Project Sandcastle: NY Leaders' Day
On 21st July, 200 NY leaders from various CCAs and class committees headed down to Castle Beach, East Coast Park for 'Project Sandcastle'. This activity aimed to incorporate important teambuilding lessons and practice our leadership skills through the building of sandcastles.
The task was to build an 'integrated resort' complete with restaurants, hotels, theme parks, etc. entirely out of sand. After a quick introduction to the equipment, the different teams split up into their assigned zones to work on their part of the integrated resort.
Building the foundation was hard work but also the most important part of a large-scale sandcastle, and shoveling sand was really not as easy as it looked. We laughed it off when our sand structures collapsed and simply tried again. It was great fun even though we worked with unfamiliar schoolmates and our camaraderie quickly developed amongst us due to our common goal.
We were given less than 3 hours but the final result proved to be rather spectacular. In particular, the great pyramids (convention centre) and the sports complex were the most eye-catching. Though the afternoon sky turned grey and rain started to pelt down on our completed sandcastles, they held on strong, as did the unwavering team spirit of our NY leaders.
A short reflection session was held with the help of our senior JC2 CCA leaders, who observed and assessed us in terms of our teamwork, communication and leadership skills based on their experience in the Student Council and other CCAs.
"Big Dreams, Baby Steps". This was the belief that Mr Alvin Lee, the founder of Castle Beach and Beautiful Minds, had that drove him to realize his big dream. The NY Leaders learnt much more than just playing with sand. We brought home important lessons that would greatly aid us in our leadership positions in NY and also in the future.
By Janice Teh