Tusnim and Alysha, both in Year 12, sum up the highlights of this year's trip and give us one more reason why studying at Regents International School Pattaya is simply unique.
Mountain Trek
One of the toughest activities of the week was the mountain trekking. The path involved climbing up rocks and steep slopes crossing a few mountains and rivers. The journey was over 10km long, and due to the weather the easy trek became a real challenge. We had to cross many rivers that are during the rain season are very fast flowing and many students fell into the river. But after all, we arrived at the beach where we enjoyed a refreshing dip in the wonderful waves.
Creativity Presentations
We were assigned to choose one element from the IB Learner Profile such as Caring, Risk-Takers, Communicative and were told to create a presentation based on it. We could do it with a song, a poem, a short film or a photographic portfolio. It didn’t matter what format it was as long as what we were presenting and explaining why we have chosen that element and reflect on it during the process of making it.
Mangrove Planting
We were given the opportunity to be plant mangroves as a way for us to give something back to nature and the local community. The journey to get there was challenging, a lot of students were struggling and falling and getting stuck in the mud. However, we successfully planted over 200 mangroves whilst having fun with the mud. We were also very grateful to see the mangroves that past students have planted to grow into huge, healthy mangrove trees.
Teaching English
The final full day in Koh Chang saw us teaching English in a local primary school. This was a great experience and really pushed us out of our comfort zones. It also showed us that being well prepared is the only way to succeed at IB.
Overall trip to Koh Chang gave us a great insight in to what IB is all about and what will be expected of us over the next two years. Not only did we get a great head start in our CAS but we also got to bond as a new year group.