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For two whole days, the entire cohort of SRJC’s pre-university 2 students was nowhere to be seen on college grounds. The lecture theatres and tutorial rooms were deserted, devoid of life and the usual buzz of student activity. Was this a case of mass truancy?
Fortunately not. With the blessings of the college and company of their civics tutors, the students traded their textbooks for tent poles as they took part in the Learning Experiential Action Programme (LEAP).
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Teachers on a recce trip to Pulau Ubin.
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All Over The Island
The students underwent a variety of team and personal challenges that took them around Singapore, from the Central Business District to the Chinese Gardens. They even made their way across the waters to Pulau Ubin and Sentosa.
In the 48 hours during which they braved the elements and each other’s company (at times, it was hard to say which was the greater challenge), it was hoped that the students would have learnt something about themselves, their attitudes and their directions in life.
Learning About Themselves And Each Other
The various LEAP activities were calculated to develop resilience among the students, help them to realise the correlation between actions and consequences, and enable them to chart a sensible course during their stay at SRJC. At most of the stations, they had to carry out tasks that required proper and careful planning.
Within some scenarios, they were faced with failure as well as difficult choices that entailed sacrifices.
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Although some might think that such values can be learnt within the classroom, LEAP offers an alternative platform to nurture life-skills. Coupled with the intensity of the event, held continuously for 48 hours, it was hoped that the programme would help to jump-start the maturation process in the students.
Through Heat And Rain
For the civics tutors who followed their classes around in the heat and rain, they noticed particular traits in their charges, which hopefully would help them in counseling and guiding their students in future.
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At the end of LEAP, students wrote down their commitment to achieving their goals on these pyramids.
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LEAP also helped to build student-teacher rapport. As one student remarked upon reaching Pulau Ubin, she didn’t expect her 40-year-old teacher to be walking patiently with them in the rain.
As I’m writing this on a battered old clipboard at Sentosa, the students are either cheering and playing games, or sitting in circles being debriefed by their facilitators as they await departure from the ferry terminal to return to SRJC.
The students had to make do with SAF-style combat rations for dinner and powder baths on Pulau Ubin, but it would be hard to say that they have not taken away something from the LEAP experience.
Hopefully along with the memories, they would have developed greater resilience, better planning skills and the realisation that all actions have consequences.
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