Student Leadership Residential Program (SLRP) 2016

                                                                                                         

The SLRP is a programme held in Saint Andrew’s Hall (SA Hall) for members of the Saints Advocate to learn more about their roles as student leaders. The Seventh Saints Advocate were fortunate to have an opportunity to bond together as a batch and experience staying in the SA Hall from 29^th March to 11^th February 2016 under the SLRP.

During the stay, we attended talks and workshops such as Positive Intentions Workshop and INtercultural Workshop These activities helped us to grow and nurture ourselves. We learnt important leadership skills and bonded as a Seventh Saints Advocate.

Here are some reflections from the Seventh, as well as pictures of our stay:

“SLRP on the whole has provided me with insights into a lot of things and along the way, I understood myself better and can better understand why I joined Saints Advocate.

To know the actual meaning of servant leadership through the workshop was interesting as I never knew about it until I came to SAJC. It is indeed a great set of philosophy as it helps everyone to grow and to become a better person. I will mould myself into a servant leader too, not because our school require us to do so, not our cca require us to do so, but because I think it will be a right choice.”

~ Valerie

A sketch of our hostel bedroom

“Although I have been staying in hostel for quite some time, having SLRP is a different experience.The programme taught me how to be caring to others. Moreover, I truly cherish the time that as a Seventh spent together. Due to our workload and academic commitment, we sometimes tend to neglect the quality time of gathering together. Thus, by sharing rooms or at least, staying in close proximity to each other, I was given the chance to know my friends better. In fact, after the programme had ended, I would miss the time when I had the chance to do so. The sessions and workshops held throughout the 2 weeks are very meaningful to me. They allowed much time for reflection that otherwise would have been very minimal when I had busy schedule.”

~ Stefanus

Example of what we learnt

“The 2 weeks stay for the Student Leaders Residential Programme (SLRP) has been an enriching stay, allowing me to learn many different skills and gain a lot of knowledge about things happening around me in the society as well as increased my self awareness”

~ Pamela

Group picture with the Sixth after Cross Country

 

“I feel that this SLRP allowed us to bond very well together as a CCA as a 7th. It allowed us to know each other a lot better because we see each other close to 24 hours everyday for about 2 weeks. I feel very privileged to be able to have this programme right after the Leadership Training Camp LTC and at the beginning of the year because then we would be able to interact with each other even before our projects start, allowing us to be able to coordinate better in the future.”

~ You Xuan

 

Group picture outside SA Hall on the last day of SLRP

Service Learning Residential Programme 2015!

From the 11 – 21 November 2015, the Sixth Saints Advocate stayed in SA Hall for an enriching 10-day programme, engaging in various leadership workshops and activities. Through their stay, The Sixth had taken away many beneficial skills and had definitely grown both individually and as a team. Here is an outline of the residential stay:

We started the stay with checking into the cosy hostel rooms, settling into our homes for the next coupe of days.

During the duration of the stay, we had various activities lined up for us. Some of these included 

• 2016 Task Force Meetings:

• Operation VO50 Planning and event
• Leadership workshop by Positive Intentions and Intercultural Workshop by Mr Jason Ong 

•  Walking Trail at Mount Faber 

• Last but definitely not the least, we volunteered at Willing hearts, packing over thousands of packets of food for the needy! 

Not only did we have to start by cooking the food,

We had to prepare the food prior to cooking them,

Followed by continuous stirring of the pots, where the food was finally being cooked.

Ultimately, the experience was indeed eye opening, and it also tested out resilience as we pushed forward packing seemingly endless amounts of food into Styrofoam boxes.

Through the Service Learning Residential Programme,  The Sixth not only got to experience living in the SA Hall, but they also got to evaluate their Saints Advocate journey, plan for what’s to come in 2016 and bond as a CCA even more outside the school time.

Late night CCA Frisbee bonding

The residential stay is definitively something that The Sixth will always hold fond memories with as it is one that fostered closer relationships and also bonded the CCA as a whole.

Residential Stay at St. Andrew’s Hall and NUS Community Engagement Festival

 From 28 February- 14 March 2014, the 5th Saints Advocate was involved in the student leadership residential stay at St. Andrews Hall for two weeks. The purpose of the residential stay was for us to gain better understanding of the expectations of a Saints Advocate, to share planning, reflective and facilitation skills, to interact with student leaders from other countries, and to raise awareness of intercultural synergy. 

                             Candid photo taken on during one of our daily night sessions of residential stay


On 14 March 2014, the 5th Saints Advocate partcipated in the NUS Community Engagement festival where we interacted with foreign workers through various games planned by the students from NUS. The festival was a platform to raise awareness of the minority groups in the society and for students to realize the needs and struggles that the minorities face in their daily lives.

 The activities I have engaged in as a member of the 5th saints Advocate for the past two weeks has been both an impactful and fun experience. The two-week residential stay at SA Hall has brought me closer to my fellow 5th members as we went through our day-to-day activities together. It pushed me to open up in order to learn more about people, their personalities and to forge relationships with others. It changed my perception as an individual as I grew to understand the need for social connections. One of the few workshops held during the stay- The Cultural Awareness workshop - was indeed a very meaningful session for me as I began to reflect on how quick I was to judge someone without understanding where they come from.

  The NUS community engagement festival that took place during the last day of our residential stay further emphasised the needs of our community, especially of those who have less of a voice in society like the migrant workers. As an Advocate, it is important to hear and provide for the real needs of such communities. Besides that, I was also able to take away several lessons from this program– things we as Advocates should do to minimise blunders during the execution of similar events. These include the need for matured facilitators who can look out for the group as a whole, understand fully what is going on and the need for attention to details (which can be done through dry rehearsals beforehand). At the same time, I became aware of what would and would not grab the participants’ interest in carrying out the activities. All in all, I realised what it truly means to understand and accommodate to the diversity of our community.

By Subethira
Member of the 5th Saints Advocate