Hi Guides!
To start off the school year, Guides and Scouts collaborated to prepare the 2023 CCA exhibition! This year’s orientation theme is "The Rebirth of the Phoenix, 凤凰重生". It is associated with the life cycle of a phoenix in mythology where a phoenix obtains a new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor after it dies. The goal of this year's orientation is to clearly showcase what Scouts and Guides do with the renewed liberty gained from the waning of the Covid-19 disease and the troubles it brought along. The committees for this year are: Gateway, Creative Structure, Gadgeting, Games, Outdoor Cooking, Craftwork, Souvenir and Fireman’s Ladder
Gateway
For the Gateway committee, a functional drawbridge was built and decorations representing both Guides and Scouts were placed on it.
Reflection from a Year 2 in Gateway:
My first OP was a very meaningful experience as it was my first time building a gateway and I learnt many things from it. We had to work quickly and everyone played an important role in the building of the gateway as it takes a lot of manpower to be able to complete a huge structure like the gateway on time. We lacked a sense of urgency and constant 报时 and were not able to complete the proposed structures for the first few sessions and we 过时 quite a lot. We had to 重抽 many lashes quite a number of times and redo the mainframes as we did not tie them properly the first time. Even though we did not accomplish much during the first few sessions, I think we improved a lot towards the end of OP as we worked a lot faster as a comm and managed to complete the gateway. The OP sessions helped me improve in many ways, including my lashes and sense of urgency. There was a drawbridge included in the gateway this year and it was very interesting as we never built a drawbridge before. The drawbridge required four people to get it up and we had to hold on to one 营绳 each and pull them at the same time. This process requires a lot of teamwork and communication between the four of us as the drawbridge will not be stable if some of us pull the 营绳 too hard. We also had to attach our 团旗杆 to our gateway and it was a very interesting experience as we got to understand how it works. Our company flag is attached to the 团旗杆 using the 蜡绳 and a pulley. Overall, I enjoyed Orientation Preparation a lot and I’m looking forward to meeting our new year ones.
Reflection from a Year 3 in Gateway:
I think OP gateway was a resounding success and has helped us learn greatly. In the beginning, I think we can all agree that we were a little uncoordinated and inefficient. For example, there was massive confusion and where the horizontals should be. (whether it needed to be aligned across all four frames or just two frames.) This confusion eventually led to us needing to align across all four frames and subsequently having to move 12 lashes as a result of this miscommunication. Given that we were short on time, this proved to be a headache. Furthermore, we had no one to 定 the 木s which resulted in the measurements being off and us having to readjust almost everything. These small mistakes kept adding up, stagnating our process for quite a while. In the next few sessions, however, we made sure not to make the same mistakes by constantly checking the measurements and making sure there was someone to 定 the 木 at all times. In each session, we improved a little bit more than in the last. Though the OP hours were really long and we were all exhausted, the seniors kept encouraging us. Other committees were also extremely supportive and sent extra manpower to come and help us, allowing us to enhance our efficiency and catch a short break if needed. Although we did not manage to complete the entire gateway on OP 5 and had to spill over into the actual day of the showcase, we kept our morale high and cheered each other on. When we finally completed the structure, I think I can say that everyone had a great sense of pride in themselves and our committee as a whole. Having been affected by covid, all of us did not have any experience in building a gateway, with most of us not even seeing one before. However, we managed to pull through and bring back the gateway, with the help of all the seniors of course. Though gateway OP was not the most perfect, we all gained a lot from it, stronger friendships, hard skills and also a new core memory.
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Creative Structure
For the Creative Structure committee, a phoenix which represents this year’s orientation theme was built. The structure also has decorations like feathers and a phoenix head to make the structure even more realistic.
Reflection from a Year 2 in Creative Structure:
Pioneering (Creative Structure) for Orientation Preparation 2023 has been a meaningful experience for every Guide and Scout. Other than learning new Pioneering skills on how we can make our lashes look nicer, neater, and tighter, we have also learnt many core values that we can apply to our daily lives, such as teamwork and a better sense of urgency. With limited time and days before the Y1s came, we had to work fast and efficiently at the same time, making sure that our lashes were tight while also keeping to the standard timings. One thing about our lashes that we’ve learnt is that we have to use our body weight when tying to make sure that our lashes are as tight as possible, this is especially important when we were tying the phoenix as we had to ensure that the structure is stable and secure to prevent any injuries or the structure from falling apart. Although there was a good sense of urgency, an area for improvement is that we could have 计时 a lot more, this would help us improve our time management.
Together, we braved the difficulties such as wet weather and decorations for the structure, hence, learning the importance of resilience and teamwork. We bonded together as a committee and forged new friendships with each other.
As not many Y1s came to our booth, we probably could have tried to make the structure more interactive and more enticing so that more students could be attracted. We could have and should have also taken wet weather into consideration. As it was raining, not many students could come outdoors to see our structure. This was really disappointing but we will definitely improve on this in our next OP for 2024. We could have also encouraged more students to visit our booth, just to stand at the side and explain a bit about our structure without going into the rain. Overall, the experience was a good one and many valuable lessons were learnt.
Reflection from a Year 3 in Creative Structure:
For me, OP is one of the most fun things I look forward to the most in the year. So I went for OP this year with high expectations. Last year I was also in the Pioneering committee and I remembered the sense of accomplishment that I had after the completion of the structure. In my committee this year, we had a very good time building the structure together and also bonding together as a committee. The first two sessions of OP were tougher because we did lash training and practised how to build the structure to the best of our abilities. We were figuring out the best way to put up the structure so that it would be stable and look most aesthetically pleasing. We also had just gotten to know each other so we were unfamiliar with each other. However, after a few sessions of OP, we all slowly got used to each other and how to build the structure and started working together well. I started getting very attached to my comm and its members as well. It was very enjoyable to work with the people in my comm and work on a structure together. In the last two sessions of OP, we managed to make the structure look amazing and stand. At the beginning of OP, some of us were doubting if the structure would even stand up without falling. During OP we were all worried about how the structure was going to turn out, but we all still put in our best effort to make the structure stand. At the end of OP, we were all extremely proud of the structure we created and the bonds we created during the experience. I hope that during the next OP we can also accomplish as many things.
Gadgeting
For the Gadgeting committee, a total of 6 structures were built: Phoenix Jack-in-the-box, Flipbook, Flagpole, Display Rack, Clock Tower, and Phoenix Perch. A few of these structures were also decorated with some of our very special moments in CCA.
Reflection from a Year 2 in Gadgeting:
As part of the Gadgeting committee, I think we had it a lot easier than some of the other committees as we were under the shelter and I’m really grateful for that.
Compared to the structures we usually make during 集合s, the structures we built were a lot more complex and creative, which meant that as we went through the Orientation Preparation (OP) sessions, we would have to adapt some things along the way with our group leader leading us.
I have got to say, I think throughout OP’23, my lashes improved a lot and I think I am more perseverant now than before.
Getting to work with different people was quite interesting. Even though at the beginning things were a little awkward, as more time passed, we felt more united and comfortable as a committee and worked better together with better communication. I think this communication played a big part in the success of our structures. Without us communicating well, we would never have noticed some things the others had noticed. And without our group leader communicating with us, we wouldn’t know where to begin the structures and what we could improve on.
Something else I thought was important was speed. We had four hours for each of the first two sessions during the holidays, which was sufficient to finish building the structures. But progressively, the sessions got shorter because they were after school and we would have to work faster than before.
I think that during the CCA showcase, I felt a stronger sense of pride for our CCA than I ever felt before. Showing off hours of hard work and teamwork to our juniors made me really excited to try and convince the new batch of Year Ones to join our CCA.
During this OP, I’ve made new friends and gotten to know the ones I already did better. Also, as this was one of the first times my batch has had to work with Scouts for multiple sessions instead of a 2-3 hour session, we learnt more things about the Scouts and the similarities and differences between Scouts and Guides.
I think in general, OP made space for a lot of growth in all of us as individuals as Guides and Scouts.
Reflection from a Year 3 in Gadgeting:
On the first day of OP, we were quite unfamiliar with the structures and lack a lot of things like 报时, a sense of urgency and also had very low morale. We could have done much better by looking at the bigger picture more. The clocktower that my group was supposed to build was extremely slanted so it could have looked much more like a rectangle if we look at the bigger picture while building it. Our hard skills like our lashes were generally fine and we all took in the feedback of our seniors during lash training. Overall, there was a lot to improve on during the first day. OP2 we improved by a lot, we saw a greater sense of urgency and improved the quality of our structures. The quality of lashes improved by a lot and we were much faster than in OP1 even though the sense of urgency still needed to be improved as can be seen from us asking for quite a lot of time extensions. However, during OP3 our sense of urgency was not acceptable and there was less constant 报时 so we had to keep asking for time extensions, resulting in overrunning by a long time. The quality of the lashes was also not that good compared to OP2. During OP4, we continued the structures that were left after OP3 and we did our best to prepare it for the UG showcase so that the Year 1s will be able to see our pride and belonging to Guides. Overall, 报时 is much better done and the sense of urgency still has space for improvement as we asked for too much time extension again. 做bo should also tuck in leftover strings if they have nothing to do. We can clearly see the improvement in the structure compared to all the other OPs. Overall, OP Gadgeting Comm was a very fun and fulfilling experience for me as I got to improve my lashes by a lot and also introduced me to many fun and creative structures apart from the usual structures, I also was able to lead more by telling the Year 2s what to do. Even though we faced many setbacks during the showcase like one of the structures, the Jack in the Box breaking, we still manage to retie it and modify it to make the Orientation a success and hopefully introduce the Year 1s into our CCA.
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Games
For the Games committee, 5 functional and interactive structures were built: Foosball Game, Air Hockey, Basketball, Hit The Target and Seesaw. Year 1s got to see what structures we are capable of building and got to play and have fun with these structures.
Reflection from a Year 2 in Games:
OP preparation (games) was a meaningful and memorable experience for me. We got to work with the scouts, which did happen multiple times before but we did not have to work together for an extended period of time. It was fun to work with people I was not familiar with. I remembered facing a lot of problems with the structures. Firstly, the structure was very slanted and disfigured. Secondly, the lashes were loose, and some lashes were tied incorrectly. This resulted in using up a lot of time wasted retying and rebuilding the structures. What went wrong: First as we were not familiar, with we were not able to communicate each other and allocate manpower property
As the scouts were less proficient in tying Gadgeting lashes, we could have offered them more help when they are struggling and ensured they were clear of what was happening. We could also have looked at the bigger picture constantly so that the end product does not look like it is going to collapse all the time. I remembered the “hit the target” slanting so much that we retied it, but it was equally bad. I think we can definitely work on tying our lashes tighter and more efficiently since it had gotten a little rusty during the holidays. Another problem was the little human cardboard on the sticks for the foosball. We underestimated how easily they slide and did not really tie them tightly. It resulted in the little humans spinning and the Y1 (or us) having to constantly adjust it.
If I could turn back time, I would definitely tell myself to tie those lashes much tighter. Generally, I think OP is a fun, exciting and meaningful activity. Even though there were many hiccups, the Y1s were eventually, able to play the games and have fun, and that made me quite happy. It was nice to see the whole scouts and guides (and the other UGs) come together to prepare an exhibition for the YIs to join UG CCAs. If the games were one of the reasons that attracted the Y1s to join guides, it would be worth it. If not, the Y1s having fun and enjoying themselves during the exhibition would be great too.
Reflection from a Year 3 in Games:
For the first day of OP, the Games committee had done some structures that would be eventually built for the actual day itself. We had been split into four groups to tie four separate structures altogether, a foosball table, an air hockey table, a basketball hoop and a shoot-the-target structure. As the Scouts and Guides had not done many 集合s together, there were a few issues involving communication between the Scouts and Guides and other problems, such as the Scouts forgetting to bring their black watch which made it hard to 记时 and 报时, and this had caused a lack of urgency and resulted in only one structure finished and two other half done. The structures that we ended up building were not the best and not the tightest and not built in the time given, so the seniors had planned a lash training during the next OP session. On the second day of OP, after the lash training, we started tying the structures again. This time, there was a definite improvement in our sense of urgency, and the structures were able to be done at a faster time and were slightly more stable, there was also more 报时 heard. The seniors had originally planned for us to only do 3 structures as we were not able to finish the four that they had planned for the previous OP, but since we were able to finish all three in a much faster time, we were able to have time to do the last structure. For the third day of OP, we were mostly done with what we were supposed to do and also built a seesaw. On the last day of OP, we were split into two shifts to man the different games. It was very exciting being able to interact with our Year 1 juniors, and also getting them to play the games that we had built ourselves. Overall, there were a few issues at the start but there was a definite improvement in both our hard skills and also our sense of urgency.
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Outdoor Cooking
For the Outdoor Cooking committee, they cooked cheese sausages, s’mores and chicken skewers and served them to the Year 1s. The Outdoor Cooking Booth was very popular and many Year 1s crowded around them to get some delicious food.
Reflection from a Year 2 in Outdoor Cooking:
For Orientation Preparation, I was involved in the preparation for the Outdoor Cooking booth, which is in charge of demonstrating the process of Outdoor Cooking and giving the completed dishes to the Year 1s. We spent sessions building fire alters and using them to cook dishes, ranging from roasting simple marshmallows to making dishes like cheese sausages and chicken. Despite the lack of manpower, as some members were unable to show up due to other responsibilities, the result of our booth was tremendously successful, and many Year 1 students showed up to our booth. The Year 1 students were swarming our booth, waiting for food to be served to them. In fact, some of them even excitedly helped themselves to the marshmallows, which were nearly finished by the second group of students. This made me very happy, seeing them enjoying what we made. Through the difficulties and chaos, however, our committee managed to get our fires started and sustained a lot more easily than we did when Orientation Preparation first began. I was very proud because this means we have improved. This improvement was only made possible by the helpful guidance of our seniors—consisting of the Ventures and Young Adults to alumni who graduated quite some time ago returning to pass their knowledge on to us. We definitely learned a lot from them, and being in the outdoor cooking committee was truly a memorable experience that I hope to repeat next year. It was really a very amazing, fruitful, and enriching experience. Initially, we barely had any knowledge on outdoor cooking past the basic things we learned in our normal sessions. The fire altar we built was also different from the ones we normally make, which added to the initial confusion. However, we were quickly able to overcome it and build the fire altar. I personally prefer this version of the fire altar, as I find that this new fire altar is a lot more convenient than the previous one used, as this one was portable. After the orientation preparation session, I have learnt a lot of skills I did not have before, and I think it was really enjoyable for me.
Reflection from a Year 3 in Outdoor Cooking:
In my opinion, OP overall was amazing and was a huge success. Particularly for my committee, Outdoor Cooking, I believe that everyone in my committee learnt new hard skills, as well as soft skills. This includes faster ways to start a fire and many more. Some of the skills that we learnt are that we could wait for ambers to appear before cooking, the correct method to blow the fire in order to make it bigger and to avoid using wet 木s. During the OP prep sessions that we had, the Guides and Scouts in OC had to build 2 fire altars, prepare food, start a fire and cook food. For the fire altars, our lashes overall were tight and the structure was stable. However, I think that our performance could have been improved. I felt that we needed to improve the quality of some of our lashes, have a greater sense of urgency and cheer more. As for the preparation of food and cooking of the food, I felt that it was a success. We managed to cook fried sausages and luncheon meat, nasi lemak, s’mores (biscuits with marshmallows and chocolate) and skewered chicken. The food was delicious to eat! Having helped out with all four aspects of Outdoor Cooking, I found cooking the food most enjoyable. It felt heartening as the food we prepared was delicious to eat. Our OC committee was also extremely bonded. We had a lot of opportunities to interact with Scouts, and our fellow Guides, strengthening our Guides' sisterhood bond and making new friends with the Scouts. On the actual OC day, it was indeed heartwarming to see so many Year 1s coming to our booth to try out the food that we cooked. Some of them kept coming back for food, which suggests that the food is nice. We also managed to encourage some Year 1s to join Guides and Scouts. Hence, OP was indeed an accomplishment for us!
For Craftwork and Souvenir committee, only the Year 4s were involved. They created many keychains that had pictures related to Guides and Scouts drawn on them and passed them out to the Year 1s, they also used recycled materials to create origami, toys and mini structures!
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Fireman’s Ladder
The Fireman’s Ladder committee showcased the traditional game Fireman’s Ladder performance to the Year 1s. Many Year 1s were wowed by the spectacular performance put up by the members.
Reflection from a Year 2 in Fireman’s Ladder:
At first, when I heard that I was joining Fireman’s Ladder (FML), I was a little confused, because I assumed that we would only be flipping over it. However, when I had my first session I realised that it was much more than that. We had many things to take note of, like when to place the ladder, and the second spar having to face the ground so that when we flip, the audience can see us from the front view, and not from the back. The second thing to take note of was speed: our time limit for the whole performance was 1 minute and 30 seconds. At first, when we were practising, things did not go as smoothly, as we needed to understand which side we were going to 顶脚, and quickly orientate ourselves right after flipping. I found this very difficult as flipping made me dizzy and it took me a few seconds to figure out where I was supposed to go after flipping. However, through the practices, I slowly picked up my pace and decided to shift to the left immediately, as it was my position. Flipping was also a key factor as FML is the performance comm, and the flipping had to be good enough to show the audience. So, we had to flip with straight legs and land on both feet. A few of us were struggling with flipping and thus flipping with straight legs seemed impossible, until we tried it. I think it was more of a mental block and after overcoming it, our flipping became quicker and smoother. Lastly, the cheering was very important as we had to cheer louder than the music that was playing in the background. There was time allocated for us to cheer, and at the beginning, we were not loud enough but progressively we became a lot louder than before as we got used to it. All in all, I think FML is not as easy as it seems but is a lot of fun and I learned a lot!
Reflection from a Year 3 in Fireman’s Ladder:
On the first session of OP, I was very nervous as I had to try flipping, which was something I was not confident in doing, as I had a fear of heights. I was also excited as I got to meet new people from other patrols and from Scouts. The first session basically warmed us up and let us try flipping. By the end of the first OP session, I was much more confident in myself. During the second session, we had a lack of manpower but quickly overcame the challenge by having people from other committees to help 顶脚. We then had to practice our cheering. Cheering is a very important part of FML as it helps boost our morale as well as encourage others. We also had to practice climbing and flipping faster. On the third OP session, it was more stressful as we had to familiarise ourselves with the performance routine and learnt to 动作快一点, as we do not have a lot of time to flip on the actual day. On the actual day, we gave it our all and managed to flip within the time given. I'm very proud of our performance as we came a long way from when we first started. Some things that I learnt from FML are how to flip and 顶脚 properly. For example, we have to try to flip with our legs straight and land on both feet. I also learnt the importance of proper 顶脚 as it is very important to ensure the person that is flipping is safe and that the structure would not shake. Overall, we did face some challenges but managed to overcome them and showcased a successful performance for our Year 1s. Additionally, it was a memorable and new experience for all of us.
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We hope that both Scouts and Guides had fun preparing for this year’s orientation and became closer to each other. We also hope that the Year 1s were attracted by our showcase and will join us soon!
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Published by:
Yuanxin
54th 届 Secretary
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