The Eagle Eye - Issue 1

Issu e 1 Jan u ar y 2 0 1 6

THE

Bukit Panjang Eagl eScout Group Newsl etter

EAGLE EYE

The Eagl e Eye

Issue 1

January 2016

Ad visor Muhammad Haziq Bin Mohd Ali Edit or s Jonathan Loh Cheryl Lim Ignatius Sim Cont r ibut ing Wr it er s and Phot ogr apher s

Joel Loh Oon Jie Rui Samuel Yeow Tan Wei Yu Ang Jia Wei Loke Kum Yew Tey Zi Pin Ng Ming Liang Cont act bpesg58@gmail.com Web bpeagles.org

" EDITOR'S FOREW ORD"

First and foremost, welcome to the new school year!

We are very excited to present our first ever newsletter to the school community!

Whether you are looking forward to be a Scout, finding out about Scouting, or you are a parent who is interested in learning more about us, this booklet is meant to help you! Our Scout Group has had a long history in the Scouting World! Founded by Mr. Tan Lian Huat, our first Group Scout Leader, we have been in motion, seeking to accomplish our mission, since 1958. Part of being a Scout involves ?? contribut[ing] to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law? ? This process involves teaching different forms of life skills that one would need to become a responsible young adult who is productive and successful in their own right, playing an active role in our society.

Having been a Scout for slightly more than 8 years proved that the above is not all there is to being a Scout.

Other than regarding my society and country highly, I have learnt that self-care (both physical and emotional) is exceedingly important. With that holding true, that is when I can develop further as a Scouting individual as I seek to ?[make] friends and maintain harmonious relations? with individuals from all walks of life. One of the most meaningful activities I partook in was the SG50 International Jamboree where I got to know, interact and grow with Scouts from different Scouting Units in and out of Singapore. I particularly enjoyed the cultural exchange that took place among my Korean, Australian and Indonesian counterparts, just to name a few. Being able to share deeply how different scouting units operate was eye-opening as we learnt new methods to be better than we were before. The added bonus was making lasting friendships with friends all around the globe! May you enjoy the following pages we have thoughtfully curated! Happy Scouting!

Yours-in-Scouting, Ignatius Sim

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"IGNITING" THEHAPPINESS INALL! SECONDARY1 ORIENTATIONCAMPFIRE- IGNITE

by Samuel Yeow, Assistant Patrol Leader The first campfire of the year! A great way to start the year for the Scouts and Guides as well as the new Secondary One students.

Although this year's campfire was held in the hall due to unfavourable weather, our spirits were not at all dampened and the programme was still carried out smoothly. The energetic MCs, working together with the game masters, managed to engage the students throughout the campfire through various games and story-telling, as well as singing of campfire songs. The performances put up by each class definitely took the spirit of the campfire to a higher level with everyone enjoying themselves.

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FO RTEYE 4 - THEEAGLE

I felt a strong sense of satisfaction when I saw the new students enjoying themselves throughout the campfire. Some parents and teachers joined in the dancing and singing too! Looking back, the one month's worth of planning and preparation by the campfire committee was worth the effort.

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"IGNITING" THEHAPPINESS INALL! SECONDARY1 ORIENTATIONCAMPFIRE- IGNITE

SKILLS MUCHSHARPER! CampFortis

by Ignatius Sim, Venture Scout

Our Scout Group plans and organises a 3 Day 2 Night camp for both the Scouts and Guides annually, during the March Holidays.

By allowing both uniformed groups to come together in a camp, we get to learn from and grow with one another. Survival skills are taught, values from the Scout Promise and Law are revised, and the future foundation of society?s minds, souls and bodies are nurtured.

The 2015 camp took place in Sarimbun Scout Camp and Bukit Panjang Government High School between 16th and 18th March. No matter the level the students are in, this camp will never cease its importance, as it marks many ?firsts?. The Secondary 1 Scouts who were beginning their Scouting journey would learn the emphasis of certain values, skills and standards for the first time.

Secondary 3 Scouts will experience leading and being responsible for groups of Scouts for the first time, whereas the Secondary 4 Scouts will be planning and executing all the segments of the camp from the beginning to the end, for the first time.

On the first day of the camp, the Scouts and Guides have their own camp sessions. The Scouts spent the day learning several survival skills. First of all, they did pioneering. Pioneering is an activity where Scouts have to build tall structures with wooden poles, using ropes to tie them together. Next, Knots and Lashes. The Scouts learn to tie different strong knots and lashes to use them for different survival purposes. Then, Orienteering. Orienteering is an activity where Scouts are given only a map and a compass to trek around an area. Finally, there is Backwoodsman. This activity requires Scouts to cook a meal using limited man-made tools over fire.

On the second and last day of camp, the Scouts and Guides went into their camp groupings and played many games to forge strong friendship and spirit within their own groups. To end off the camp, a campfire was held on the last night of the camp to celebrate the friendships that were established and also as a form of reward for the effort all the Scouts put in to make the camp a successful one.

This year?s Annual Scouts and Guides Camp has taught me many things. As I was appointed as the IC of the Logistics team for the camp, there were many situations in which I had trouble handling myself. Many times, my senior would come to me and give me advice on how to handle issues faced by a Logistics IC more efficiently. Now that I have learned new lessons, I am now more confident in organising and leading in a camp. It was a great experience for me during the camp as I learned a lot of important life lessons mainly on how to distribute my manpower and organise logistics during the camp!

The Annual Scouts and Guides Camp is definitely a meaningful one. This camp could teach you plenty of useful lifelong worthy lessons and everyone who went for the camp definitely had tons of fun! It is a must to come for this camp. Trust me, you will never regret it!

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HOWI IMPROVEDMYLEADERSHIP SKILLS IN2 DAYS SLTC

by Oon Jie Rui, Assistant Secretary I was a participant in this year?s Scout Leadership Training Camp held on the 30th and into the 31st of May 2015. It was an invaluable experience for me in sharpening both my social and leadership skills. In the two short days of the camp, District Commissioner Scouter Reza, managed to include activities that would test not just our scouting skills but also the scouting spirit within us.

Scouter Reza, as we were instructed to call him, began by getting each of the six patrols to appoint a leader for easy accountability. Everyone glanced at each other, uneasy at the prospect of having to be responsible for the welfare and good of a group of complete strangers. Scouter Reza was not to take this kindly and immediately ordered that this be done quickly. Hesitantly, in each patrol arose one volunteer to take up the challenge. So, I decided to take up the

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To me, scouting is more than just an activity, a respected organisation or a group of teenage woodsmen in an age where concrete jungles are the new wilds. It is, to me, a band of brothers with a common goal, an idea, a kind of spirit of action and independence that is rare to say the least. It is the place where greatness starts for some, and inspires all to do the best they can in everything they do in their duty to God and country, to help other people and keep the Scout Law.

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challenge and I stood up reluctantly to volunteer as a group leader.

My group got along easily. Thus, I got to know my group-mates without much difficulty and managed to share a bond with them before the camp activities started!

However, there were some group leaders who were not as lucky as I was and had Scouts who were harder to get along with.

But, they would have to face their challenges all the same. No doubt the slew of activities made us tired, especially mini-pioneering in which my group and I rushed to finish building our mini-structure by the time the activity ended!

After the camp, I thought to myself as to why we were made to do what we did. It was to the untrained eye a waste of time and energy. I sought to find out what I had actually gained from it, then I realised: It wasn?t what I learned but what I earned. I had earned the friendships amongst my patrol mates during those two tiring days and they would remain the friends I trust and respect for as long as time would tell.

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SLTC

BPDISTRICT GAMES DAY

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by Tan Wei Yu, Secretary

On 29th August 2015, the Bukit Panjang District Games Day was held at Unity Secondary School. Scouts and cub scouts all over Bukit Panjang District came to participate in the various games held at different venues within the school.

As a facilitator for BP District Games Day, I enjoyed interacting and forging new friendships with the Cub Scouts and Scouts of our own district while I was refereeing the captain?s ball matches. It was also heartwarming to see smiles etching on the participants? faces at the end of the day. I believe that all of the participants had a memorable day playing the games and making new friends with scouts of other schools.

Definitely looking forward to more district activities!

Activities that were held included 5-a-side football and 3-a-side basketball for the scouts; 5-a-side captain?s ball and 5-a-side football for the cub scouts.

Sub activities like Chapteh, five stones and paper plane competitions were also carried out to make sure everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The event was brought to a close with a prize presentation ceremony as well as a closing speech by the District Commissioner.

Overall, the Bukit Panjang District Games Day was successful and it was indeed a meaningful and fun event.

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by Janice Yeoh, Venture Scout

6 DAYS OF JUBILATION! SG50 INTERNATIONAL JAMBOREE

by Benjamin O' Connell, Patrol The recent SG50 Singapore International Jamboree 2015 was an amazing experience for me and my fellow scout mates. We had the chance to interact with many scouts from Singapore and other countries such as Korea, Australia, Indonesia and Japan.It lasted for 6 days which gave us a lot of chance to bond with one another and to learn about different cultures as well as scouting in other countries.

The activities I participated in were high elements obstacle courses, drone flying, kayaking, badge trading and many others. Personally, my favourite activity was the high elements obstacle course as it was the most fun activity and gave me a chance toovercome my fear of heights. Badge tradingwas also one of my favourite activities because Icould add to my collectionof badgesand see the different types of badges from around the world.

friends and I went to help to fix the frame and put the tent up again. I was really touched when Scouts from other Scout groups came to help us with the pitching of the tent.

The Jamboree concluded with a gangshow at Yuan Ching Secondary School. All the performances by both the local and the international Scouts were jaw-dropping!

During the gangshow, we sang campfire songs and watched different exciting dance performances.

My favourite performance were by the Korean Scouts. The Korean Scouts showcased their fearsome martial art skills and danced to catchy K-Pop songs. Their performance was so astonishing and it made me scream and dance along to their performances!

Overall this has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my scouting life so far. Events like these make me proud to be a scout!

During the jamboree, we were challenged with some difficulties. One of them was when my tent frame broke and it collapsed. Upon realisation, my

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MEET THETEAM!

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The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.

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Whatever is true, noble and right, think about such things.

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Even though you are growing up, nothing should stop you from having fun.

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Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

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Bukit PanjangEagl eScout Group Bukit PanjangGovernment HighSchool 7 ChoaChuKangAvenue4, Singapore 689809 Email : bpesg58@gmail .com W eb: bpeagl es.org Facebook: tinyurl .com/bpeagl es