Senior Meriem Krarti re-ignites passion through CAS

As an already-established volunteer at Longmont United Hospital, when it came time to think about CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) projects to fulfill International Baccalaureate requirements, Niwot Senior Meriem Krarti already knew what to do.

"I like helping people and I knew the volunteer coordinator at the Longmont United Hospital," explained Krarti.

The service element of CAS was in the bag for her, and to a lesser extent, so was creativity--Krarti has always been interested in creative writing, and describes herself as artistic. During her junior year, under the mentorship of an English teacher, she revamped old fairy tales.

"I retold six different fairy tales, most of them were Brothers Grimm, but one was by Hans Christian Andersen, and it was my favorite," she said. "Along with that, I also did photography for senior year. In eighth grade, I enrolled in a photography class, and I really remembered liking it and decided to get back into it. It's really fun, especially like editing, I really love editing photos."

For Krarti, not only does CAS give students the opportunity to develop new skills and passions, students also can rediscover old ones.

But CAS isn't just some graduation check-box for IB students, nor does it only serve to teach students (and others) about new topics or new hobbies. For some, CAS provides the opportunity to simply interact with others in new settings. For Krarti, the "activity" requirement was difficult at first. But then she and a group of both Niwot and Silver Creek friends created a weekly schedule where they would meet up at the local rec center to play badminton or other athletic activities.

All of that changed with the onset of COVID. Part of CAS is to have an activity mentor who signs off on the various projects. But with the rec center closed and school remote, Krarti had to shift gears and focus to complete all aspects of CAS. That's when she started putting most of her effort into her extended project.

"With the extended you're supposed to take on two different strands, so it has to be a combination [of creativity, activity, and/or service]," Krarti said. "I chose [to focus on] creativity and service. For my project, I sewed a bunch of stuffed animal toys for the Longmont United Hospital. [While] volunteering there as a birthplace assistant, one thing I noticed was that the older siblings of the newborns, they get restless while their family members were in there, so I decided to make toys."

Remote learning and the stay at home order provided the time to make all the plush toys. Krarti described the process as both fun and exciting in part because she was able to pick the design and fabric, but also because of the opportunity to positively impact her community. "I wish there was no corona because otherwise I would've been able to see the children's reactions," she said. That would've been even more exciting."

The dual experience of volunteering at the hospital and making the plush toys helped Krarti realize how much she likes the medical field and has partially inspired her to study medicine in college.

Her advice to future CAS students is to not worry too much. "Do what feels right," she said. "It helped me rediscover some of my old passions, like photography. If the student wants to, CAS gives students the opportunity to practice skills."

To keep up to date with Krarti and her photography, you can find her Instagram at @starlight_haven.