Running Hour
When I signed up for this service, in all honesty I had no idea what to expect. Running hour is a service where you run partnered up with an intellectually challenged person, to get them their physical activity. The slogan is “Run so others can”. All I knew was that we would be running with people with some level of intellectual disability but I had no idea what exactly that would mean, and I was afraid to ask as I did not want to be offensive. Part of me was thinking that they’re mentally challenged, not physically, so it would just be like normal running while another part of me was think “Well, in that case, why do they need us running with them?”. However, I have done many weeks of the service now and see that my fears were completely irrational. It was very relaxed, it’s just running after all, and you really get to connect with people as you do so. Most can run perfectly fine, with differences in physical ability being just like differences that most people have in fitness, nothing inherent to their disability. I now know a few of them, such as a 23yr old named Sebastian, whom I have ran with 3 times. He is always extremely kind and has a positive attitude, and somehow has undying stamina, which actually means I have to work hard and it can really be a challenge. We also have to be mindful of how we behave and talk around them, which shows our ethical concern. This is because extra careful to be respectful, otherwise we may be unknowingly behaving inappropriately.
Investment Society
Investment Society has been a very special activity for me as I and my friend have been leading it since the start of 10th Grade, so over a year already. Investing, finance, and business are things I am very passionate about, and investment society gives me an outlet to find others with the same interest, share what we know with each other, and have interesting discussions. Investment society requires a lot of commitment and we have to spend a few hours planning each session the week before and actually be there in the activity to conduct the sessions. It also forces us to work in a team, in planning the week before and also within the activity we have to cooperate when researching and discussing. I want to do business/finance related stuff in life, so investment society actually helps keep me disciplined about keeping up to date with what’s happening economically around the world and to keep on learning, which has been invaluable. We do however often have issues with commitment from participants and have to remind them to come and what we’d be doing, which has been a challenge. Mr. Jacobson, the supervisor, told us to learn from it and to not worry, it’s a part of the process and it’s good that we’re experiencing it.
Hip Hop
I have been dancing since I was very young, and even participated in a few dance performances. Middle school was when I participated the most, doing 2 school shows and hip hop as an activity, however when I entered high school I stopped almost completely, only doing it for the first half of 9th grade. I felt I didn’t have enough time and it wasn’t a priority, but this year, especially after I auditioned for CultuRama, I felt that rush that I used to get of excitement every time I danced and wanted to keep doing it. This led me to sign up for Hip Hop. It was a little different than what I was expecting it to be, and by that I mean different in a BETTER way. Instead of just doing choreo for a few weeks like the activity would normally be, now I actually get to interact with the instructor more and ask him about specific steps or uncertainties I have, or special things I’d like to learn how to do and he helps me learn them, and I’ve never enjoyed dance more in my life. I felt sort of uncomfortable during the first session or two, as there was only one other person in the activity, however after I got used to it and even attended sessions alone as I was excited for what I could learn. I feel hip hop really helps in letting me find an outlet for my energy.
CultuRama
CultuRama was a school performance led by students where we perform dances of many different countries to showcase the range of styles our world culture has. I wanted to actually do CultuRama last year, in Grade 10, but was too scared to audition and so ended up not participating. I really regretted this though, and so this year I made sure to participate as I would only have two more chances to do so, and got into both Jamaica and India (Garba – there were two India dances). However, you could only do once dance, and I chose India. Something that really stuck in my mind after the experience was the energy of the audience and the rush we all felt performing on the stage, which was really exhilarating. It was strange, because although I had performed on stage numerous times before, I felt sudden anxiety before going performing. I regretted it for a split second, but once we got on and the music started playing, I released my focus from the audience and danced the best I could, ignoring that they were even there. This really helped and the stress went away immediately.
Green Umbrella
Green Umbrella is an organisation in Cambodia which aims to get children off the street and into school. I only joined Green Umbrella this year. The last time I was in a GC was in 6th or 7th grade, so it has certainly been a long while. I joined this year because my friend, who chairs the GC, said he would really appreciate the help if I joined as they needed more people and I wanted to help him. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and to be honest, still am not entirely sure. This is because in the sessions we have had, not much has happened, although in the last two things have started to pick up and we are planning for when they will come over in a few months and what activities to do with them. When we are doing this though, we have to be aware of what exactly our objectives are with the activity and from there we can design. We have decided that our priority right now is not to raise funds, but to raise awareness, so the activity will help you learn facts about education in Cambodia and the Green Umbrella GC.
Ultimate Frisbee
Ultimate Frisbee was a sport I fell in love with in middle school. I was introduced to it in 7th grade, and ever since then I’ve always loved the game. I think it started off because Captain America was my favourite superhero and because I had practice throwing a shield frisbee toy, I was good in the game at throwing the frisbee and the game was always thrilling. I kind of stopped playing in Grade 9 and Grade 10 though, only playing in PE, but this year I signed up for the activity again even though it is at an inconvenient time, 6pm on Wednesdays, meaning I have to stay back in school for 3 hours, I do so anyway purely out of my love for the sport and the exhilaration I feel when playing it, more so than any other sport. Recently, we have started seeing some commitment issues from other people, and only a handful of us turning up, but I still find the game fun and actually sort of prefer it this way as less people mean your actions in the game have a bigger impact as the decisions you make are more important and I like the way this challenges me to push myself.
Project Week
For our project week, we went to Vietnam. We spent the first night in Hanoi, and the rest of the trip in a place called Lac Village in the Mai Chau district. Yet, this was not our first choice of destination. When planning started months ago, we initially wanted to go to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We spent weeks planning, and were supposed to teach schoolchildren with a GC we work with at school called ‘Green Umbrella’ for our service, and our activity would have been biking along a scenic route. However, there was a heat wave affecting the country which was putting stress on supply of water in many places, and our NGO was no longer able to host us as they were going to be closing the school. We had to come up with a new project quickly, and found an option to go to a rugby NGO called Kuma, with Buffalo Tours as our service provider, still in Cambodia. However, this was cancelled too, as the service department felt we should be thoughtful of our impact on NGOs resources given the heat wave. We were now stressed to find an alternative, otherwise we would be forced to stay in Singapore. We contacted Buffalo Tours and thankfully were able to find the option in Vietnam, meaning we would not be forced to stay in Singapore. The experience itself was very rewarding, as none of us had been to Vietnam before and we learnt a lot about village life and rural communities. I think that had the biggest impact on me, learning about the lifestyle of people in these communities.
