My Goals –
My goals for Muir Semester 2 were to participate in every activity that we did and to try my hardest with everything. I think I achieved my goals because I participated in every snorkeling session I could, I went to every archery lesson and I also participated in multiple orienteering sessions.
Capabilities –
I used organisation during Muir as I had to be organised with my snorkeling gear every week, I had to make sure I was in the right place at the right time (oval or classroom) and made sure I had the right equipment for the activity.
I used leadership during orienteering as I needed to decide what do when we were out on excursions if the group has different answers. My group had different results when using the compass so we had to collaborate to figure out which was one correct.
I used problem solving during Muir as we got lost a couple times during orienteering so we needed to figure out how to get back to the starting point as a group. We needed to figure out where north was and use our compass to help get a accurate direction.
At the start of term 2, we did archery as apart of our Muir topic. Every Friday morning, we would go down to the lower oval and meet Mary to learn new archery skills. I started off by being not very good. I missed the target multiple times, I didn’t have grouping and didn’t have very good aim. After listening to Mary’s advice, I developed new skills and slowly improved my score week by week. I ended up very rarely missing the target, I was much better at grouping and I have hit the balloon on multiple occasions.
In Muir, we also did orienteering. We did lots of courses around the school to help improve our skills before leaving the campus. We got given multiple questions and had to use our compass to find the letter that coordinates to it. I found orienteering really fun as it was a good chance to spend time with friends while developing our skills.
Snorkeling was my favourite aspect of Muir as I have lots of previous practice from snorkeling with family but I also got to learn lots of new skills that I didn’t know before. I learnt how clear my snorkel without having to take it off fully. I enjoyed snorkeling in the pool, but getting to go snorkeling with my friends at Rottnest was lots more fun.
Rottnest Camp
In week 4 term 2, we went to Rottnest Island overnight for our Muir camp. I personally really enjoyed this camp as it was really relaxed but we still had lots of fun activities to do. On day 1 we snorkeled in Little Parakeet Bay which was about a 30 minute walk from our campsite. We went through tunnels and saw lots of cool fish. The water was freezing but having a wetsuit helped. That night we did an amazing race around the island and also got some lollies as it was Halloween. The next day we went snorkeling in the infamous basin where the water was slightly warmer and we saw even more fish than the day before. We finished off the camp with a bakery lunch where we got to chose what ever we wanted and eat with our friends in the sun. Overall, I loved getting to put my snorkeling skills into practice and getting to spend some time with friends out of the school environment .
Leave No Trace
During our camp we had to make sure that we left the environment how we found it so that we wouldn’t ruin anything. We made sure to not drop any rubbish, not to touch the coral, don’t take any shells home and do a ’emu bob’ after every area we went to. We also stayed on pre made paths so we weren’t stepping on any extra bushland. I think this is important because keeping our environment clean and healthy means that we can help endangered species, help preserve wild life and reduce pollution.
Reflection –
Overall, I am really happy and grateful that I got to Muir as it was a great experience and I really enjoyed learning new skills like orienteering and developing my other skills like archery and snorkelling. I learnt that it is good to try new things as I wasn’t sure about this elective at the start as I had already done Lock the semester before and I didn’t have any friends in my class but I ended up enjoying this more that Lock and even made some new friends!
