CAS Convention 2016

  CAS (Creativity Action Service) is the core element of the IB programme. It encourages (forces) students to step out of their comfort zone and do something they do not have the time or guts to do. Schools in Lithuania which offer the IB programme communicate and work together in order to improve the implementation of CAS. One way to do that is CAS convention, which happens every year in different IB school in Lithuania. This year Šiauliai Didždvaris gymnasium had the honour to invite other IB students from The American International School of Vilnius, Vilniaus Licėjus, Tauragės ‘Versmės‘ gymnasium and host the convention which‘s topic was ‘Diversity‘.
The convention started on 18th of November. The guests were greeted by the Principal of Didždvaris gymnasium Vitalis Balsevičius, then the CAS convention was introduced by school‘s CAS coordinators Paulius Baranauskas and Simona Česnaitė. After that Sonata Dedūraitė, EVS volunteers Johannes, Nino and Tabea introduced EVS, talked about their experiences so far. Then IB students had a lecture from Jolanta Šiūparienė (city council) about children rights. Later participants had a dance lesson from IB Alumni Liudas Nekrošius, made postcards and toys for children, elders and lonely people. The 1st day finished with a debate on the topic ‘THW give equal pay-out to Lithuanian athletes for both olympic and paralympic victories‘ and the brain battles.
The 2nd day started with a treasure hunt around Šiauliai, where teams had to take photos of specific objects in the city. Then, when the winners were announced forum theatre was organized. 3 different discrimination/diversity issues were presented, other IB students could change any person who was acting and try to solve the issue in some type of way. The CAS convention ended with students filling in reflections and Paulius Baranauskas thanking the participants for a great and productive interaction during this event.
All in all, CAS convention was a great opportunity for IB students from different Lithuanian schools to get to know each other, make connections and compare learning styles, share experiences and better ways of doing CAS. We hope that our guest left not only with new facebook friends, but delightful memories too.
See you next year!