Farewell event is a long-going tradition in Fountainhead School wherein the Grade 11 students host the Farewell party for their seniors to make sure they enjoy their last moments in the school thoroughly. It is filled with music, dance, games, cake, photos, and amazing food! We also makes slideshows and videos for our seniors wherein their memories and pictures with each other throughout their journey in Fountainhead School are showcased to provide them an evening of nostalgia.

There was a lot of work to do in the event, so different departments were made and there was a leader of each department. I was the leader of the games department. There were lots of other departments such as the decoration team, food team, photo booth team, anchor team etc. Each department would have to co-ordinate with each other to ensure a successful Farewell event for the seniors. I had 10 volunteers under my department. Games will be used as fillers in the between various performances and presentations, so I ensured they were as short, yet fun as possible. We had to come up with 3 games, however, I asked my team to come up with 5 games so that we could later select the best out of them. After shortlisting the games, the volunteers prepared for the game whilst I prepared to host the game. I achieved a lot of learning outcomes through this event, namely LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO5

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

I possess commendable amount of leadership skills and I know how to manage a team efficiently, which was very helpful for me in this event. There was a lot of work to do, and the time was very less, so I had to divide the work equally to different volunteers of my team to ensure timely completion of work. I delegated work to different members of my department based on their skills and qualities as an individual. 6 members were assigned to brainstorm and design the games for the event, 3 members were assigned to make all the necessary preparations and decorations for the games due to their creativity, and 1 member helped me host the games due to her good communication skills. I developed my communication skills while hosting the games in the farewell event, and also understood how important teamwork is for the success for an event.  Proper co-ordination between all the departments and the volunteers is a must to ensure that the event is smooth.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Time was a major issue in the farewell event. We had a lot of things in our mind, but it was strictly told to us that the event should be of only 2 hours. This gave the games department only 15 minutes, which meant only 5 minutes for each game. Due to such less time, we had to design our games in such a way that did not take much time in explaining, and were fun to play as well. This was a very challenging task, however, as all the members in our team brainstormed for ideas, we finally came up with 3 fabulous games, Beat the Buzzer, Burst the Balloon, and Show your Shoe, which our seniors thoroughly loved.

LO3: Initiate and plan a CAS experience

Effective planning was very important to ensure there weren’t any loopholes at the final day. After every member came up with different suggestions of the games, we shortlisted the games according to votes of every members and then started working on them. Each member was asked to arrange some or the other resource for the game such as balloon, chair, table etc. Also, I made a script beforehand and co-ordinated it with the script of the anchors so that I avoid fumbling on stage and no time was wasted. Also, we made our script in such a way that it allowed us some time to give a demo for each game so that everybody understood it correctly. Thorough planning helped me host successful games and paved way for a successful CAS experience.

LO5: Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively

As previously mentioned, all work was delegated to different members of the team based on their skills, which significantly reduced the workload on every individual and provided me with optimum work, as all members were asked to work on things they were good on. Also, it helped us do lots of work in very less time and adhere to the time given to us for preparing the games. Collaborative effort was one of the most important factor in the success of my department, and without the precious hardwork and faithful time invested by the members of my team, it would have been impossible to host such good games.

Overall, our seniors loved the Farewell, and also deemed it to be the best one yet! It was fun organizing and hosting games, and I developed a lot of skills in the process, which will further help me in different aspects of my life.