YSunday, May 27, 2007

Pre-University Seminar 2007 (Part One)

I really did enjoy myself during Pre-U Sem, which some of you may find hard to believe. I found it hard to believe myself, given the purpose of this seminar. Let me illustrate.

(This was copied word for word from the very useful file that was provided to all of us)

Objectives Of Seminar

1. raise participants' awareness of the changes and emerging opportunities taking place in the local and global scene and how Singaporeans can respond to and take advantage of them;

2. provide opportunities for participants to examine how young Singaporeans and Singapore must innovate and explore ways to adapt to new realities while remaining true to their values, beliefs, and the way they live;

3. allow participants to gain new knowledge and perspectives by engaging them in meaningful exchange with senior officials and experts from different fields as well as in discussion sessions among themselves;

4. engage students in Special Activities in which they will have to exercise independence, teamwork, inventiveness, and resourcefulness to deal with challenges in an increasingly complex environment;

5. encourage networking and bonding among young Singaporeans from different institutions and from disparate backgrounds.

I think you get the idea. It does seem rather dry, does it not? Read on to find out.

There is so much to talk about, perhaps I should start from the beginning. (I think this will be longest post I will ever have.)

It started out during the first 3 months of school. My GP teacher told me about something interesting, Pre-U Sem. Apparently it had been around for many years, and was quite prestigious. It sounded somewhat like propaganda, about how Singapore was the Centre Of The World. It sounded intriguing. I later learned that it comprised of a five day seminar, which was during the school term, meaning that I would have to miss 5 days of school should I get chosen to go. It would also give me the chance to hang around smart people. I signed up immediately.

It turned out that wanting to go, and being able to go were two very different things. First of all, I wasn't the only person eyeing the 5 week absence from school. ACJC could only send 25 representatives, so the field had to be narrowed down. One very effective way to do that was to have a compulsory written essay, with a very short deadline. The title of our essay was iSingapore: Challenge, Create, Connect. Which turned out to be the theme for this year's seminar. No hints were given, it was an open ended essay. Many people were understandably stumped, and gave up immediately. What kind of nonsensical topic was that? It didn't even mean anything! I, however, was made of tougher stuff. The night before the due date, I rushed out some nonsensical essay, filled with the ramblings of a desperate teenager. At least I was better off than one of my friends, who wrote his essay during ECONS LECTURE. I doubted that my effort would get shortlisted, but well, it was worth a try.

To my immense surprise and elation, I found out that I was selected! However, to my dismay, I found out that I was merely selected to go on to the next round, where the final list of participants would be decided by an interview. Why must they torture me so? Just let me go! When I was in the waiting room getting ready for my interview, one of the girls there told me that the interview was to be based mainly on our essay. Unfortunately, the minute I had handed up my essay, I completely forgot what I had wrote. Probably because it was so ambiguous and pointless.

Getting interview by two teachers isn't a very pleasant task. First of all, they asked me difficult questions. Questions that didn't really mean anything. So I basically just started talking, and prayed that I wouldn't stop. Second, there were two teachers. I didn't know which one I was supposed to look at. Was I supposed to look at the one that asked the question? Or was I supposed to look at the both of them? In the end, I just ended up darting my eyes at both of them, hoping that their nods and smiles were good signs.

A few days later, I found out that I had got in. I must admit, I was rather glad.

So, after I was told that I would be going to Pre-U Sem, that was pretty much the end of my meetings. There were 4 different groups of people that were involved in the seminar. Researchers, IT-savvy People, Presenters, and Participants. Of the 4, the least work-intensive was the Participants, so I guess you know which of the four I was. So while the 3 other groups of people had meetings, I was left out. Not that I minded.

The Saturday

Anyway, I was later informed that all Seminar participants were expected to go down to NTU on a early Saturday morning, for some... Pre-Pre-U Sem event. It turned out to be some sort of icebreaker event, where we would get to meet our groups, which would be called Seminar Groups, or SGs. (You can't make this sort of things up.) Little did I know that this was just the beginning of the Singapore Is Great idea that would be conveyed to us during our waking (and perhaps sleeping, who knows) hours. Each group comprised of students from various schools, so I was put together with a bunch of complete strangers. At that moment we felt awkward, as we had nothing to talk about, but during the actual seminar, we ended up having a great time together.

So ends part one, where I haven't even started taking about the actual Pre-U Seminar yet. Wonderful.

Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Blogged @ 9:42 PM