a story worth remembering\\we skip the goodbyes *sometimes its hard to express in words*

Just woke up from sleep after a very tiring but fulfilling day!! Yesterday was the dry run for SS team-building which ended quite early and then there was the last stairs climbing training for TLBS!! Vertical marathon is tomorrow at around 1530!! it will be at republic plaza which is 60 storeys high. We will do our best tomorrow!! Woke up at 0530 this morning to rush to school for the actual SS team-building event. This team-building organised is supposed to stretch us to our limits as we have lack of manpower and of course, test our skills in running 2 activities con-currently on the same day itself. At least that is what he said during the rather short de-brief we had today. So, had to prepare many things before the scholars came. At around 0800, the scholars arrived in the hall. We had to start immediately and there was the starting skit. At first, i never thought taking the scholars for this team-building was that fun. For ice-breakers, we played several games as there was plenty of time and i never expected them to speak up and interact with us so confidently. After that we proceeded on to the station games which ran smoothly and at the end of the games, they were quite upset that they don't get to play all the 5 games that we planned due to time constraint. At the very same time, the RCY units from Hougang Sec, SCGS and St Margret arrived and they started the day with skits and ice-breakers as well. The 38 pages of proposal submitted gave us a full detailed itinerary of what was going on at that time!! GREAT JOB SS TEAM-BUILDING TASKFORCE!! During the last station game which was moving chairs, the scholars completed their task with variations in less than 15 mins so we had to play filler games (polar bear) with them before the final debrief. It was really heart-warming to see them participate actively during the debriefing and giving positive feedbacks about the activity itself. It was even satisfying to see them being able to communicate better with each other and even with me. After the final debrief, we proceeded to the hall for a concluding story before dismissal of scholars. I am sure the ODACers felt proud of their achievement to see all the scholars enjoying themselves and they even did a scholar's cheer for us. We still managed to take a group photo and of course a combined group photo with the scholars!! After that we had to join the other facilitator to help in the facilitation of the RCY groups. You could really see the distinct contrast between the mood of the scholars and the RCY groups due to the age group. We really did not expect there would be sec 1s joining us in this event. So, they were quite bored with the games and their morale was really low throughout the games. I really applaud jason for his enthusiasm in being their facilitator and trying to liven up the mood!! many changes in the debriefing points had to be made to suit them. After they left, we had to clear up all the things we used before our very own debrief. Today's debrief was rather short though, only took around 20 mins?? i must say i am quite pleased he learnt his lesson in not scolding us about minor stuff that happened during the day and even learnt to praise us for our efforts in making this a success!!

This SS team-building activity is really different from the CCA team-building activity organised last month. The games were the same but the target groups were different. I had to facilitate scholars instead of the CCA and that they were not bonded at all at the start of the team-building activity. It really gives me a totally different experience as i was facilitating alone and that many things were unpredictable and we had to react fast to the changes, We really had improved quite a lot since CCA team-building in many aspects, both individually as well as as a team itself. Moreover, there is always the sense of achievement being a facilitator and seeing your group grow and learn together. During postcard reflections today with the scholars, they gave very insightful points that i could learn from. "Opportunities are everywhere; success or failure depends on whether we grab it and make use of it to our advantage", "The new discoverer". We discover many new things each day; from the people around us as well as we discover more about ourselves. It is when you slow down your footsteps and take a look at the people around you that you discover more about them and it is really through obstacles and stress that you discover more about yourself. A totally different experience from what i learnt from the CCA team-building!! it is through stress and obstacles that we are able to stretch ourselves and discover more about ourselves. Had lots of fun and many learning points today during SS team-building. SAINTSODAC will continue to improve and make the next activity a success!!

Labels: SS team-building 2007