Patrol Activity, 29th August

Hi Guides! On the 29th of August, we had the last Patrol Activity (PA) of Term 3, and here are some of the reflections from the Year 2s to sum up their experiences and reflect on their areas for improvement. Enjoy :-)

Reflection from a Year 2 from Patrol 1:

On Monday, we had patrol activity at the field. We were tasked to build a kitchen shelter and two dome tents in an hour. The year 2s took turns being the Patrol Leader (PL) and Patrol Second (PS). However, we took rather long to do the main frame of the kitchen shelter and had to exchange the 红木 because it was too short for the structure. We also taught the year 1s how to tie 八字结 and the Mickey Mouse lash simultaneously, as they were new to the lashes for the kitchen shelter. As a result of such time consuming events, we took about 30 minutes before we could 起 the structure. After that, we secured the kitchen shelter by using arthurs. Concurrently, one year 1 and year 2 were instructed to build one of the dome tents while another pair was instructed to do the same after a period of time. From this activity, I learnt that the year 2s should step up more often and give clearer instructions so the year 1s would know what to do as they are rather unfamiliar with the structure. Furthermore, we should have remembered to constantly cheer and 报时 to keep our morale high and ask for time extension before we 过时. Most importantly, when tying the 木 to the canvas sheet in a kitchen shelter, we should also remember to tie it closer so that the structure is more stable.

Reflection from a Year 2 from Patrol 2:

Firstly, we were instructed to build a dome tent. However, we did not have a strong sense of urgency and hence we couldn't make it in time had to keep asking for time extensions. From this, I feel that we should have had a better sense of urgency in order to get the task done quickly. Next, we built a standard kitchen shelter in the field. However, we did not allocate the manpower properly, which was why we wasted a lot of time and ended up spending a lot of time building the structure. After two time extensions, the kitchen shelter was still not up as the 麻绳 kept snapping. Hence, I learnt that the Patrol Leader could have given clearer instructions so as to ensure efficiency when working together as a patrol

Reflection from a Year 2 from Patrol 3:

For Monday's PA, we had to build an emergency shelter, fire altar and a baggage rack. On a whole, I think we could have done a lot better especially since the Annual Training Camp (ATC) is just round the corner and we need to get as much practice as possible. We first started with the main frames baggage rack, but the lashes were not up to standard and we had forgotten to carbon copy the other main frame, so they were extremely uneven. Due to this, we had to redo and start again after the year 3s tested us on our lashes and helped us to brush up on our skills. From this, I feel that we could have made a better effort to make sure that the year 1s’ lashes were up to standard and that they were tied tightly, so that we could avoid wasting time to practice something as basic as lashes. Next, for the fire altar, we took too long just like the baggage rack, and we even forgot to measure the length and breadth of the zinc plate, hence it could not fit on our structure. We could have done this more cautiously as without the zinc plate, the purpose of our structure is defeated and if we were to put the zinc plate there, it would have fallen with all the food, fire and kindlings. Thankfully, the emergency shelter was generally better as we were sure of what to do.  Nonetheless, for future improvements, we can allocate manpower more efficiently so that different people can work on different structures without everyone crowding around one. In the future, we can also cheer more to improve the patrol morale.

Reflection from a Year 2 from Patrol 4:

Monday's PA was really informative with our seniors going through the structures of the kitchen shelter and tents. After that, we started on the kitchen shelter first at the field, but we were extremely slow in building it. Furthermore, we made several mistakes, such as tying the knots for the main structure on the outside instead of on the inside, taking the wrong tent equipment, not tying the important knots tightly enough, and also not taking the pacings at the correct angle, which caused the top of the shelter to sag. As we 过时-ed many times, we did not manage to build the tent as there was not enough time. In the end, we had to look at another patrol's half-finished tent to understand how it is built. However, despite the many challenges we faced, I still find that I have learnt many important information, as well as the dos and don'ts when building a kitchen shelter, tent, and also when collecting logistics.

Reflection from a Year 2 from Patrol 5:

For Monday's PA, P5 was given 1 hour and 20 minutes to build a fire altar, 3 emergency shelters, a dome tent and an eight-man tent. We decided to build the dome tent first, seeing as it was the easiest to build. After that, we split our manpower such that 2 year 2s and 2 year 1s were working on the three emergency shelters and 1 year 2 and 2 year 1s were working on the fire altars before spending time to build our eight-man tent. I feel that the most difficult part was to build the eight man tent as it requires a lot of coordination and good communication. However, I am quite pleased to say that despite our lack of knowledge in some areas in building the eight man tent, we were able to successfully build the tent with guidance from our seniors and cooperation of each and every one of our patrol members. This has taught us how to work better as a patrol.

Reflection from a Year 2 from Patrol 6:

We were told to take all logistics required for our proposed creative gadget, a kitchen shelter, an 8 men tent. Firstly, we had to build the creative gadget, which was intended to be a catapult, in 15 minutes. However, the quadpod 飞脚-ed on both our 1^st and 2^nd tries. I felt that I should have been more aware when I was 定-ing the 脚 when my junior was tying the lash to prevent time from being wasted in the future. We also had to ask for a time extension as we wasted time re-tying the quadpod. In the end, our gadget did not turn out to be what we had expected and we felt a little disappointed as we could not play with it, even though the theme was "toys r' us". I think that should this happen again, we could have discussed about the gadget more slowly instead of rushing the proposal at the eleventh hour and creating a gadget that could not be played with. Next, we had to build a kitchen shelter. It was our first time leading the Year 1s in building a kitchen shelter in 35 minutes and we felt trepidation at first. Hence, we had to take reference from the other patrols building kitchen shelters and then tried to build a decent one. As we were rather unclear on the building of a kitchen shelter, we spent a lot of time tying the 木 and trying to 起 the structure, thus wasting a great deal of time. The arthurs were also hammered in the wrong places and we had to pull many of them out. To make matters worse, one of the 绳 came loose when the structure had been 起-ed and we had to 倒 it just to fix the problem. The strong wind also prevented the canvas sheet from being taut. I felt that as the PL of this activity, I could have given the Year 1s clearer instructions as I ran around trying to answer many of their questions. Our patrol morale was rather low too and we did not 报时 often. In the end, we did not manage to finish building the kitchen shelter and we had to do 15 burpees as a forfeit. Some of the seniors had been building the 8 men tent all the while we were trying to build the kitchen shelter, so we looked at the way they built it and learnt from their methods of building the tent. We also took a look at the KS of the other patrols to learn about the structure. In a nutshell, it was a rather meaningful PA and I'm glad that all of us had learned something new.

Published by:
Chen Wei
Secretary of the 48th Batch

East Division Day, 27th August

Hey Guides! On the 27th of August, many of our Girl Guides went to Broadrick Secondary School for the annual East Division Day! All our efforts of practicing over the past few weeks have finally paid off. Here are some of the reflections from each committee. Enjoy!

Telematch:

It was my first time being in Telematch and I had no idea what to expect as I knew it would be different from what I had seen last year. We had no trainings beforehand as it was impossible to entirely predict what it would be like on the actual day and so I felt slightly nervous as to what to expect as well as whether I would be able to perform well in the activity that was required. I remember going in to the competition feeling apprehensive as our school did not clinch any award for Telematch last year and so as much as we wanted our school to get a spot in top 3, there were reservations. As a group, we aimed for top 5 before the first round started and then were pleasantly surprised when we emerged first and second for the first two rounds respectively. The seniors were encouraging as we began every round, strategizing and reminding us constantly that what was important was that we tried our best. Each round we raised our goals higher. We made some mistakes along the way when it came to the last part of the first round, but we learnt from it and made sure not to make the same mistake subsequently. Finally, we eventually emerged 2nd overall! On the whole, the entire experience of being in Telematch was short but meaningful. I learnt to deal with some competition pressure as the rest of the schools were very adept at every aspect of it; and to focus on what I was doing instead of worrying about what might happen. Cooperation, confidence and encouragement from each other in our group was important, and we certainly did have fun throughout the entire experience and that, I feel, is one of the main objectives of EDD. 2nd place was definitely unexpected and it goes to show that we’re capable of much more than we think.

Performance:

For our EDD performance this year, we had three dances (namely to the songs Lost Boy by Ruth B, Monster by EXO and Whistle by Blackpink) and our storyline was related to the theme “Dear Future, Here We Come” as we time travelled to realise the importance of teamwork and cooperation. We started practice two weeks before the actual day, and we were initially unsure how to dance as we were also quite rigid in our movement at first. We were first taught the contemporary dance to Lost Boy. Our senior, Claire taught us the dance step by step and we followed her slowly, repeating the steps again and again. However, we realised that we forgot some of the moves the following week due to the lack of practice. Though Claire had to reteach us some moves, we got hold of the whole dance at the end of the day. Something memorable would be learning the dance for Whistle as we only learnt the difficult dance two days prior to the competition, where Chen Wei and Tasha taught us the steps too. Although it was rushed and we took quite long to perfect the moves, we managed to pull it off nicely given the short time and that was quite satisfying. While our dance moves were not completely perfect, we tried our best and our actual performance on stage was quite a success, as the practices paid off and there were almost no glitches. We felt that it was quite a feat and even though we did not achieve the top winning spots, we were really happy to have put up a great performance as seniors told us we had improved from the first time we practised. The whole experience in the EDD Performance Committee was really memorable and there were many great memories like shopping together for a suitable top, the multiple dance practices as well as the successful performance on the day itself. We will definitely remember this EDD

Mini Gadgeting:

When I first was part of the Mini Gadgeting Committee, I was rather stressed and nervous as it was something relatively new to me and I was unsure of what to do. Fortunately, there were quite a few training sessions for us to practice our gadgets and I felt that it really helped me a lot; particularly in understanding and familiarising myself with what I was supposed to do. However, we always 拆-ed the mini gadgets we built during the training sessions after we were done, which was pretty saddening because it seemed as if all that you had been working on for the past two hours and above, amounted to seemingly nothing in the end. Moreover, it was not easy to work with sticks and strings that we were unfamiliar with, coupled with the much needed concentration to complete the mini gadgets. Yet, with each training session, I was better associated with what Mini Gadgeting was all about. Thereafter, I soon realised that all the training sessions did not go down the drain, for I felt that although we were somewhat nervous on the day of the competition, we were prepared and familiar with the building of our gadgets. Besides, we were also well aware that we would need to work fast and allocate our time wisely, so as to complete our gadgets within the specified time. Throughout the 1.5 hours on the actual day, I was pretty anxious as I was unsure whether our gadgets would turn out the way we wanted it to, and I was curious as to find out what gadgets other schools had intended to build. Finally, when we were done with our mini gadgets, I felt a sense of accomplishment, mixed with a tinge of relief that we managed to do it, together.

All in all, I feel that East Division Day has been a great experience for me and I have learnt and gained much from this experience, taking for example the need to put in full concentration in anything that you're doing. If I were given another chance, I would definitely take part in Mini Gadgeting again!

Art:

I was part of the Art com for this year’s East Division Day. With this being the second time I participated in EDD and the first time we had an Art competition, I had little knowledge of how things will be carried out. When we first got to together to discuss our ideas, things didn't go that well, as it was quite hard to think of a suitable idea to suit the theme. We had certain agreements, and disagreements too. Luckily, we managed to come up with an idea that matched the theme well. We did make adjustments here and there, making it more futuristic, as that was our goal. The training and preparations for the actual competition was tough. We did not quite manage to complete our art piece for most of the sessions. However, due to these failures, we were able to improve our methods and on the actual day, we completed the art, with time to spare too! The trainings were really useful and through them, we have become better in drawing and were able to complete the artwork more efficiently with each attempt. Personally, I was not that nervous on the actual day, as I felt that what mattered more was to enjoy ourselves, even if we have the goal of winning. On an overall scale, the whole process from planning to completing the artwork was really enjoyable.  I picked up a few skills here and there. With this competition being my first participation in an art competition, I would say it went really well.

Toy Making:

EDD was interesting and fun as the various ideas for not only toymaking, but also other segments of the programme on the day was fulfilling as I got to see others' view on various topics, such as their ideas for the future and trying to relate to the audience with pokemon go for the dance competition. Preparing for the competition was interesting and exciting as I had to think of ideas within a time limit, and ideas for making the futuristic-themed toy had to be linked to the future. Making the futuristic toy on the spot was thrilling as there was a time limit, and made more fulfilling as we pulled through despite the difficulties there were. There were doubts in the period before the results were announced, with the uncertainty of whether I would be able to perform well the next day, the uncertainty if I would be able to cut the support for the 'rocket' properly, and last but not least, the uncertainty of whether we would clinch any spot or trophy for this toymaking competition. There were difficulties we had to face too. These problems we had to face included not being able to pierce through the seal of the glue at the start, being late to start making the toy due to having to go to the toilet, the 'doll' not sinking when we pushed the bottle which increased our anxiety levels, the toothpicks at the top of the bottle being messy, the glue not going to dry up in time, and the straws being difficult to glue on. There were worries too, such as "What if our toy cannot make it as it is individually appealing as compared to the other groups'?" which popped up after we finished the toy. In the end, it's not really the outcome, but the journey that matters, with the people and experiences known better and gained invaluable.

 

Fashion:

I was in the Fashion Committee for EDD and it was a really fun experience! We had to find recycled materials around school to build our costume. The materials we collected were used plastic cups from the drink stall, bottle caps, cardboard, used shuttlecocks, garbage bags, newspaper and aluminium foil. Our design was a dress with slippers and a cape and a headdress. The bottom half of the dress was a woven skirt made from newspaper and aluminium foil and the top half was made from a garbage bag, while the cape was made from a rubbish bag and some cups which were cut into half. The headdress was made from cardboard, bottle caps and the used shuttlecocks we found, and the slippers were made from cardboard and bottle caps.  To bring everything together, we used masking tape and 白绳. However, we had to make the costumes on the actual day itself hence the trainings went to collecting the materials and cleaning them and practising making the costume so that we could be prepared for any mishaps and allocate the duration needed for each specific part of the costume. We also had to practise doing the makeup which included bright and vibrant eyeshadow, emphasizing the design. On the actual day, we were prepared to make our costumes and had all the necessary materials, but the organisers shortened the time given for us to make the costume. Thankfully, we were ultimately able to complete the costume on time as we worked efficiently. The guides who volunteered to come to watch also cheered us on during the costume making and the presentation of the costume, hence we all felt very encouraged, especially myself as I was the one presenting and wearing the costume so I really appreciated the boost of confidence they gave me. In the end, although we didn't win, but we still felt a sense of achievement as we did our best and gave it our all. Being in the fashion committee was overall a really enjoyable experience, as I had really nice and fun seniors in the committee to guide me along. Definitely enjoyed EDD this year!

 

 

Published by:

Chen Wei

Secretary of the 48th Batch

 

Skills Training and EDD Preparation, 26 August

Hi Guides! On the 26^th of August, we had Skills Training where there was a mini Orientation Journey (OJ) to train the guides’ soft and hard skills, while EDD Preparation occurred concurrently. After which, the Year 1s and Year 2s had a short inspection activity.

The OJ started off with a storyline that went like this:

One day you woke up feeling nauseous but you don’t know where you are. It seems like you are trapped in a forest-again! You need to find your way out, think smart, think fast, you need to get out because every day at 1700h, the day restarts itself and you would be stuck again. Are you going to waste another day in this odd dimension or are you going to step out and step up to find the beautiful place you know you deserve? All the best.

Station 1: Baggage rack

For this station, the patrol has 20 minutes to build a structure to elevate their logistics. A patrol member has to run 1 round around Block F for each logistic they wish to collect. Every 3 minutes, 2 patrol members have to go up to do a set of PT.

 

Station 2: Elevation of patrol + logistics and First Aid

For the 2^nd station, the patrol has to build a structure to elevate half of their patrol and all their logistics. They also have to treat 2 casualties. Once the casualties have been treated, they can help the patrol. Lastly, 1 patrol member has to go up every 4 minutes to answer first aid questions.

Station 3: Emergency shelter + Emergency signals

Finally, at this station, the patrol has to construct a shelter to shelter at least 4 of their patrol members. The shelter must also be able to elevate their logistics to prevent it from being exposed to the terrain. They also have to light a signal fire, as well as set up the 2 emergency signals needed.

 

After OJ and EDD Preparation, the Year 1s and 2s had a short inspection activity where they laid out their logistics for OJ, and this was to train their communication skills.

Reflection from a Year 2:

During Friday's PA, we had to go to three different stations. I was rather nervous because the year 2s had to lead the year 1s. Also, all of the year 1s had admitted that they did not read the guides notes. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the 2nd station the most whereby we were tested on our First Aid skills and also built a structure to elevate all our logistics and at least 3 of the patrol members. However, we could also have a higher morale by constantly cheering and take care of our logistics better as we needed them for the rest of OJ. I also felt that the first attempt we had for inspection was rather messy and we should have a better sense of urgency. When we were given a certain layout after a few attempts, I felt that we performed better as we listened to the instruction of one person and worked quickly within the time limit.

Reflection from a Year 2:

For Friday's OJ, we were all extremely nervous as it was our first time leading our year 1s in an OJ. The fact that there was a lack of year 2s due to the EDD preparation worsened the situation since there were less of us to lead the year 1s. As we had to go from station to station as quickly as possible and within the time limit, we had to work quickly by giving out clear instructions to the year 1s. We also had to learn to be more familiar with building structures as we were supposed to be role models for the y1s. If we were unsure of how to build something, chances are that the y1s would be equally clueless, so this grained us to be more confident as well as make sure we were familiar with basic structures. Lastly, the inspection was extremely hectic so we had to learn to stay calm and give clear instructions.  Something we should take note of for future OJs is to be very familiar with the guides’ notes, and to properly allocate manpower so that we can be efficient.

Reflection from a Year 2:

From this 集合, my main takeaway was to have cooperation as a patrol. I was assigned to another patrol for the OJ, and hence did not know any of the year 1s in that patrol. Nevertheless, they were quite adept in following instructions and overall I felt it was a good learning experience in learning how to get along with others whom one is unfamiliar with. For the inspection, I think we did much better than all the previous times. However, I still feel that we need to improve in our communication skills and try not to shout at our batch mates. We also need to learn how to involve all the year 1s. For instance, we could get them to 报时, make sure nothing gets kapped or even help to listen out for the layout. It was quite fun in the end for we learnt who were the more vocal ones in the 团 and we also could revise our skills and first aid.

Reflection from a Year 2:

For the mini OJ, some of our shortcomings include not having constant 报时 and cheering, 过时-ing a few times, being too inefficient, having loose lashes, only having a sense of urgency towards the end of the activity, not being familiar with the guides notes, as well as poor allocation of manpower. However, some areas I think we performed well in included having creativity, high morale, and eventually having a greater sense of urgency and working faster as a patrol. For inspection, it was quite scary at first to be honest, as we had to lead the year 1s as well as layout everything properly. However, after a few attempts, I think that we eventually performed quite well in terms of our layout and constant 报时, but one good takeaway is that communication is extremely important.

Published By:
Chen Wei
48th Batch Secretary