGIC, I wanted to do one last thing with the Conference. The opportunity presented itself for me to be a part of the new crisis committee, whose purpose was to think of a problem - the crisis - which would be presented, without warning, to the delegates. They would then have about an hour to agree on an action plan to counter this crisis.

The Committee planning session in final preparations

This year, the committee decided on a dramatic crisis: Iran declared that it would push on with its nuclear program, with the possibility of developing nuclear weapons in the future. As such, it had left the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Dressed in a suit with bodyguard and secretary, I stormed into the delegate's committee, looking nothing like an Iranian, to give a short question and answer session. Overall, I think it was a spectacular success, despite the delegates' disbelief in some of our acting.

Uncle’s Business - 7 hours (S)

My uncle Stuart runs his own modest accountancy in a small country town in the south of Australia, and when I went to stay with him and my cousins during the 2010  March holidays, I was put to good use. I had come during a busy period, so I had lots to do: opening,organising, photocopying, and filing letters; helping Stuart convince his clients on certain points (sometimes he needed some help explaining things to them) and most importantly, troubleshooting the new accountancy software on his computers. All in all, I was apparently useful more often than I simply got underfoot, and it gave a small taste of the office life - something I've since decided is not really for me.

Kid’s Activities at the RBYC 5 hours (S)

A friend of my family, Gray Wilson, was asked by the Royal Brunei Yacht Club to help organise and run a few Kids' Activity Days over a holiday, and he came to me to see if I could help him in turn. Together we planned games, races, sailing activities and plenty of fun things to do with the kids over the two afternoons. It was fun for us, as well, and the kids enjoyed it immensely.

Quiz Night Marking - 3 hours (S)

To help with the annual ISB quiz night, several Year 13 students volunteered to mark the answered sheets. This proved to be harder than it sounded, and were swamped, causing more than one delay during the event. By the end, we had a much better understanding of what teachers go through after every mock exam.

ISB BGIC XIII Committee Chairing - 8 hours (S)

ISB’s annual international issues conference, based on Model United Nations groups, is always one of my favourite parts of the year. Ever since the first time I was involved as a lowly floor secretary in year 8, I have been fascinated with the Conference. I endeavoured to be a part of it every year, getting as deeply involved in this wonderful event as I can.

Myself and my co-chair during debate

Since this would be the last year I would have the opportunity to participate, I tried to do as much as I could during the 2010 conference. While before I had been a floor secretary, a helper, or a delegate, this year I volunteered to be a committee chair, an important role. Along with my co-chair, I would be in charge of nearly 40 delegates, guiding them as they learnt all they would need to know to participate.

This involved weekly meeting, where we brushed up on our knowledge of parliamentary procedure, the rules and guidelines surrounding BGIC, and the changes which had been made at the end of last year’s conference, which turned out to have a major impact on how debate flowed. After several weeks of learning and remembering, we were finally deemed ready to unleash at our committees. 

My committee: EcoSoc Forum 1

There followed several days of intense, if somewhat amateurish debate from the delegates, which my co-chair and I helped guide and shape. Eventually, we produced three resolutions which continued into the General Assembly; only one of which passed there. 

International Day Haunted House(s) - 14 hours (S)

This CAS activity was actually TWO activities: the first seven hours came from the organisation and running of the haunted house in 2009, and the rest of the hours were gained during the haunted house I helped run for ISB's International Day in 2010. Both experiences were roughly similar - a few hours of planning and preparation in the following weeks and days, then many more hours standing in a dark, creepy haunted house in a mask and costume hoping to scare the customers. If I'm entirely honest, I think I was more successful in scaring people during the 2009 Haunted House - that year we were in charge of the junior haunted house, so they were all a lot easier to scare.

Amnesty International ISB - 3 hours (S)

This small group of people did some fund-raising work for AI missions including a carwash. In addition, there were several informative sessions about the problems faced by many people in the modern world.

OBBD Temburong Training - 1 hour (C)

Although this was mostly simple safety training to ensure nobody made a glaring safety-related mishap, it was still an important part of the trip. I think it really drove home the what the nature of the trip would be for me.

KK Trip - 6 hours (A), 8 hours (S)

Another very difficult experience which nevertheless made me appreciate some of the difficulties facing many people around the world, while also giving me a taste of basic construction work. We were all excited to be flying out to KK, and all of us spent some time in the city, shopping, eating, or just looking around. After arriving at the camp area by bus, I think I was not alone in despairing: the only accommodation immediately visible was a long row of bunks made from canvas and bamboo. To be fair, however, it didn't really matter that they were uncomfortable, a little dirty, and (for me at least) too small - at the end of a long day of hard work they were as good as any bed.

Getting down to work

A bit of relaxation

The Action portion of the KK Trip was composed of a bicycle ride through and around the camp and village where we were working, and, as a finale to the entire excursion, a short raft along the river. The bicycle ride was especially difficult for me, as I was completely out of practise (and never was too good at it anyway). Eventually, I had to give up riding the bike as my asthma was getting the better of me, and I wound up helping the other group continue with the construction in the village. The rafting, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoyable while being quite difficult as well, and I'm proud to say I only fell in when I wanted to.

The finished project

The Service area of the trip revolved around us improving the local schoolhouse: building a fence around it, renovating the library area, and a host of more minor improvements. It was tough work, and the hot, humid climate did nothing to help. However, we all persevered, and while our friends were busy climbing a mountain we helped fix a school. In the end, we only barely finished the improvements in time before we left - the fence was completed, we took a few photos in front of it all, and then we returned to camp to pack up in preparation for the return journey. All in all, the KK trip was quite an experience for me, and one that I would not have missed for the world.

Cricket Match - 6 hours (A)

It was a difficult afternoon game, but despite our relative lack of experience, it being our first match, and an unsympathetic umpire we eventually succeeded. A fun afternoon with my friends, it was a glorious if hard-won victory.

Sailing - 6 hours (A)

Maybe once a month on a quiet weekend I would board my father's yacht with him and some of his friends, and simply sail around the bay or out beyond, to the ocean. It was a very pleasant experience, broken up by the occasional rushed pulling or ropes, or hauling something aboard. Over time, I learned more about a lifestyle and hobby which I had barely known existed before.

Cricket Training - 15 hours (A)

Many long hours of difficult training took up an entire term’s worth of Friday afternoons in preparation for the ISB cricket team’s very first game against another local team.

The ISB Cricket team

Georgetown University SFS Model United Nations, Qatar - 15 hours (C)

Aside from ISB BGIC, this is the second Model United Nations activity I have been to, and although I was away for only a week, it made a huge impact on my life. For one thing, it was the furthest I’d been from home ever, and I was going without my family, just some of my closest school friends (and the chaperones, of course). Several days of intense, thought-provoking, and occasionally heated debate ensued, although that was by no means the limit of this experience.

The ISB team

In the middle of debate

New friends and old

Just of few of the great memories I have include late-night conversations in the lobby of the Doha Marriott (the MUN’s venue), exploring Dubai airport with some friends, visiting the Museum of Islamic Art, seeing a whole new country in a completely different part of the world, and, of course, meeting all the new people with whom I still maintain correspondence. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to call it one of the best weeks of my life.

Emergency First Response Training - 4 hours (C)

Being a fairly compassionate and idealistic type, I had always wanted to learn how to apply first aid in the case of an accident or disaster, and this gave me a chance. Although the work was light and the tests easy, it still taught me a lot about how to deal with situations where injuries can occur, and how to help someone who is hurt.

BGIC Chair Training - 2 hours (C)

Despite being a fairly well-experienced member of ISB BGIC already, the compulsory chair training nevertheless provided some insight into the new procedure we would be using, and also introduced me to my fellow chairs, and how well they would work in the actual MUN.

All of the BGIC XIII Chairs on-stage

Chess Club - 2 hours (C)

Although this club was short-lived, it was still an enjoyable opportunity to test my chess skills against those of a few of my schoolmates.

Card-gaming Club - 10 hours (C)

When this club was set up, it began competing with War-gaming club for some of the students — and for my spare time. At first I only watched people playing, sometimes borrowing the decks of my friends for practise matches. Soon enough, however, I decided to buy a deck of my own. That was the beginning of many lunch breaks spent learning and teaching how these games worked, and a few very close matches and tournaments.

One of the many cards one can use in a duel.

OBBD Temburong Trip - 9 hours (A)

I awaited the traditional Year 12 excursion to Temburong with a mixture of excitement, curiosity, and just a hint of outright fear. It would, after all, be something of a "trial by fire", when the year group would come together in a way they simply hadn't before starting the IB. In the end, my fears were justified, but so was my excitement, and my curiosity was well dispersed.  

A trust exercise: by relying on everyone else to catch you in the tarp as you fell, you took a risk.

A six-hour trek through thick jungle, ostensibly navigating ourselves (although we were lost more often than we knew where we were) was the highlight of this experience — or perhaps the lowlight. It was difficult, exhausting, uncomfortable, and by the end of it, I was not only feeling quite sick, but thoroughly enjoying it. This was very much a rollercoaster kind of trip for me: ups and downs all the way. Despite everything else, the flying fox was very fun, rain notwithstanding.

Our year group was divided into two teams. This was the team I was in.

Everyone about to set off on boat.

Wading into the (freezing) river in the morning certainly woke us all up.

Self-initiated Project: Wargaming Club

Wargaming Club is my self-initiated project and one of the highlights of my school week. Every Tuesday afternoon about a dozen or so students all meet to play wargames together. Usually we rotate which games we play each week. The three games common to the club so far are Warhammer 40,000, HeroScape and the popular board game Risk. The two major things that tie these games together are their focus on your controlling the forces of a belligerent force during a war, and the use of dice to determine the outcome of the conflict.

The regular club members (left to right): Jia Wan, Afnan, Michael, Dean, and myself.

During the previous school year, a member of staff began a club based around the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000. I had only ever heard about it in passing, but it seemed interesting and so I attended the first few meetings. Very soon I fell in love with the game and when the teacher left at the end of the 2008-09 school year he left the school’s entire collection of miniatures, rulebooks and assorted paraphernalia in my care. When I began Year 12 I had already decided to continue the club, and when I discovered that another student, Afnan, enjoyed playing a similar wargame, we got together and organised it all.

Our very first game of Heroscape

Warhammer 40,000 (usually shortened to 40K) is a complicated game, with hundreds of available units drawn from more than a dozen factions, all supported by a rich and diverse science-fiction based backstory. The game itself supports features such as different effects from terrain types, vehicles like tanks and hoverbikes, and special abilities unique to each hero or faction. It is played on a tabletop using miniature figures which you buy unassembled and unpainted, with set terrain pieces which can range from professionally sculpted buildings and forests to empty drinks cans and books. Essentially, any imaginable situation where two or even more factions might clash violently can be assembled, fromnarrow winding city streets to rolling plains to blasted moonscapes and even volcanic flows. Naturally, this much possibility means that the rules are complex and sometimes hard to follow, but I have a good grasp of them, and I usually act as a mediator or a kind of ‘lawyer’ for the rules during games.

A particularly bad roll of the dice leads to a dramatic defeat.




HeroScape is another miniatures wargame, and it is mostly Afnan’s domain in much the same way Warhammer 40K is mine. He has a very large collection of miniatures and playing pieces. Unlike 40K, the terrain and board for HeroScape is made almost entirely from small hexagonal tiles which are slotted together to form the battlefield. It has much simpler rules than 40K, but its scope is also far narrower, limited to what can be made with the hex tiles. Still, it is just as enjoyable in 40K in its own way and it is popular with the regular players.

Mid-game RISK

The third game which is regularly played was never designed to become more than a one-off treat for our players: Risk, the game of global domination. Risk is a very popular board game, and almost all the players were already familiar with the rules, meaning we could break them in easily. With the possibility of secret deals and treaties, the interaction between players during games of Risk are often as interesting as the outcome of the game itself.

This blog will serve as my CAS Diary, showing all the activities I took part in as part of my compulsory CAS system as a part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma course. It will also hopefully include relevant pictures and occasionally videos if I can find any. The name of the activity, which area it falls under (creativity, action, service, or a mixture) and the number of hours claimed will all be in the post title. The area of CAS each posts comes under will also be in the label, I guess. I'm not really 100% with blogs or how they work, but I'll give it a try.