Seema
Singapore is amongst one of the most developed countries in the world. It has achieved all this in the short period of 52 years. We were honoured to have Mrs. Seema, a volunteer from TWC2 (transient workers count too) to come talk to us about the real conditions about the transients workers who made this development possible. I have never thought carefully about where the workers came from or how they they came into Singapore, I’ve always assumed Singapore has a organised and judicial system, where everyone is protected and free. However, my opinion has changed completely after hearing her talk. From I heard and understood, it’s almost like human trafficking. People’s rights are violated and they are not even aware of it. Being raised in an expat family, I feel so dismal for such a difference just because of the different social classes we’re born into. Although in UWCSEA we do a lot of service to try to support them, we can never change this sad truth of the society – you are born into who you are. There are little possibilities of anyone to suddenly change a social class and tragedies like such will never come to an end. We are not exposed to the same resources and opportunities, so how can we build a sustainable future for everyone? The migrant workers are looked down upon and even feared by the citizens in Singapore, but people don’t realise they wouldn’t be living in their house if they haven’t built it. Although the difference in social classes can not be changed, we all can help them to step up in their current social class, by acceptance and equality. By doing so, we are supporting them and building toward a more peaceful future, their social class can slowly develop and move up as generations can develop with adequate resources provided. However, there can never be true acceptance if discrimination still lies deep within ourselves, and I am proud to say that I come from a school that by all means is trying to eradicate discrimination and build a more sustainable future for everyone.

Steve Dawson
In today’s session we were honoured to have Mr. Steve Dawson come talk to us. He is a commentator on Fox News / ESPN and was talking to us about interview techniques. I was expecting him to talk about his career and books but he was actually teaching us about how to interview people with his personal stories as examples. I found this exceptionally helpful to learn about as this has built a foundation and an insight to the following 2 weeks. It was almost like a workshop to start us off about how we should approach and obtain information respectful and professionally. I found it fascinating how his original career was actually a tax accountant, but then because of this one paper he wrote out of passion he was recognised and got in journalism. I feel that with all the writers that will come in there will always be something more than just the context to take away from. Everything is possible and there are no limitations whatsoever. I think this is a good way of thinking as to career, especially for us. Most of us still see career as a 1 time thing, you choose and you’re done, but reality isn’t this way. From this session, I was able to take away not just the useful tips for asking questions, I have also widened my view on how careers are actually like and it took off a lot of pressure off me.

Chetan Bhaget:
Today Mr. Chetan Bhaget came to our school for writers fortnight. He is listed in the 100 most influentiial people in the world and I was very honoured to had to chance to listen to him. He was very humorous and we all enjoyed this session a lot. He told us about his goal which was to change, it was very aligned with the UWC mission and he has inspired me. He has actually made very impressive progress and almost every grade 9 who comes from India knows about him. I think it was a very valuable session that I could learn from. It was closely related to life, the importance of importance and how to stick to a goal. He also talked about little tips here and there about working and communication and I found it very helpful. There were a lot of people who wanted to ask him questions, and I didn’t get to ask mine; In what way do you think India has changed from when you started writing till now? I wanted to know because I could feel that he has definitely made changes, and I wanted to know how much change one person could make. Obviously he did a lot, but this wasn’t even his planned career, this reminds about the different possibilities in life and how nothing is definite. Overall, today was a very enjoyable experience and I enjoyed it a lot.