The Role of Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) in the IB Program
January 17, 2025
The International Baccalaureate is well known and respected for its challenging academics and its global perspective that teaches valuable skills.
The IB program also teaches students to recognize links between core disciplines in and out of the classroom, and to seek out and develop personal, community, and global connections, and incorporate those connections into personal school projects.
“The IB Diploma Programme is truly a gold standard in education,” said Elizabeth Hutton, IB Diploma Program Coordinator at Dwight Global Online School, an independent school for students in grades 6-12 that offers the IB DP online.
“It is the only educational framework that places equal importance on skills as it does a world-class academic education. Students matriculate from the program knowing how to learn! Social and communication are explicitly taught and give students the confidence to become independent thinkers,” she said.
Students Receive A Theoretical and Practical Education
The IB program ensures that students put their learning into practice.
Three mandatory and important elements of the IB DP are the Theory of Knowledge class, which asks students to reflect on the nature of knowledge and on how we claim to know what we know; The Extended Essay, an independent research and writing project of a student’s own choosing; and student participation in CAS – Creativity, Activity, Service projects, where students learn through experience and take action in the service of others.
In CAS, students pursue their own interests and skills through projects, clubs, community service, sports, and other co-curricular activities. CAS helps to shape students into well-rounded, motivated, engaged people.
How Is CAS Structured?
In order to receive an IB Diploma, students must participate in a CAS project and demonstrate engagement in the learning outcomes defined by the IB. The CAS project must last at least one month in duration.
According to the International Baccalaureate, the three strands of CAS, which are often interwoven with particular activities, are characterized as follows:
- Creativity – the arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
- Activity – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the DP.
- Service – an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.
Students must demonstrate these concepts through a CAS project that challenges students to:
- show initiative
- demonstrate perseverance
- develop skills such as collaboration, problem solving and decision making.
Student CAS Projects
To understand the scope and purpose of a CAS project, it helps to hear it from the students themselves.
Below, Dwight Global seniors Kavi Giroux ’25 and Iggy Pelgrim ’25 provide details about their innovative and enriching work.
Iggy invited IB students at Dwight Global to join ENGin, an English-language teaching program that connects volunteer teachers with Ukrainians in order to improve their English proficiency.
ENGin is a successful, growing program and many participants have used their English language skills to apply for, and receive, job offers.
“In 2022 I joined the program after hosting two successful fundraisers at my old school, the proceeds of which went to buying laptops for Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands, my home country, so they could attend public school, where laptops are a requirement. I was in charge of this project and raised over $3000. I was happy to expand my work to Dwight Global through my CAS project. ENGin is free to join, and anyone can sign up at their homepage,” he said.
Iggy worked with fellow senior Andrea Vidal ’25 on the project.
Kavi’s CAS project, a platform dedicated to promoting cultural exchange and understanding, was also a successful combination of creativity, activity, and service.
Called “Cultralink,” the group has more than 50 members and is still growing. Kavi said the purpose is to bridge gaps, foster connections, celebrate diversity, and support world causes the group believes in. Kavi’s idea was sparked by his participation in an online school.
“At Dwight Global, I have had the unique opportunity to interact with people from all over the world,” said Kavi. “These interactions gave me a firsthand appreciation for the richness of different cultures and how much we can learn from one another. I realized that if I benefited so much from these exchanges, everyone could benefit from having a space dedicated to sharing cultural stories and traditions.”
Cultralink hosts cultural meet-ups and creates fundraisers for cultural causes, demonstrating the tangible impact of collective efforts, according to Kavi.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of the project was seeing how participants connected over shared experiences and how we discovered unexpected commonalities despite cultural differences. There are people who met through this project that have become extremely close and meet nearly every week. That has really been the most rewarding aspect of the project,” he said.
What is the Significance of CAS?
CAS enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development by learning through experience. It provides student opportunities for self-determination and collaboration with others, fostering a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment from the work itself.
A good CAS program is both challenging and enjoyable – a personal journey of self‑discovery. Each student has a different starting point, and therefore different goals and needs. For many students, their CAS activities include experiences that are profound and life changing. CAS is assessed based on student development and a CAS portfolio and the completion of a CAS project. CAS is an important counterbalance to the academic pressures of the DP.
Read more about the online IB program and the IB Diploma Programme at Dwight Global.