‘Who am I?’

Form III learn about themselves.

For their Lent project Form III have been working on a fascinating subject.  They have been exploring their identity in the topic ‘Who am I?’.  Miss Gandi, Modern Languages Department, describes the girls’ brief:

‘Form III were asked to create a scrapbook entitled ‘Who am I’.  They could include their family history, family interests, their own interests and their dreams for the future.  They could also include a final section on ‘Who will I be?’  Conveyed through poetry, drawings, family stories, photographs, music, interviews with family members or short films, the scrapbooks Form III delivered after their research and work were intriguing and beautiful, something to treasure for years to come.  The girls were given the freedom to produce their project in whatever way they wished to – with one proviso – they were to produce it without working online!  Research only could be conducted online but the finished project was to be produced by hand.

The different classes in Form III had the opportunity to view each other’s work and three projects were selected from each class as finalists.  Those selected presented their projects to a panel of judges and their work was judged on the quality of presentation, creativity, research and effort.  This project was a journey, which was enjoyed by those working on it, those who had the privilege to see the completed scrapbooks and also by the judges.  Congratulations to all those in Form III whose hard work resulted in such wonderful and inspirational outcomes’.

Here we have comments from some of our finalists on their projects:

Haruka commented, ‘I enjoyed making my own scrapbook and decorating it, as well as calling my grandparents and talking to them because I don’t usually do this, since there is a time difference. Although I made my scrapbook by myself, it was quite challenging for me to find all of the things I needed. I have learnt that there is no one who is famous neither in my extended family nor in my immediate family, however, we have our special company that has been in Japan science the edo era.’

Amba said, ‘I enjoyed thinking about myself a lot more than usual, because normally I would know the main details about myself, but I really discovered who I was! Of course the question itself, ‘Who am I?’ is quite vague, so it took me some time to come up with what I was going to do and how to lay it out. I learnt much more about myself and that I’m not good at drawing a tree!’

Phoebe added, ‘I really enjoyed speaking to my family about their lives and my past, but also thinking ahead to my future and who I would like to be as well as thinking about who I am now, in the present. This project has really made me think how I want to lead my life, with positivity and kindness to all nature. I discovered how, along with my family, nature has structured my life. Coronavirus has also structured much of my writing and has inspired me to help others around me and how to love our special, amazing, determined and incredible world.’

The final, very apt, word goes to Mylla,

‘“What’s your best discovery?” asked the mole. “That I’m enough as I am” said the boy. (taken from The Boy the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy).

I loved this project. It made me realise that I am made up from so many different elements, and these elements help me be the person that I am. It’s a bit like being a sponge, I soak up all the things that I take in; my family, my friends, my interests and the things that I love. These then are squeezed out of me making me into Who I am. It was a challenge trying to summarise into the project all the inspirations that I have around me, but that was also part of the fun. I used a lot of photographs to help! What I have learnt, though, is that I have still got a lot of time and a long way to go to soak up more influences and take up even more interests which will finally help me to learn ‘Who Am I?’’