Ben has vandalised my personal statement. Spot the editing.

My CAS venture has been a challenging journey through which I have fulfilled my role in my school, community and society, developed a valuable sense of expression and individuality and enabled a range of important fundraising initiatives to be deemed successful.

I would separate my activities over the past two years into three categories, although all three are closely linked and of equal significance. Firstly, there are those in which I was involved as a means of developing and harnessing my own independence and creativity. This includes the art exhibition ‘Familiar Faces’, a radical project through which I was able to showcase my artistic creations in a professional way for the first time. My most important creative pursuit has been my cello-playing, which I feel has progressed considerably over the past two years and for me is a true passion. It is the cello which allows me to lose my inhibitions and express myself freely, and improving my repertoire and musical technique has really helped me become an ambitious young player. I want to do for cello what Vanessa Mae did for violin; whereas Stradivarius created beautiful (yet now hideously expensive) violins, I shall create beautiful cellos, hand crafted with the love embellished on me by my wondrous CAS experiences.

It is rewarding to practise and develop something you are good at, but immensely more demanding to learn something new, and the cookery classes I took, entitled ‘Kitchen Survival’ have been incredibly useful. Together with a class of people my age, I learned how to cook a variety of dishes and meals. Although I have always found cooking very difficult, and initially did not produce perfect results (in fact I distinctly remember one catastrophe involving a cauliflower), I feel that this course has definitely helped, and the recipes we learnt may prove useful during university when I have to start cooking for myself. My favourite dish is one Mr. Gordon Ramsay might describe as squalid; yet I myself see myself cooking it for the entire African nation (which I do in fact believe exists, being a strong supporter of black power movements). The dish in question is cheese on toast. To create the perfect cheese on toast, one must – forget it, you don’t have the talent. Just make sure you remember the Worcester Sauce.

I have also contributed to social harmony through my recent discovery of the wonder of birds and their exciting role within society. I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too. It gives me a sense of enormous wellbeing. And then I’m happy, for the rest of the day, safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it.

The second category is the activities centred around the school and local community, which have helped me gain confidence in interacting with citizens of all ages, and have given me a new sense of comradeship and social responsibility. This included performing at the annual Christmas OAP party (I persevered despite the weird smell they gave off, which I think deserves extra credits), and with my orchestra at several community venues around the borough. It gives me pride and satisfaction to provide entertainment for the appreciation of other members of my community, and helped me develop respect for people of all ages, and enabled me to interact with a diverse range of people and cultures. I have particularly enjoyed performing in the school play in June, an exciting performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. During the long weeks of rehearsals and line-learning I felt myself rediscovering the power of the stage and developing an understanding of the more technical side of acting: the directing, stage design, management and publicity. I also began to appreciate the talents of those around me, and recognised that I had an important role to play, leading me to a position of responsibility and self-reliance.

The projects which have helped me fulfil my role as global citizen form a third category, and have made me become more aware of ethical issues, and determined to act against social injustice and deprivation. In particular the Model United Nations group that I became involved with in September 2005 has provided me with the opportunities to initiate change: along with a group of equally passionate and dedicated fellow students we embarked on a campaign to achieve Fairtrade status for the school, and to implement Fairtrade products into the school tuck shop and canteen. We held a Fairtrade Taster Day, represented the school at Fairtrade conferences and eventually established a Fairtrade stall in the Sixth Form area, selling over 200 Fairtrade Geobars in less than ten days. Unfortunately the only people even remotely interested in buying the bars, which consisted of congealed raisins and were reminiscent of something my cat would produce, were either deranged ecofreaks, or victims of brainwashing from our highly deceptive publicity campaign. But who cares? We got the CAS hours.

In short, my CAS experience has been demanding and frustrating at times, but I genuinely believe the projects I have been involved with have been beneficial and extremely innovative. Although this section of my diploma has required a lot of extra hours and commitment, which among exams and academic pressure has been incredibly difficult (also pointless), I have enjoyed focusing on initiatives aside from my school subjects, and the work involved has also in general been exciting, varied and rewarding. I have developed better social, political and environmental awareness, and matured considerably throughout this period, gaining a better understanding and enthusiasm for global issues such as global warming, natural disasters and international trade. I have discovered new aspects of my close community, and harnessed my creative talents as well as learning new skills and becoming more responsible, organised and determined. But most importantly for me, and perhaps for others too, the IB CAS scheme has helped me take one step closer to becoming a mature and morally aware global citizen, and has helped me develop an intense spiritual connection with my lifelong idol, Mahatma Gandhi. It has also made me less like Hitler.

So, in summary, without my CAS experiences I don’t think I would have had the drive necessary to create a cure for AIDS; thanks to Bill Gates for the funding, and thank you, IBO, for the inspiration. If only the Catholic Church hadn’t hindered my research.... think what I could have achieved.