~The Road Less Taken~

Monday, March 31, 2008

this is a copy of the speech we delivered (or were supposed to deliver in full; we being kieran and myself the two fantastic [in our minds at least =P] heads of comm).

The objective of PSGM was to allow you, the Secondary 1s, to interact with the PSLs in an informal atmosphere while at the same time learning about the Rafflesian way of life. This was achieved through the weekly sessions you had with your PSLs, and the topics which were covered in these sessions, such as CCA, House, and the values we PSLs hoped to impart to you.

As you gradually become more involved in the Rafflesian community around you, you will realise that all of the topics we have covered will be useful to you in some way or another. We hope that you have learned the importance of participating in school activities with utmost passion through the House PSGM. We hope that you will become more enthusiastic and committed to your CCAs after going through the CCA PSGM. We hope that you understand the importance of managing and dividing time between your schoolwork, CCA, House and other commitments after the Academic Life PSGM.

Perhaps most importantly, we hope you remember and strive towards the three values the PSLs have dedicated entire sessions to – respect and sensitivity, humility, and unity in passion. Indeed, it has been our mission over the last 3 months to impart them to you, and we hope that if there is one thing you would remember from the PSGM sessions, it is these three values.

Let us now cast our minds back to January 2, 2008. It doesn’t seem very long ago now, does it? Do you still remember when you took your first step into the grounds of Raffles Institution, not knowing what the future had in store for you? We PSLs did not know as well, but like you, we have developed fond memories of the entire orientation journey, from the Registration day in December up till today, the PSGM Finale. It has been just as enriching and unforgettable for us as much as you, Secondary 1s, and we can even say that we have grown and matured just as much as you have. In all, the journey for the PSLs together with you has been incredible, and mere words fail to do this wonderful experience justice.

And now we are nearing the end of that journey. Having nurtured you for the past 3 months, it is almost time for us PSLs to let go of your hands, and to let you walk alone through your Rafflesian journey – but only officially. We will still be there for you, even if we may not have any more time for PSGMs, and be assured that you need only ask, and we will help you to the best of our ability. Even if this is the official end of the Orientation experience, the PSLs will still be in school, ready to help you if you need it.

Of course, we must give thanks where they are due. Thank you, Mrs. Tan, for gracing this very special occasion today; thank you, Mrs. Maas and Form Teachers, for guiding the PSLs when they needed help as well, and for your constant encouragement throughout this journey; thank you to our tireless AV and other admin support backstage; a big thank you to all you PSLs, who have worked for the last 5 months to make this Orientation truly special and one we can all be proud of; and thank you, Secondary 1s. You have grown from the first day of school right until now, and have constantly shown the potential to become a fantastic batch. We PSLs hope that in your years in RI, you will never forget to let the Rafflesian flame burn brightly in you.

Lasair, Secondary 1s. Flame On.

______________

i know speech writing skills (and getting people to emo over the course of a speech) is not my strong suit, so hopefully you will forgive the essay sounding rather strained.

but still it's undeniable that -

our batch of psls are quite unbelievable.

we're quite an amazing bunch really. when it's business time, we deliver what we have to; when it's time for us to relax, we make it fun and memorable.

honestly. look at the things we did for orientation.

1st day: stayed in school for a stunningly long (and ultimately necessary) briefing for the main camp the next day. it really felt like school never ended; it didn't feel like a new year of school at all. we were just reaching our climax. we had been planning for it for 2 months, and we'd been in school so much (meetings and all) it really felt like we'd never left. a sort of ownership of the school really. more on that later.

main camp: this was quite a bonding session, not just with the sec 1s but also with fellow psls. and oh boy did we do our share of things. half of the psls stayed up the first night till 2am, and on the second night, more stayed up till around 3 (some till 4!).

it felt really good for some reason though. and because my english fails me i simply cannot articulate this feeling. it's quite a convoluted one to be honest.

this arrangement allowed me to get a grand total of 6 hours of sleep during the whole camp (ok 6 and 1/2, since i fell asleep for around 1/2 an hour during the third morning. i really couldnt stay awake any longer). so i had 6 hours of rest in the past 60 planning and organising...

finale: i didnt, and still really dont know what to feel for this event. something tells me it was a success, but then again i feel it could have been so much better. yes we almost messed it up all right, but we got our act together, and did it. the batch song at the end was particularly "emo" (as described by avinash) and really capped off a finale and an orientation we could be proud of.

jric: oh this was absolutely uninhibited madness and craziness and laughter all around. this was a highlight, most definitely.

now people who have been to jrics before know that it is very much a formal ceremony, where the junior rafflesians are recognised as part of the rafflesian community.

of course it went well...

until mrs maas decided to do this:

mrs maas: good evening... (long list of important people). good evening, secondary 1s.

sec 1s: *silence*

mrs maas: (in a more forceful tone) good evening, secondary 1s!

sec 1s: good evening, mrs maas... (reluctantly almost)

we committee i/cs were busily rushing off to change into our lasair shirts (by the way, thanks to biquan and his mum! the package is great. =D) when this happened. i felt a little lost for words. since that wasn't exactly in the plan.

oh but never mind the speech (i didn't hear too much of it anyway). what happened next as we went to do cheers was THE BOMB.

in chronological order now:

shanzhi stepped backwards while doing "spirit". i stepped forwards. i was right behind shanzhi. shanzhi's knee had just been injured.

result: shanzhi having to brave the pain and do the rest of the cheer.

when we all went backstage shanzhi couldnt really stand up straight anymore, so we (being the helpful i/cs we are) decided to help him. poor zongyi got the short end of the stick though.

he had to take off shanzhi's shoe and massage his foot for him.

no offence boss, but i really cant forget the smell.

and we of course didn't believe zongyi when he said how smell-ful it was (full of smell indeed), so we decided to smell.

thank god we didn't feel any effects, because the show was just getting started.

i have no idea how the i/cs got back out on stage. when we did, the sec 1s and a lot of parents were still around.

then my favourite moment of the whole orientation started.

we started off some of the less well known cheers (samba, jam, ichiban, kemama) - everything we taught them came out.

oh that wasn't enough.

for the uninitiated, "please don't stop the music" is not a song suitable for parents to hear their children listening to really.

much less dancing to it.

but our av guys had kindly departed from the control room, so we (for some unknown reason again) decided to unleash it on the parents through the mic on stage.

so we committee i/cs tried desperately to dance (and of course jingyuan led the way. more on him later) to the music (kangjie was holding the handphone to the mic. lucky him).

after that was done, we wanted more. the sec 1s wanted more too - they had seen jingyuan in action before, and they wanted something from him.

so he went freestyle dancing to the same tune.

oh course we i/cs had no chance of keeping up, so we simply stood by. and did crazy actions.

and at the chorus comes the absolute BOMB part of the whole orientation. best moment ever.

the committee i/cs all formed a ring around jingyuan while he was dancing and kowtowed to him.

it was unbelievable. so funny that jingyuan stopped dancing and just laughed.

we all went crazy. the sec 1s and psls all must have enjoyed themselves.

the parents im not too sure.

in hindsight we sort of realised that we shouldnt have done it in front of 500 parents.

but the next thought?

what the heck. =)

that 15 minutes of deviating from the norm really showed everything about our psls.

we were spontaneous. willing to change. we shared an unspeakable bond and connection. we were fun, yet serious when we had to be. we could change on short notice and get things done well. we enjoyed ourselves. we weren't rigid, but neither were we radical (ok maybe slightly).

it was an incredible moment for me, at least.

i don't know about other orientations, but i'd be inclined to rank this one among the top 3. i think mrs chua said it herself. it might even be the best of the lot.

psgm: well it was rather low on excitement value overall, but i guess we did what we had to do and taught the sec 1s about the rafflesian way of life. one particular thing stood out though (other than the psgm finale).

during one of the sessions (i think it was session 6):

(with 10 minutes to go) - jaryl comes into my class. he tells me douglas has decided to have a cheering session outside the classes in 5 minutes, and the word is already with all the classes. what am i to do?

lead the cheers. and i cannot refuse can i?

so off we went.

and oh boy were we good.

we rocked the junior block for 10 minutes. all the people who passed through the block were quite amazed.

and of course i, not knowing exactly how to save my voice, ended up with a "zhao sia" voice for the rest of the day (i think just saying this sentence i would have zhao sia'ed at least 5 times).

it was fun, and it came at a cost.

but what the heck.

again, it was in the same vein as the jric events.

being a psl was really meaningful.

i got to see my class mature from being young, unknowing boys at the start of the year, to one of the best in the level (well done 1m! sorry though if i've let you down or been too strict. ><). i could have done more for my class, definitely, and done it in a better way too, but what's done is done, and i'm glad they have grown as they have.

i don't know about the others, but i really felt a sense of ownership. like i was a truly active stakeholder of ri. we psls were shaping the future batch of rafflesians, after all, and we were the seniors - we sort of own the school somehow. it's hard to put into words, but that feeling puts you on a high, like you can do no wrong, like you have unlimited self-confidence. it was wonderful doing what we did.

i've been wanting to say this for a long time.

and i will now.

i honestly believe:

OUR BATCH OF PSLS OWNS BALLS.

we really can't say that anything was a failure (if anything it was psgm which was a letdown), and we're really nice people to work with.

and i've really gotten to know my fellow psls better through this journey.

i remember the day i reached home from orientation camp. i realised after trawling through facebook that i knew about 50 more sec 4s.

and i didn't care that my tuition work was undone for the next day.

so it was time for a rest after the camp - i went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 2pm. 15 hours of sleep. it felt lovely.

and it was deserved.

every psl really worked hard for the orientation. many thanks to them for that.

i doubt i'll ever get to know more fabulous people than this bunch.

(sorry if the whole post seems very disjointed. i'm just throwing all my thoughts about our psl journey in here, plus my english is just about admissible.)

but then again feelings like this are abstract, and can never really be expressed in words.

you'll have to go through it to know what it's like.

i'm proud to say i did. and i really benefitted immensely from it.

so finally, i'd like to thank some special people:

my class 1M! thanks for everything we had together, even if i didn't live up to your expectations as a class psl.

my class psls! charles elias ivan junsean hongrui maskil (isaac and stephen too, even if you weren't class based)! thanks for the support! and big boss charles for running the whole show. =)

my committee! kieran zhixuan jaryl marcustay weishen dixon junxiang abhinav mark rama rashidi avinash! thanks for your help in organising the finale and psgm! it may have been very sian towards the end since we're the last comm to wrap up but we did it!

my committee i/cs! yuda said theodore jianxiong nigelfong jieqi jingyuan jeremy kangjie aarongoh kieran shoujian benyong wenjie kengchee biquan yiwei shanzhi zongyi! thanks for helping to make the orientation as a whole a huge success!

and of course the rest of the psls. i cant possibly name all 150 of you. >< but thanks for everything you did! you were wonderful to know and work with.

this reminds me.

SHANZHI YUDA SAID SHOUJIAN AND I ARE OWED A DUNK BY ALL OF YOU.

the only unfinished business left.

i'm incredibly sorry, but just thinking about orientation makes me high sometimes.

thanks for reading till the end! =D

and it is the end now. haha thats everything about orientation i have in my mind.

OH NO i almost forgot.

thanks for the smashing hit "flame on" by gan and band! =D

what other orientation has their own song? =D

haha it really is all now i think.

thanks to everyone involved in orientation in any way once again!

5 months of hard work way more than paid off.

I stopped to rest at 11:51 PM

Two roads diverged,and I-
took the one less taken...