I participated in an international investment competition, KWHS as my CAS project. It was a group of 7, each of the members with a different skill set which I could also learn from them. We were supposed to make an investment portfolio for our client, most of the group members didn’t know anything about investment, but one of our group member’s father had a lot of experience in the investment industry, who helped us clear the first stage of the competition. We went to Banglore as we were selected in the top 12 teams in Asia, this was a huge achievement and a platform to learn. I took up this as my CAS project because I want to go into the finance field in the future, and a competition like this was a perfect opportunity to that. It was a 10-week course, starting from 9th September. This covers the creativity part from the CAS, as it is an education related competition I participated in.
L1- Through this competition, I was able to identify the strengths which were in me, which I thought I was afraid of. I am a good speaker, I can modify my speech and remember it and speak confidently in front of an audience. I am also good with the research work, I was able to find the necessary information which helped further in competition. I feel confident that now I know many of my strengths and weaknesses, however, I did not take initiative to do extra work or to meet to complete the work. I could have taken more initiatives and we could have got to the finals. For me it is equally important for me to know my strengths as well as my weaknesses, I will be able to contribute more to the group tasks, as I will take a task which comes under my set of strengths and I will work hard on my weaknesses and try to make them my strengths.
L2- The major challenge we faced was that some group members were not taking the competition seriously, we had to remove them from our group because this led other hardworking group members moral down. This was a difficult decision to make because they were our friends, but we did it anyway because that was better for our group. I learned to make tough decisions, which helped me develop my leadership skill, in future I won’t be afraid to make a tough decision. Learning new skills is very important, it prepares you for the future and because of it, I feel confident. I had never participated in such an event before, hence it was very much new to me and also difficult. I feel great having gained so much knowledge in the financial sector.
L3- We have been working on this over a month. This is my CAS project. This is well planned, making time for the competition. Each member was given a sector and in that sector, there were many companies, each member researched and contributed. It covered the Creativity aspect of CAS. Creativity because making a creative and appealing portfolio to move ahead in the competition. We were very much organized because we had a lot of interest in the competition. I am not a very organized person, however being organized was one of the most important things, the whole research needs to be in place. Planning was a much more difficult task because there was lots of data available, so to plan and dividing the work was difficult. Planning in the future will get easier as I know my strengths and weakness, so dividing work will become easier.
L4- Time commitment to this competition was required, even when exams were approaching we met at late night to reach next level in the competitive. It was difficult to dedicate time, however, we did it because we were committed to the competition and that makes to so happy because hard work paid off and lead us to the region 2. I as a person commits to fewer things but I make sure whatever I commit to, give my full dedication to it.
L5- This competition was about working collaboratively and using everyone’s skill which would benefit the team. Working in such a manner helped us reach Banglore! I demonstrated my research skills which benefited the team. I am good at working in teams, usually get my share of work done and also motivate others to do so. It was easy working with the KWHS team because everyone turned their work in at the time and attended most of the meeting. Working collaboratively is important, it takes the burden off your shoulder and people with the right skill set could do the work more productively. More efficient work is done.
L7- In between the competition there was a leak of insider information, we decided not to use the information because it questioned our ethics. We decided to work ethically which directly affected us and helped us get a step ahead. I felt proud of myself for working ethically. My opinion has been the same from start to end, to act ethically and I still stand by it.
I gained a lot of knowledge from it, I was an inquirer to the seniors and our mentor, I was a thinker in contributing to the group. This CAS project was related to my IB subject economics and BM as it is related to investment and investing rightly. Meeting at late night was fun, I would really miss working with everyone, without them we couldn’t have got success, I am so proud of the team. I feel great after achieving this huge success. If I again get a chance I would put in more time to move even one more step ahead. This will help me a lot in the future, developing new skills and shaping my characteristics.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1o7Aqa8TcgOtEk73XWVSCVXS9FHCrlR9oshSP_-4h5rc/edit#slide=id.p