In my second semester of grade 11, I have improved on the core competencies that I have stated in my previous reflection from the start of grade 11. The 2 competencies I improved on are communication and Personal Awareness and Responsibility.  

   I improved my communication skills this semester in a variety of ways, however the largest one that contributed to my successes the most was acting as an executive member as part of the SLC (Student Leadership Council). The student leadership council is an organization that brings together all the various student councils of each together into a vast organization. The SLC’s main goal is to act as a mediator between students and the council, as well as launching initiatives that are led by students and hosting conferences for leadership, teaching, and learning. The way I improved my communication was thorough interacting with people whom I had never met before, and who had a different way of proceeding with matters than I had as different student councils have vastly different rules/methods regarding issues that arise. This meant that I had to adapt to this new change and find ways to comprise with people on major issues, such as a new initiative which might not produce the results that they would like.  

Organizing events was also a crucial part of improving my communication skills. When an event starts to become organized, you need to speak with various people at different levels and gain approval while dealing with uncooperative or contumacious people. After that, the actual work sets in, and you need to make sure that everyone is doing their fair share of the work that needs to be done. You also need to inspect the work that has been produced and ensure that it is up to par with expectations. When the day of the event rolls around, everything that could go wrong is wrong. Issues pop up out of nowhere, and you’re put onto the spot to make decisions for the event that could affect it succeeding or not. Throughout the whole event you must stay attentive and ensure that everything is running according to the schedule.  

*Here is a photo from the SLC Elementary Summit*

I improved my Personal Awareness and Responsibility by reflecting on all the decisions I’ve made during this 2nd semester. During my first semester, while I started analyzing my decisions, I didn’t fully reflect on them or make actional plans. I also finally came up with a rough idea of what I would like to peruse after high school ends, which is to go into economics.  

Furthermore, I started to make actual actionable plans towards my goals and track them to make sure that I continue to stick with the habits that I’ve tried to develop. Some of the main goals I have right now is to train for the ITF World Championships which are happening in 2026 in Ireland. Since I won the national championships this year and qualified for Team Canada, I now have the privilege to represent Canada on the world stage for Tarkwon-Do.  

Although most of the training for the completion is physical, a vast part of it is also mental. Dealing with stresses of competition, doubts about yourself, the reality of potentially being majorly injured while in competition. I have to reflect on each of these matters and deal with them so I can perform at my best while at the competition.  

Another large goal I have is to continue to develop my club, which is the Military Strategy Club. In the club we mostly research and talk about various military matters or battles in an interactive and fun way. It’s been a rough journey running the club, through setting it up and making lessons plans throughout the year. I’ve also been working to try and establish a tournament with other Military Strategy Clubs in the area based on 1 set of rules, which is proving challenging. However, I know that eventually the event will happen.  

*Me winning  gold  at the national championships in Quebec* 

Overall, I have learned many lessons at this school and demonstrated the core competencies through my participation in SLC and my internal reflection and review of myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this self-reflection.     

Core
By: Victor Felea

Communication:

I achieved communication this year by doing presentations in multiple classes. ThCompetencies Self-Assessment 
roughout the semester, I did multiple presentations on various topics, for example in Spanish 11, where our group was asked to make a video in Spanish that would follow  a marking rubric. The rubric included certain words and phrases that we had covered in past units, the lines that  had to be spoken also had to look and feel as if they weren’t read on a script.

 To make the video, my group also had to coordinate our efforts and divide our tasks between ourselves to be successful in the video. Each of the group members had their own strength; I was much better at filming and writing dialogue due to my past experiences as a videographer and a writer.  Dean was better with the acting and how the line should be said and what message should be conveyed with them, Dean was also in charge of video editing. Imre knew  how the movement through the scenes should look, the scenes where people had to be moving constantly or if there was to be action in the scene. Matsun experienced with how the flow of the video would go, how the story would flow and what order the script should go in as well as where all the scenes in. 

The filming of the video was an educational experience as my group found out just how hard coordinating people and getting them to preform without any error. Also, many scenes we had planned to film did not end up working as we did not have any place to film them properly, or the props needed to execute the scene. In these cases we had to improvise and adapt with what items or locations we had in order to make sure that our group could finish the video as we were on a deadline to finish the project. Communication was also crucial in the group as knowing what everyone wanted for the scene was crucial, as well as listening to feedback from each other in order to make sure the project turned out well. 

When the day finally came to present, it was nerve-racking to see yourself on screen and see how other people would react to your acting. It was still an educational and enjoyable project in which I learned a considerable amount about communication as well as organizational skills. This project taught me the importance of communication skills and what it means to be able to communicate properly and clearly and for that I am grateful to my group as they organized and filmed the video in order to make it turn out so well. 

________> Our news logo for the project.

I demonstrated Personal Awareness and Responsibility this year by analyzing decisions and my mindset during them. During the beginning of the semester, I felt that I had no semblance of a plan of what I was going to do for Grade 11. I was doing well in my subjects and extracurricular activities, and I was confident in my decisions, but I still felt like I could improve on them. I was also questioning myself of what I was going to do for the rest of my life. In Grade 11 you are often expected to know what you want to do, to see what Universities or Post Secondary institutions you want to go to. I was being questioned by family members, friends, and teachers about what I wanted to do. I was constantly feeling pressured to find out what exactly I wanted to do, as in Grade 12 applications for University/Colleges would open up and you needed to be ready.

 Although now, I still don’t have an exact plan about what I want to do after high-school, I am sure that I have gained the experience and maturity to deal with another situation that might arise when I go about my life. While going through that difficult experience I learned to analyze myself and the decisions I made, it took me a while and I soon realized that it was okay to not have an exact plan. As I reflected on most of the activity’s I do now, I realized that I could continue most of them after I graduated highschool. As I talked with people and asked for the opinions, they said that sometimes they had a change of mind while in the process of studying a degree. Some advice I got was to reflect on myself and my actions as this would help me to know what I want, and how I could improve myself to achieve what I want. 

Through all these actions I slowly started to gain a sense of personal awareness and responsibility that I didn’t have before. To this day, I continue to reflect on my actions and monitor my decision-making and thought process. Although it isn’t easy to do and most of the time it’s hard to admit I made a mistake or that I could have improved on something, it helps me to learn from it and use it as a lesson going forward. One of the results of all this self reflection and analysis was me winning the 2024 CTFI National Taekwon-Do Championship. In the U-17 category in both forms and sparring. I was not easy and took months of training and dedication but in the end, it did pay off and the feeling I got was outstanding.

Overall, I have learned many lessons at this school and demonstrated the core competencies through my Spanish project and my internal analysis and review of myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this self-reflection.  

—————-> Me (RED) sparring. It was a tough match but my training paid off.

Core Competencies Self-Assessment 

By: Victor Felea 

Communication: 

   I achieved communication this year by doing presentations in multiple classes. Throughout the semester, I did multiple presentations on various topics, for example in CLE 10, I participated in the YPI project in which I had to communicate with my classmates and school and with a charity. This taught me communication skills as for the project I had to call a charity that our group had chosen and had to set up a date to go and communicate with them. After planning all of it out, our group had to then travel to their location which was in South Vancouver. It was a fun trip in which our entire group learned about how to run a charity and how it operated. Our group also had to ask questions about the charity to the owners of it and use the information to make a presentation that we would have to present to our class.  

 To make the presentation, my group also had to coordinate our efforts and divide our tasks between ourselves to be successful in the project. Each of the group members had their own strength; I was much better at organizing the presentation and how it would look when it was finished. Someone else was better with the writing aspect of the presentation and would help to improve the way it sounded when it was spoken. When the project was finished, we were chosen to present the project in front of our class, which was a harrowing experience for my group and myself 

Although we were not the group chosen to go and present our presentation to the whole school, it was still an educational and enjoyable project in which I learned a considerable amount about communication as well as organizational skills. This project taught me a significant amount of communication skills and what it means to be able to communicate properly and clearly and for that I am grateful to everyone who helped to organize and to my group members who helped the project to turn out so well.  

Personal Awareness and Responsibility: 

I demonstrated Personal Awareness and Responsibility this year by analyzing decisions and my mindset during them. During the beginning of the semester, I felt that I had no sense of confidence and awareness in what I was doing. I was doing well in my subjects and extracurricular activities, and I was confident in my decisions, but I still felt like I could improve. I also didn’t have much sense of self-worth; I just didn’t feel worthy or good enough to deserve all these things that I had and all the accomplishments I had made. I was also going through a difficult situation at the time which I could have reacted to better and understood my actions could have affected other people around me. 

 Although now I have resolved that issue and fine now, I am sure that I have gained the experience and maturity to deal with another situation that might arise when I go about my life. While going through that difficult experience I learned to analyze myself and the decisions I made, it took me a while and I soon realized I was not the great person I thought I was, but I grew as a person from then on. I started to set clear goals and monitor my progress on them. I consciously started to monitor my decisions and find out if I could have made a better one.  

Through all these actions I slowly started to gain a sense of self-worth and responsibility that I didn’t have before. To this day, I continue to set goals, monitor them, and monitor my decision-making and thought process. Although it isn’t easy to do and most of the time it’s hard to admit I made a mistake, it helps me to learn from it and not to blame other people or my circumstances for it. One of the results of all this goal setting and analysis was me winning the 2024 CTFI North American Invitational Taekwon-Do Championship. In the U-16 category in both forms and sparring. I was not easy and took months of training and dedication but in the end, it did pay off and the feeling I got was amazing.  

Overall, I have learned many lessons at this school and demonstrated the core competencies through the YPI project and my internal analysis and review of myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this self-reflection.