Hello
Guides! :-)
It
is the big day of the year! This Standard Training Camp (STC) aims to
officially enroll Year 1s into Guides, allow the Year 3s to step up as the
leadership batch, and create a memorable time for the company as the Year 4s
step down.
The
STC started off with Orientation Journey (OJ), which had a storyline that went
like this:
There
will be criteria set for each station that allows you to earn ice-cream sticks.
You will not know what the criteria are until the end of a station. Maximum
number of ice cream sticks that can be gained at each station is 3, other than
a few stations where they have bonuses. The ice cream sticks will be collected
at the end of the obstacle journey and a lucky draw will be done until 5
patrols are picked. The remaining patrol that did not get picked will have to
do a forfeit.
Station 1: Minesweeper
During
minesweeper, the patrol has to send one representative at a time while the rest
of the patrol is doing circuit PT. At each box, it will either be a bomb or a
question. Only when the representative has answered a question correctly, she
can continue with the minesweeper. If the answer is answered wrongly or if
there is a bomb, the patrol restarts and another representative will continue.
They can only move up, down, left, right and diagonally. By the end of 16
minutes, the patrol should have figured out the route.
Reflection:
I felt that
in the station, Minesweeper, there was a lot of teamwork and communication
involved. When a member in the minesweeper had stepped into the box with the
"bomb" in it, she would have to get out of the minesweeper. I feel
that there was communication involved, as the first member must remind the next
member who was going to enter the minesweeper not to step onto the
"bomb" in a certain box. Also, I feel that teamwork and communication
is shown when the member in the minesweeper does not know how to answer the
questions given by the station master as she gets to ask the other members who
are doing PT for help. All in all, I feel that we got to work on our teamwork
and communication skills and our patrol morale for this station was quite high
as well.
Station
2: Outdoor Cooking
In this station,
the patrol would be required to cook some frozen corn and boil a packet of milo
using mess tins, solid fuel and solid fuel holder. Afterwards, they would be
shown a series of trekking signs, where they would have to form a storyline
with each person saying one sentence down the patrol according to the trekking
signs they are shown, as well as answer a couple of questions based on their
knowledge of guides’ notes.
Station 3:
Electric Fence
The patrol will
have one person doing the electric fence at one time. When she is going through
the electric fence, she can choose to take her patrol logistics, the post-its
or both. The post-its are orange and yellow, and orange (5) contains forfeit
while yellow (4) contains benefits. The stationmaster will tell the patrol what
to do according to the color. The rest of the patrol will be doing PT at the
same time, and when the post-it collected each time turns out to be a forfeit,
the patrol will have to stop doing PT and complete the forfeit.
Reflection:
This station was about going through this
area with ropes put across certain areas that we could not touch. At first, we
started off with wheelbarrow, before going on to Physical Training (PT) while
one person went through the play area. There were different post-its around the
play area which we were allowed to pick up one on the way out of the electric
fence. I remember there were many different activities or advantages written on
the post-its which we had to complete once any of us picked it up. My patrol
had collected several different activities, including chekchek, writing P5
SUNFLOWER with our butts, doing the chicken dance, and a 2 minute rest from PT.
Although it was rather embarrassing, we continued to cheer and laugh, and I
think that is what made this station memorable :-)
Station 4: Gas Room
1 Year 1, 1 Year
3 and 1 Year 4 will be the casualties ( 1 in shock and sprained ankle, 1
hyperventilation and choking, 1 concussion) They will enter the room first. The
rest of the patrol will have 15 minutes to enter the gas room, transport the
casualties out and treat them. The patrol should have their logistics with them
at all times.
Reflection:
The station on OJ I really enjoyed was the
gas room. One year 1, one year 3 and one year 4 had to be the casualties stuck
in the gas room. All of them had some injury of sorts, from choking to
hyperventilation to sprained ankles and concussions. I took all the year 1s, to
corner of the “gas room” and found Xin Yi, who had a ‘concussion’ and was
‘about to lose consciousness’. At that moment, everyone in the patrol forgot
how to treat a concussion, including me. I felt rather ashamed, because as the
Assistant First Aider (AFA) of the patrol, I should have been clearer on how to
treat these injuries by making the effort to remember the Guides notes more. In
the end, although we managed to bring out all of the casualties and treat them
successfully, we were so engrossed that one of our ponchos got ‘kapped’ and I
only noticed half a minute after. From this, I learnt that we should have kept
a closer watch on our logistics and read the guides notes more seriously. That
way, we would not have lost valuable time trying to remember how to treat
injuries and not gotten our things ‘kapped’.
Station
5: Gadgeting
In this station,
the patrol will have to build a baggage rack, roman chariot, and transport a
patrol member in 20 minutes.
Reflection:
We were tasked to build a baggage rack and a
roman chariot at this station. We then split the job, having the year 2s and
year 1s to build the baggage rack while the year 3s and 4s build the roman
chariot. However, we were missing several gadgeting poles for the baggage rack,
thus we had to build the baggage rack with two 'A 架' instead of tripods. We also improvised by
using one 长木 to stabilise it. By then, the year 3s and 4s
had finished building the roman chariot and I helped to carry one end from one
side of the pavement to the other. It looked quite fun to ride on top of the
roman chariot but also terrifying, as it was quite high from the ground level.
Throughout this, one of the problems that we face was that we ran out of 白绳 while building the baggage rack , thus we
were unable to complete netting the entire structure. All in all, I feel that we could have had a better
sense of urgency in building the baggage rack and asked our seniors when we are
unsure of how to build it as we spent quite a lot of time discussing. Luckily,
we were able to finish building a satisfactory baggage rack on time and earned
three ice cream sticks as points!
Station
6: Captains Ball with a twist
In this station,
the patrol will be divided into 2 groups and play Captain’s ball together.
However, there would be some handicaps - 2 people would have their legs tied
together (3-legged), 1 person cannot use 1 leg and 1 person cannot use 1 hand.
They would have to pass the ball to the 3-legged pair at least twice before
scoring a goal.
Afterwards, they
would build 2 dome tents. All patrol members, except the PL and PS, would be
blindfolded using their guides scarf.
Reflection:
For
the captain's ball station, it was quite hard for us as some of us were
"handicapped" which posed a challenge to us in terms of obeying
rules. Two members were supposed to be tied together at the ankles, while
another two were unable to use a hand and a leg respectively. A goal could be
scored only if we passed the ball twice to the three-legged pair. It was
difficult at first as we kept forgetting about passing the ball twice to the
three-legged pair and the game was progressing slowly. We also felt burdened by
our "handicaps" and would occasionally forget about it. To make
things worse, only 1 to 2 of us had 计时-ed, which made us unable to keep track of
the time. However, we had fun playing together and were able to abide by most
of the rules. Next, we had to build 2 dome tents in 6-7 minutes and everyone
except the Patrol Leader (PL) and Patrol Second (PS) was blindfolded.
Ultimately, we managed to build it although it was slightly slanted. I feel
that we could have done better and tried listening more attentively to our PL
so that the whole process could be more efficient. In the end, it was revealed
that the criterion was to follow instructions, and this gave us something to
work towards and improve.
-
After
OJ, we had Roll Call, Enrolment and Passing Down Parade (PDP), where the Year
1s were officially enrolled, and the Year 4s passed down to the Year 3s.
Reflection from a Year 1:
During
the enrolment ceremony, I was extremely nervous throughout as I was afraid that
I would do something wrong. After receiving my badge and being welcomed into
guides, I felt very proud and joyful that I was accepted into Girl Guides,
where all my seniors were very friendly and approachable. I am grateful that I
met such caring seniors and was devastated when the year 4 batch had to leave.
However, I am looking forward to working with my new patrol leader and the
other new members who have joined our petrol. I really had a great time with
the seniors in year 4 and I know that I will continue to enjoy myself during the
patrol activities in the future.
Reflection from a Year 3:
"Passing
down ceremony of 2016 will now begin." Throughout the ceremony I felt a
mix of feelings. Seeing my batchmates step forward to welcome their new roles
made me feel so proud. I was proud of our progress so far as one batch. From
being innocent and blur Year 1s to going through ATCs, PLTC and finally,
Passing Down Parade (PDP)! It was indeed an unbelievable sight to see the whole
batch step up and taking on many new responsibilities. Of course, I was also
feeling extremely afraid and apprehensive as this would be a whole new
experience and the leadership batch as well as my guiding journey would start
to be different.
At the same time, I was feeling extremely
sad. When I went up to exchange hugs with the seniors, it was as though a
"goodbye hug". It was sad to think that they would be leaving us
after spending around 2 years with them.
All in all, PDP was a bittersweet event for
us. To those blur and innocent juniors it may merely mean a change of the
Company Leader, Patrol Leaders, etc., but to the 48th 届,
it would always be a ceremony we would never forget. This is the ceremony that
brought us to a new level of guiding, to a whole new journey waiting for us.
-
Finally,
the long awaited PDP performance commenced.
Reflection from a Year 2:
The Y1s kick-started the performance with a
video full of pictures from when they first joined guides to the last PA we
had. We had a great time reminiscing about past 集合s through
pictures. Next, they put up a dance for us and it was very heartwarming to see
that they had put in much effort for the PDP. Then, the Y2s went next. We began
with the cup song and sound effects were made through clapping. After which, we
sang a guides version of "blank space". We felt nostalgia surge
through us when everyone laughed at the lyrics as we could all relate to them
through our past experiences together. After which, the Y3s played with a video
about PLTC and for the Y2s, it gave us a bit of insight into what PLTC would
feel like. They also performed a dance and sang a song, which were all very
sweet. They finished it off with dedications to the Y4s and we could see that
they shared a deep friendship and that they would miss one another dearly. It
was a moving moment. Finally, the Y4s went last and started with their PDP
video from 2015. After watching the video, they announced that they had made a
sequel, which was as hilarious as the first one. They then danced to a song and
sang 3 songs after wards. They gave each of us dedications by patrol and batch.
It was a moving moment and we couldn't bear for them to leave. Tears were shed
and farewells were bid. The ending of the performance signified a new beginning
for us all.
And that was the end of our
Standard Training Camp! It was indeed a bittersweet moment for all of us! Year
4s, we’ll always miss you and we promise to step ahead in our new journey with
confidence and keep your spirits in our hearts!
Published By:
Chen Wei,
48th Batch Secretary
Published By:
Chen Wei,
48th Batch Secretary
