ICT Club - Leaders of Tomorrow Camp

25-27 October 2005

This was ICT (Information-Communications Technology) Club's 1st attempt at organising a leadership camp. We got to know our clubmates better - this was essential if we were to work together in future ICT events. Held on the last week of the polytechnic school vacation, it was no wonder that fewer than 20 freshmen attended this camp. We could have slacked that last week at home.

Day 1. After registering my name and having a briefing with my campmates, my group came up with "Synergy" as our group name. We had a flag-painting session where we got painted on by the gamemasters if we didn't freeze when the music paused.

We had station games at various parts of school - the final game "Red Indian" being the most exciting. Two balls were placed in the muddy centre of a designated area on the field. Two teams had to line up back-to-back. At "GO!", we had to run to our group's territory to construct an "Indian tepee" with 4 sandals/slippers. Once the "tepee" was constructed, we ran to the middle, grabbed a ball and attempted to destroy the other team's "tepee". Meanwhile, the "goalkeeper", along with his team players, had to block the incoming ball from destroying the "tepee". My group didn't win - but the game sure was fun.

After dinner was "Water Freshido" where we were blindfolded and led along (holding each other's shoulders) to go through a series of obstacles which ultimately led us to having to crawl, spin and whatnot through water sprays and mats filled with water. We were thoroughly soaked after the whole thing ended. After showertime was "Night Walk". Blindfolded and led all to way to the other end of school, we walked through a path lit with light sticks individually (for the guys) or in pairs (for the girls) - while the seniors attempted to scare us in their various guises. All this - in near pitch-darkness at times. Halfway through the path, we had to search for a piece of paper using a lighted candle in a ladies' toilet to sign our names on and confess any "sin" we had committed. Inside too were scraps of newspaper littered on the floor and at the sink was a baby doll stained with blood complemented with bloody scribblings on the mirror. Near the end of the Walk, we had to search for our faces on burnt-edged papers in a dimly-red-lit lift. Mine appears below.

Day 2. The first thing we had in the morning - Physical Training (PT). It was near-army style in tenacity. Our PT instructors were scolded us and made us run rounds after rounds when our manners did not show. It was a dreaded period of time for everyone. Immediately after that was breakfast - bread with kaya and jam. And Milo. The main event today was an orienteering game where we gained points by searching for clues (coloured strips of paper) at various checkpoints on Bukit Timah Hill and its vicinity. The different colours represented different amounts of points. Our deadline was 4pm; we thought we were late - but we ended up being the first group to have lunch and return to school at around 4.30pm. The other 3 groups came as late as almost 6pm! By the way, here's a photo of my group "Synergy".

They had a food auction for dinner, but I had to leave for a concert. I found out that they bidded for items like canned foods, sausages, Japanese chicken, drinks and oil using the points they collected during the orienteering game. By the time I was back from the concert, they were just starting on Block Catching. We freshies had to run from our seniors over the vicinity of a few floors at two blocks. If we were caught, we were put into "jail" and got "tekan" (made things difficult) by the "jailmasters". At first I got a few sprays of water while I was blindfolded - but the worst was a full bucket of cold water. After some time in jail, we were let out as spies, with a mission to catch the rest of the freshies that had not yet been caught. The game ended with most of us dripping wet.

After a refreshing shower, we planned the steps for our "group dance" and then had Disco Night. Drinks (100-Plus and Milo Dinosaur - a Milo drink with LOTS of Milo powder, very concentrated) were served at the "bar counter". I did not join in the frenzied dancers - I'm not that "type" and besides, I was already worn out by the day's activites. Some of us went back to sleep early, while the rest did not sleep till dawn.

Day 3. We woke up around 9am, had breakfast, then packed up our belongings. Before breaking camp, we had the customary sing-along session, friendship dance and writing of encouragement testimonials on each other's backs. We took group photos in our dri-fit white camp tee (like the one above at the beginning of this post) before bidding farewells to each other. I'll leave you with this photo of glowing light sticks. ICT Club rocks!