Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) is an inevitable struggle for a new IBDP student. We are all aware of its role and significance in the program, but CAS, combined with all the new IB elements, might make it hard for newcomers to get accustomed to the DP. CAS is a multifaceted concept, but that doesn’t mean that thinking of new ideas has to be stressful! This article will serve as a guide for service in CAS and will offer numerous ideas classified by difficulty and service hours.
But first – What is Service in CAS?
CAS has been an element of the DP for years, aiming to encourage students to engage in extracurricular activities. This concept not only develops the student as an individual but also allows them to easily stand out in university applications. There are three main components of CAS- Creativity, Action, and Service. However, we will only focus on service.
You might ask — what counts as a CAS Service experience? The IB describes service in CAS as an unpaid, voluntary community contribution that serves as a learning experience for the student. This, however, is a very broad description of the countless activities that can be made up with it. To facilitate this process, we will offer multiple ideas below. Please note that service hours are no longer required for CAS, however, schools may have their own specifications. Service hours are only given to show how long the activity will take!
- Organizing weekly clean-ups
Difficulty: Easy
Service hours: 2.5 hours
As sustainability becomes a topic of constant discussion in the modern world, it’s important to ensure that we’re taking small steps towards it as well. Organizing and conducting weekly clean-ups is not only a beneficial activity but can be made fun by doing it with friends! You can choose any area — a park, a lake, or even a small forest — and allocate a day during which you dedicate a few hours to cleaning it. You can expand this activity by sharing it on social media and creating a small clean-up group.
Another way to participate in clean-ups is finding a local sustainability organization to be a part of. I preferred this option as it both saved me time and handed me the opportunity to connect with a new, like-minded group of people. Depending on the chosen area and the amount of time you are willing to dedicate to this activity, we predict that the weekly service hours will add up to around 2.5!
- Fundraising
Difficulty: Medium
Service hours: 5-7 hours
Unfortunately, numerous social, environmental, and political issues remain hidden due to insufficient media coverage. Oftentimes, these problems demand immediate attention and aid which they are unable to get. Raising awareness about these problems within your community and collecting certain amounts of cash will swiftly help those in need. You have the freedom in choosing the cases that you want to raise money for, as you can pick both local and global cases. This activity is extremely impactful, as it not only helps the community and those in need, but also develops you as an individual and opens your eyes to problems that you may have disregarded before. However, finding cases, using the right tools to share news, and waiting for the goal cash to be collected is quite a lengthy process, which is why we placed it in the medium difficulty category.
- Conducting educational workshops
Difficulty: Medium
Service hours: 5-7 hours
In this activity, you can employ both your critical and creative thinking skills. Conducting workshops is a greatly versatile activity, as you get to pick your topic, the audience, and so forth. As a starter, think about the fields that interest you. It could be art, business, or environmental sciences. Then, try to break these broad concepts down into more specific topics. For instance, you could conduct a workshop about pollution in oceans or certain art principles that you find interesting.
Aside from your interest, ensure that the topics you’re presenting are relevant, as the aim of your workshop should be to educate and grant your audience with certain skills. You can use your knowledge from the IB program to create the outline of your workshop. Impactful workshops require extensive planning. However, you can freely do workshops on a much smaller scale to save time.
- Volunteering
Difficulty: Medium to hard
Service hours: Depends on your duties
Another flexible service is to volunteer. There are numerous organizations, shelters, and other facilities looking for young volunteers. Despite it sounding frightening, volunteering can be personalized based on your interests. If you’re passionate about medicine, you can freely help local clinics. If you’re looking to become a journalist, there are plenty of youth and non-profit organizations waiting to accept volunteers like you!
You may also decide to volunteer to develop certain skills. Personally, I decided to join IBlieve to gain a detailed understanding of how youth organizations operate. Furthermore, I wanted to develop and showcase my writing, critical thinking, time management, and organization skills. Being a volunteer will serve as an extremely valuable experience as you will learn how to balance extracurricular work with school, hobbies, social activities, and so forth. Since this is quite a personalized activity, the service hours depend on the type of work you do.
- Tutoring
Difficulty: Medium to hard
Service hours- 3-4 hours weekly
What is a better way of sharing your knowledge other than tutoring? This activity not only has great impact, but can also help you remember materials better! Tutoring, like most of the discussed services, can be customized based on your preferences. You can choose the subject(s) that you want to teach, the number of students you want to have, the amount of weekly hours you want to dedicate to the activity, and so on.
My suggestion is to pick a course from your current IB subjects, as you will save time in searching for resources and preparing materials. You can also make tutoring more accessible by offering to teach the courses for free! As mentioned before, tutoring is a form of active recall, so if you choose to teach IB subjects, it will help you to memorize and understand the material better.
- Creating a social impact project
Difficulty: Hard
Service hours: 10-20 hours
We kept the toughest service for last, as there are many aspects that need to be discussed. Coming up with the idea of your project alone can take countless hours. To facilitate this process, I suggest you think about the following; first, pinpoint the field that you’re most passionate about and start identifying current issues regarding it. It could be an environmental or social problem like gender inequality. Now think about the ways in which you can help. Should you focus on conducting campaigns, publishing blogs, creating videos, or providing free education?
This is the exact process that I used to develop my own organization. I knew that I was interested in finance, but I didn’t have much knowledge regarding it. This made me think about how others my age could also have the same issue, which is why I decided to dedicate my organization to increasing financial literacy. By thinking about the aforementioned questions and gathering required resources, you will slowly start to shape your project. You may decide to grow your project globally or keep it local; this determines the amount of time and work that goes into it.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, there are numerous ideas that can be made up for Service in CAS. As described in the article, they don’t always have to be exhausting or boring. You can often sprinkle in your own passions and hobbies, and you can even convince your friends to participate in them! Service gives you an invaluable opportunity to grow yourself as an individual, network with numerous groups of people, and make significant changes within your community. Don’t let this article limit your service ideas: develop original activities or add your own spin to the ones mentioned above!