How time flies! With the year coming to an end, I reflected on what were the significant events that had happened in the past year.
St John island
It all started with a bang! Earlier this year, my friends and I joined a school excursion to study more about marine life at St John's island. From the moment we arrived, we were kept busy by the many activities that were already lined up for us.
In summary, the activities were mostly hands-on and researched-based. Some tasks required us to separate the plastics from the sand and categorized them according to their different materials and colours. Other times we observed the larvae of the sea urchin and the nano-plastics under the microscope. There were also some boring yet educational lectures. In a nutshell, I was grateful to come on this trip and learn more about the overgrowing problem of plastic pollution in the sea.
Science project
The months sped through and drove to one of our most difficult yet meaningful performance task, the physics "Mouse Trap Car". I teamed up with Joshua and Joel to explore physics beyond the classroom. Even though we put in countless efforts, but they initially looked like they were all in vain. Despite our perseverance, our mousetrap car kept failing us. The most frustrating thing was that it works at home but did not at school. However, with my teammates and parents' encouragement, I decided to complete it no matter what.
Eventually, after modifying the mousetrap car for days, the team prepared for our last attempt at the test. Our hard work paid off. It went further than the minimum expectation to get A. After enduring for so long, our hard work has finally paid off! This project was very frustrating but it taught me many things. Luck plays a part sometimes. You never know when “Divine intervention” will come, but if we keep trying… good things will happen.
SST open house
Soon, the time for P6 students to considerate on coming to SST at the SST open house! I was a helper at the SST open house on the first day of the holidays. It was tiring juggling performing guitar ensemble (for the principal's talk), helping out at the physics booth as well as the SST parent volunteer area (with my Dad). However, I felt that it was meaningful and I was glad to help my school and share my experience with the future students of SST.
Singapore Raffles International Music Festival (SRIMF)
Around early August, along with the SST guitar 🎸 ensemble, I entered Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) for the first time. After 2 months of hard work, we were finally at SCO to compete at this year's Singapore Raffles International Music Festival (SRIMF) event. I felt excited, nervous and relieved at the same time. To my pleasant surprise, I was able to play every verse smoothly with minimal errors today! At the end of the performance, the team felt we did well enough to guarantee at least a bronze. Knowing we tried our best, we congratulated each other for all the hard work over the last 2 months. Regardless of the result, we were proud of our team's effort. When I checked the results at the end of the day, I was overjoyed that our team achieved the Gold award! I am so glad to be in SST's guitar club and look forward to participating in more competitions in the future!
End of year examinations (EOY)
Soon, the September holidays passed and the EOY has arrived. A month before the exam, I studied diligently every day and it paid off! Upon receiving the results, I was satisfied to get a high B3 for the overall score. However, I am determined to continue studying during the holidays and improve my mark next year!
Student Councilor (SC)
Before the term ended, I applied to be a student councillor. When I shared with my parents about my keen interest to join the student leadership board, they immediately stepped in to help me out. After getting through the application for the interview, my father prepared me by correcting with my body language and prepared me the things to say for the interview while my mother stood by my side encouraging me when I lacked confidence. At first I felt my father was annoying as he kept on drilling me to start preparing since the start of the September holidays. At that point in time, I regretted asking them for their help. However, looking back at the interview, I was relieved that my parents never stopped helping me.
On the day of the interview, I stepped into the interview looking confident. My palms were still sweaty though as I was a bit nervous. However, I calmed down when I realized it was a group interview. As I stepped inside the room, two teachers and a lot of senior student councillors sat in front of us. It was fortunate that I remembered to sit upright throughout the whole interview. Later I discovered that one of the interviewers immediately reject a student that slouches. The pain of sitting straight for half an hour was worth it. When the interviewers gave us the first question, nobody wanted to start first. I realized this was an opportunity for me to have the courage to step up first. For the first five seconds, it was very scary. With all the eyes in the room staring at me, I summoned all my courage and started speaking. After that, it became very smooth for me. Lucky enough, the questions they asked further were already practised with my father before a dozen of times. I was smiling as I left the room.
When the results day arrived, I, unfortunately, fell ill. When I was sleeping, I heard a shriek from my mother who was at home taking care of me. I groggily got up and the first thing I heard was, "You got into the Student Leadership Board! You are now a Junior Student Councilor! Congratulations!" My face lit up. I was cloud nine. I did it. My dream of being one since I was in primary school has come through! Now with extra responsibility on me, I am willing to have better time management in the coming year.
Overseas Learning Experience (OLE)
After all our hard work has paid off, my classmates and I went on a trip with some teachers to Cambodia for service learning. When I first heard that we were going to Cambodia, I wondered, “Why were we so unlucky to go to Cambodia?” I thought this trip would be another boring lecture, that we wouldn’t really be taking many experiences back with us. Later did I realize I was wrong.
Upon coming back from the Overseas Learning Experience (OLE) at Cambodia, visiting the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, helping out the students of Koh Okhnately School by building facilities and the farming of vegetables at the cucumber farm, I came back with the knowledge I would not be able to take out of any textbook. I realized that I should appreciate my family that are with me, be grateful for everything I have like proper education or proper food and most importantly not take things for granted. This trip indeed instilled the value of gratitude in me the most knowing that there are many people out there who are not as fortunate as me. I will always try my best to help people who are in need.
Not long, the holidays arrived. What a packed year! The journey in Secondary One was tough at some point but I was glad to eat the fruits of my labour later. As I glanced at a Facebook post of my friends and I receiving our PSLE results and entering SST, I was proud to be in this school. I heard my seniors saying that Secondary one was just a honeymoon year. In order to be prepared, I got to start preparing for the new year. 2020, here I come!
Howie CHIA
22 November 2019
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