I CAN Singapore: 50 Stories of Children Shaping Our Nation by SoCh in Action

DESIGN FOR CHANGE SINGAPORE SoCh in Action Pte Ltd, 9 Sin Ming Walk, #12-02 Singapore 575578 Email: admin@sochinaction.com ÂŠ 2015 SoCh in Action Pte Ltd All Rights Reserved First Published by SoCh in Action Pte Ltd, 2015 Edited and Layout Design by Anu Garg, DT Training & Content Management Consultants, Singapore. Cover Design by Yee Hung Pak, Ang Chee Hwee Comic Illustrations by Yee Hung Pak Story Illustrations by Ang Chee Hwee, Oon Wei Zheng

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express consent of SoCh in Action Pte Ltd. Any reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display or exploitation in any way of the content(s) in whole or in part, of this publication is strictly prohibited.

ABOUT THE BOOK Dear Reader, All children grow up listening to stories and being inspired by the courage and brave actions taken by the superheroes with superpowers. But superheroes do not only appear in fairy tales, they are real in every child who has chosen to make things better for others. In this book, Design for Change Singapore brings to you 50 real stories by real children who believe in two of the most powerful words in the universe . By having the belief in these two words, nothing is impossible, you can drive change and shape your life, other’s lives and the future of a nation. All the schools and children featured in the book have been part of Design for Change movement in Singapore. Design for Change is the world's largest movement of children driving change in more than 30 countries. The program has been designed to give children an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better tomorrow and put them into action. (www.dfcworld.com) Through four simple steps of Feel-Imagine-Do-Share (FIDS), children are able to recognise issues that bother them and then take action to bring about change. Written for an interesting read and accentuated with colourful illustrations and comics, these are real stories of change where children, as young as 8 years old, are a testimony to show that with a little empathy and the power of ‘I CAN’, they can make the world a better place. The e-book is made free for all to download so it reaches as many people, especially children and teachers, to recognise and get inspired by the spirit of ‘I CAN’! Join the movement and be the change you want to be in this world! Editor’s note: There are stories in this e-book where the school has preferred not to reveal their school name and names of the students for reasons of confidentiality.

ll children grow up listening to stories, tales of great valour and courage performed by superheroes with magical powers. They listen with rapt attention to how these heroes slay dragons and save the world. And just as they start to believe in this magical world the adults bring them back to ‘reality’ by telling them that superheroes exist only in fairy tales. Today, Design for Change has unleashed a new generation of superheroes in over 30 countries around the world . Heroes who are still slaying dragons- the only difference is their dragons are bullies, child marriage and loneliness. They are still using magical powers, only not laser vision and fancy masks but the two powerful words in the English vocabulary, ‘I CAN’. A simple 4 step design thinking framework cultivates this 'I Can' mindset. We call it FIDS for KIDS! Using this FeelImagine-Do-Share (FIDS) framework, children are encouraged to 'Feel' –any situation that bothers them, Imagine- a way to make it better, 'Do' –put into action the change and finally, 'Share'- their story

of change with the world to inspire others! From teaching their parents to read and stopping child marriages to cleaning up their neighbourhoods, fixing potholes on the street and preserving their cultural heritage - children are using FIDS to be able to 'design' a future that is desired. The power of the framework lies in its simplicity and inclusivity– it dissolves every 'border' – geography, demographics and age. These superheroes are making the world around them a better place. They are showing us that they don’t need to be rich, strong or 18 to make change happen and inspire others. Their power is their belief in their own selves to lead change. By telling children they ‘can’ we are leaving not just a better planet for our children, but also better children for our planet. Come, be the change. You can be a superhero too! If not us, then who? If not now, then when? Kiran Bir Sethi Founder, Design for Change

otherhood taught me how to be amazed and appreciate the power of a child. The power to be curious, to explore and to see things differently, of having an independent view of the world, of living in the moment, feeling and expressing it, of being a self-learner while learning to walk or talk; trying, failing and then trying again. But as our children grow older, we condition them to see the world our way and structure their learning right from the time they enter school. Gradually, they lose some of these amazing powers of exploration and self-learning that they were born with.

In 2010, when I got infected by the Design for Change ‘bug,’ I saw a chance to re-ignite that power in the children of Singapore, the power to explore and learn from the real world and to solve real problems in their own way. It was a chance to share with the nation and the world, the power of the child. SoCh was thus born, and with it came the Design for Change program to Singapore. Life in Singapore is busy, and as we go on with our lives everyday we witness and are often affected by many community issues and are aware of people who need help. But more often than not, we wait for miracles to happen or expect that someday, someone will resolve them.

As part of the Design for Change Singapore programme, in the last 5 years children of Singapore have turned this ‘someday’ into ‘now’ and ‘someone’ into ‘me’. They are taking responsibility for these everyday community issues. They are willingly, passionately and altruistically engaging with their families, friends, schools and communities to resolve these issues and improve things for the better. This book is a collection of some of these Design for Change Singapore stories. I invite every child to be part of the Design for Change movement, unleash their ‘I CAN’ spirit, and shape the nation for a better tomorrow. The e-version of this book is free for download for everyone to read and get inspired. It provides empirical evidence that children have what it takes to solve problems on their own through exploration, creativity and action. As adults we need give our children a voice to express their perspective and enable them to act, and build a child-inclusive society that believes in the power of our children. Believe in the child and join us in making their ‘CAN I?’ to ‘I CAN!’

Madhu Verma Founder & Director, SoCh in Action

oCh would like to extend a very big “Thank You” to all the children who have been featured in this e-book, their teachers and mentors who have supported them in the process and their schools who have encouraged the children to believe in themselves.

This e-book is also a testimony to teamwork and the ‘I CAN’ spirit; it has been compiled, written, illustrated and brought to life by a community of inspired volunteers. Our first round of thanks goes out to our enthusiastic group of student writers – Aabha Gokhale, Ahanaa Puri, Dhruv Verma, JoshRyan, Isha Rajadhyax, Ravisha Garg and Tania Joshi. Also a special note of thanks to our student illustrator - Ananya Mathur. Whilst the children imagined change, our volunteer writers brought them to life with their vision. Our heartfelt gratitude to all the writers—Adhe Sarariany Andi Djohar, Aishwarya Ananth, Amita M Puri, Goh Kim Pong, Humairah Jamil, Jacinth Preeya Reveenthran, Joey See, Joyce Chng, Lee Jia Jin Kristy, Marc Ganaut, Marcia Lee Tjie Yi, Nirana Nita, Pratibha Kurnool, Rakhi Shankar, Roy Lim, Samantha Goh, Varsha Vishwanath and Yeo Zhi Hui - for their creative conception and enthusiasm that have injected fun and action into the stories. The colourful spirit of the children and the vision of the writers were brought to life by our team of illustrators - Yee Hung Pak, Ang Chee Hwee and Oon Wei Zheng. A special note of appreciation to Yee Hung Pak and Ang Chee Hwee for illustrating all the comic stories and cover of this e-book under tight deadline pressure. Thank you! We are also very grateful to Devika Verma for proof reading the stories in a very short span of time. A round of thanks to the SoCh team – the Founder and Director Madhu Verma for her vision and ‘never say die’ spirit that became a mantra for all of us working on the project, Huang Shiqi for her invaluable inputs especially pertaining to the creative aspect of this e-book, Pratibha Kurnool and Varsha Vishwanath for their insightful feedback, editing, detailing and unflagging support. Last but not least, my own children – Ravisha and Anubhav, who inspire me every day with their innocence, energy, honesty, simplistic thinking and making me look at the world through their eyes to believe in the spirit of ‘I CAN’! Anu Garg Editor I CAN Singapore: 50 Stories of Children shaping our Nation

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Design for Change is the world's largest movement of children driving change in more than 30 countries. The program has been designed to give children an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better tomorrow and put them into action. (www.dfcworld.com)

Design for Change has been selected by the United Nations as one of the initiatives to achieve the Global Goals for Sustainable Development (www.globalgoals.org/take-action)

Design for Change offers a simple 4-step Feel-Imagine-Do-Share (FIDS) design-thinking process to enable every student to understand situations empathically, imagine solutions and put them into action.

SoCh is the exclusive country partner for Design for Change in Singapore. Since 2010, we have been driving this initiative and working with the young to unleash their power to sense the problems faced by others and take action to make it better.

SoCh also runs facilitation workshops for Primary and Secondary school teams and Teachers especially designed for Design for Change program. Please contact us to enrol your school in the next Design for Change Singapore Challenge and be part of the global movement. Visit our website www.SoChinAction.com or email to admin@SoChinAction.com SoCh (Social Change) in Action is a social enterprise that works to empower every child to shape society for a better tomorrow. Our programmes are based on design-thinking and experiential learning and promotes the 4Cs of 21st Century Skills: Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Communication.

I CAN Singapore

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Kiran Bir Sethi

Note from the Founder Madhu Verma

Campaigning against Smoking Crescent Girls’ Secondary

Improving Family Time Boon Lay Garden Primary School

Anu Garg

iv Protecting the Environment Yumin Primary School Improving life of seniors Commonwealth Secondary School

Promoting Animal Adoption Raffles Institution

Managing the haze Sengkang Secondary School

Reducing Bullying Whitley Secondary School

Managing PSLE stress Clementi Primary School

Improving Road Safety Fengshan Primary School

Propagating Eye Care St. Hilda’s Secondary School

Enabling Healthcare for Seniors Whitley Secondary School

Spreading Autism Awareness St. Hilda’s Secondary School

Teaching Financial Discipline Pasir Ris Primary School

Celebrating Taxi Drivers Global Indian Int. School, Balestier

Innovating to Reduce Teacher’s Burden Bukit View Secondary School

Improving Eye-Health Bonding with Seniors Commonwealth Secondary Tampines Primary School School

Stopping Child Abuse Sengkang Secondary school

Celebrating Cleaners Tampines Primary school

Helping Seniors Exercise Greendale Secondary School

Keeping Classrooms Clean Sembawang Primary School

Reducing Food Wastage West View Primary School

Improving Library Endeavour Primary School

Bonding with grandparents Pasir Ris Primary School

Cheering the Childrens’ Home Managing Stress Holy Innocent’s Primary Fengshan Primary School School

Enabling Wheelchair Exercise Greendale Secondary School

Stopping Bullying West View Primary School

Improving Senior Health St. Anthony’s Primary School

Celebrating Cleaners Greendale Secondary School

Cooking Healthy Global Indian Int. School, East Coast

Managing Waste Tampines Primary School

Bonding with Special Children CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel

Reducing Straw Use Pasir Ris Primary School

Campaigning against Keeping Toilets Clean Bullying St. Anthony’s Primary School Tampines Primary School

Improving Transport Chua Chu Kang Primary School

Managing Teen Time Whitley Secondary School

Empathizing with the Visually Challenged Raffles Institution

Building Dreams Holy Innocent’s Primary School

Keeping Toilets Clean Fengshan Primary School

Improving Wheelchair Access Greendale Secondary School

Enabling MRT access Queensway Secondary School

Integrating Newcomers

Protecting Endangered Species

Supporting Migrant Workers Greenview Secondary School

Entertaining Seniors

Helping with Studies Life Improvement Ideas Connecting Seniors

adam Chua Chua looked again towards the door as she waited eagerly for the five young friends to come. The youngsters had been coming everyday around this time for the last six days to check in on the garden made by the senior residents of the St. Andrews Cathedral Home for the Aged. Madam Chua couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe that it was less than a week ago, when all she had to do at the Home was watch television and had nothing productive or meaningful to do. Like many of the other thirty residents of the Home, she had become a resident, since her family members were no longer able to take care of her, after her husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death.

Some days back, a group of school children had come to the Home with some seedlings and a project for them. They wanted the residents to grow their own food. Madam Chua had been very excited about this as she used to grow some plants in her own home and loved gardening. Today, she looked lovingly at her fresh herbs as she waited.

WITH A STUDENTS Shermaine Shelley, Celestyn Zafirah, Eugene Written By Rakhi Shankar

The school children were walking up the path towards the Home. Shelley looked pleased. She and her friends had wanted to provide the seniors at the Home with some form of meaningful activity and had debated what they could do. They had thought about teaching them how to make handicrafts but decided against this. It would have been difficult for some of the seniors who might have weak eyesight or unsteady hands, due to old age. They had also abandoned the idea of baking since it could have been

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dangerous for them. Gardening had been the most popular choice for their project. Gardening offered many benefits for the seniors. It was outdoors which was relaxing and would also help the Home in meeting some of its food expenses. In the beginning, the students had initiated the residents into the activity by planting green beans and with its success, they had progressed to more plants like chilli, coriander and curry leaves. The school had provided the funds for the pots, seeds, fertiliser, and signage for the kitchen garden. When Madam Chua saw Shelley, she gave her a big wave and a huge smile. Shelley had been working with Madam Chua on her plants. Madam Chua loved Thai sweet basil and had chosen to plant these in her pot. The seedlings were growing into nice little plants with the sweet smell of basil and she couldn’t wait to show them off to Shelley. In fact, all the residents wanted to show off their own efforts. Madam Ang and Madam Teo had grown red and green chillies while Madam Tang had grown curry leaves. Madam Chua wanted to try growing mint next. The other residents would often come to Madam Chua, for advice, since she was the most experienced. She would know if the plants were over- or under-watered and how much sun they needed. While growing the plants was rewarding in itself, Madam Chua was especially happy that she had gotten to know many of the residents better through this activity. They had all bonded over gardening and shared not only their gardening tips but also their personal stories. As the children reached the Home, Shirley, the manager, called the residents and the children together. She had something to tell

them. “Shermaine, Shelley, Celestyn, Zafirah, Eugene, thank you so much for working with our residents on our own little kitchen garden. It has been a wonderful week of learning and growing,” she said. She continued, “However, now it is time for us to take over this project ourselves since today is the last day that our young friends will be with us. So, now I am looking for a volunteer from the Home to guide the others in maintaining our little garden. I will, of course, also be around to help in whatever way I can.”

“Gardening offered many benefits for the seniors. It was a gentle, physical, outdoor activity, which was relaxing and which would also help the Home in meeting some of the food expenses.”

Madam Tang called out, “I think Madam Chua should take over.” Some of the other women also nodded their heads in agreement. Madam Chua felt embarrassed and elated at the same time and agreed readily. Shelley beamed at her with pride. Madam Chua too felt a sense of pride at still being able to contribute to the community. Later that day, as Madam Chua waved goodbye to the children, she smiled to herself as she once again smelled her sweet basil. Her dream had come true. After spending her life in an apartment, she finally had a home with a garden.

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Promoting Animal Adoption

STUDENTS Matthew Kho, Jerome Lee, Jefferson Li, Sean Lim, Isaac Liu

Scripted By Anu Garg

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dense coat of fine, suspended particles loomed over the people of Singapore - ominous, foreboding, and threatening in its presence. The winds had carried over from Indonesia, the last legacy of thousands of trees scorched to nothingness, drifting into the lives of Singaporeans. Over the weeks, PSI indices hit the red. There was a scramble for N95 masks. TV programmes featured experts on protective measures and haze discussions filled the media. Outdoor activities were limited, schools declared off-days, and physical complaints plagued the people- especially the young, old, and those with existing health concerns.

THE STUDENTS Joel Loh, Zuberi Tay Tay Hui Tat, Mhud Amsyar Akif Kelvin Tan Written By Lee Jia Jin Kristy

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A group of Seng Kang Secondary School students was watching these events unfold. Their empathy led them to feel deeply about the haze and its effects on the people around them. Even though they realized the limitations of their strength in this transboundary problem, they were passionate to contribute and initiate change in their own way. The team brainstormed for ideas. The haze had been difficult for many Singaporeans. Each individual, family, and community experienced their unique share of hazerelated troubles. The students thought to themselves, “How best can we affirm these experiences?” Once decided, they immediately set to work. First they made a research plan which included both primary and secondary research. Primary research included speaking to experts from related fields; doctors, environmentalists and officials from the ministry. Secondary research included going through news articles, surveys and studies related to the haze. At the end of their week long research, they had a well-rounded knowledge of the subject and they felt confident of now taking their message to the world. The five of them wrote out a skit, wherein they enacted through a story, the ill-effects of haze and what can be done, at an individual level and at the community level. Once they were satisfied that they had covered all the issues, they got one of their seniors to record a video. They shared the video on many social media platforms and hoped that through this home video they could bring more awareness to people and gather further support to their ‘Beat the Haze’ movement.

“The team brainstormed for ideas. The haze had been difficult for many Singaporeans. The students thought to themselves, “How best can we affirm these experiences?”

Once the video created the initial buzz, the friends set up a booth in school. Many students approached them and listened patiently as the five explained the issue of the haze to them. They invited support for the movement, by asking students to pen down their thoughts, take a picture and put it up at Instagram (an online photo sharing platform). The children mapped out various activities to help the movement to reach out and raise awareness on the haze issue in Singapore, as well as to people across the globe. Every year, as the haze spreads, the skies are shrouded in a blur, yet, the vision of the students from Seng Kang Secondary School did not lose its focus. They saw themselves clearer than ever, as ambassadors of change. They were galvanized into action by their desire to make a difference, and drew on their expertise in social media to deliver change. Their dedication to combating haze may just bring forth the winds of change that will blow the haze away.

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Reducing Bullying

BODYGUARDS

STUDENTS Lim Xuanheng, Brandon, Qixiang, Eric Dwi Delson

Scripted By Anu Garg

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YOUR STUDENTS Zhiyi, Phei Shien Mercia, Shuwei Kelly Written By Yeo Zhi Hui

saw some empty seats in the canteen and sat down. While I was waiting for my friends, I could not help but notice the dejected expressions of my primary six seniors. At the table across from mine, there was a girl sobbing profusely as her friends put their arms around her, whispering soft words of comfort. However, they could do little to calm her down as she wailed even more loudly. “I will never do well!” She cried. “You only need to work harder,” one of her friends advised. “I am already working hard! I quit all games and missed my cousin’s birthday party just so that I could study at home,” the weeping girl said. Looking at the frowns etched on the foreheads of my seniors, I wished I could do something about the situation they were facing. Just then, my friends arrived.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Mercia told me. Kelly added, “And thanks for saving the seats for us.” When they settled down, I recounted what I had seen. “I feel bad for her,” Shuwei commented. “She must have worked so hard.” Phei Shien asked, “Why do you think she is still not doing well even though she worked so hard?” “If she is already spending so much time on her studies, and not doing well, maybe it is because she is using the wrong methods,” I suggested. “Wrong methods?” Shuwei repeated, but with a puzzled tone. “That’s possible,” Kelly said. “Using the wrong method to study is just like drawing and using the wrong model for a problem sum. You keep working on the problem, but you will never get to the correct answer.”

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Mercia also suggested, “Zhiyi, didn’t you also say she’s feeling very disappointed and negative? Maybe that is a problem too!” Phei Shien said, “I agree. Attitude towards studies is very important too. Feeling disappointed may make studying harder, than it actually is.” I nodded my head thoughtfully as I listened to their suggestions. Shuwei said, “PSLE is nearing. The seniors must be feeling really nervous. Seeing them so tense is upsetting.” The five of us sighed, sharing the same worries for our seniors. Over the next few days, we grew more and more conscious of the difficulties our seniors were facing, and their unhappiness. Kelly said, “This is bad…I can’t stop thinking about our seniors.”

to arrange for a suitable time for the presentation. The second was to make a mini booklet on how to maintain mental well-being since preparing for PSLE is a stressful task, for the body and for the mind too. We spoke to the school counsellor on effective tips that can be employed to have a healthy and happy mind.

“The seniors got a lot of food for thought and time to introspect. Most importantly, they felt extremely motivated because the whole school supported them, understood them and wished well for them.”

Phei Shien agreed, saying, “Me neither.” Shuwei said, “If only something could be done for them.” “My thoughts exactly!” I exclaimed. “Let’s do something for them!” “But…what can we do?” Mercia asked. “It is not like we can tutor them.” Kelly said, “We can’t tutor them. But maybe we can change their attitude towards studying and their study methods! That way, we will be able to help.” Thus, began our journey to discover ways and means by which we could help our seniors. We brainstormed for solutions, and came up with three. The first was to speak to our seniors directly, help them realize their problems and offer solutions, through a presentation in the auditorium. To accomplish this, we spoke to our school principal for advice and guidance, and also

To boost the morale of our seniors, we got our schoolmates, from primary one to five, to write notes of well wishes for our seniors and showed these messages during our presentation. We hope that these thoughtful and caring messages will serve as encouragement for our seniors to face the PSLE with greater confidence and cheer. The whole week was filled with positive energy and vibes wherein the seniors got a lot of food for thought and time to introspect. Most importantly, they felt extremely motivated because the whole school supported them, understood them and wished well for them. From a crying, tense group our seniors turned into a happy, relaxed group. Together, the five of us managed to not only change our approach from ‘Can We?’ to ‘We Can!” but we also inspired our seniors to do the same for themselves.

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STUDENTS Nick, Kiat Soon Alfian, Clement Ivan Lim

ARE TO BE

Written By Amita M Puri

was walking down the HDB corridor, humming softly to myself, happy that school was over for the week. Suddenly, a shadow caught my attention, and having an inquisitive mind, I walked towards it. The shadow loomed from behind the pillar and from the shape it seemed like a scrunched up ball. I hesitated in mid-step, unsure of what I would find, but gathered up the courage and walked ahead.

No answers! I just sat down and kept quiet. Maybe ten minutes later, though it seemed like eternity, the boy hesitatingly spoke, “I ww-was h-h-hit and p-p-pushed to the floor.” I thought for a moment and asked, “Did you have a fight with your brother or a friend?”

The boy kept quiet, then in a meek voice, stuttering with fear, he said, “M-m-my u-uuncle h-h-hit me and c-c-called me dirty As I neared the pillar, I heard soft sobbing names.” I was STUNNED! Never in my sounds and increased my pace, as I real- years of being a child and student had I ised someone may be in trouble. I spun seen anybody being hit. around the pillar to find a small boy sitting I sat there, unable to do anything and then I on the floor, crouched low, and hugging his knees as though that position offered him told the child to go home and confide to his parents who would help him. I remembered some protection and solace. what my Mum had once told me – Remembering my teachers’ advice, not to “Remember, whatever may happen, and go too close to strangers, I stopped short whenever, your Dad and I are always there about two feet from the boy, bent down and to help you!” spoke in my softest voice, “Do not be I was so troubled by the incident that the scared. I am Ivan, I am here as a friend.” next day, I confided with my friends and we On hearing that, the boy raised his head, just got thinking – what if such a thing hapand his tear-stricken face was full of sorrow. pened to other children? Infact, it could al“What happened? Did you get hurt? Are you ready be happening! lost? Have you lost any money? “Let’s do something about it,” said Alfian. Did you have a fight? Did somebody bully you?” I quickly questioned him in my state of “What?” I exclaimed, thinking to myself that what could we (students!) do? worry.

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“Did you hear the recent incident of kindergarten teacher abusing a pre-schooler?” said Nick.

“I have heard about some cases where our school students were being abused by some adults, but of course, this was unconfirmed news!” added Kiat Soon and we all looked at him shocked. It slowly dawned on us that child abuse is prevalent in Singapore and even if we cannot directly help those abused, we could create an awareness about this and hope to reduce the number of child abuse cases in Singapore. But, before doing that, we needed to make ourselves aware of the issue. After a lot of research, we learnt that child abuse took many forms - it could be physical, mental or verbal abuse and that not many people were aware that certain actions and words actually indicated abuse. We decided to raise awareness and reach out to maximum number of people. We interviewed our school teachers, discipline master and school counsellor and learnt that children who were abused could not function properly nor concentrate well in school. And in some cases it turned into a burden that they carry all their lives. Most are too scared to confide in anyone due to fear or shame and they just keep quiet. We had a number of group discussions about our role and what we could do. We did realize that our powers were limited and the issue was very sensitive. We discussed many ideas such as making posters and interviewing students. However, we felt the best would be to hear directly from the victims, as their personal experience would create a stronger impact. But our biggest hurdle was that the victims

would not speak up as they would want to be anonymous. “Let’s create a blog to capture stories of students who may have been abused in different forms. We will keep the names of the victims confidential,” said Clement. This was a good idea as it served the purpose, while treating the matter with the confidentiality and sensitivity that it deserved. So we decided to create awareness not just about the existence of abuse, but also help children know when they are being abused and whom to reach out to. “We may not have been able to stop child abuse….but in our own little way, we made a difference and spread the message that…..Children are only to be loved…..”

We designed our blog and set up a booth to create awareness on child abuse within our school. We spoke to students and teachers, educating them on different forms of child abuse. We invited students and teachers to write down their thoughts and show their support to our "Stop the Child Abuse" movement in school. As a second stage, we invited students to pen down their thoughts, take a picture and put it up on Instagram (an online photo sharing platform), hence reaching out to a bigger audience and creating a wider impact. We may not have been able to stop child abuse….but in our own little way, we made a difference and spread the message that…..Children are only to be loved…..

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GUYS STUDENTS Seow Jie Ren, Nicholas Ng Claresta Ee Nur Sarah, Nurul Adlina Written By Rakhi Shankar

t was another day at the school cafeteria. As Claresta was finishing her sandwich, she saw a senior aunty coming to clear their table. Claresta had never paid much attention to her before, but today, she noticed how the aunty was slightly bent over, walked slowly but always had a smile and a kind word for the students. Today, Claresta felt a pang of guilt and smiled back at her and even asked the aunty’s name. With a warm smile, the aunty said her name was ‘Madam Chan’. Claresta said a polite “Thank you, Madam Chan.” As she walked back to her class, she remained thoughtful. During the last few days, there had been two disturbing stories in the newspapers about two ugly incidents against seniors. In one incident, a senior cleaning aunty at a popular food courthad been first verbally abused and then punched by a young woman patron for being ‘slow’. In another incident, a senior woman was pushed out of the rear door of a standing bus because she had pressed the bell a little late

and the bus had to stop after the designated bus stop. It did seem as if the young had increasingly little, or no patience for seniors. Claresta was aware of how some of her friends too would get irritated at the seniors. She had heard them say, “Urrghhh….aunty sooooo slow lah,” quite often. However, Claresta understood that the seniors worked hard to make ends meet and were trying their best to earn their living and make a contribution. That day, when Claresta reached home after school, she ran up to her grandma and gave her a big hug. It was lucky that her grandma did not have to go to work at a food court, she thought. Grandma, of course realised immediately that something was bothering Claresta and gently coaxed her to tell. Grandma told her that the elderly aunty who got punched at the food court was her friend, Madam Lulu. Claresta was shocked. “Oh no, grandma! I am so sorry to hear that,” she exclaimed and decided to do something about the poor attitude towards seniors.

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At school the next day, she discussed the matter with her close friends Seow, Nicholas, Nur and Nurul. All of them decided that the first step was to create more awareness of the plight of seniors. The slogan they all agreed on was - Come on guys; be nice, I can still contribute, all I ask is a ‘Thank you’. Seow, who loved drawing, said, “I know what we can do. Let’s make posters and place them around the school.”

Claresta jumped at the idea, “Yes, that’s a wonderful idea! I can also put them up at the shopping mall near my house!” Nur and Nicholas also volunteered to put up the posters at the shopping malls near their houses. The posters were informative and supported by the recent news articles. Over the next few weeks, they conducted a survey of their school mates to see how much they knew about the senior workers in these low-paying and menial jobs. The survey showed that though children in the 7-12 age group were brought up to be respectful to the seniors, they became more impatient with them in their teenage years and as young adults. The children made bookmarks on the issue and gave them to all those who participated in the survey. They also interviewed the seniors working in their own school to understand why they needed to work and what their sentiments were.

They sought the views of their teachers. The findings of the survey were summed up very well by Aunty Eng who said, “Teaching pupils about respect is a shared responsibility of parents, teachers and society.” They decided to organise a contest in school as a means to actively involve all the children in their project to inform and raise awareness. They offered some store

vouchers as a prize. With permission from the principal, they used the pre-assembly time to make presentations to the school, to further their cause. The awareness project was going well but Seow felt that seniors should be appreciated. “You know, it’s always nice to feel acknowledged and appreciated with a gift. We should raise funds and buy gifts for the cleaners.”

“Claresta, Seow, Nicholas, Nur and Nurul had raised enough funds to buy gifts for the cleaners, as a token of their appreciation.” Nurul and Nur joined in, “Yes, we can make cards or something and sell them to raise funds for the gifts.” After some more discussion, the friends agreed to make interesting accordion cards and sell them to raise funds. They priced the cards at an affordable $2 each. By the end of a couple of weeks, Claresta, Seow, Nicholas, Nur and Nurul had raised enough funds to buy gifts for the cleaners, as a token of their appreciation. They were thrilled to present them to the cleaners during lunchtime - one fine, sunny afternoon. Madam Chan had tears streaming down her face as she accepted the gift. All the cleaners seemed moved by the gesture. The five friends knew that as the number of seniors increased in Singapore, it would be an ongoing effort to raise awareness and to create a culture of respect for senior workers. After all, they did indeed earn their respect!

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TO LIGHT

STUDENTS Chew Xin Hui Christi Lau, Nadhira Putri Sng Kai Lin Written By Anu Garg

t was in my hands. In my pocket!

From my dreams to reality, it had finally reached me. I had always imagined the excitement of rolling it in my fingers the first time, the joy of sharing it with my friends, the thrill of doing the forbidden, the pride in being a man - finally! For weeks, I have been meaning to pick up the courage to meet the challenge that my friends had thrown at me. To do it because all my friends have been doing it for so long. To start something that my father and cousins have been enjoying for years together. To prove to my gang that I am as ‘cool’ as them.

I told myself, I would grow to like it and went on to proceed to the second stage. I could not control my nervousness or my shaking hands and patted my pockets to search for the other thing. Finally, taking a deep breath, I took it out to “ light my first cigarette”, when a hand touched my shoulder. With my heart in my mouth and the damaging cigarette and lighter dangling from my trembling hands, I turned around with closed eyes, pretty sure, some cop had caught me, or worst, my Dad! I kept my eyes tightly shut, waiting for the tight slap, or some rebuke, but the complete silence was much more deafening.

With jittery nerves, heart pounding like thunWhen I found the courage to open my eyes, I der, I reached our secret hangout where norfound myself looking at a complete stranger, mally a few senior citizens could be seen an old man, with kind, compassionate eyes. resting and talking. Maybe it was the eyes that ‘gave him away’ I looked around nervously to ensure I was or ‘gave me the way’, I still wonder, but he alone and took it out of my pocket with slip- silently held out his hand and I just passed it pery, sweaty hands and inhaled it for the first to him – both the cigarette and the lighter. time. It was pungent, bitter with an odd flavour that was almost distasteful.

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On that eventful, hot afternoon, we both sat together silently, as time, people and my turbulent emotions passed by…..

I mustered up the courage to go and look for the old gentleman a week later, to thank him, but I could not find him. Later, I found out that he had passed away and was suffering from lung cancer. I am so grateful to him, as without uttering a single word of criticism, judgement or ridicule, he ‘stubbed’ my teenage foolishness to light up my life and my future ….. Nadhira: “When my cousin, Shawn, narrated his story, I was quite shaken up.” Chew XIn Hui: “I know Nadhira, but on hearing this incident, I realized that it’s not important who gave you your first cigarette, but what’s important is when and who inspired you to stop.”

first-hand or second-hand smokers’ lung that is eaten up by tobacco. Laminated cards with details and information about the project were placed with the white wax figurine to raise awareness about smoking.

“We wanted every smoker to think of lighting up lives of their loved ones than lighting a cigarette, to think of Mother Earth when they puff toxic carbon dioxide into her belly and to show that every cigarette butt that’s dimmed, lights up so many lives .”

Christi Lau: “Exactly, and why can’t we take that initiative and try to encourage smokers to give up smoking and to be an inspiration for thousands of ‘Shawns’ all across Singapore?”

When the cigarette butts were dimmed on the wax figures, it melted and stained the wax, disfiguring the figurines, leaving an impactful analogy of the consequences of smoking.

Sng Kai Lin: “That’s a great idea, let’s take it up as a school project!” And thus, began our journey and our mission to communicate to the smokers all across Singapore, that the continuous dimming of cigarette lights could actually light up an entire nation.

Our social media initiatives like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube supported the cause, in not only raising awareness, but also to constantly update our activities, to make maximum people join our cause.

We placed white-colored carved wax figures of various objects, symbolizing the dangers of smoking, on top of dustbins all over Singapore, with the help of volunteers. The flower and leaf shaped wax figures, represented the environment that is harmed by smoke. Seashells symbolized all things precious like life, love and opportunities. The heart symbolized love, family and the lung-shaped figures represented a

We started with a vision of impacting every smoker, to think of lighting up lives of their loved ones than lighting a cigarette, to think of Mother Earth when they puff away toxic carbon dioxide into her belly and to show that every cigarette butt that’s dimmed, lights up so many lives and most importantly, if we teenagers can move from ‘CAN WE?’ to WE CAN…..so can the millions of smokers...

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Protecting the Environment

TO BUILD A STUDENTS Keane, Ishika, Kwa Min, Kai Wei, Eugene

Scripted By Marc Garnaut

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As Singapore gets engulfed by the haze, the impact of global warming becomes more glaring. The students of Yumin Primary could clearly see the effects of global warming on everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. Their research showed that if steps were not taken to conserve the environment, the weather patterns would change for the worse. This global warming would eventually lead to the melting of ice in the poles and there would be no ice or snow to build a snowman! More research indicated that it was human activity that was the root cause of global warming.

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The students shared this as a video highlighting the issue and also shared this presentation with the lower primary pupils. They made sure that the younger students understood and appreciated the value of conserving the environment. The idea of a melting snowman connected with everyone! These young students had taken the first step towards making sure that the snowman lasts forever!

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Improving Road Safety

STUDENTS Beh Yi Lin, Tyo Shi Jie, Cindy Hoe, Lam Jia Yi

Scripted By Anu Garg

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VISION STUDENTS Huang BaoBai Joshua Tseng, Grace Ann Chong KarMun Written By Anu Garg

My grandmother and me, when I was 4 years…

My grandmother and me, when I am 14 years old today…

“Nai-nai what is this?” I asked, my tiny hands holding an object.

“Grace what is this?” she asked, her shaky hands holding an object.

“That’s a story book. I’ll read it to you Grace” And I closed my eyes, imagining a world, as described by my Nai-nai in her beautiful voice.

“That’s the book I got from the library Nainai. I’ll read it to you.” And she closed her eyes, as I read it out, just like she used to, once upon a time.

“Hold my hand and walk Grace, or you will fall.” And I crossed the road, tightly holding on to her finger, confident that nothing would happen to me.

“Hold my hand and walk Nai-nai, or you may fall.” And I crossed the road holding my Nainai’s hand tightly, making sure that nothing would happen to her.

“That’s an ocean Grace, the water helps to carry big ships all around the world. It’s big, blue and full of fishes!” And I learnt to see a new world through her eyes.

“That’s the ocean Nai-nai, can you hear it? The water is bright, blue and cold today. Lots of colourful ships on the ocean today Nai-nai!” And I tried to draw a picture of the world that she had introduced me to, so many years ago.

“I am with you, Grace, don’t be scared of the dark.” And I would sleep soundly, always sure that I would see her face in the first light of the morning.

“I am with you, Nai-nai, don’t be scared of the dark.” And I sleep, helpless, knowing

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that Nai-nai will never see my face in the first light of the morning. It was ‘Glaucoma’ that was behind Grace’s grandmother’s blindness and the ‘empathy’ that motivated the children to take up the project. When Grace discussed it with her friends, they not only read about the problem but also became more sensitized about it. On reading that glaucoma exists not only in the old, but also among young people, they decided to raise awareness about the issue and also to change the way people treated the affected patients. The team of four children - Huang BaoBai, Joshua Tseng, Grace Ann, Chong KarMun made a presentation in the school assembly for the entire Secondary 2 cohort (332 students). They put up posters on notice boards all across the school and made a notice board in the school canteen where students and teachers could learn more about the project and become aware about glaucoma. They baked cookies and distributed them with a slip of paper, which helped to introduce glaucoma to their fellow schoolmates. During the school carnival, they set up a booth for their school mates, to put themselves in the shoes of glaucoma patients. They made an obstacle course where the player went through the courses blindfolded, to experience first-hand the trauma of losing sight. The booth had three different sections -

reading and writing out the words on a slip of paper, going through a maze of messy tables and chairs, and finding six balls within the booth. All the games were carried out while wearing a blindfold with two cut-out holes. “On reading that glaucoma exists not only in the old, but also among young people, they decided to raise awareness about the issue and also to change the way people treated the affected patients.”

It allowed the participants to experience, first-hand, the life of glaucoma sufferer, in a different way. As they stepped into the shoes of the patients, they understood the difficulties faced by the patients and sensitised them to show more care for such people.

It propagated a strong message throughout the school, in children and teachers, and gave detailed information about the disease. Throughout the entire journey, they successfully created an awareness in their immediate environment, learnt to work well together in teams, strengthened their friendship bonds and most importantly their strong feeling of empathy, enlightened their inner vision.

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FATHER & MOTHER

STUDENTS Kelly, Hui Shan Mavis Gloria, Zi Kang

t was the thought of too many broken families that prompted Kelly, Hui Shan, Mavis, Gloria and Zi Kang to get together as a group. They were shocked and worried that too many children were not close to their parents and vice versa. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What can we do?â&#x20AC;? Kelly asked her group members and they sat down on the benches

Written By Joyce Chng

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in their school canteen, all looking glum. “The problem looks so huge, so impossible.” Hui Shan sat up. “Do you remember, Miss Lim always tells us to think outside the box?” she said cheerfully. They all nodded, feeling encouraged. They decided to create a nifty website with tips and suggestions for family bonding activities. Zi Kang, always the IT expert, took on the task to create the website using an online platform called Weebly. But before creating the website, the group went around the school asking for ideas and suggestions from their schoolmates. After collecting and collating all the ideas, they published the good ones on the website.

They all put their heads together. They were a Primary School. The school had many students with parents! To publicize the website, they created a letter which they could send out to all the parents of their school mates. They even got their Vice Principal to endorse the letter! The group was all set!

The website generated a lot of excitement ...

A brainwave inspired the group to name their website FAMILY which stands for “Father And Mother I Love You.” It was a clever name. On the website were tips on how to strengthen family bonds by making playdoh craft, cooking meals and celebrating all special milestones – like passing a test – together as a family. The website also emphasized the importance of family values and instilling good life lessons in children. Zi Kang added a feedback form at the bottom of the website so that users could suggest changes and handy tips. He also made sure that the website was easy on the eye and simple for people to navigate. Before the group launched the website, they had butterflies in their stomachs. What if their website was not effective? What if nobody ever bothered to visit the website? “Think outside the box!” Gloria and Mavis said.

Website: http://dfc-blgps-2011.weebly.com

The website generated a lot of excitement and discussion among their schoolmates. The group felt very proud of their achievement. They hoped that by browsing through the list of tips and activities on the website, families could grow stronger and closer to one another. At the same time, the students also found the project a learning journey. They all learnt to work together as a team and cooperate with each other, even in times of stress. Most of all, they made an effort to grow closer to their own families and appreciate each other a lot more.

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t is the first week of school after the June holidays. Most of the students’ minds are still immersed in their sunny beach vacations and goofy outings with their best pals. The air was thick with shouts of fun and laughter, classes were rowdy and everyone was on an adrenaline high.

BUT TOUCH

“Hey, do you know that Bayern Munich lost to Barcelona?” asked Don. “Yah, you should be pretty happy about that but they weren’t on their top form.” “Haha… Whatever Benjamin, you’re just being sore.” Don retorted. Benjamin rolled his eyes and gave Don a disgruntled look. He certainly wasn’t expecting to be reminded about this inglorious beating from Barcelona. Well, at least not now. He started to reminisce about the victorious days of Bayern Munich when all of a sudden, an unfamiliar figure caught his attention. Tucked in the shadows of the stairway, there is a boy spinning continuously on the tips of his toes. “Who is that boy? What is he doing?” Benjamin wondered. “Hello, what are you doing?” Don questioned. The boy did not reply and he continued to twirl on his toes with his eyes glued to the floor. Eager for an answer, Benjamin reached out to tap the boy’s shoulder.

STUDENTS Chia Lee Yi, Don, Kheshin Cheong Rui Pin Leo Boon Yin, Wayne Quek Zhe Kai Benjamin, Soh Hua Wui Written By Joey See, JoshRyan

seeing Wayne and Hua Wui, the boy was finally soothed after a few minutes. He stopped shouting but his sight was still fixated on the ground. “What just happened?” Benjamin looked shaken. “I swear we didn’t do anything to him.” “Yes, we trust that you boys did not do anything to him. You see, Kheshin is a new student in our class. He has a special condition called Autism. He is highly sensitive to touch and sometimes he may behave in a unique manner. We have hung out a few times and I think that he’s quite cool.” Wayne replied.

“Arrggghhh!” The boy shouted in disgust and started to brush his shoulder profusely.

“Also, he has got an amazing memory. We once played the memory card game with him, and he cleared all the cards at one go. OMG right!” exclaimed Hua Wui.

Hearing the commotion, Wayne and Hua Wui instantly rushed over. They quickly tried to calm the boy by assuring him that everything is fine and nothing will harm him. Upon

Benjamin and Don both looked at each other in shock and disbelief. They were still quite taken aback from what had happened just now.

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“But, but… Why did he scream? I am afraid that he might hurt me with his bizarre behavior and infect me with his virus.” Benjamin asked. “Yes! What if he transmits his condition to us?” Don added. “Nooooo… ! chorused Hua Wui and Wayne. “Autism is a mental development disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate and engage in social interaction.

It is not a disease or virus and cannot be transmitted to others. Each autistic person is unique in his or her own way by skills and also challenges, just like how each one of us have different talents and problems.” “What if he starts ranting again? How do you know what to do?”

“Well, initially even we didn’t know how to react.. But now, we have learned to calm him down with a Shsshhh-ing sound. We also try not to touch Kheshin as it may trigger some discomfort for him. However, he held my arm the other day, and I was told that it meant that he trusted me. He is just like anyone of us in the way we need friends, care and concern,” explained Hua Wui. Benjamin and Don heaved a sigh of relief after understanding Kheshin’s condition. They both wanted to be friends with him and were very impressed by how good he was with the memory game. “By the way, if you are interested to know more about Autism or would like to help Autistics to integrate into society, we are working on some programs on Mathematics and life-based scenarios for them. It will help them to communicate more effectively and also improve their social skills. We will meet at school this Saturday and then head to Anglican Autism Centre to build more helpful tools for them. Would you like to join us?” invited Wayne.

“Each autistic person is unique in his or her own way by skills and also challenges, just like how each one of us have different talents and problems.”

“Yes, we would love to help and also leave positive impact in other peoples’ lives. I am just not sure if we can do it.” Don and Benjamin looked at Kheshin with an enthusiastic smile. “I am sure you can!” Wayne and Hua Wui boomed in confidence. “WOOOOHOOO!” Kheshin cheered out of the blue. The boys broke into fits of laughter. Saturday came and stayed. The boys had an enriching day getting to know the people in the Autism centre, understanding more about their needs and what kind of curriculum and exercises will be most useful for them. A lot of hard work was put in, brain cells were used in the process, the boys faced many hurdles and demoralizing obstacles, but they persevered. At the end of the day, the Autism centre staff expressed great appreciation for the worksheets which the boys had produced and felt that they had thoughtfully catered to the varying stages of Autism. The centre’s trainers also praised the idea of using worksheets, as they saw that it had pleasantly engaged the users. When Kheshin returned to the Autism centre, one of the trainers remarked that he could see many happy smiling faces in the room. This made the boys realize that they could make a difference in someone’s life. “I Can, I Do, I Will!” shouted the boys in unison.

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STUDENTS

Grace Chew, Kelly Chua Yun Ning, Shawn Lee, Ryan Phua Uham Tan

Written By Lee Jia Jin Kristy

s Grace, Kelly, Yun, Shawn and Ryan “Why don’t you share our lunch Uham and tell were having their lunch they realised us what’s wrong. Maybe we can help,” said Grace in a kind voice and urged him to share Uham was missing. something from her plate. “Where is Uham?” asked Kelly “Actually, I have finished all my lunch money “Yeah, I have been searching for him. He left and pocket money.” Uham confessed feeling the class with us.” said Grace miserable. Everyone looked at each other “There he is!” Shawn said and called out for shocked as it was just ten days past the Uham. As Uham joined them, they realised he month. was not carrying any lunch and was looking “But Uham where did you spend all your monquite dejected. ey?” asked Ryan “Where is your lunch and why are you so “Well, I bought some online games and just late? Lunch time is almost over!” said Ryan. went overboard. I didn’t realize that I was “I had some work,” replied Uham not looking spending all my money. I don’t have any savat them. All the children looked at each other, ings like you guys. Somehow, I can never sensing something wrong as Uham was not plan my money properly. I cannot resist buying what I like.” Said Uham almost on the his normal, chirpy self. verge of tears.

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His friends surrounded him and tried to comfort him the best way they could and shared their lunch with him. But they also realized that it was an important issue that every child faced, not knowing how to manage their money. They decided to help not only Uham but all such peers who might be facing the same issue in the future. The team brainstormed for ideas on how they could introduce change. They especially wanted children of their age and younger to see the importance of saving and learn how to judiciously use their money. But such talk can be very technical and it would have been difficult for children to identify with it. After much deliberation, the group was struck by inspiration. They could use a board game as a platform to teach the skills and benefits of budgeting. A board game would not only be fun and appealing to the younger audience, but would also allow them to test their expectations about money usage. Players get to experiment with money in a safe environment, draw their own conclusions from trial and error, and in the process understand the concept of money. The idea of adopting play-based learning to inculcate the values of saving and wise spending was a great way to reach out to children. With much excitement, the group began to work on the specifics of the board game. First they had to think of how they could incorporate the theme of budgeting into the game design. Next, they drew up a set of carefully thoughtout game rules and instructions. The playing field for the board game was printed out on an A2 piece of canvas, with the playing path clearly marked using numbered squares in alternating colors. A column of words on the side explained general guidelines on how to play the game. The

canvas was then mounted on a solid red paperboard. Fake dollar bills, tokens and dice were also prepared as game materials. It was a simple, but neatly laid out setup.

“The group was struck by inspiration. They could use a board game as a platform to teach the skills and benefits of budgeting. “

The team presented their final product in class, where they boldly took the stage and articulated the motivation behind their project. “We are passionate about managing money. So we decided to create a board game for students to learn through play. We hope that they will learn how important budgeting is and how it can be applied in our daily lives,” the team chimed in unison. The group of six also had the opportunity to implement the game with their friends and juniors in school. The ‘Game of Budgeting’, as they named it, was well-received and drew the attention of many younger students who stopped by, to give it a try. There was an incredible sense of satisfaction that came with watching engrossed players interact during the game as they maneuvered their pieces till the very end. While it remains to be seen if the game experience will translate into real gains in budgeting skills and financial responsibility, change was accomplished at the very moment the children determined to initiate change. So if you are having trouble tightening your purse strings lately, why not try out the ‘Game of Budgeting’.

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HAIL STUDENTS Anushka, Janhavi Harshalya, Inbaayini Chanakya Written By Aabha Gokhale

fter an enjoyable evening at the East Coast Park, Anushka and her parents stood in the queue waiting for a taxi. Anushka was dripping with water as she stood shivering. Minutes passed but there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a single taxi in sight. Meanwhile, Janhavi was facing the same problem at the Singapore Zoo. She had a fun day with animals of all kinds, but by the end of the day she was exhausted from all the walking and it hit her while she waited with her parents for the taxi. There were no taxis at the taxi stand.

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Try as he might, Janhavi’s father could not book one over the phone. He tried all the cab apps on his hand phone, but to no avail. After much waiting, both the families ended up reaching home late into the night. The next day, GIIS saw a couple of sleepy girls walking to their classes. During recess, the friends of Class 4 gather around to talk about their weekend. “Hey, Anushka, Janhavi, how did you guys spend your Sunday?” asked Harshalya.

“Well, it was thoroughly enjoyable but didn’t end too well because of which I really, really want to sleep now. My parents and I went to East Coast Park and had lots of fun but we just couldn’t get a taxi to drop us home and had to take two buses in the end. I was completely drenched and I am telling you, it was not a nice feeling,” replied Anushka, yawning. “Really?” asked Janhavi. “We were in the same boat then! I faced the same problem. I certainly loved every bit of my time at the zoo, but when we couldn’t get a taxi, I had to take the MRT, after a very long walk. I could see a lot of free taxis passing us but not a single one stopped to take us on. It was very annoying, ten times more than usual given how worn-out and drowsy I was!” “I know, right! I found myself in the same situation last Saturday.” Inbaayini piped in, “We were at Little India and tired after all the shopping, but we simply didn’t get a taxi either!” “Are you sure you guys were standing at a taxi stand? If there were double yellow zigzag lines, it is no wonder that taxis did not stop there. They are not allowed to.” said Chanakya, thinking aloud. A look of comprehension dawned on Inbaayini’s face. “Oh, I never knew! Thanks Chanakya!” she said.

“You know what, I wonder whether those cab drivers are happy dropping people to their destinations. I wonder whether they feel appreciated at all.”

“I was at the taxi stand.” Said Janhavi and Anushka together. “You know what, I wonder whether those cab drivers are happy dropping people to their destinations. I wonder whether they feel appreciated at all. I mean most of the time we are just complaining…”said Inbaayini as some realisation hit her suddenly. “Yes, I think you are right, I don’t think they get a thank you from any of their customers” said Harshalya. “So… time for some action, guys! Why? It’s because we are the ‘transformers’!” cried Anushka, punching the air with her fist, eliciting laughs from everyone. And so the ‘transformers’ planned and discussed every day to solve this problem, faced by people in Singapore. They spoke to their teachers and principal about their plan for change. The teachers were delighted to help and proud that their students were taking responsibility. First the ‘transformers’ wanted to interview drivers and passengers to get to the root of the problem. They reached out to taxi companies to ask whether they could interview their drivers and passengers, but they were denied this opportunity. However, all the companies wished them good luck for their

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project. If they were disappointed, they did not These little cards were distributed among all show it. Instead, they continued their wonder- the students of the school who then presentful work and planned a new course of action. ed them to the taxi drivers after every ride. The cab drivers were extremely happy on receiving these lovely cards and thanked the “The students decided to children profusely. raise awareness over road Here is a note from Mr. Sriharsha Bhat, a rules and taxi hailing student from NUS to the ‘transformers’: etiquette. “Hi Transformers, They created lots of I have to say that your initiative to provide colourful posters tokens of appreciation to taxi drivers will help to tell everyone where increase goodwill for their sector. they should hail taxis and to be I gave one of the cards to a cab driver after I appreciative of the taxi drivers took his cab to West Coast Park and his reacwho drop them every day.” tion was one of great joy, it seemed I had made his day. I think it is a great initiative to The five students decided to raise awareness show appreciation to cab drivers, as it would over road rules and taxi hailing etiquette. help reiterate the fact that people need them They created lots of colourful posters and and appreciate the services they provide. pinned them up on the school boards to tell everyone where they should hail taxis and to be appreciative of the taxi drivers who drop them every day. The principal of their school also allowed them to hold a special assembly on their project.

I hope it does work in improving cab services island-wide. Best regards, Sriharsha Bhat

The students were delighted when they received these notes and thoroughly motivated to do more. Wonder of wonders, so many children came back to report that they had been offered discounts as well. But the parents, teachers and the children themselves were in complete agreement that they would ‘Today, I thought I should extend an arm To someone who drives amidst the road’s not accept any return favours. canker with calm To drop us in time for our bureau or prom When the transformers saw the results of their little deed, they were ecstatic. It made Even in the midst of bad rain and storm them happier, to have made the cab drivers I’d like to say thank you for your kind happy. gesture…’ But that was only the first bit. They involved the entire school, which then worked as a team to create ‘thank you’ cards for the taxi drivers. They were lovely cards which had little poems on them:

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STUDENTS Tessa Tan, Chan Kah Mun Leung Zhuo Ran Tan Kwan Xu, Ooi Zhi Yong

Written By Humairah Jamil

“Siti! Wah, those plastic bags look so heavy! just like old times. Do you need my help?” “Ma, how are you feeling? Are your back “No need, lah, Su Ann. I can carry them my- and feet still aching?” her only son, Azman, self… don’t worry,” Siti smiled as she was concerned about her condition. He stopped for a chat with her good friend knew, Siti never took her health seriously. whom she never failed to meet at the local “I’m okay. My back aches from time to neighborhood market every Friday. time…but it’s okay, lah, Mama is used to it.” With four plastic bags full of groceries in “Ma, next time if you want to go to the marhand, and a trolley filled with other houseket, just call me. We can go on the weekhold products, Siti lugged all the items back ends. I can drive you there.” to her 1-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio. She has been living alone ever since her hus- Siti just smiled and kept quiet. She did not band passed away a few years ago. like to ask for help, or have her children getting overly concerned about her health. She Lately, Siti found it quite challenging to walk felt that her pain would gradually go away. back home with a load of groceries in hand. Siti did not feel the need of a regular health Her arms were not as strong, and she frecheckup and disliked being a burden on her quently experienced a sharp sensation at children. the heel and the balls of her feet, and sometimes when she was resting, her feet would Azman and his wife were aware that Siti go numb. refused to find a cure to heal her aching back and feet. They discussed, together But Friday nights were always extra special with their children, on how they could bring – her children would come over for dinner, her to an elderly care centre. and as always, she looked forward to seeing them and her grandchildren, who always “Nenek, tomorrow morning, after we have seemed to grow taller and bigger each time our breakfast, we will go to AWWA she met them. Readycare Centre okay? Over there, they have a lot of day-care services, therapy, Siti enjoyed cooking for her family and felt health screening, and lots of activities too! extremely satisfied to see all of them, Aqil, Aisha, Mama, and Papa… we will all crowding around the mahogany dining table, go with you!” said 7-year old Aqil to Siti.

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“As Azman and his wife watched their mother happy and finally in safe hands, the five children - watched from behind, extremely happy that their initiative of encouraging the elderly to be more health conscious, was working.” “Yes nek, let’s go!” his chubby, 4-year old sister, Aisha, chirped. Siti laughed. “Okay lah, since my cucu want to go with me so badly, nenek will go, okay?” The next day, Azman drove all of them to the elderly care centre, located a few blocks away from Siti’s flat. When they entered, Siti received a free gift pack from one of the counselors who greeted them at the entrance and introduced herself as Mandy. The gift pack consisted of several items, one of which was a fan. The fan was unique as lots of information on nearby clinics offering free TCM consultation and some tips on healthy living, were printed on it. There was also a palm-sized pamphlet which listed simple exercises that the elderly can do at home. Another interesting item which was provided in the pack, was a golf ball. “Oh, nek, you have a golf ball! Come let’s play, you can throw the ball to me!” Aqil exclaimed excitedly. Mandy laughed and explained. “No, my dear. This golf ball is not for playing, it’s used to promote blood circulation for the feet area. See, it says over here on the ball, as our feet are the furthest away from our heart, the blood circulation around our feet is not so good.

So, placing this golf ball under your feet and rubbing it around every day, will enhance the blood circulation in the feet, and prevent numbness and further weakening of your grandmother’s feet.” Mandy informed Siti and Azman about the services rendered by the centre. They provide monthly mobile check-ups in the homes of the elderly. This was good news for Siti, as she rarely went for medical check-ups and did not want to burden her son to bring her to clinics every month and felt very comfortable on seeing so many seniors who had come for a check-up. Siti was touched by her children’s effort in making her get better, and provide healthcare support when she needed it. She was overwhelmed with the love her children endowed on her and she hugged Aqil and Aisha tightly, thanking God for such a caring family. As Azman and his wife watched their mother happy and finally in safe hands, the five children - Tessa, Chan, Zhuo Ran, Tan Kwan Xu and Ooi Zhi watched from behind, extremely happy that their initiative of encouraging the elderly to be more health conscious, was working. When they had taken up this project, they wanted the seniors to take their health more seriously and do simple exercises at home. But when they realized that for some seniors the health centres were too far off, they had approached various medical groups and government organisations to provide mobile check-ups for such seniors. The fan was Tessa’s brainchild and the golf ball was Tan’s idea. As they saw Siti’s family leaving the centre happy, they felt so proud at having brought health and happiness to yet another family. *nenek – grandmother, *cucu – grandchildren

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HELPING STUDENTS Chia Yi Yun, Ong Lin Lin Hannah Elsabeth Muir Ong Wen Xuan, Cecilia Yee Written By Jacinth Preeya Reveenthran

Date: August 1st

It’s finally the day of the fundraiser! St Luke’s Home is having a charity sale to raise money for their Senior Exercise Centre and we, a remarkable group of Secondary 2 students from Commonwealth Secondary School are here to help out. Our journey started a month back when we started volunteering at St Luke’s Home. As part of our school’s Community Involvement 38 Contents

Program, my four friends and I wanted to visit the senior citizens living in a home and bring some sunshine and joy into their lives. We felt that they may be sad after being cooped up for a long time with little or no visits from their children and relatives. On the first day of our visit to St Luke’s Home, we learned that the Home wanted to refurbish its Senior Exercise Centre to obtain more exercise machines for its residents so that they could work out as part of their therapy. They had planned to hold a charity fundraiser on August 1st to raise the required money. We decided that we too would contribute to this fundraiser and engage with senior residents in the Home at the same time.

After discussions with our teacher-incharge, Ms Kokila, we agreed that we could help out in the upcoming fundraiser by teaching the seniors how to bake cookies and cupcakes and make origami crafts, which would be sold at the charity sale. These skills could also be put to use later whenever the senior residents felt like . Half of us opted to teach the senior residents baking and the other half chose to guide the residents, together with Ms Kokila, in creating lovely origami crafts. Teaching baking and origami arts and crafts to the seniors was hard at first, as it took a long time for them to get used to folding the origami papers and making the delectable baked goodies. In between, we also showed them some basic hand exercises to train and work out their muscles. Besides baking and folding the origami crafts, we also spent some time singing songs, playing musical instruments and talking with them in an effort to get to know them better!

It was a great joy for us to engage with the seniors and help them learn some skills, and we eagerly looked forward to going to St Luke’s Home after school. They opened up and started sharing about their backgrounds, their families. Sometimes they would also tell us funny stories that cracked us up! “We learned that seniors needed constant care and gratitude in their twilight years and they felt happy and needed whenever someone visited them. We also realized the value of having our own grandparents”

We noticed that the seniors became more cheerful and happier whenever we visited the Home after school. Even though the time we spent there each day was short, it was a worthwhile, enriching and fulfilling experience for us. The time came for us to prepare for the fundraiser. This became a collective effort and the helpers and nurses at the Home also helped out! We started making the origami arts and crafts first, such as origami flower chains, colorful origami crane structures, origami animals and jewelry and many others! Later on, we started on the baking effort and we prepared tons of delectable, mouthwatering goodies such as chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and pandan sponge cakes.

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As part of our efforts, we also encouraged the senior citizens to call their children, relatives and friends and encourage them to come down to the fundraiser. We also helped to publicize the St Luke’s Home fundraiser on social media such as Facebook and Twitter in an effort to encourage the public to come down and support the Home! Finally the day of the charity fundraising came and it was on a Saturday. St Luke’s Home was bustling and teeming with families, little kids and people who were eager to raise funds for a new Senior Exercise Centre for the Home. Many people bought the baked goodies and the origami crafts, amongst the other things that were also sold. It was a joy to see the senior citizen with huge smiles on their faces as they saw little kids, toddlers and parents eating their cupcakes and cookies! At the end of the day, St Luke’s Home raised a total of SGD$1,750 collected from the things that were sold and from donations that were collected. It was a successful day for the Home indeed! Even though we were tired and worn out, we were

heartened and satisfied to see the senior citizens being full of cheer and joy.

“Besides baking and folding the origami crafts, we also spent some time singing songs, playing musical instruments and talking with them in an effort to get to know them better! ”

From our volunteering experiences at St Luke’s Home, we learned that seniors needed constant care and gratitude in their twilight years and they felt happy and needed whenever someone visited them. We also realized the value of having our own grandparents and made a resolution to appreciate them and not take them for granted by visiting them as often as possible.

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Helping Seniors Exercise

STUDENTS Krystelle, Jia Yik

Scripted By Aishwarya Ananth

Illustrated by Yee Hung Pak, Ang Chee Hwee

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avis, Jie Wei, Suraj and Sakshi were hanging out in the Bukit View Primary School canteen as usual during recess, when they spotted their form teacher Mrs Tan sitting at the bench across them with a pained expression on her face.

WEAR

“Good Afternoon Mrs Tan!” the children playfully chorused. “Are you okay?” Jie Wei was the first to express concern. “Hello, you four! Thanks for asking, Jie Wei – I’m fine. Just got sore shoulders because I’ve been carrying so many books around, and this big stationery box certainly isn’t helping!” She jabbed the carry case with an exasperated sigh. “Oh well, I’ve had enough rest. You kids enjoy your recess – I’ll see you in class!” As Mrs Tan walked off lugging the clunky stationery case, Sakshi knew he had to do something to help the teachers. “Why don’t we invent something to help her – and the other teachers?” Suraj took the words right out of his mouth. “I was just going to say that, seriously!” Sakshi laughed. “Hmmm… it’s got to be something that lets you carry lots of stationery items without adding unnecessary weight…” Mavis was already brainstorming. “Okay, how about getting inspiration from people who carry lots of tools around as well? Like…” Jie Wei was interrupted mid-sentence by the dreaded recess-end bell. Clearly well-trained in the art of scarfing down food within 30 seconds to make it in time for class, the four friends agreed to continue planning the next day. But before the day was even done, Jie Wei had a brilliant idea. “Guys!” she beckoned excitedly to the other three the moment the bell for their last lesson rang. “We don’t even need to make anything new! You know who carries lots of small, light tools with

STUDENTS Mavis Zhang, Yap Jie Wei Suraj Parapilly Sakshi Garg

Written By Marcia Lee

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them around all the time too?” Suraj, Mavis and Sakshi stared back blankly.

us some feedback too, on how useful they are.”

“Barbers!” she shouted excitedly. They got her point instantly and looked at her with delight!

Days later, the four friends sat at their usual bench poring over the feedback that the teachers had written on slips of paper.

“Of course! We can just get barbers’ pouches for the teachers to carry their stuff in!” Suraj exclaimed. “Like the barbers, the teachers can walk free-handed – you’re a genius, Jie Wei!” Sakshi looked so impressed that Jie Wei blushed. “And for Mrs Tan, we can insert a picture of her favourite Hello Kitty – she’ll squeal with happiness,” giggled Mavis, and the other three also burst into laughter at the thought of their middle-aged teacher squealing about her new Hello Kitty pouch. “Good Afternoon Mrs Tan!” the four children greeted their teacher gleefully upon managing to catch her at recess. “We’ve got something for you,” Suraj smiled mysteriously as Mrs Tan wondered what they were so happy about. “Something fantastic!” Mavis added. “It’ll change your LIFE!” Sakshi cut in excitedly. “Okay, she’s exaggerating. But hopefully this’ll help with your shoulder pains,” Jie Wei pulled out a barber’s pouch with a sewn-on Hello Kitty patch, presenting it to their teacher with a flourish. “My goodness, children! I – I don’t know what to say,” Mrs Tan was close to tears of joy as she caressed the meticulously decorated pouch. “And how did you know I liked Hello Kitty?” “Well, you’ve got the whole collection of 2015 Hello Kitty toys from McDonalds displayed on your staff table,” Mavis replied, failing to stifle a laugh. “Anyway, we’ve got a few more for other teachers to try out – maybe you can give

“Good, my shoulders feel much better now” – that’s definitely Mrs Tan, Suraj laughed as he read one of them out.

“My goodness, children! I – I don’t know what to say,” Mrs Tan was close to tears of joy as she caressed the meticulously decorated pouch.”

“Needs more colour choices, more slots, something to keep the markers from falling when the user bends over,” Sakshi read out a few of the other feedback slips. “Alright,” Jie Wei sighed, “We’ll just have to fix these problems one by one then. Being an inventor is hard work!” “Hey, think of all the money we could make if we started selling these pouches. The teachers love them, and they will tell all their teacher friends too,” Mavis’ eyes lit up. “We could fix these and then sell them at our class CIP fair. We’ll be number one for sure!”

Almost as if in reply to her suggestion, the recess bell went off. And as Jie Wei, Sakshi, Mavis and Suresh gobbled down the last of their food as usual and ran up the stairs for class, they were filled with excitement about the possibilities of their new product. And to think, all this started from the simple burning desire to help someone.

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MYOPIA STUDENTS Ng Jia Jian Shirley Chia Chheda Parth Harshit Written By Aishwarya Ananth

t was a regular weekday afternoon but Jia Jian, a P5 student in Tampines Primary School was very excited. His aunt Susan was coming from Australia and was going to stay with his family for a week. Aunt Susan was a doctor and it was Jia Jian’s dream to become a successful Ophthalmologist like her. He quickly finished his homework and put away his things before Aunt Susan came home. Amidst a lot of welcome hugs and chattering, the family gathered for dinner. Jia Jian had finished his dinner and retreated to the living room to play for some time with his father’s iPad. “So Susan, what brings you to Singapore this time?”Jia Jian’s father, Philip asked. “It’s actually a professional commitment Philip. And of course I wanted to spend some time with all of you as well” smiled Susan. “I am here for an International Ophthalmic conference on myopia. Short sightedness seems to be a major issue here in Singapore with more and more children being diagnosed every year. In fact this year it has been surveyed that more than 70% of the P5 students

here in Singapore have myopia and need to wear glasses”. Looking over at Jia Jian, Philip said “I’m not surprised Susan. Most of Jian’s classmates have myopia.” “Jia Jian also needs to go for an eye examination later this year and I’m so worried” said Isabel, Jia’s mother. “Oh don’t worry Isabel. He will be fine. You have so many rules for their iPad and television time that I don’t think he will have a probem with myopia. But it is always better to check his eyesight regularly” comforted Susan. As the talks veered to Susan’s practice in Australia and Philip’s job in Singapore, Jia Jian was thinking about all his friends who wore glasses and quickly realized that he was amongst the very few who did not have to wear glasses. The next day, he went to school and was still pondering about myopia. The physical education (P.E) class was cancelled that day because of rains and Jia Jian and the rest of

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his classmates were sitting in the classroom talking about various things. The P.E. coach Ms. Sarah was walking around stopping here and there amongst the groups of children, and talking with them. As she stopped near Jia Jian’s group, she heard Jian talking about myopia to his friends Parth, Shirley and Xiao. Ms. Sarah was intrigued by the discussion and she quickly gathered the entire class and asked him to explain about myopia. Jia Jian spoke about what his Aunt Susan and his dad were discussing the previous night. Ms. Sarah then asked the kids for ideas on how the problem of myopia could be addressed. The entire class agreed that the main reason for myopia amongst children could be the continuous usage of gadgets like phones, iPods and computers and the lack of rest for the eyes in frequent intervals. “What do you think we can do as a class to help our friends keep myopia at bay?” asked Ms. Sarah.

“Dr. Susan addressed the students of Tampines Primary School about myopia and how to safeguard their eyes. The entire week turned into an Eye -care week at Tampines Primary School.” The class discussed amongst themselves and Jia Jian spoke up. “Ms. Sarah, we could work in teams and conduct workshops for good eye care habits, put up posters all over the school and I could even ask my Aunt Susan who is an Ophthalmologist to come and conduct a talk session in school”. “That will be wonderful! Can Dr. Susan come tomorrow? I can arrange for the session right away,” remarked Ms. Sarah.

“Sure Ms. Sarah. I can check with her and let you know” said Jia Jian. The students then quickly made teams amongst themselves. One team was responsible for putting up posters on eye care. Another team decided to work on preparing a talk for the assembly and a small skit on myopia and good eye care habits. Shirley’s team decided to look for ways to exercise the eyes, to keep them healthy. Things fell into place and the very next day Dr. Susan addressed the students of Tampines Primary School about myopia and how to safeguard their eyes. The entire week turned into an Eye-care week at Tampines Primary School. Shirley’s team planned to make a simple gauge that would help to maintain a minimum distance between the human eye and an object. Shirley’s brother, Antony came to school and explained about 3D printing. An amateur inventor, Antony showed the students how they could create a measuring gauge which ensured that a distance of 30 cms would be maintained between the eyes and the object that we are looking at. The school is now considering a 3D printer and building a customised prototype of the gauge. Parth’s team came up with an interesting and humorous skit and some informative talk sessions, for various classes, that were staged during the assembly. It helped to explain about myopia and the need for maintaining good eye habits for the younger children in school. All in all, it had been a really interesting week at Tampines Primary School. But the best part was when Dr. Susan introduced Jia Jian, Shirley and Parth and their Eye- care project at the International Ophthalmic Conference. She explained to the doctors gathered there, how educating young minds on eye care can help keep problems like myopia at bay.

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Keeping Classrooms Clean

STUDENTS Nur Asilah Bte Mohamad Rasid, Toh Hui Ling Joceling Yeo Ying Qing, Nadiah Bte Amir

Scripted By Anu Garg

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t was noon at the West View Primary School and the entire class of P4 was eagerly awaiting the shrill sound of the bell that would signal the lunch break.

HATE STUDENTS CREATIVE 4 Written By Aishwarya Ananth

Triiiinnnggggggg!!!! The class of P4 rushed out towards the cafeteria. Cindy and Raissa slowly made their way to the long queue for lunch. “Wasn’t Math fun today? “asked Raissa and Cindy nodded her head. She was looking at the food on the plates and was wondering, what was being served today. “Yikes! Not the veggie salad again today,” Cindy grimaced. She tried telling Aunty Lee who was serving the food, not to put too much salad. But the noise of kids talking was too deafening for Aunty Lee to hear Cindy’s request. 51 Contents

After collecting their food trays Cindy and Raissa made their way to their favourite seats in the canteen.

“Why aren’t you finishing your food Cindy? “ Raissa asked. “Oh! I hate this veggie salad. I’d rather feed it to the birds here than stuff them down my throat,” Cindy laughed.

“Two weeks later the class made a presentation to Ms. Susan and her team on the problem of food wastage in the cafeteria and how it could be changed.” With minutes to spare, Raissa and Cindy got up to leave and as they were moving out, Raissa noticed the plates left behind by many students. The veggie salad was untouched on many plates, chicken curry was leftover and some plates were almost full.

“Hmm. This has been brought to my notice by the canteen staff as well,” Ms. Susan pondered. “I have a team of teachers and parents who is working on this. Why don’t you take it up as a project in your class and come up with a solution. We can then implement it together”. “Sure Ms. Susan” said Raissa. “I will work on this and get back to you”. Over the next two weeks Raissa and her team, spoke to many students, cafeteria staff and even the parents of some students. They quietly observed the children during the lunch break, discussed their observations and were able to identify some of the issues involved, within a week. Two weeks later the class made a presentation to Ms. Susan and her team on the problem of food wastage in the cafeteria and how it could be changed. Their observation was that the main reasons of food wastage were lack of time, a boring menu and excess food being served. They suggested serving finger food, as it can be eaten quickly and the menu to be made more interesting with sandwiches, rolls or even neatly packed rice balls.

She thought about so much good food being wasted in her own school every day. As the day went by, Raissa grew more thoughtful about how to control this wastage.

The lunch boxes could be taken home or left on the tables marked as “donate” in the cafeteria. Every evening, a volunteer will collect the “donated” food and distribute them at a shelter run for poor kids in Singapore.

The next day, Raissa hesitantly knocked on the door to the principal’s office. “Come in Raissa” Ms. Susan the principal invited. “What brings you here, dear?”

Ms. Leila, the librarian appreciated the plan but wanted to reduce the usage of plastic and synthetic packing material which was not environment friendly.

Quickly Raissa explained what she had seen yesterday in the cafeteria and expressed her concern over the food being wasted.

“I can help with that,” quipped Lizzie, who was Raissa’s tennis buddy. “My community centre runs a business by single mothers who make eco-friendly packing materials made of bamboo or palm leaves. They can

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also make lining material using banana leaves. We can get them to supply for our school. It will be mutually beneficial.” The entire team agreed that this was a good opportunity to support a local charity while implementing a system to avoid food wastage.

“The lunch boxes could be taken home or left on the tables marked as “donate” in the cafeteria. Every evening, a volunteer will collect the “donated” food and distribute them at a shelter run for poor kids in Singapore.”

Ms. Susan was impressed and said “Good work, Raissa and Lizzy.” She quickly called Mr. Loh who was in charge of the cafeteria for the meeting. Mr. Loh expressed concern over some aspects of the plan but agreed to talk to the stall

owners. Some of the owners raised issues on costs and difficulties in preparing finger food and there were couple of strong arguments. “I can understand your suggestions but isn’t eco friendly packing material very expensive?” Lizzy then brought out the bamboo trays and banana leaf boxes and explained how these were being manufactured by a charity organization and could be procured cost effectively. A week later Raissa and Cindy walked into the cafeteria. Aunty Lee was serving them and with a smile at Raissa she placed two bento boxes on the counter. “Whoa! What’s this,” exclaimed Cindy. And she looked around to see that everyone was getting bento boxes. And it wasn’t the usual plastic box but the eco-friendly and safe bamboo boxes. The box had a chicken sandwich, small veggie cutlet, tetra pack of Milo and a small bowl of chopped apple. Trinnggggg... the bell signalled the end of lunch break. As Raissa made her way out with Cindy, they noticed the empty boxes in the cafeteria and smiled. Their plan was already starting to work.

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Bonding with Grandparents

MOMENTS WITH

STUDENTS Nafisa Sheriffa, Anjali Lavendra, Grace Chew, Ong Yun Ning, Kelly Chua Jia Min

Scripted By Anu Garg

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HANDS STUDENTS Fatini, Gabriel Choo Xavier Yong, Melody Yeow Ondrea Chea Written By Joyce Chng

t was an unforgettable incident that prompted Fatini, Gabriel, Xavier, Melody and Ondrea to tackle dementia amongst the elderly in their neighborhood. They saw an old woman struggling to remember her birthday and the number of grandchildren she had. It was deeply saddening for the teens, because the old woman was clearly unable to remember basic details. They formed a group and when they told their teacher, she also got excited about the project and volunteered to support them. “We are going to look at devices for the aged,” Fatini said. “Devices that will help them exercise, so that their sensory motor skills become strong and their minds active.” So, the group of teens plunged themselves into a flurry of research. They realized that the current innovations available were either too expensive or too complicated for the elderly to use. They

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also took into account that many of the aged might not have the money to purchase such expensive and often cumbersome devices.

begin spinning it with her hands. At first, very slowly – and when she grew more comfortable with the device, faster and faster.

Finally, they narrowed down their research to helping the elderly with dementia, especially those who were wheelchair-bound and had fewer opportunities to exercise.

It was a success! “Thank you, auntie!” they said, overjoyed.

The only time they could exercise was when they could go to the playground. The trick now was to create something that was simple, inexpensive and highly accessible for the wheelchair-bound, something that they could use at home. “Come up with a prototype,” their teacher suggested. “Show people what you can do for the elderly.”

It was right in the middle of a very busy week in school. They all had assignments due and homework to complete. Determined to create a prototype, they stayed back in school after their CCAs to brainstorm ideas. “We won’t make it in time!” Gabriel said, shaking his head. He held a blue print of a simple design based on one of the devices they had found on the Internet. The design required the elderly person to spin it by using both hands. “We will,” Xavier countered. “Stay focused.” They found time to make the prototype out of strong plastic. When it was done, they felt proud of their product. But now was the challenging part of doing a test-run with elderly volunteers. Fortunately, with the help and encouragement of their teacher, they managed to find an elderly lady who was willing to help them test the device.

Hearts in their mouths, the group watched the elderly woman take up the device and

They also went to a home for the seniors. Four senior men and women found the device easy to use, but they suggested they would like to see a different set of patterns, so that they could have a different feel, each time they used the device.

“Our aim was to help the seniors and minimize dementia in our society. Our innovative “Hand Mover” will help them exercise and keep their minds active.”

The team soon presented their findings and the simple exercise device that they had named “Hand Mover”, at a gathering of teachers and students. Their project title was “i-Exercise.” “We wanted to help the seniors and minimize dementia in our society,” Melody and Ondrea told everyone who came to their booth. “That was why we came up with “Hand Mover” so that we could help them exercise and keep their minds active.” In the end, the group felt proud of what they had done. It had been an immensely rewarding experience for them. They hoped that their “Hand Mover” would be massproduced and given to the elderly in the future. 58 Contents

“S

top!” yelled Mathew, trying to stop Justin and Jason.

Justin and Jason tried to run, but the three fit bullies were already upon them, pinning their arms behind their backs and holding them still. “Hold them,” ordered Mathew. Gary and Philip were unsure if it was the right thing to do but they eventually held on to Justin and Jason obediently, as being told. Mathew ripped Justin’s and Jason’s bags off their shoulders and flung them away. Gary and Philip looked with uncertainty at each other. They knew what they were doing was

NO STUDENTS Abayata Louise Philip Selsado, Gary Choa Kai Ze, Jason Lu Lijie Da Silva Justin Henry Reyes Joshua Matthew Written By Dhruv Verma

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wrong. Matthew was being a big bully whereas they were both acting as Matthew’s accomplices. However, Gary and Philip didn’t dare let Justin and Jason go, for fear of Mathew who would surely punish them. “What do you want?” cried Jason, trying to fight the strong grip of Philip’s arms. Mathew shouted with glee, “All your money!” “Justin and Jason tried to forget what had happened that day, for fear of the bullies and embarrassment at what their friends would think, if they found out.” “W-we don’t have any m--money,” stammered Justin, eyes squeezed shut. Mathew grabbed Justin and pulled out his wallet from his pocket. Mathew screamed in his face. “What is this? You think you can lie to me?” Infuriated, Mathew landed a hard punch on his stomach, making Justin double over in pain. The lead bully hit him again and again, until Jason finally shouted, “Stop! Don’t hit him!” Mathew walked slowly over to Jason, and snatched his wallet from him as well. “You’ve got guts, haven’t you?” sneered the bully, as tears streamed down Justin’s face behind him.

As Mathew leaned in to intimidate him, Jason spat a ball of spit straight into his face, splattering on his cheek. Mathew roared with anger and landed two hard punches in Jason’s face, and kneed him in the stomach. “You can’t take … our wallets,” croaked Jason.

“And what are you going to do about it, huh?” replied Mathew. “Losers!” Mathew shoved both of them to the ground and walked away with his goons, laughing at their victims. Justin and Jason tried to forget what had happened that day, for fear of the bullies and embarrassment at what their friends would think, if they found out. Jason wore an eye patch to hide his black eye, claiming it was an eye infection. Even their parents had no idea about what had happened that day. Every day, Justin and Jason would run home to avoid the bullies. “We can’t continue like this,” said Jason courageously. “We have to tell a teacher.” “B-but what will the bullies do if they find out?” asked Justin. “We’ll just have to find out” replied Jason. The two boys approached Mr. Namdi, their rugby coach who coached the bullies as well. They told him briefly about the incident, and Mr. Namdi was infuriated. “This is outrageous! Come with me. We’ll go talk to them,” said their rugby coach, protecting Justin and Jason. They approached the three bullies as they were warming up for rugby training, stretching their legs and passing the ball between themselves. As soon as they saw Mr. Namdi’s face, they knew they were in trouble.

“Did you three take Justin’s and Jason’s wallets?! Did you beat them up?!” yelled Mr. Namdi. There was no reply from the boys, all three staring at their feet in shame. Mr. Namdi shouted again. “I asked you a question! If you don’t want to own up, I can call your parents or the police!” Gary replied, “Sorry Mr. Namdi, but it wasn’t

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me, Sir. Philip and I were forced by Mathew to take their wallets. We didn't want to! Right, Philip?”

“Yes Mr. Namdi. It was not our intention. We didn't hit them at all. Mathew is the bully who assaulted them and stole their money,” added Philip. “Is this true, Mathew?” asked the rugby coach. “…Yes, Sir,” replied Mathew, not raising his head.

As the group grew closer, they also started to recognize that bullying is happening around school and they decided to implement change in their school to decrease the rate of bullying. Working as a team, they created “No Bullying” zones in common areas like the canteen. This helped to raise awareness among students that bullying is wrong and that everyone has the power to take action and stop bullying from happening.

“Is this your first time assaulting others?” asked Mr. Namdi, not dropping his stern voice. “…Yes, Mr. Namdi,” replied Mathew. “Fine then! Since it is your first time, I want you to apologise to them sincerely and I will let you go. And you must return their wallets too!” Mr Namdi concluded. The five boys shook hands and Matthew, Philip and Gary apologised sincerely to Justin and Jason. They started out as bullies and victims of bullying, but walked away as a group of friends. The five boys grew to be best friends, despite the bullying incident. Mathew, Philip and Gary looked back on their actions and realized that what they had done to Justin and Jason was a serious wrongdoing. Philip and Gary reflected on that day, and understood that they should not have been scared to help out the victims of bullying. They should have stood up for themselves and for the victims, and that would have caused less damage to all parties and helped solve the problem of bullying. Philip and Gary wanted to share with others that standing up for what’s right is important and that by being a bystander or accomplice in bullying, was violent and wrong.

“Philip and Gary wanted to share with others that standing up for what’s right is important and that by being a bystander or accomplice in bullying, was violent and wrong.”

They created a video to show how bullying can be handled, and that bullies can be given a second chance, just like how the five of them overcame the bullying experience to become good friends. Lastly, the group created a Buddy Support Team, pairing a lower Primary student with an upper Primary student to give them support and solutions if they are being bullied and also to help the lower Primary students to adapt better at school. These five students - especially Philip and Gary - changed their approach from “Can We?” to “We Can!”

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madea was humming to herself as she climbed up the school stairs, eager for the day to begin. It was Tuesday, her favourite day because it was basketball and music day. As she quickly climbed the stairs, she saw Ms. Hannah her favourite canteen aunty slowly trudging up the stairs.

NONSENSE

“Good morning Ms. Hannah! Have a good day!” chimed Amadea wanting to see a smile on Ms. Hannah’s face.

Pakhale Advay Dilip, Teoh Jerald Amadea Aubrey Supriyadi Wong Jing Yi, Shervin Yap, Hannah Loh

“Good Morning dear!” said aunty huffing and breathing laboriously. Amadea looked at her closely and realized that aunty was sweating and was having difficulty climbing the stairs. Moreover, she was carrying a heavy bag with her.

STUDENTS

Written By Pratibha Kurnool

and helped her to climb the stairs and escorted her to the canteen. “Bless you, my child,” said aunty, gratefully sitting on the chair.

‘Finally their innovative products to help the seniors were ready which they named – NO NONSENSE, because according to them helping others is ‘No Nonsense.’ “Are you alright aunty?” Said Amadea genuinely concerned for her. “It’s my arthritis child, I forgot to take my pills in the morning!” said aunty in a pained voice. “Let me help you carry your bag aunty,” Amadea said taking the heavy bag from her

As Amadea left aunty to head for her class, the whole episode kept running through her mind. She saw Ms. Hannah every day, but had never noticed the problems that aunty faced daily, due to her health. She realized that there were many seniors in the school and her immediate surroundings, who needed a lot of attention and care. As she entered the class in a pensive mood, her teacher began the day with a new project. They were asked to look around and try to find some problem that they would like to work on. Amadea shared her experience with her group of friends. When they presented their idea to their teacher, she suggested that they should carry out a survey within the school and try to find out situations/

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problems that affect the seniors daily routine. The survey results were quite illuminating. Some of the problems/ailments that the seniors faced daily were - rheumatoid arthritis of the foot, no proper footwear, forgetting to take their pills on time, difficulty in buttoning up their shirts, challenges reaching up to the high shelf for items, difficulty in carrying heavy bags, and so on.

“One child’s empathy towards her surroundings led to a change in the lives of the seniors in improving the lives of the people belonging to the silver industry. After all, helping anyone in need is ‘No Nonsense.’

The results of the survey genuinely touched the children and they felt that they must do something to ease the pain and problems of the seniors. As the class brain-stormed they felt that to help the seniors, they should come up with something of value, which would change their daily routine and enrich the lives of the seniors. Infact they would be delighted to see some new inventions to change their situation for the better. They shortlisted various solutions that would address the seniors’ daily problems -

massage slippers that offered dual benefit where the seniors could separate the toes as well as get a foot massage, medicine wristband, friendly buttons just for the elderly, innovative senior friendly shelf dividers, shopping carrier with a unique foldable lever. After a lot of deliberation, they chose massage slippers, medicine wristband and elderly friendly buttons as their contribution to helping the seniors. They spent a lot of time in school and at home to create and present their creative products to their peers and stakeholders. They shared their findings and ideas with their families to get some fresh ideas and new perspectives. They needed $180 as initial funds to create all the prototypes for testing which they managed. Finally their products were ready which they named – NO NONSENSE, because according to them helping others is ‘No Nonsense.’ Their product presentations were videotaped and posted on YouTube for the world to see. However, to mass produce the marketable products they would need larger funds. At this stage they only wanted to heighten the need for Senior Care, also raise awareness for their prototype products and attract sponsorship. One child’s empathy towards her surroundings led to a change not only in the lives of the seniors but also brought out the humane need in her peers, to genuinely contribute towards improving the lives of the people belonging to the silver industry. After all, helping anyone in need is ‘No Nonsense.’

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ur school, GREENDALE SECONDARY SCHOOL, has always lived up to most of our values; we show great respect to our friends and teachers. However, there is one particular value which we feel, we might not be giving our full attention to, and that is RESPONSIBILITY, when it comes to keeping our school as clean as a whistle. We find litter, be it plastic bottles or scraps of food in classrooms, canteen and basketball courts and many more places. We are not cleaning after ourselves and this definitely poses a problem. It affects us not just as a school, making us look like a sloppy bunch in a negative learning environment, but also affects the kind cleaners who have to clean up after us. The more we litter the more work they have to do. This then leads us to the next question; are our friends aware of this issue?

UNSUNG STUDENTS Cheryl Chung, Zhu Li Rong Syafiqah Bte Raimee Natalie Tan, Tan Zi Xuan

Written By Nirana Nita

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In order to get a better idea of the answer to our question, we decided to put on our thinking caps and planned out a quick interview with our friends, teachers, cleaners and other stakeholders of the school. As we expected, our friends were unaware of the fact that they are not cleaning after themselves and were oblivious to the cleaners’ workload. Now that we had arrived at this conclusion, it was time to spread awareness. We needed to be more respectful of our unsung heroes, these cleaners who clean after us, despite their age (50+ years old). We cannot allow our friends to remain blind to the contribution of our gracious cleaners. They need to be ‘seen’ so that we as a school can help to make our environment a better place for everyone. We decided to embark on the journey of making our school a positive learning community. Firstly, we had to understand exactly, the job that our cleaners do. We wanted to see what it was, to be in their shoes. So we shadowed our school cleaners for a day. Before the day began, we made sure we were equipped with our camera (to snap pictures), a memo pad and pen (to scribble the tasks that our cleaners would be accomplishing for the day). We set off at 7am, following them closely. By 1pm, we witnessed the cleaners picking up litter all over the first level of the school. We decided to help them as well, as watching them work so hard made us feel a tinge of guilt. Despite all this, each cleaner wore a warm smile and had a positive attitude. By 3pm we had already snapped many pics of our cleaners picking up litter, sweeping and mopping the entire 1st, 2nd and 3rd level. As we were also helping them out, we started to feel extremely exhausted and fatigued. By 4pm

we could not even continue. We definitely had been underestimating their commitment and positive working attitude. That day was for sure, a day to remember. The next day, we regrouped and spoke about what we had experienced the day before. It was truly a rich experience and something that we wanted to share with our fellow students and teachers, to give them a glimpse of what the cleaners have to go through every day, when we don’t pick up after ourselves.

We brainstormed a few ways that would enable us to reach out to them, to show them the reality behind being a cleaner at our school. Finally we decided that an exhibition booth showcasing the pictures we snapped, would be the best way to send out the appropriate message. We were determined to ensure that the message should reach, each and every student. So we sought permission from our courteous principal, to visit every class to propagate the exhibition and also to remind the students to pick up after themselves. We were cordially welcomed in every class that we visited, the students were very receptive and some even gave us their word that they would be more aware of keeping the school clean. Last but not least, before we closed the project, we decided to hold a simple meal for our gracious cleaners to show them that we are grateful for all that they do for us! We invited some teachers and students for this potluck party and had an enjoyable time with our cleaners. We were praised for our compassion and hard work by our principal and our peers. It was an enriching and satisfying experience to appreciate our ‘behind the scenes’, invisible, unsung heroes – our cleaners.

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...the STUDENTS Harshit Patel, Stuti Rastogi Rishab Jain, Yashi Khatri, Gargi Pandkar Written By Ravisha Garg

It wafted through my senses and woke up my hunger cells The yummylicious fish, being fried, by the vendors that sell. I dragged my mum, and told her “I surely want some!” And she just turned her back and said “Follow Mum”. My hunger cells warring with my confused brainy ones I looked longingly at the fish, and then at my mum! But you can budge a mountain, not a determined mother And when it comes to our health, I guess I shouldn’t even bother! I’ll make it at home, with fresh oil, you see At times they use recycled oil, which is not healthy But that’s a normal practice that I have seen till date! Why protest now, let’s just leave it to fate! But mums are always right, so we left the fish to fry

But to get the correct answers, I really had to try. I googled it up and really, why did I even challenge my mum! I scrolled the facts and data, with a face so glum…. For all the street food lovers, here is an eye-opener Reused oil contains food additives that can cause cancer. Once oil smokes, it’s not safe or desirable to reuse Rancid oil affects the quality of your food. I learnt my lesson that day, albeit, the hard way But homemade fish fries, finally saved the day! Reused vegetable oil is hazardous to health. So choose the right fish, or maybe oil, after all, health is wealth! But how many people really know this And are living in their ‘ignorance bliss’ It’s time to go back to basics… The rudiments of cooking… 66 Contents

It was a day of a revelation! Reusing cooking oil could be that hazardous, I had never known! Something as simple as this and yet not many people were aware of this fact. I went back to my school and discussed it with my science teacher who encouraged us to take it up as an environment project. The five of us - Gargi, Harshil, Stuti, Rishab, and myself - Yashi formed a team ‘Ignited Minds’. Our immediate agenda was to educate ourselves, first about the issue in detail and then decide upon the various steps that we could take. We read extensively about it and realised that it was a big issue, as each and every member of the community was being affected by it and there was no awareness about it at all. More importantly if it’s a waste product then how can we recycle it? We have recycling bins for trash, paper, plastic but we don’t have this facility for used cooking oil. We needed $150 as a deposit for “Alpha Biofuel” to keep the oil drum, on the condition With all these points in mind we thought that it will be refunded once we collect 80kg about various solutions – we could collect the of oil. used oil and throw it, or create awareness amongst students, teachers, and community Initial finance came from the school which we about the health hazards of reusing oil or col- refunded later. Then we started our awarelect the used oil and convert it into eco- ness campaign where we educated our friendly bio diesel or soap. school children, teachers, parents and our community including restaurants about the After a lot of debate, we decided a combina- hazards of reusing cooking oil and also about tion of creating awareness about the supporting us in collecting the used oil. “Hazards of reusing cooking oil’ as that was paramount in our minds and how to recycle it Everyone whole heartedly supported our efinto an eco-friendly product, which was also forts and we collected 80kg of oil. It was an in line with our school theme. immensely satisfying feeling wherein we not only contributed in reducing the carbon footWe found a few agencies who recycle used print by 204.80 kg of CO2 but also created a cooking oil and we collaborated with “Alpha huge impact by making our society aware Biofuel.” This company provided oil drums, in about an issue that is so important for everywhich used cooking oil could be depos- one’s health. ited. Once filled, they collected the drums and recycled the oil into eco-friendly bio diesel.

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THE STUDENTS Tan Poh Geok Trina Poh, Goh Li Ting Joie Quek Written By Roy Lim

rina was quietly delighted; seated comfortably on a large sofa in the living room with a plate of fried carrot cake in her hands, she had been enjoying herself watching the latest cartoon on Octo TV. This period of bliss was however, rudely interrupted by Trina’s father, who took over the remote when the clock struck ten. “Papa… I don’t wanna watch the news!” Trina groaned, but it was to no avail. Papa’s decision was final, she knew. “You have watched enough already. Go study and don’t waste time.” Papa replied in concise Singlish.

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Trina’s party was ruined. Just as she was about to leave, though, a sound bite caught her attention: “Singapore generates 7, 269, 500 tonnes of waste, according to the recent Singapore Waste Statistics.” Trina was terribly appalled because Singapore, to her, was always a green island of cleanliness. “How could there be so much rubbish in Singapore?” she silently thought. It was something incomprehensible. That dreadful image haunted her even as she went to bed that night. “What will happen if we no longer have the space to store rubbish?” She thought. As she rolled repeatedly on her bed, trying to fall asleep, she imagined the horrifying prospects of a litter-ridden Singapore: heaps after heaps of unsightly garbage, like little grey peaks giving off a sewage-like stench, mushrooming in the urban landscape. Just the thought of this uncontrollable mess made her slightly nauseated. “I have to tell everyone before it’s too late!” Trina decided.

As she went back to school, the first thing she noticed was the school cleaners clearing huge bags of rubbish. She stopped to ask one of them about the issue that was disturbing her no end. “Good Morning aunty!” “Good morning, my dear!” Aunty replied in a smiling voice, busy collecting trash. “Aunty, how many times do you clear the garbage in our school daily?” “Oh, many times, child, why do you ask?” “I was just wondering how much garbage we are generating. And I can see so much of this rubbish could be re-cycled.”

“You are a good child, but most of your friends are not that considerate! Inspite of having recycling bins, they never segregate the garbage.” “They created many eyecatching posters and placed them all around the premises. They started holding workshops in recess breaks, guiding students on ways to create crafts from paper and cardboard. ” Trina felt that something had to be done to save the environment and reduce the exploitation of the Earth's resources by spreading the awareness of the 3 R’s. After taking approval from her teacher, she gathered some friends who were equally passionate about the cause and the team of “Garbage Destroyers” was rearing to go. The “Garbage Destroyers” made pamphlets to create awareness and distributed them in schools. They firmly believed that all pupils could help to save the environment and play an important part in reducing the amount of waste generated in the school. They created many eye-catching posters and placed them all around the premises. They started holding workshops in recess breaks, guiding students on ways to create crafts from paper and cardboard. They enlisted help from the Innovation and Enterprise Committee to incorporate the theme of conservation into the P3 project work, as that was a good platform to create awareness on the importance of conservation. Some of the deliverables for the project

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“Trina and her ‘ Garbage Destroyers’ were so passionate about this cause that they brought in a huge awareness and a sense of responsibility in their peers and schoolmates towards the subject of recycling and reducing waste.”

Slowly, the awareness spread and her classmates came and shared, how they had started recycling old things at home too and were teaching all that they were learning in school to their parents and siblings. Not only did Trina stop having her nightmares, but now she slept smiling about flowers and gardens. One day as she walked in the school, she met the same aunty, who was ‘not so busy’ collecting garbage! In fact she was sitting and having her coffee. “Good Morning aunty!”

work included e-books, posters, bookmarks and a catchy jingle.

“Good morning, my dear!” Aunty replied in a smiling voice, busy drinking her coffee.

There was an end of year exhibition scheduled in school to display these deliverables and raise awareness on environmental conservation and reinforce the importance of the 3 R’s.

“Aunty, how many times do you clear the garbage in our school daily?”

Trina and her ‘Garbage Destroyers’ were so passionate about this cause that they brought in a huge awareness and a sense of responsibility in their peers and schoolmates towards the subject of recycling and reducing waste.

“Oh, not so many times now child, Thank God for that!” And that was Trina’s best certificate for all the hard work she and her friends had put in as responsible citizens of their country Singapore and preventing their ‘Garden City’ from becoming into a ‘Garbage City’.

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THE STUDENTS Ane-Wei Chung, Lisa Neung Van Duren Prisha Thayalan Vinitha, Michelle Natania Suresh Naidu Yap An Qin Written By Samantha Goh

ary had been in the same school as us for four years now. She was pretty much the same as all of us – she shared the same interests, did the same activities, studied the same subjects and had the same friends. The only difference, however, was that Mary had been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since she was five.

ways be relied on, to be of service to Mary, with no hesitation whatsoever. Mary was one of Ane-wei’s classmates who had been diagnosed with special needs. The needs of special children varied - some had dyslexia or anxiety disorder, but they all had one thing in common – they all faced difficulties in their day-to-day activities in some way, which could only be overcome with the help of their friends.

So she was at times slightly more mischievous or had a harder time concentrating than other students. This meant that, at times, some of her friends would have to stay back after school to help her with the assigned homework or constantly remind her of what she had to do.

Nonetheless, Ane-wei’s school environment was extremely supportive of people with special needs, and the students equally nurturing. So even these students with special needs were able to carry on with their studies in mainstream schools.

But it was a duty they took on with no complaint since, in their innocent ten-year-old eyes, nothing set her apart from her peers and she was just another friend who needed help. Ane-wei, in particular, was an especially compassionate young girl who could al-

One day, however, Lisa, mentioned the plight of her neighbour to Ane-wei,“My new neighbour is autistic and has special needs, and I’m told that she goes to a school that caters only to people like her. It’s good, since they are well-acquainted with her needs, but… at the same time, I feel that

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she may be missing out on experiences that others have.â&#x20AC;? It was sad to think that children like her neighbour might be missing out on some of the educational games and opportunities (which will only help them to communicate with others different from them) that have taught so much to students like Mary at their school. Being the proactive children they were, the two students teamed up with their close friends Prisha, Suresh and Michelle to plan a trip to Rainbow Centre, a special needs school, to interact and play with the students there, in the hope that both parties will learn something from each other. The friends split up, to be in charge of and lead different activities like marble picking, throwing balls at bottles and making rainbow looms. In preparation, the students had to obtain the necessary items to carry out the activities, as well as rewards for the winners of the games. While they had initially planned to use sweets as the rewards, Michelle suggested the amazing idea of meaningful gifts by making them with their own hands and creativity. So the idea of doing bookmarks made of arts and crafts spawned, and the students spent the next few days peppering their handicraft bookmarks with drawings and encouraging messages for the special needs children to take home. The day of the class trip to Rainbow Centre finally arrived. Various classes from the Rainbow Centre would take turns in coming into the hall to try different games, and they had tonnes of fun.. The rainbow loom station was a real success, with some of the students enjoying it so much that they did not have the time to try their hand at the other stations.

The teachers thanked the five friends, saying that the perseverance which some of the special needs students had shown in the workshops during the course of the day, was something new to them, and that they do not usually show that level of resilience and interest in finishing something. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The five friends decided to raise awareness for such issues in their own school, and community and share rainbows of happiness with everyone.â&#x20AC;? As for the game involving throwing balls at a stack of bottles, though the special needs students were not always able to hit all the bottles at one go, bookmarks were still given to them. Everyone was a winner that day. The joyful laughter and glee all the special needs students were showing was something that the five friends were glad to have brought about. The smiles would stay etched in their minds for years to come. Having spread so many colours of happiness, the five friends went back to school with more excitement than ever. They approached this new movement they had founded with renewed vigour, and decided to raise awareness for such issues in their own school, and community and share rainbows of happiness with everyone.

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Improving the Library

Scripted By Anu Garg

Illustrated by Yee Hung Pak, Ang Chee Hwee

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STUDENTS

Ng Rui Kai, Jovious Geremia Tan Ian Goh Jolene Tan Chia Jia Ye Jadon Ho Denzel Lim Raphael Tan Poon Mun Amelia Peh Tan Rou Qian Aaron Wong Jielun Shanice Yeo Nicole Chan Kwek Chen Xi Joleen Chua Marcus Ong Michelle Tan Mui Qi Chua Jia Yi Lau Tian Le

Written By Ahanaa Puri

Thursday, 28th August, 2015 Dear Diary, Today was our first workshop with SoCh. The class started off nicely, and it was great fun. My school has a special project with the Pertapis Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home, and every year a group of pupils would conduct a fun session with the children in the Home. This year, my grade P4 was doing it. I was soo excited! We were told by the trainers from SoCH and our teachers that we had to decide something that we could do with the children from the Home, like a game or teach them how to do something which we already knew.

to make them. They could always use their own creativity and ideas to make original cards. So we would teach them the basics, like how to make pop-ups, and maybe fancy designs, with materials that we could either gather from our houses or buy from places like the local market. Stores like Daiso offer lots of good quality craft supplies at a cheaper price. Anyway, I gotta go, I have class now. Talk to you later. Love, Gabrielle

In the end, everyone decided that we would teach the children how to make different types of thank-you cards, or any other cards they wanted to learn. We would also organise a mini-carnival, with maybe two games that we could play with the children. It would be a great way for them and for us to relax and have some fun.

Thursday, 18th September, 2015 Dear Diary, Today, we were gathering supplies and planning how to make our visit to the Home a good one. Remember, some time back, I told you about it? So, we had a discussion and the outcomes were great.

We thought that the card making activity would be a good idea because the children can use these ideas to make thank-you cards, or birthday cards for their friends and family. It is also a form of entertainment, as life can be a little boring sometimes.

Some of my classmates had already brought some material samples to class, which was really nice, and everyone else also knew what to bring. They had got lots of paper in different colours, sketch pens and markers, stickers, etc. Then, we thought about how we could learn about card making well enough so that we could explain it properly. The class also decided that the focus would be

Once we have shown them how to make the cards, they could also teach their friends how

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on pop-up cards, because those are simple to learn, easy to make, good for beginners, and they come in a variety of styles. The final number of games we had decided on, was two. We chose simple carnival games like the hoopla. Some students borrowed a few items from their friends. Then we began planning every second and minute of our day at the Home. When we got there, we would divide ourselves into groups with the children there and explain how to make the cards. Then, we would all sit down in our groups, and actually make the cards. After that, we would have a short break and then set up the carnival games. We would, in turn, play the games with the children of the Home. One student had a really good idea, that we could give little tokens to anyone from the Home who won the game. These prizes would be small items like a badge, or a packet of stickers or maybe some erasers or pencils. We also rehearsed how to teach, and what we would say. I have to go, talk to you later. Love, Gabrielle Thursday, 25th September, 2015 Dear Diary, AHHHHHHHH I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!! I am currently writing this in the bus, on the way to the Home. The boys are noisy, as usual, so it is no surprise there. I know that I was not supposed to be writing in a moving bus… but I wanted to update you on the big day. Dear Diary, Today was a really, really good day. Now, as

we speak, I am in my soft bed. So, back to what happened today. When we reached our destination, we were told some golden rules that we all had to follow. Once that was over, we went into the hall, and met the children. They were some who were my age, some older and some younger. We introduced ourselves and explained to them what we were going to do today.

“A lot of the children were very nice and they were very warm. At the beginning, they were a bit shy, but as the day went on, they opened up and enjoyed themselves as much as we did.” After that, we divided ourselves into small groups, distributed the materials we had equally, and started the activity. The children from the Home were actually really good at making the cards, and were quick learners. Once we had all finished, we felt proud of our handiwork. Then we cleared up, had a break and set up the games that we had brought with us. They were Hoopla and Knock-the-can with the ball. If you win, you could receive either two pencils, a funky eraser or a badge. A lot of the children were very nice and they were very warm.

At the beginning, they were a bit shy, but as the day went on, they opened up and enjoyed themselves as much as we did. When we were told that we had to pack up, there were some tokens left, so we gave those to the children who had not won anything. All in all it was a fun and fruitful day! Love, Gabrielle

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TOILET STUDENTS Amanda Lee, Ashley Ho Akshaya Prakash, Chew Jin Cheng Aarthi Anantharanjan, Lee Xin Yi

Written By Joey & JoshRyan

t all started when a blob of wet tissue paper fell onto Amanda’s head. A bloodcurdling scream filled the quiet corridors of St Anthony’s Primary School. ‘Lucky’ Amanda is the third victim this week to be sniped by these fearsome soggy bullets. Akshaya and Ashley were the first to arrive at the crime scene. They saw a flustered Amanda trying to get scattered bits of tissue paper out of her hair. “This is so so so disgusting! We have to do something about these

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rapscallions who repeatedly abuse the toilets!” shouted Amanda. “Aiyoh… Girl ah, are you ok?” asked the concerned cleaner who rushed over to the toilet after hearing her shriek. “These naughty children always fling wet toilet paper onto the ceiling which I have been cleaning for years. However, they always manage to get new ones up before I am able to clean them all!” complained the frustrated cleaner. “Yes auntie, we understand your pain and hard work. We hope we can do something to change the way the students treat the toilet,” Akshaya tried to soothe the cleaner who was steaming with anger. She noticed the callus on her hands and bent knees that came from a result of prolonged squatting. The other day, she also saw a group of children dirtying the toilet on purpose, completely oblivious to the cleaning auntie who was scrubbing the wall vigorously. “Auntie,” added Ashley, “don’t be upset anymore, we will help to improve the situation.” The cleaning auntie just looked at them with her tired eyes and nodded her head quietly. The girls wasted no time. They quickly found some other like-minded students who were determined to turn the toilet into a better place for everyone. The core team members were: Amanda Lee, Ashley Ho, Akshaya Prakash, Chew Jin Cheng, Aarthi Anantharanjan and Lee Xin Yi. Together with their Mentor Teacher, Mrs Rosarita Teo, they set out to make a difference. Their class 4-1 was divided into 4 groups Survey, Marketing & Publicity, Maintenance and Decoration. First, questionnaires were given out to the pupils and cleaners to find out about what they think about the toilet.

Many did not have positive feelings about the toilet. Next, assembly talks were held and a Toilet CARE Poster Competition was organized to help spread the ‘Keep the Toilet Clean’ message. Many students got really excited about the contest and wanted to display their best ideas. “Suggestions from the Anthonian Matters were adopted to spruce up the toilets in the school. Interesting themes like Soccer Fanatics, Underwater World and Flower Power Land were used.” Numerous entries were submitted daily and it wasn’t easy to pick the winner as they could see that the students had poured in their heartfelt effort into it. “We would love to put up all the posters if possible, the students have done an amazing job!” Mrs. Teo commented. As for Maintenance and Decoration, functional checks were done on a daily basis to ensure that taps, flushes, papers, etc. were in proper order.

Suggestions from the Anthonian Matters were adopted to spruce up the toilets in the school. Interesting themes like Soccer Fanatics, Underwater World and Flower Power Land were used. Visiting the lavatories had become a whole new experience for everyone. “I actually look forward to going to the toilet everyday!” joked Xin Yi.

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Last but not least, tokens of appreciation were given out to the cleaners and office staff. Their care and relentless effort is something that was not be taken for granted. “The CARE Movement wasn’t just a project but also an experience that taught us how to handle many things and recognize the school cleaners’ work,” said Akshaya Prakash, a Care Champ in her reflection.

“The well decorated, perfumed toilets were so beautiful that nobody had the heart to litter on the floor, or throw tissue blobs on the ceilings.” Another CARE Champ, Chew Jin Cheng, with a change of heart quoted, “I felt ashamed that I took my good life for granted while the cleaners worked so hard just to keep themselves alive. This has taught me a lot of values. So, I used my time and artis-

tic skills to show how much I care for the movement.” The condition of the toilets improved significantly. The well decorated, perfumed toilets were so beautiful that nobody had the heart to litter on the floor, or throw tissue blobs on the ceilings. The cleaning auntie, also looked much more cheerful and relaxed. “I wasn’t sure if you kids could do it, but I am very happy that you’ve proved me wrong. Thank you,” she said with a wide smile. This time, they saw her eyes brighten up with gratitude. It was a smile that filled them with warmth and satisfaction. The CARE Movement had extended beyond their initial expectations. While learning something of value, they had added value to the community too. The movement was so successful that it was featured in the local news: “It was a toilet-cleaning mission with a heart,” reported the SPH LRD on 14 August 2012. At the end of the movement, the team rhapsodized “We are really proud of ourselves because we have lived up to our mission. We CAN because We CARE! Yeah!”

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FRIENDSHIP

us 307 came one Friday morning and five boys, Jun Ting, Jin Tong, Barnley, Francise and Josh got on. As usual, it was so full and packed that the boys had to stand on the steps. “Oh my!” said Barnley to himself, “This bus is getting fuller by the day.”

STUDENTS Josh Tan, Barnley Jun Ting, Francise Jin Chong

Written By Isha Rajadhyax

The five arrived late to school since the bus had to stop at many stops before theirs. They went to Regent Secondary School and this delay was usual with bus 307. “This bus problem has been going on for a very long time.” thought Francise. “Maybe I can gather those boys at the bus stop to help me do something about it.”

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At the bus stop later he saw the other boys. They were not friends, but they just knew and greeted each other with warm smiles every day. Francise stepped forward and walked towards them. He said “Hello. I am Francise. I was just thinking that the buses which come to our stop have been full and packed for too long, making our rides inconvenient.” “Yes. I agree with you. I am Barnley and even I have been suffering since a long time.” said Barnley. “I think Barnley and Francise are right. I am Jun. The other day I almost fell while standing on the steps!” Exclaimed Jun Ting, getting into the conversation. “I am Jin. The frequency of the bus is poor too.” said Jin Chong also getting excited. “I agree. Also, since the bus is so full, we often have to wait for the next one.” said Josh. “Excuse me, you didn’t tell us your name.” said Jun Ting. “Oh sorry! My name is Josh.” he said.

“Alright. Now that we know each other, let’s work on something to remedy this situation.” said Francise. “Let’s write a letter to LTA but before that we need to find out things about the bus, our problems and maybe put down a few suggestions.” The rest of the boys agreed to this. Then Barnley said, “Well, if we have nothing tomorrow, then why don’t we meet up at my house?” “Okay! We are free”, said all the other boys. The next morning, the excited boys were at Barnley’s house at seven thirty sharp. They went inside to discuss what they were going to do. “Alright. Now we need to first list down the

problems that we face every day in the bus.” said Jun. “We stand on the steps of the bus every morning and the bus timings are infrequent, causing us to be late for school”, said Josh, writing his ideas on a piece of paper and passing it on.

“Let’s write a letter to LTA but before that we need to find out things about the bus, our problems and maybe put down a few suggestions.” Taking the paper Jin said “There are at least four schools in Yew Tee area. They are Regent Secondary, Unity Secondary, Yew Tee Primary and Kranji Primary School. We estimate that about 50% of students and teachers from each of these schools take bus 307. With all these people, taking the bus early in the morning, the bus is really packed and we have to squeeze into the bus.” He wrote the ideas down and passed the paper to Francise. “The bus halts at many stops before ours and since there are so many people, we get late” added Francise. “We sometimes also fall over at sharp turns and it is very hard to keep your balance in the bus.” The paper was passed on to Barnley, who said, “Oh! I have got one more. It is difficult to get in and out of the bus and we have to usually push through the crowd.” He added. “Alright. We have got our complaints, now why don’t Barnley and I stay at home while

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the others go to calculate the approximate time between the buses and how many buses come in an hour.” said Francise. “Barnley and I will search online for buses that pass nearby our stop so we can suggest they halt at our stop too.” “Each of them knew that whether the bus service changed or not, they had got the rarest and most valuable reward, lifelong friendship”

The three scurried away to the bus stop with a phone, a watch and a stopwatch and timed the buses. Whereas Francise and Barnley were searching at home and they found out that a few buses did pass by a few streets away. “Brilliant!” cried Barnley. “These seem quite close to our bus stop and it will do no harm if they pick us up too.”

the buses usually come at 7:06, 7:26, 7:45, 8:06 and so on”, said Jun. “We also took pictures of the crowded bus on my phone”, said Josh “ What’s your news?”, he asked. “Well, the bus 48 is not so crowded and if they take this route, they can stop at their bus stop and ours as well”, said Francise, showing them the same route that he had showed Barnley. Happily the boys looked at what Barnley and Francise had suggested. “Since our bus is a bit small we suggested a bigger bus, like a bendy bus and floated a new idea of the bus 48 coming to our stop. So we suggested more buses to be sent and now let us include the timings and suggest better ones and a lesser interval between the buses”, said Francise writing it down. “Now let us start writing the letter”, said Josh,

The five boys got together, typed out a letter on the computer and printed it. They printed out the pictures which Josh had taken. Barnley found the address of the LTA on the Internet and they sealed the paper and pic“Wait! Look. The bus 48 is not that crowded tures in an envelope, stuck the stamp and as it doesn’t halt at too many stops, and if it wrote the address. just follows this route, they can reach theirs They had a long walk to the post office and and our bus stop without any trouble.” ex- they posted the letter with happiness in their claimed Francise, showing a route to Barn- eyes and hope in their hearts. Each of them ley which the bus took. knew that whether the bus service changed Soon, the other three boys came in, shared for the better or not, they had got a reward for their hard work. The rarest and most valtheir news. “Our bus 307 has a 15 to 20 minute interval between each”, said Josh, look- uable reward, true and like-minded friends. ing at his paper of records. “Around four They all walked back from the post office buses come every hour”, said Jin. thinking the same thing, hand in hand and “We checked a nearby chart and found that they knew that as long as they lived, they would never let go of that hand.

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LIGHT IN STUDENTS Chua Bin Hing Tan Teck Ann Tao Xinyn, Randal Lee Written By Lee Jia Jin Kristy

s Bing Hong, Teck Ann, Xinyu and Randal set off together on a trip for their project, light from the surroundings flooded their eyes, and took the form of familiar shapes and figures. Their destination will be a place where its people have a vastly different experience - Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH). Upon arrival, the four entered the premises with anticipation. They had a clear goal in mind - they were to be agents of change. Prior to the visit, the group had identified that community efforts towards helping the visually impaired integrate into society, were sorely inadequate. They needed to gather more information through careful observation and documentation, in order to highlight the deficiencies and target areas of change in the current state. The four children entered the main activity area of SAVH, where all the visually handicapped were presently gathered. The place resembled a typical classroom. It appeared clean, spacious, and well ventilated but sparse. Long tables were set at the corners of the room, with a few plastic chairs scattered

about, steel cupboards standing against the walls, and bulletin boards tacked at the back. A few men were standing singly at odd locations doing their morning exercise which consisted mainly of head tilts and arm stretches. One man appeared particularly enthusiastic in executing his exercise routine. A big grin on his face, he made exaggerated actions and animated movements. This manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name is Kee Tong, as the four children found out later. Uncle Kee Tong is in his mid-fifties and has been visually handicapped all his life. Although he retains some of his vision, it is mostly clouded and unclear. The story of this shy but friendly man unravelled as the children befriended him and asked to know more about him. According to Uncle Kee Tong, he had no friends and stayed at home alone when he was young. Nevertheless, despite his problems with sight, he remains brimming with positivity, keen to engage with the children, and often showing them his bright, genuine smile. At the SAVH, he takes the role of the big

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brother, frequently assisting in daily duties such as distributing activity boxes and filling cups with water. It was an uneventful day at the SAVH. While workshops on clay pot moulding and wooden art are conducted at the SAVH occasionally, that day, like most other days, had no events lined up save for the visit by the children. Sitting next to Uncle Kee Tong, Bing Hong asked, “So now you have nothing to do?” “Nothing…Yeah there are these cards to play with.” Uncle Kee Tong replied, holding out a purple card.

“On their way back home, the children were united by a single thought. The trip to the SAVH had solidified their determination to bring about the much needed changes for the visually handicapped in Singapore. .” The cards refer to greeting cards that the visually handicapped fold and store in envelopes during festive seasons such as Chinese New Year and Christmas in exchange for some extra cash. This activity will serve as entertainment for the day residents at SAVH for the rest of the day. At other times, Uncle Kee Tong and his friends sat at the tables talking or just waiting in silence. “Don’t you feel bored doing nothing?” asked Bing Hong, voicing the question in all of the children’s minds. Kee Tong thought for a moment, before shaking his head and answering with his signature toothy grin, “No.”

Indeed, to Kee Tong as well as many at the SAVH, life is contentment in simple pleasures. A good cup of black coffee for breakfast, coupled with bread, gets Uncle Kee Tong going in the morning. Lunch typically consists of takeaway food in Styrofoam boxes. The children watched as Uncle Kee Tong gobbled down his lunch combination of rice, vegetables and meat in no time. He left no scrap behind and beamed with satisfaction after his meal. At the end of the day, the children decided to accompany Uncle Kee Tong on his journey home. They walked alongside Uncle Kee Tong as he deftly maneuvered his way to board buses and through flights of stairs and escalators with the help of a walking cane and a guiding arm offered by Randal. Finally, Uncle Kee Tong arrived safely at the doorstep of his house, and the children bade goodbye to their new friend. On their way back home, the children were united by a single thought. The trip to the SAVH had solidified their determination to bring about the much needed changes for the visually handicapped in Singapore. They wondered if home-cooked food could replace packed lunches, and if organized activities and events could replace aimless waiting at the SAVH. They were empowered by their first-hand knowledge and experience of the situation, driven by the desire to help, and emboldened in their next step - to raise awareness. With that, the four children set to work on a video that captures snippets of their visits to the SAVH. They hope that by disseminating the video, seedlings of change can sprout in the hearts of those similarly impacted by what they have seen, eventually setting into motion the gears of action. The vehicle of change adopted by the children: Spread the word; be the change!

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ne fine morning, on one of the sandy hot beaches mixing with the cool, aquamarine blue waters of California, where hundreds of people came every day, Amelia strolled at the edge of the water with her cousin’s gorgeous golden retriever, Goldilocks. She had gone to California with her parents for her summer holidays. Today was her last morning at the beach. She was to leave for the airport later that day and was adamant about spending it on the beach, which happened to be her favourite place. That is, before she noticed something - Goldilocks was almost about to swallow a stray plastic straw! Amelia had always thought that the United States was one of the cleanest places on the planet. As she helped Goldilocks let go of the straw, she noticed something that made her think otherwise. Bunches and bundles of dry waste washed up on the shore, possibly brought in by the tide. And she couldn’t believe her eyes when she realised what most of it was – straws! Loads and loads of them strewn on the soft sand. Amelia stopped in her tracks and let the cool waters lap at her ankles as she wondered how something as insignificant as a straw can cause so much trouble. She gave one last look at the place, to soak in the whole, colourful image as she gave a sad smile and turned and left to board her plane back to Singapore. The next week, Amelia and her friends went to their school field during P.E. to play a rather rough game of soccer. Exhausted, they ran to the school canteen as soon as the bell rang, announcing lunch. They plopped themselves down at a table and waited, as if

STRAWSOME STUDENTS Naseemah Ahamed Ali Khan, Hanan Bte Akhbar Angullia, Kueh Ming Jun, Ng Jun Heng Keith, Glenn Chow, Nur Ainin Sofea Bte Ismail, Keerth Kaur Shergill, Shannon Chow Zi Qing, Sim Ying Zhi Amelia Written By Aabha Gokhale

someone ought to bring them a menu card. “Your turn today, Keerth” said Naseemah, her voice barely audible over the loud chattering of other students. Keerth’s grumblings, however, were quite audible and they heard something that sounded suspiciously like “Why don’t we have waiters?” as she stomped off and returned with drinks for everyone, and the ten straws the canteen auntie had so generously given. As soon as they saw the drinks, the children snatched them and gulped them down. Then they took the tray to the bin to throw it. “Hey, do you guys realise that is ten straws going waste? That could do a lot of harm to the environment,” said Amelia, the California beach still fresh on her mind, but a second too late. Glenn had already thrown the straws in the bin. Her comment was met with laughter.

“Oh, please. I seriously doubt that is going to affect the environment at all,” said Glenn.

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But Amelia was disturbed, and the next day she got statistics that stumped them all. According to her research, a vast majority of 5 million straws produced everyday ended up in the oceans, contributing to millions of tons of trash. Over a million seabirds and a hundred thousand marine animals consumed the plastic straws by accident. Every day in the United States alone, about 5 hundred million plastic straws were discarded, enough to fill more than forty-five big yellow school buses. At this point, Hanan nodded knowingly and piped in “You have a point there. I read an article in the Straits Times that said straws were among the most common forms of litter collected by community service volunteers.” All of Amelia’s friends stared at them both with incredulous looks on their faces. Then Glenn mumbled something no one could hear. “What was that Glenn?” asked Shannon. “Nothing.” Said Glenn and blushed. “It is embarrassing. Very.” “Then we have to hear this.” said Sofea, laughing. “If you have to know… I was just… kinda… saying sorry to the Earth for throwing away those straws,” said Glenn and hid her face in her hands, expecting them to tease her, but she did not hear anything. She slowly lifted her face. Her friends were in deep thought.

“You know what, we can change that,” said Ming Jun suddenly. “What do you mean?” asked Keith, clearly confused. Ming Jun then told everyone about his idea for action and change. Everyone put in their own comments and plans, and before they knew it, their plan was in action. They did

some research and read about Milo Cress, a ten year old boy from Burlington who, all by himself, started a ‘Be Straw-Free’ campaign. He encouraged restaurants and hotels to offer straws on demand instead of giving them automatically with every drink. He also encouraged customers to drink without straws. So, inspired by Milo, they spoke to their teachers, principal the canteen uncles and aunties and the school cleaners, all of whom gave their full support for their action for change. The friends hadn’t been as excited as this for a long time. They decided to first put across their project to the school in a special assembly. In this assembly, they performed a skit highlighting the issue and also made a video and a presentation on their movement for everyone. They announced that Wednesdays would be ‘straw-free days’. Additionally, the friends also applied the ‘ask-first policy’ which meant that the canteen uncle and auntie would give straws only when asked. All the children in the school were very excited to know how much they could help the environment just by their little act. The five friends counted the number of straws used and discarded every day at their school and then plotted the numbers on a graph, to chart the progress of their project. The data showed them that the usage of straws in their school had reduced by 90%. It was certainly very heartening to see students not using straws. Their hard work had paid off. Young as the children might have been, they certainly made a change. Small things can really make big differences.Amelia went to the East Coast Park beach and noticed some straws lying around. This time, she smiled because she knew that change was on its way.

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STRESS STUDENTS Sim Bin Zi , Nutan Kumar Sabrina Lim Jia Hui Nur Farzana Bte Ab Hadi Written By Anu Garg

he alarm and my Mom, both ‘go off’ together and I jump straight into the bathroom with the SAME background sounds of the morning!

“Patricia, did you finish your English homework?” “Yes Mom.” (It took me four long hours to complete the assignment and study for the Science test!) “Patricia, how was your swimming class? You know you have to aim for gold this time!” “Yeah… Dad.” (Easy for you to say, you don’t have to finish the laps in 10 seconds! Do I look like a fish or a mermaid?) “Patricia, did you hide my basketball shoes?” “And why would I do that?” (Have a great time looking for the hidden shoes!)

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“Patricia, did you again forget to feed the dog!” “No Grandma.” (Come on, I can never do that! Scott is my only friend. Scott never ‘instructs’ or ‘expects’ anything from me.) As I make my way to school, the pressure in my head starts building and an anxiety attack hits me. “Patricia, I am really nervous, I couldn’t prepare for the Science test,” my best friend, Sabrina confides. “Don’t be nervous Sabrina, all should be good,” I reply in a consoling tone. “Patricia, how can you forget to bring your Maths Homework?” “Sorry, Mr Li, I forgot!” (Oh my God! I am losing my memory at the age of 12!) “Patricia, here comes Kah Leong! You’re blushing already!” (Please, I can’t take this teasing anymore. Just let me be!) With visions of Mr. Hong’s expectations, homework slip, Dad’s fury, Mom’s anger, pending exams and my head about to burst, I walk into the classroom for my next lesson. I am a 12 year old Primary school pupil and this is a typical day at school. Each day is a battle, with constant academic pressure, peer pressure, studies, homework, and tests from school and home. These are just some of the big challenges we brave each day. Something had to be done to reduce this stress. So as Prefects, my friends and I decided to embark on Stress Management as our school improvement project so that we could understand and suggest ways for all of us to cope better with school and life in general.

We requested for permission to present our research findings on ‘Stress Management’ during an assembly programme and shared tips with the general school population. We also encouraged everyone to drop their “What is stressing me?” notes into the ‘Stress Box’. We placed this box for pupils to express themselves so that we could understand their stressors and try to address them with some positive solutions/suggestions. The idea was well received as pupils flooded the box with notes on homework issues, parental pressure, social issues, exam anxiety, peer stress and so on. Pupils poured their hearts out and aired their frustrations.

“Each day is a battle, with constant academic pressure, peer pressure, studies, homework, and tests from school and home. Something had to be done to reduce this stress.”

We went through the various notes and came up with positive ideas and solutions on how to cope with daily stress. These were displayed on the notice board for everyone to see and learn together, as a school. While some serious problems were passed onto the teachers to manage, normal day-to-day issues were handled by us. We gave the school our solutions, with our perspective as peers. The impact was slow and steady but the biggest impact was on us, as we felt more at ease and became better at handling our own problems. It was an inspiring journey where we moved from ‘Can We?’ to ‘We Can’!

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ade, scanned the list for her name on the bulletin board. It was alphabetically indexed so hers would probably be somewhere in the middle, but it wasn’t there. Her heart rate quickened. She forced herself to calm down and began to scan the list again. Nope, still not there. “Damn it,” she swore under her breath. Her eyes bore through the glass-covered notice board, willing her name to somehow appear. By then, a group of girls had gathered around to see if they had made the cut for the school’s floorball league team. An air of anticipation hovered over the girls and an excited chatter began to build up. It was the first time that the school had qualified for the National Floorball League Games and competition to get into the school team had been stiff right from the start.

“Friends, I have been nothing but a tormentor to you. I was cruel and unkind because I was living in my own darkness. Instead of dealing with it in a positive way, I recreated my own nightmares and handed them to you.”

Jade’s mind reeled to the Inter-School Junior Championship where she was part of the

TORMENTOR STUDENTS Xin Ling Jocelyn, Kelly Ain, Aidah Written By Adhe Sarariany Andi Djohar

winning team and also to the selection rounds for the League Games. She thought that she had made an impression on the coach, but it appeared now that she had thought wrong. “What are you looking at, pig-tailed loser?” Jade’s words sliced through the buzz, halting everyone in mid-conversation. All eyes trained on her. Standing at 1.7 metres, Jade easily overshadowed the other girl. Before she could speak, Jade sneered at her, “Don’t tell me you’re here to see if you made the team, loser.” “But you didn’t either Jade,” a voice piped from the crowd. Jade whipped around to face Jocelyn, the one who had just spoken up. Her eyes lit with rage and when she spoke, each word was laced with poison. “Who cares about this dumb team and dumb game? I just came to see which of you losers is going to pathetically represent us.” With that, Jade elbowed her way past with

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Xin Ling and Aidah trailing not too far behind. The next few days, Jade became increasingly irritable. She would snap at anyone who crossed her path. She was already a known figure, who intimidated anyone she did not consider to be of the same merit as her. She excelled academically and was awarded Sports Girl of the Year for two consecutive years.

Jade slipped out of the room and breathed a small sigh of relief. She laced on her running shoes and decided that a run in the park would make her feel better. “Jade’s verbal attacks became even more vicious. She would publicly criticise others and taunt them for their choices of just about anything; from the clothes they wore, to the music they listened to. The venomous fog that once only swirled around Jade was slowly spreading onto online platforms that she was connected to.”

With the recent floorball team selection results, Jade’s verbal attacks became even more vicious. She would publicly criticise others and taunt them for their choices of just about anything; from the clothes they wore, to the music they listened to. The venomous fog that once only swirled around Jade was slowly spreading onto online platforms that she was connected to. While most of her peers did not participate in her torment of others, they did little to stop her, for fear of being the subject of the verbal and inevitably, psychological attacks. *** “What is wrong with you Jade? You’re such a turtle!” a lady’s voice rose and filled the otherwise silent house. Jade met her mother’s penetrating glare with a hint of defiance but she quickly averted her gaze and mumbled an apology as tears pooled at the corner of her eyes. Her mother was showing her how to make some paper origami for some guests for the house party they were organising. It had been over an hour and yet, Jade had only managed to complete about fifteen pieces. She had seventy-five more to go. Her mother let out an exasperated sigh and told her to clear her head before continuing. Her dawdling effort was apparently getting on her mother’s nerves.

Jade was just making the loop back towards her home when a voice called out to her. She turned around to see classmates Jocelyn, Kelly and Ain. They had their floorball sticks with them and were working on their ball handling skills. They waved Jade over. Without quite knowing why, Jade made her way towards them. Looking at Jade’s puffy face, which was obviously not just from running, Ain handed her a spare stick and the three teammates began to effortlessly fall into the familiar steps of dribbling the ball between them. By the time two hours was up, the three girls were already hi-fiving and fist-bumping each other. Jocelyn and Ain were more glad than surprised that Jade had joined them and even opened herself up to them. ***

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In the days after that, Jade went to see her floorball coach, begging for another chance on the team. That was when Jade was hit by another blow. Her coach said that while he had no doubts about her talent, he dropped her because of her rotten attitude. He said that floorball was after all, a team sport. Jade had been so ashamed that she stormed out before he could say another word.

bullies. With further research, Jade began to realise that she had used her peers as outlets for her suppressed anger. But this was no excuse for the hurtful words she had knowingly pelted on her peers.

In Project Stand, the girls incorporated roleplaying, open conference-like discussions, and also a final skit about the theme. They But she went to see him the following day to even got counsellors to speak of the short and long term effects of bullying on individuals. The more enlightened Jade became, the sorrier she was. As a peace-making gesture “I finally understand for what she had done, Jade came up to address her peers and this is what she had to that only the merciful say: will receive mercy, and I am “Friends, I have been nothing but a tormentor grateful to Ain and Jocelyn for to you. I was cruel and unkind because I was giving me that.” living in my own darkness. Instead of dealing with it in a positive way, I recreated my own nightmares and handed them to you. Standing here, I am not making excuses to justify plead her case again. This time, she was my actions. All I ask is that you find it in your armed with a project which she hoped would heart to forgive me. I realise now that we are change her coach’s mind. all fighting our own battles and demons, and the world has enough problems as it is. I fiAfter the coach heard the idea, all he did was nally understand that only the merciful will to say, “Show me.” receive mercy, and I am grateful to Ain and Jocelyn for giving me that. So let us be kind *** and accept ourselves as well as our peers for Jade started off by enlisting the help of Xing the perfectly imperfect people that we are.” Ling, Aidah, Jocelyn and Ain. They named it, Project Stand, with a motto that said, ‘Stand *** Up, Stand Strong and Stand Together Jade didn’t make the team that year, but she against Bullying’. The aim of the campaign gained something far more valuable, a leswas to educate their schoolmates about the son on what it means to be human. physical and psychological damage done by

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FOR STUDENTS Damian Netto, Hana Aulia Putri Goh Wei Jie, Joshua Ilona Fleischmann Written By Samantha Goh

amien was to get his first hand phone when he turned ten. His parents had always been very stringent, so while all his friends had had phones since they began school, he had been left having to borrow their phones to make calls, play games and the like. But no more, today was the day that his phoneless existence was coming to an end. He caressed the sleek, smooth edges of his new smartphone, as he trod the path to school. Holding it up against the sky, he admired how the sunlight glinted off the smooth, shiny screen. He could not wait to show it to his friends. Owning a phone was something he had been counting down to, for weeks now. The motivation behind it not being the pro93 Contents

spect of communication, but the new game called ‘happy birds’ that the whole school was abuzz about. Finally, he could play the game with his friends! Upon his arrival at class, his friends Hana, Ilona and Joshua crowded around. After standing back with pride as they gushed and cooed over his newest possession, Damien proceeded to download ‘happy birds’. The entire recess, later that day was spent with the four friends in a circle, crouched over their respective phones. Before they knew it, the bell rang signalling the end of their break. They had forgotten to eat. Nonetheless they remained unperturbed, food could always take a backseat to ‘happy birds’.

“Over the next few weeks they spent most of their lesson time playing ‘happy birds’ at the back of the class. They were getting extremely good at the game, but as their ‘happy bird’ skills got better, their work was getting worse.”

Ignoring the rumbling of their ravenous bellies, they arrived back to class. Hana, with a cheeky glint in her eye, suggested taking the seats at the back of the class so that they could continue with their game, with Ilona and Joshua quick to agree. Damien hesitated, his conscience eating at him a little, but eventually relented to his friends’ pleadings.

Although they were initially nervous about being discovered, it was a big class of forty students with only one teacher watching over all of them. The class finished without incident, leaving the four students astounded at how easily they had been able to get away with what they did. Little did they know that this was the beginning of the very slippery slope that is addiction. Over the next few weeks they spent most of their lesson time playing ‘happy birds’ at the back of the class. They were getting extremely good at the game, but as their ‘happy bird’ skills got better, their work was getting worse. They had no qualms over their shoddy performances whenever their teacher gave them work, and it was becoming clear to everyone except themselves that they were beginning to fall behind in class. “What is the meaning of this?” Damien’s dad exclaimed one evening before dinner, slamming a sheet of paper onto the table where Damien sat. Damien momentarily looked up from the gleeful bird-like creature on his phone screen to take an absentminded glance at the paper that was covered in crosses and a crude 8/50 scrawled at the top right-hand corner. “Oh, that? Don’t worry, I’d just made lots of careless mistakes. It won’t happen again,” he answered before turning back to his game. He could not really be sure it would not happen again, and it had not only been careless mistakes that got him the bad grade. Damien had always been a conscientious student who had little difficulty with his studies and was sure that by the time the impending exams came around he would be perfectly capable of acing them, as he always did.

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The morning of their end-of-term exams found Damien sitting in the exam room, looking down at his exam script in confusion with a growing sense of panic. He had always breezed through his exams, but today his mind was a complete blank. “With a sense of finality, they all deleted the game from their phones before beginning the long, weary walk home where they would have to face the wrath of their parents after telling them how the exams went.”

muttered in defeat, with reference to the exam. She too, had always been a model student in their cohort. This exam had highlighted just how much they had let their addiction to technology rule their lives, to the extent that they were neglecting their studies and even interpersonal relationships. They could not remember the last time they had had a conversation that was not about ‘happy birds’.

With a sense of finality, they all deleted the game from their phones before beginning the long, weary walk home where they would have to face the wrath of their parents after telling them how the exams went.

This was something none of them would have ever wanted to experience ever again. Learning from their mistakes, they planned an initiative to be implemented in their school that ensured other students never fell into the He tried to think back to all he had learnt in same trap. class but all he could conjure up was that same pixelated bird, now looking more evil After apologising to and getting the approval than happy, flapping frivolously up and down. of their teachers for the said initiative, boxes The word addiction sprung to his mind as the with timers were placed in each classroom, enormity of all that he had missed over the where students could place their hand phones during school hours, and get a repast few months of lessons crashed down on ward in the form of a chocolate bar when him. they collect it at the end of the day. He tried his best, but knew that it would take nothing short of a miracle for him to even From their actions, the student body as a whole became a much less anti-social place, pass this exam. and even the overall grades improved – all He saw a similar alarmed and resigned look thanks to Damien and his friends. in the eyes of his friends as they gathered after the end of the exam. “Carnage,” Ilona

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STUDENTS Venus Ong Meagan Tan Lim Min Fina Ashley Wee Terence Chua Loo Jing Jie Amarie Teo Ong Zhi You Bevinn Boo Si Wei Gordson Lucas Ng Kwan Wei Yin Joel Jovin Tock Xavier Tan Tay Kheei Earnn Ian Soh Rui Tan Xuan En Dacia Niki Tan Elizabeth Wee Gwyneth Goi Tam Jiahui

ABOUT A

Written By Anu Garg

“To dream about a dream To see the unseen The imagined, or the desired… The future or the destined…. It’s a constant nightmare To even dream about a dream…..” As Ashley read the poem, she felt an odd sense of sadness creeping into her. It seemed as if somebody was too sad and desperate, to even dream. It was hard for her to imagine such a scenario, as she was always dreaming, about her clothes, boys, parties and what she wanted to be. From an astronaut to a gardener, a nurse to a dancer, she had imagined herself in so many roles. She looked around the music room to see who had dropped the note, and suddenly she saw Ray, a student from the other section, looking for something. He was a shy boy who was in her music class and had recently joined the school.

thanks and left quickly. But the words kept haunting her even as she went on with her usual activities. The next morning, as luck would have it, Ashley and Ray were chosen to represent their school for a music recital and they were practising together. The teacher had given them their notes to practise and they had been diligently trying to create a symphony together. Ashley could feel Ray’s reluctance to even talk, but she was itching to talk to him. “Ray, was that poem yours? Why did you write such a sad poem?” asked Ashley, unable to control herself. “No, it was nothing,” said Ray and he turned to his music again, pointedly ignoring Ashley. “I just don’t follow – how can someone be so desperate to not dream. I dream every day, every moment! It’s totally free!” said Ashley passionately.

“I pray to God Ashley, that it’s always like this Holding out the paper to him, she asked, “Is for you. May all your dreams come true.” this what you are looking for?” “Ray please tell me, I really want to underHe looked up surprised and then his expres- stand,” said Ashley softly, trying to reach out sion changed – from embarrassment to dis- to Ray. comfort, it all played up on his face. He came forward to take the paper, mumbled a word of “Well, its common knowledge in school that I am adopted,” began Ray slowly.

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“Oh, I was not aware, I am sorry,” said Ashley. “That’s ok. In fact I am one of the lucky few who actually got a chance to move on in life. Many of my friends are still there in the orphanage. You can never know what it’s like Ashley. You finish school and you go home. You have a family, people who care, support, and love you. When I was there in the home, we were looked after, but it’s never the same.” Ray looked at Ashley with stormy eyes.

“And that day in Pertapis Childrens' Home everyone ‘Dreamed’…. everyone ‘Shared a dream’…. each one ‘Celebrated a dream’…. and everyone ‘Dared to dream’….

“I spent ten years of my life there. My parents died in a car crash and I had no family.” “I am truly sorry Ray, for your loss.” Ashley said in a subdued voice, pained by even imagining the scenario. “The children in the centre come from all walks of life, with one thing in common, no home, no family. They have no one to share their dreams or even aspirations with. I always felt too alone, too scared to even dream of being something. I wrote the poem that you have read, back then,” said Ray. “I was lucky, a great family adopted me, and today I have a new and happy beginning, something I had never dared to dream about.” said Ray smiling.

Ashley looked at him with tears brimming in her eyes and wished for him what he had prayed some moments ago. “I pray to God, may all your dreams come true.” As Ashley left for the day, she kept thinking about the conversation and her mind was still stuck on the sadness and desperation behind the poem. Even if Ray had a happy beginning, there were so many children still feeling the same. She went up to the teacher, explained her idea and requested her to make it into a class project. The whole class genuinely supported Ashley’s idea and agreed to participate. They chose Ray’s Centre - Pertapis Childrens' Home, and planned to bond with the children through games, activities and most importantly by asking them to weave dreams about the occupations they would take up, when they grew up. The game stalls were a hit with the children, which they thoroughly enjoyed and became the perfect platform for bonding. All the children sat together and drew pictures of what they aspired to be when they grew up, what jobs they wanted and how they imagined their future to be. And that day in Pertapis Childrens' Home everyone ‘Dreamed’….everyone ‘Shared a dream’…. each one ‘Celebrated a dream’…. and everyone ‘Dared to dream’…. And when Ray passed her this poem….Ashley knew they had made a difference…. “To dream about a dream To see the unseen The imagined, or the desired… The future or the destined…. It’s a constant delight To even dream about a dream…..”

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My name is Athirah, a Primary 6 student from Fengshan Primary School and let me tell you why vandalism is definitely not cool. Some students vandalize by drawing graffiti on school walls or destroying school property. While these students may think that doing such things are fun and interesting, they do not realize that sometimes their actions can potentially harm other people! My story starts with Mr. Kong, our 64 yearold cleaner, who was injured due to an act of vandalism! While majority of the students in my school display good behaviour and uphold the school values of respect and compassion, there is a small minority who flout rules. Some boys took huge wads of the toilet tissue paper, wet them with water and threw them onto the walls. These wet wads of tissue paper got stuck to the toilet walls and dried up, making it tough to remove from the walls. “Vandalism is not cool. Some students vandalize by drawing graffiti on school walls or destroying school property. They might think it’s fun and interesting, but they do not realize that sometimes their actions can potentially harm other people.”

IS NOT STUDENTS Yee Win, Athirah Yee Tien Siwen, Sharlene Written By Jacinth Preeya Reveenthran

One of the wads of wet tissue fell onto the floor and when Mr. Kong came in to clean the toilet later on, he did not notice it and he slipped and fell, injuring his feeble left leg in the process! His loud cries of pain alerted some of my friends, Yee Win and Siwen who were just standing outside the toilet. Noticing that Mr. Kong was lying in agony on the floor and clutching his left leg, Yee Win and Siwen ran to their form teacher Mr. Cheng and hurriedly related to him the misfortune that had befallen on the poor elderly school cleaner. Mr. Cheng quickly ran to the boys’ toilet and helped Mr. Kong to the General Office and called for the ambulance and Mr. Kong’s family was alerted of the accident. When the student population heard of the incident, they were upset and returned to their classes with heavy hearts as they 98 Contents

thought of poor Mr. Kong. As a class, we made “Get Well Soon!” cards for Mr. Kong and our teacher brought some flowers and fruits along when we visited him after school.

“Each student was encouraged to look out for the other’s action as PERSONAL and PEER leaders. The whole campaign was aimed to create an awareness, that vandalism is bad, will not be accepted and serious action would be taken against vandals. ”

More importantly, when we returned to school after visiting him in the hospital, we wanted to do something meaningful and impactful to remedy the situation. It was important to educate the school on the negative effects of vandalism and inculcate a sense of respect and responsibility in every student. As Prefects, we got together to brainstorm ideas and came up with some upbeat solutions that could address the situation and discussed them with Mr Cheng. Once we received the green light, we created PowerPoint slides to create awareness

and to educate on the school on the negative impact of vandalism. Then we implemented steps to reduce the availability of toilet rolls as they were misused, being freely available in the washrooms. So, the first rule was that toilet paper was no longer freely available to the students and everyone had to use their own tissue papers. Teachers rationed out the toilet paper and gave a necessary amount whenever any of the students did not bring their own tissue paper. To further send the message home, each class from levels Primary 1 to 6 was tasked to come up with posters about how vandalism was a serious offence and these were pasted around the common areas of the school and in the toilets. Each student was encouraged to look out for the actions of others and to educate one another as PERSONAL & PEER leaders. The whole campaign was aimed to sending the clear message that vandalism is bad and will not be tolerated and serious action will be taken against vandals. ACTIONS come with CONSEQUENCES, so students were encouraged to make good decisions, guided by good values! A special task force comprising prefects and teachers was formed to conduct random checks on the toilets and on other areas in the school to ensure that there were no acts of vandalism in the school. Being an active member of this group, together with my friends Yee Win and Siwen, I am proud to say that there have been no more cases of vandalism from then on!

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WHEELING STUDENTS Cheryl Lau Suet Yi, Nurul Aisyah Bte Mansor Ali Tara Nazirah Bte Ismail Pagadala Madhava Sai Arun, Yong Hao Kuan Jethro

Written By Adhe Sarariany Andi Djohar

took a deep breath, ball in hand and positioned myself in the centre circle. The angelic light that flooded the sports hall was exactly how I had imagined it to be. Our schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spectators were already drumming the team to a steady chorus of support. I looked into the steely eyes of my teammates and a rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins. I was determined to make sure that by the time the final whistle was blown, we were going to bring the Netball Championship Cup home. The umpire signalled the start and it was game on. We fought for every ball, sprinted and leapt head on into every challenge to make sure we maintained good ball possession. The teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passing was fluid and we netted a couple of good shots. Nearing half

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time, we were leading by five goals. Then, it happened. I lugged forward to retrieve a loose ball when the opponent, who apparently had the same idea, came from my right side at full speed. I saw her from the corner of my eye, and in that split second mentally screamed at myself to halt my run. She was coming too fast, I thought. But it was too late. She clipped my left foot, her knee rammed into my sides and I doubled over. The last thing I remembered was a collective gasp rippling through the crowd. The next few weeks were some of the hardest days of my young life. I was confined to a wheelchair. I had torn a tendon in my left foot and the injury to my hips was going to take another six weeks to recover. My only consolation was that we won the Championship with a one-goal margin. My frustration did not end there though. People constantly failed to notice me on my wheelchair. I got sick of saying, ‘coming through’ or ‘excuse me’.

By the time I gained their attention, I would have either bumped into their ankles or forced myself to brake to let them pass through. Then came the apologies and nasty looks directed my way. By the third day of wheeling myself around school, my arms ached terribly and I was in a rotten mood. Being an extremely mobile person, this confinement irked me. My best friend, Cheryl, noticed my frustration and took on the job of wheeling me around, in between classes. Soon, people’s lack of graciousness exasperated her too. Over lunch, we talked about my situation with the rest of our usual lunch buddies, Aisyah, Arun and Jethro.

“Tara, what you need is a bell,” proclaimed Jethro. “That way, people know you’re coming.”

I considered it for a moment before replying, “I’ll probably sound like a cow.” I sighed, taking another mouthful of macaroni and cheese. “My frustration did not end there though. People constantly failed to notice me on my wheelchair. I got sick of saying, ‘coming through’ or ‘excuse me’.” Back and forth, the ideas flew. We realised that I was not the only one with this issue. Wheelchairs have been around for a really long time and many more people would know exactly how I feel.

We affirmed that the elderly, especially, would have a tough time navigating and making their presence known. All afternoon, we detailed the problem and mapped out possible solutions. Before we left for home that evening, we had a plan in motion. The five of us spent every free period of the next two weeks working on our plan to improve the problem faced by most, if not all, wheelchair users. We decided that most importantly, wheelchair users have to be heard, only then, will they be seen. We split into two groups – Aisyah, Jethro and I researched on the different types of sensors that were already on the market and what could be suitable for our purpose

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while, Arun and Cheryl tackled the designing of the prototype. We tapped into the school’s expertise of using the Arduino circuit as well as the computer-software, Solidworks, to bring our idea to life. Initially, we encountered a few hiccups while we sought to figure out the software and 3D printing. But none of that could dampen our resolute intentions. It was especially exciting for me to be part of this project that would definitely aid me. My spirits lifted tremendously as I watched my friends working, fuelled by zeal and fervour. On the day we unveiled our masterpiece, I was the proud representative of the team to showcase and demonstrate our product, the Wheelchair Beeper. We told our classmates and form teacher about this new innovation and got them to be part of the demonstration during morning assembly. The Wheelchair Beeper was attached to the sides of my wheelchair and once I got near an obstacle, it would give out sound and light signals to warn the people around me, as well as myself. This would definitely give ample time for crowds of people to make way for the wheelchair-bound person. We received a thunderous applause that morning and nods of approval. We even got other students to test out the Wheelchair Beeper so that we could get further feedback from them.

Talking to some of our schoolmates about the product, we began to realise that it wasn’t that they were purposely being indifferent to wheelchair-bound people. It was just that they either genuinely did not see them coming until it was too late, or did not know of a way to help.

“The Wheelchair Beeper was attached to the sides of my wheelchair and once I got near an obstacle, it would give out sound and light signals to warn the people around me, as well as myself.”

The five of us then proceeded to discuss with the principal on how we could introduce the Wheelchair Beeper to the market so that it would be readily accessible to everyone. Topping the fantastic day of unveiling our invention, my doctor also just told me that I was recovering extremely well and if all goes according to plan, I would be able to start physiotherapy in a week’s time. That aside, I am happy to know that this seemingly mini invention will help countless of wheelchair users.

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ARE NOT STUDENTS Lina, Firman Li Juan, Ryan Illustrated by Ananya Mathur

Written By Tania Joshi

ina, Firman, Li Juan and Ryan, were very good friends and used to walk to school together. Every day they passed a construction site where foreign workers would be gearing up to start their day’s work. One day, on his way to school, Ryan halted for a moment and looked at the huge building that he had seen right from scratch and today, it had reached up to the 5th floor. It seemed like a miracle to him. He looked at the foreign workers, and admired their hard work and dedication despite the adverse weather conditions and they were still happy. They are instrumental in forming Singapore’s beautiful skyline, thought Ryan and we somehow forget it, or take them for granted. For these four friends, the walk along the construction site and the pleasant sounds of people talking, singing, trucks moving, had

become routine. But one morning, they heard some commotion and noises coming from behind the big wall of metal sheets. Everyone stopped and peeped inside the site and were surprised to see some school students abusing the foreign workers, using bad language and asking the workers to return to their country. Two workers who seemed to be senior, wearing helmets and holding walkie-talkies, were trying to calm the students and requesting them to go to school.

“What is wrong with these students,” exclaimed Firman. “I don’t seem to understand why these students are abusing the workers,” added Ryan. Lina and Li Juan were shocked at their school friend’s behavior, not knowing what to say but were sure that something needed to be done about it.

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They walked quietly towards school but their minds were racing with thoughts. During lunch time they quickly approached their teacher Madam Debby and shared with her, the incident at the construction site that morning. Li Juan asked Madam Debby “So, what can we do to show people that the workers are human beings like us and need to be part of an inclusive society?” Ryan said, “Those students were treating the workers as though they were second class citizens.” Firman with a sad look on his face said, “There is lack of awareness, people need to know who these workers are and what are they doing for Singapore.” “We must do something, for sure. I’m glad all of you were sensitive and empathetic towards the foreign workers. Think of a plan and let me know.” said Madam Debby and everyone nodded in unison. Next day during CCA class, Ryan, Firman, Li Juan and Lina, shared their thoughts with the entire class and wanted everyone to think about solutions for the problem related to lack of appreciation and discrimination against foreign workers. The entire class was motivated with the idea of bringing change in the community and raising awareness amongst their peers and society. Towards the end of class, the students had come up with many ideas which included holding interviews, creating posters or presentations to raise awareness, or holding a carnival at school. Finally, the class decided on one idea – creating a board game like Monopoly for Singaporeans and foreign workers to play, as this would be more interactive and also cre-

ate awareness in a fun way. They researched on foreign workers, found news articles on them and shortlisted many important areas that Singaporeans and foreign workers should know. Keeping all these factors in mind, they designed two set of games, one for each group. It was then shared with the entire school and through the interactive game, fellow students were taught to be nice to foreign workers and appreciate the hard work that they do constantly for Singapore.

“There is lack of awareness, people need to know who these workers are and what are they doing for Singapore.” They were also reminded that it is polite to smile and greet the workers as often as possible. As a result of this positive step by Ryan, Li Juan, Firman and Lina, their school friends started to behave in a positive way when passing a foreign worker. Very soon, this behavior spread throughout the school and the community and the results were visible. The morning walk became more interesting when the workers starting responding to the warm behavior of the children. They started calling out to the children and wishing them a good day. The children’s efforts made everyone realize that they are not the only ones living in Singapore. We should be gracious and inclusive as a society to welcome and accept everyone.

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he clock struck twelve. It was recess time.

“Quickly!” yelled Vanessa to Regina and her three other friends as they ran to the canteen to grab some seats and buy their favourite fried rice from the Chinese stall. After eating, Vanessa and her friends Regina, Ashley, Adina, and Rin, ran to the empty field just beside the canteen and started their first round of soccer. “Rin, kick the ball to me! I’m open.” Adina shouted to Rin, who kicked the ball to her. Rin quickly ran and kicked the ball into the goal post, which was a makeshift square made from their water bottles and wallets. “Yay! We won the first goal!” shouted Ashley with glee as she high-fived her teammates.

OF THE Written By Jacinth Preeya Reveenthran

Suddenly, they heard a boy screaming in pain at the far-end corner of the field, near the fruit trees. A group was slowly forming around the young primary one boy who was writhing in pain on the ground and clutching his swollen arm. Being curious, Vanessa and her friends ran over to see what the commotion was about, while their other friends continued playing the game.

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What happened?” Adina breathlessly asked one of the girls who was present there. “Matthew got stung by a bee. He was just playing near the trees when he saw the bee flying around him. He tried to chase it away but ended up getting stung on his arm.” replied Rachel who was on the verge on crying. “Feeling pleased with themselves, Regina, Vanessa, Rin, Adina, and Ashley reflected and realized that their act of bravery was possible because of their joining Project READ. ”

Matthew’s arm was turning a bright red and looked very painful. The group of students gathered around Matthew didn’t know what to do and they kept on looking helplessly at poor Matthew. Vanessa remembered reading in a book during one of her Project READ learning sessions, on how bees sting people when they get angry and irritated, and how terrible these stings can be. “We should quickly get help. I remember reading in a book during Project READ that people who get stung by bees tend to be in a lot of pain and they should seek help as quickly as possible.” she said urgently. “Yeah, but who should we go to? There is no one in the field here except us.” “Everyone is in the canteen, parade squareor in the library,” replied Rin, worried. “I know! We can go to Mr. Ashraf, our Math Teacher! He’s on duty and will know what to do.” said Rin.

Both Rin and Vanessa ran off to look for their Math teacher, and hurriedly told him what had happened. “Everybody please go over to the canteen or parade square. I don’t want any more students to get stung by bees,” said Mr. Ashraf in a stern voice. Mr. Ashraf carried Matthew, who was still crying due to his painful, bruised arm and ran to the General Office to get him treated. The ambulance was called and Matthew was rushed to the nearby Polyclinic, to take the sting out and have his arm treated. Mr. Ashraf then alerted the principal about what had occurred during recess time and how Vanessa and her friends were clever and quick, in informing him about Matthew. The next day during the morning assembly, the principal called Vanessa and all her friends on the stage and praised them for their bravery and their ability to speedily take charge of the situation. Feeling pleased with themselves, Regina, Vanessa, Rin, Adina, and Ashley reflected and realized that their act of bravery was possible because of their joining Project READ. Though initially, they had joined the buddy reading sessions to improve their vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency in English reading, but gradually they had also started enjoying the various books that they read as part of the project. They would pair up with each other and read books aloud and discuss the new things learnt. “Honestly, I had never imagined that Project READ would lead us to this.” said Adina overjoyed. And they promised to remain a part of the project so that they could become buddy readers and coach other children.

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Enabling MRT Seat Access

Students Chong Ching Wei, Chen Ya Juan, Hui Wan Ting, Mohammed Kaleem B Mohamed Emaan Abdul Rahim B Yuyun

Scripted By Marc Garnaut

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s Leo packed for the day, his mind was playing over all that had happened during the day. He smiled as the memory of everyone toppling over each other in the field, replayed in his mind. Humming to himself as he was passing the basketball court, he saw someone sitting alone with the ball. The boy looked very sad and woebegone. He recognised the boy as Jason, the newcomer from United States who had joined this session. “Hey Jason, What’s up man?”, Leo called out. Jason looked up, surprised and hesitant, all at once. Leo was surprised at Jason’s reticence because he remembered Jason as an outgoing, happy boy. “Jason come on talk to me. Is there a problem?”, said Leo when Jason did not respond.

“Hey, were you there at the field toppledown when everyone just fell on each other in one big heap. God, that was hilarious and so much fun!” Leo said, trying to break the ice and Jason’s somber mood. Jason gave a faint smile and said, “Yes, I was at the side-lines, watching, as usual.” “Why didn’t you join in, we were just fooling around in the lunch break?” said Leo “Coz no one invited me. I’m not a part of any so called group!” said Jason with suppressed anger. “But why? Haven’t you made any friends?” asked Leo, genuinely surprised as it was three months into the new session already.

ME Written By Varsha Vishwanathan

“Come on man, you really don’t know? You don’t even remember, right? The first person I tried to be friends was with you. But you were just polite, asked a few questions about America. Nothing about me, mind you and then just walked away. And that’s been the case with everyone”, said Jason his frustration finally coming out. Leo looked genuinely shocked and tried to remember the conversation Jason was mentioning, but honestly couldn’t recall. “I am not blaming you Leo. I understand that making someone a part of your group takes time. But try walking in my shoes for a day. When we moved to Singapore, my parents suggested that I should join an International school but I wanted to know more about Singapore. I was keen to interact with the local children and be a part of the culture, so I joined this school. It’s not that the children treat you badly or rudely, it’s just that I am different and that comes across every time I interact with every one of you”, said Jason opening up for the first time with his thoughts, frustration and anger. 110 Contents

“Can you explain that Jason, somehow I cannot understand it?”, asked Leo. “Every time we sit for project work, unknowingly all of you switch to your mother tongue and I am like ‘What?” How many times can you request someone that you can’t follow what they are saying, so please speak in English? Can’t you see Leo, how isolating this can be?” “Jason, you have to appreciate, trying to follow your American accent is also a challenge for us”, said Leo, getting a bit defensive. “Buddy, I know that. But I try to speak slowly, I am trying to learn Chinese, I am trying to emulate your ‘Singlish’ too. I wish you would take the time to make me comfortable and make me feel welcome. Yes, I am different, I talk differently, look different but so what? Can’t we all learn from each other? And mind you, it’s not just me, I can see students from other countries also feeling the same, because we walk in the same shoes.” Jason said trying to show Leo a picture, that he had never seen before. Leo was genuinely taken aback and secretly ashamed because being a true Singaporean, he had always taken pride in being a part of an inclusive, diverse country. “Can you really play the hoop or they teach you nothing in the USA?”, Leo asked Jason with an apology in his eyes and an unsaid offer of a friendship that crossed all boundaries of geography, history, culture, language and mind-sets. As the boys bonded over basketball, Leo felt that the issue was still unaddressed. It was a much larger issue, as due to globalisation, so many children from many nationalities and ethnicities were a part of their school.

He started looking at the whole issue with a new perspective and noticed that it was very real. It wasn’t just Jason, but many other Filipino, Indian, and American children who also felt that they were not treated in the same way as the other Singaporeans, simply because they looked and talked differently. He discussed the issue with his close friends and they all decided to do something about it. They wanted to integrate their friends from different ethnicities into their Singaporean fold. “Foreign students will not be judged on the way they do things or the way they talk. Inspite of the language barrier, our foreign friends will not be teased but made welcome”, said Leo, when they were deciding on an action plan. “Yes, we have to include them in our community so that they feel a sense of belonging and gain acceptance in the school.” The children planned a video on inclusion of different nationalities in Singapore. The artist in the group drew a mural about diversity in differences. The group started a small campaign by coming up with bookmarks of multi-colours to signify diversity and respect for differences. The different coloured bookmarks symbolised the different coloured skin that people from different races have. They distributed the bookmarks to all the students, bearing messages that were drawn by them. The bookmarks were also cut raw at the edges to give them a different feel and touch as it symbolised their theme of accepting their friends, who are of different nationalities for who they are. Very soon, it was the norm for every student to go out of their way to make the new students feel welcome. 111 Contents

t was the movie ‘Jaws’ that was the turning point in my life. As I watched the movie with my family on a home video, I was terrified and truly believed that they were the most dangerous species on Earth.

THE

“Why don’t we kill all sharks, if they are so dangerous and attack humans like this?” I asked my Dad. No Jeremy, Sharks do not actually want to eat us. If they ever attack human beings, it’s because they mistake humans for food. It’s not a deliberate attack.” Said my Dad. “And it’s a misconception that many people have about sharks. They are being attacked and killed as people think they are dangerous and today we have a situation where they are an endangered species,” added my Mother. I was fascinated by this information and went on Google, to research it further. I went to

Written By Rakhi Shankar

sleep dreaming of playing with big sharks in the deep blue sea but woke up with the nightmare that all the sharks are gone, have become extinct. When I reached school the next day, our class teacher announced a Project for Change for the class, to be done in groups, to bring about some change in society regarding an issue of concern to the students.

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My group had four of my friends – Renie, Adraianna, Wei, Zhie and we started discussing possible topics for the project. I really wanted to take ‘Saving Sharks’ as a project when Zhie said “You know, I went to the SEA Aquarium last weekend and there I got to learn about endangered species like sharks. Why not do a project to create awareness of how sharks are endangered?” He said. “That’s such a great idea! I saw the movie ‘Jaws’ yesterday and have even researched the topic a bit. They are endangered today and we should really put our heads together to save them,” I said, very excited at the prospect that we could actually try to do something to save the sharks. Animals were close to the hearts of all my friends, all of whom had a pet at home. They agreed to look into the idea. Over the next couple of days, we did extensive research on sharks on the internet and through written materials from the library. We met up at lunchtime after three days to go through the information we had collected. Through our research we found out that the top five species of endangered sharks were – the basking shark, the dusking shark, the scalloped hammerhead shark, the whale shark and the giant white shark. Our survey also highlighted that although the movie ‘Jaws’ had shown sharks as predators of humans, sharks actually liked to eat seals and fishes and could mistake humans for their favourite foods. But the most shocking discovery was how sharks were hunted for their fins and left to die a slow death on the seabed, once the fins were chopped off. Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and is popular in China and Chinese restaurants around the world. It is believed to have some health benefits although unproven. More than a million sharks are killed each year.

As a first step in creating awareness, we decided to make a short presentation to other students on the issue of shark finning. Adraianna had a great idea to suggest alternatives to shark fin soup, a non-vegetarian version and a vegetarian version. Renie joined her in the task of searching for alternate recipes. Adraianna’s mother being a very good cook, gave suggestions.

“Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine It is believed to have some health benefits although unproven. More than a million sharks are killed each year.” We found that shark fin melon had a similar texture to shark fin and could be used instead of shark fin with other meat such as chicken, scallops and veggies, or just with veggies for a vegetarian option. We were toying with the idea of having a food-tasting for the imitation shark fin soup recipes, but it had to be dropped because of hygiene concerns. In addition to making presentations to our peers and friends in various classes and in the assembly, we also created a Facebook page and a short video. We met up with some Chefs of restaurants spoke to them about the issue and suggested that they could use alternate recipes to save the shark species. In the end we were extremely happy with our efforts and hoped to have made some impact towards protecting sharks against the terrible practice of shark finning. Today, when I sleep, I happily play with my shark friends and wake up smiling.

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As Singapore develops, our country’s demographics is also changing. Today, Singapore faces an ageing population, as the baby boomers grow older and the population replacement rate slows due to a number of reasons; among which are cultural and lifestyle factors. Also, the younger generations now value their privacy and prefer to stay in their small family unit or even alone. As a result, we see more and more seniors living alone, in isolation, away from their families and children.

“Social isolation or loneliness, particularly in seniors, is a reality. The volunteers demonstrated that with compassion, they could connect with the seniors and be the spark to brighten up their lonely hours.”

According to statistics, the number of these seniors who live alone has more than doubled since the year 2000. The seniors are not only living away from their family units, but are also deprived of their children’s company, since the visits from the children are also rare. Studies have shown that living alone may lead to social isolation, and that in turn could result in depression.

SMILES Written By Kim Pong Goh

Teachers and students from the Secondary School identified this social phenomenon and realised a need to provide human interaction for the seniors. They undertook an activity to understand better and appreciate the challenges of living alone. They wanted to do something to provide the lonely seniors with company, care and hope. “We believe that our presence and smile will not only link the seniors to the outside world instantly, but will give them hope as they will look forward to more precious times of interaction,” said the enthusiastic volunteers. The participants partnered with Lions’ Befrienders Service Association – a Voluntary Welfare Organisation (VWO) – to plan an event for the seniors. Prior to the event, the enthusiastic student volunteers worked closely with their teachers to make rigorous preparations for the programmes of the event day. The student volunteers also made time to rehearse, so as to put up a great show. They were committed to making it a memorable day for the seniors to remember. On the event day itself, 34 volunteers – both teachers and students alike – presented

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various items. One group sang a heartfelt rendition of “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. The melodious and mesmerising guitar performance was a super hit. Another group which comprised of the class’s National Cadet Corps students put up a spectacular Precision Drill Squad (PDS) performance which wowed the audience. As a finale to the day, the students taught the seniors how to make origami. This activity was a perfect platform to bond with them, as children got one- to- one time to interact with seniors and generally talk about whatever they liked. The smiles on the faces of the seniors were a testimony to the happiness and joy they got from the company of the volunteers. Social isolation or loneliness, particularly in seniors, is a reality. The volunteers demonstrated that with compassion, they could connect with the seniors and be the spark to brighten up their lonely hours.

“We believe that our presence and smile will not only link the seniors to the outside world instantly, but will give them hope as they will look forward to more precious times of interaction,” The invaluable time, interaction and company that the volunteers gave to them, added joy to the lives of the seniors – bringing an immeasurable and intangible change in their lives. For the students it was a joy to connect with the seniors and they all vowed to spend as much time as possible with the seniors in the community.

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GIFT OF Written By Adhe Sarariany Andi Djohar

ence class. The last few minutes crawled past excruciatingly and by the time the bell signaled the end of class, I could have sworn that I had lived through an eternity. Just before I stepped out of the classroom, Mrs. Andrew stood in the way of my freedom.

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top lecturing, for crying out loud,” I mumbled under my breath.

Immediately, Mrs. Andrew’s head snapped in my direction. “What did you say?” she demanded, although I knew fully well that she had heard what I just said. “Nothing,” I gave the obligatory reply. Mrs Andrew pierced me with another stare before turning her attention back to the class. I sighed and glanced over at my two best friends, Alice and Clare. They gave me sympathetic looks and Alice rolled her eyes, indicating that she was on my side. There were still twenty-five minutes to go before we would wrap up for the day. A stale smell hung in the air and despite my best efforts, I could hardly keep my eyes open in this Sci-

“What was that about Renking? You’re not usually those who would make such caustic comments,” she asked sternly, although I could see that her eyes had softened and she appeared to be more disappointed than angry. I tried to appear apologetic and wriggle my way out with an incoherent answer but Mrs. Andrew was not in the mood to let my poor behaviour go, without a consequence. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that my other friends, watching me intently. Before I could wonder what kind of punishment my actions would merit, Mrs. Andrew spoke about a primary one buddy study programme that she wanted me to be part of. Due to my uncharacteristic behaviour in class the previous day, Mrs. Andrew thought that it would be a good idea for me

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to be part of the Service Learning Project. My job was to tutor primary one students in subjects they might face challenges in. More than that, it was to build their self-esteem through motivating and giving them the space to express themselves confidently. The whole programme would last for a month. Although I was reluctant, thankfully, my four friends gamely agreed to participate as well.

confidence soared. The five of us couldn’t be happier. So when Mrs. Andrew asked if we wanted to continue the programme, we took it upon ourselves to not only extend the study session beyond the allotted month, but we also started to customise worksheets to fit the juniors’ competency levels. We took on more classes and by the end of Term 3, we had almost fifty students under our charge.

And that was the beginning of an unexpected journey. Every day at around 2.30 pm, the five of us would head down to the primary school across the road. There, we would spend about two hours working with the juniors; helping them out with Math and English. We quickly realised that it was not that the junior students were uninterested in learning, but rather, they lacked the confidence to express themselves. Fresh from kindergarten, the primary school environment is a culture shock to them. We concluded that we first had to gain their trust and then make them feel comfortable in their new surroundings.

“Looking at her now, bubbling with excitement, I’ve finally realised how rewarding giving back and passing the gift of knowledge can truly be.”

What started off as a chore, swiftly became a mission that I threw myself wholeheartedly into. I was really glad that Doreen, Alice, Rachel and Clare were there to go through the experience with me. After each session with the juniors, we would discuss strategies on how to make the next lesson an even better one. Soon, we came armed with stickers and even devised an award system in which the juniors could accumulate points for good behaviour, answering questions, completing tasks on time and so on. Once they have collected a certain number of points, they could redeem it for a lucky dip gift. Over time, we could see that the juniors looked forward to the sessions as much as we were excited to conduct them. With time and evident improvement in their work, their

As the study sessions with the juniors progressed, I became a better student. I realised how tough it was to hold the juniors’ attention while also delivering content to them in an engaging way. So I definitely understand my teachers’ struggle to grab our attention in a class of forty. “Hey Renking!” I looked down to meet the expectant eyes of Joanna, one of the juniors. “I had Pick and Tell today and although I was a little nervous, I gave my best! I talked about my favourite animal in the zoo,” Joanna rattled on. She went on to describe the presentation she had just delivered hours earlier to her classmates. I felt an overwhelming surge of pride course through me. Joanna was one of the few who refused to speak even after three study sessions together. Looking at her now, bubbling with excitement, I’ve finally realised how rewarding giving back and passing the gift of knowledge can truly be. By helping others I actually helped myself.

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“It’s so hot today,” complained Lou as she dropped her bag on the dining table. “Well at least you had something to keep you occupied,” said her grandmother, Mrs. Sarah. “Oh granny, why do you say that? How was your day today? You were supposed to be going out with Aditya and Samantha’s grandparents. Right? How was it?”

‘FRIENDLY’ Written By Aishwarya Ananth

“Oh it was so boring. We had joined St. Hilda’s community service hoping to meet and make friends with people of our generation. But it was so boring.” complained Mrs. Sarah. “You need to get ready for your tuition Lou,” reminded Nina. “Okay grandma. See you in the evening,” Lou left as her grandmom resumed looking out of the window at the passersby. When Lou came home in the evening, she saw that they had guests. Their neighbours Mr. Kumar, his wife and Mr. Freddy had gathered in their living room and were busy chatting with Mrs. Sarah. As Lou was packing her bag, she could overhear bits of the conversation of the elders. It was about their day at the community service centre. “Oh Mrs. Kumar, I don’t want to go there again. It was such a waste of time. Nobody welcomed us or seemed interested in us joining them.” Mrs. Sarah was complaining. “I really wanted to join the mah-jong game and show them the Chinese version, but no one was interested.” said Mr. Freddy. “I think it’s a well-established group. They don’t seem to encourage new comers like us to join them,” said Mr. Kumar.

Lou became thoughtful, as she knew how eager her grandmother was to join the community service centre. She really wanted her granny to have an active lifestyle and to enjoy her retirement years. The next day, Lou rounded up her friends Aditya and Samantha and they all agreed that they needed to do something to help the seniors in their neighbourhood to bond with each other. That afternoon after school the three friends made their way to St. Hilda’s community centre. They spoke to the Centre Director – Ms. Lisa and explained the problem faced by

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those elders who wanted to join the community centre. They also suggested couple of plans to help change the situation. A week passed by. It was a Friday evening. Lou and her grandmom were playing a game of chess at home. “Grandma, did you hear? There is a potluck lunch organised at the St. Hilda’s community centre. Don’t you want to go?” Lou asked her grandma.

“Lou and her friends left feeling elated that their ‘friendly initiative’ had resulted in cementing a lot of ‘friendships.”

Mrs. Sarah waived her hand and said “Oh no point dear. They probably will not welcome us.” “There is an invitation in our mailbox grandma. You should go. I’m sure you can win them over with your amazing Pernakan chicken curry. You should ask your friends also to go with you. Mrs. Kumar makes a fabulous biryani and Mrs. Freddy makes great cupcakes,” said Lou. Mrs. Sarah was now intrigued at the prospect of making food for a huge gathering. Feeding a crowd was her forte and something she loved doing. Quickly she called her friends and made plans. On the day of the event, Mrs. Sarah and her friends gathered at the community centre with their trays brimming with food. They were a bit apprehensive but as the tables filled, slowly people started going around filling their plates. Within a few minutes, people were coming for second helpings and

were seen smiling and nodding at Mrs. Sarah and her friends. A proud Mrs. Kumar was seen explaining the ancient origins of the biryani, Mrs. Sarah was giving out the recipe of her delicious chicken curry and Mrs. Freddy had agreed to run cupcake classes at the centre. After the lunch there was a stage setup and the elders were asked to be seated. Mrs. Sarah was surprised to see Lou, Samantha and Aditya on the stage.

Lou smiled and went on to explain the reason behind the potluck lunch. “There is a wonderful community here and sadly newcomers did not feel that they belong here. To help achieve this, my friends and I have come up with a plan. This potluck lunch is to show that there is so much we can learn from one another and be supportive of each other’s interests and needs. The community centre will conduct a potluck lunch every month, which will be an opportunity for the current members to welcome and interact with the new members. There will also be a committee called F.R.I.E.N.D.S who will be a welcoming committee for the new seniors.” Everyone cheered and then Ms Lisa got up. “We will have a weekly beginner class of games like mah-jong or chess to help those who are new to the game,” she said. The entire group cheered at the wonderful suggestion.

“I want to make a special mention about the efforts taken by the children – Lou, Samantha and Aditya for coming up with this grand idea of potluck and help build a plan to make St. Hilda’s an effective community centre. Thank you children,” concluded Ms. Lisa. Lou and her friends left feeling elated that their ‘friendly initiative’ had resulted in cementing a lot of ‘friendships.’

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