CAS Project

Reflection

Grounds for Exploration is a self-directed cafe and neighborhood guide covering four transit-accessible destinations in and around Philadelphia, compiled into a PDF and distributed to IB classmates at Central. Coffee shops offer a common thread that all can relate to, but each one exists in a different neighborhood with its own character, history, and things to do nearby. My goal was to give my classmates a reason and a roadmap to push beyond the areas they already know and explore the region around us.

This project grew from my enjoyment of going to cafes. Starting the CAS project, I was not sure what I wanted to do, but after consulting with Ms. Brooks, I realized I could turn what I already do for fun -- visiting cafes and exploring new places -- into something useful for others. As the sole member, I handled everything from selecting the locations and planning the routes to making the visits, writing the entries, taking the photos, and putting the whole guide together.

The project went well, and the only real challenge was purely logistical. Visiting these cafes during IB exam season meant I had to plan when I went out, finding weekend windows where I was not exhausted or preoccupied. I planned around my exam schedule from the beginning, which made it manageable.

My biggest growth working on this project was in graphic design. I've never seen myself as a creative person, and writing and visual design are not where I feel most confident. Putting together a publication that looked decent, with a coherent layout and intentional design choices, pushed me to develop these graphic design skills I had not really exercised before. As the world becomes more digital and generative AI makes it easier to produce generic, bland "corporate"- looking content, the ability to create something that reflects my authentic human judgment and aesthetic sensibility, like the background being a light coffee brown, matters significantly.

The project connects to all three CAS strands. The Creativity strand is most obvious through the writing, photography, and design of the final deliverable. Activity shows up in the travel itself, planning transit routes, and physically exploring each neighborhood on foot. Service is the distribution of the guide so that my classmates can actually use it to explore beyond what they're used to.