The 2 Day trek programme to Igatpuri was a very memorable CAS experience which included numerous fun activities that demanded risk taking abilities, physical endurance, with each step came a challenge and it was not just an activity concerned with physical hardships but was a wholesome experience, it was quite exhilarating to have a bird view of the green stretches of land and mountains that stood tall in the midst. The trip also consisted dam cleaning where a sudden epiphany hit me that we tend to often litter around and spoil the best scenic views just because of the undeniably common habit, so it was a very grounded and fun activity to collect the littered items around the dam while also enjoy the views around. The visit to nearby school taught a number of things that would help in the long run too, it felt very connected to converse with the children and bring a sudden, fun change in their atmosphere, it felt very complete and good to have been able to bring a smile on their faces while they also took pride in their maharashtrian culture through their dances and the fact that the goodbyes were very difficult, says it all. Overall, the experience was evidently an unforgettable while we learnt throughout the two days

LO-1  Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth 

In the two day trek programme, we had gone for trekking twice, I realised that trekking wasn’t as easy and in fact it got more difficult as I climbed to the top, facing the slippery edges, however, it was like a check for my physical strength, rains made it even more difficult to climb to the top, the fact that it was a new experience added more fun to it, I identified many of my weaknesses such as, not being able to jump up to steeper areas, not being able to overcome frictionless surfaces, a lot of peers handed out hands to each other to help climb certain areas. Overall, the entire experience was a blend of fun and difficulty.

LO- 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills

During our trip, we had also visited a nearby local school, in order to play with the children and have fun for roughly around 2-3 hours, the school was located in a very beautiful and scenic area, it was contenting and refreshing to be there, we did face a lot of communication barriers, considering that the children from the local area only knew marathi, it became difficult to communicate with them, but for that we had language translators, there were some locals who understood hindi and translated it into marathi, all of us played games like dog and the bone, playing in circles, kabaddi, we also, at the end danced to their local traditional dance which they performed very beautifully. All the challenges almost seemed near to nothing since it felt as if we were a part of them, they were quite inviting and welcoming.

LO- 5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Another activity that we had done during our CAS trip was cleaning of the dam, dam cleaning wouldn’t have been possible without collaborative efforts and teamwork, it’s in fact quite difficult for an individual alone to pick all the littered waste, we had gone as a group and further got distributed in the group of three to pick the fallen waste, each group carried a polybag along so that they could put the collected waste inside, collaboratively, we could finish the work within minutes, hypothetically assuming that an individual does the same work, they would probably require more time and effort to do the same work. Additionally, working collaboratively was quite fun and easier.

After Dam cleaning

visiting local school

interacting with students from local school

After trekking