Currently in: Gelare Cafe, Suntec City
Currently listening to: Chris Daughtry
The 2007 Sec 2 Camp was unprecedented, in more ways than one.
Discussions about the Camp began as early as January. There were many ideas that were floated around the PE department and by the end of the month, we thought we had a clear idea on how the Camp would be run.
We were confident of making this Camp a success, and we had our reasons for feeling this way.
Not many students have this inside information - Fajar Secondary has something that not many other schools can boast of.
It is this: Fajar is blessed with a sizable number of teachers who possess the MOE Outdoor Adventure Centre license.
In other words, some of our teachers are qualified (and more than capable) of running the Camp as INSTRUCTORS. It means that, where other schools can't, we can run our own Camps.
And we have the quality. Our teachers are faultless in carrying out the activities safely and ensuring the complete Camp experience for the campers. These teachers are not new. They have at least 2 - 3 Sec 2 Camps under their belt. Some of them even assist in the running of the Peer Leaders’ Training Camps. We have the experience.
A second reason is that we can always count on the Peer Leaders. The Peer Leaders’ original raison d’etre (before they were formed some years ago) was to assist the School in the Level Camps.
Every year, the PLs look forward to this massive task - to assist the Teachers, and to eat, live with, guide, mentor, encourage, discipline, cajole, reprimand, observe, and inspire the Sec 2 students - over a period of 5 demanding days. The experience is always punishing. Not all Sec 2 students are pleasant to be with. How often I have seen Peer Leaders break down - having suffered from dealing with difficult students, and having reached their limits of physical and mental thresholds.
But Peer Leaders have resilience. No, it’s not thrust onto them, it’s not taught onto them. They have always found the ability to bounce back, and the resilience that has always been inside them, found its way out, took root and gave the PLs renewed strength to recover and come back stronger than ever.
When the going gets tough, the TOUGH GETS GOING. How true.
And, by the end of the camp, the Peer Leaders look entirely different. They have steel now. They are bonded with each other like never before. Unlike any other student leadership groups I know, the School knows that whatever life throws at this hardy group, they can deal with it, the Fajarian way, the right way.
So with these two reasons, we were quite confident that the Camp would be smooth. We’ve got the teachers and we’ve got the student leaders.
But, you know how it is with life. Nothing stays certain. Plans change.
The School decided to allow vendors to run the camp. This decision was met with dismay, even disdain.
We’ve never done this before - allow others to run OUR Camp.
Fajar’s strength has been that we run our Camps. It’s almost our source of unbridled pride. I mean, our teachers are also instructors, and I’m not just referring to the PE teachers. We have classroom teachers who are qualified and quite capable. How cool is that?
The School’s decision rocked us and it wasn’t easy to accept it.
It raised so many questions in our heads.
But as servants of the school, right from the Teachers to the PLs, we accepted the decision. Instead of looking at the problems and complaining, we adopted the attitude of, ‘How can we make this work?’
Working with vendors certainly presented hitches, none which were too great to overcome. The teachers worked feverishly to put the programme together. There was a lot of unseen work that were done. For any grand project to work, a tremendous amount of effort has to be invested into the preparations.
The Camp is now over. The instructors from CHA were, to a large extent, brilliant.
The Camp was absolutely fun. I was privileged to be with groups 15 and 16 (Coconuts and Hi-5s) and the instructors - Alvin and Vanessa - were irrepressible and absolutely bursting with encouragements and enthusiasm. They taught the kids HOW TO LIVE.
Much tears were shed when the instructors bade farewell. In a sense, the students realized that with the instructors’ departure, it would signal the end of the fun experience.
I beg to differ. Their departure was necessary. The Sec 2 students have to stand on their own feet.
In their short time with us, the instructors have spoken words of wisdom to them. Sitting with Alvin and Vanessa, I completely affirm every word they said. They talked about respect. They talked about cohesiveness in a team. They talked about being a good listener. They talked about supporting one another. They talked about the pointlessness of blaming others. They talked about seeing things in a positive attitude. They talked about playing by the rules, even when no one is watching. They talked about INTEGRITY - doing things rightly and honourably at all times.
In this Sec 2 Camp, the campers learnt all these lessons (and more) through a myriad of activities. Though the Camp must end, these lessons need not be forgotten. The Sec 2s must take these lessons and apply it in their real world. To those who think that life is a drag, that School is meaningless, that there is emptiness in what they do - I exhort you to re-think and to apply the lessons learnt from this Camp.
The Sec 2 Camp is meant to let the campers venture BEYOND - to step into the unknown, to think differently, to be boldly positive.
The Camp prepares you to live life well. The SCHOOL has provided the OPPORTUNITY, the TEACHERS have successfully organized and planned the Camp, the INSTRUCTORS have honoured the contract and taught you well.
But it is not enough.
This Sec 2 Camp will never be considered a true success, until the CAMPERS take all those lessons that they have learnt in the Camp, and APPLY them in their real worlds.
Once that happens for every single Sec 2 Camper, the Camp would have achieved its purpose.
