By Chelsea Khoo (20S07A), Captain,  Jaryl Yeo (20S06I), Vice-Captain, and Megan Ng (20S03P), Vice-Captain

Ever seen someone with unnaturally brown and dry hair? Someone who reeks of chlorine? Someone with an abnormal tan line around their eyes? Yup, that’s probably one of us—a swimmer. 

The Raffles Swim Team consists of self-disciplined and resilient Rafflesians that strive to give their best in the water, be it in training or during competitions. While many students are still fast asleep, we wake up in the wee hours of the morning, braving the cold and plunging headfirst into the pool for another training session at 5:30am. After a gruelling day in school, we head back to the pool for yet another session. 

However intensive and exhausting our trainings are, we still try our very best to juggle it with academics and other commitments in and outside of school. This requires much grit, perseverance and self-discipline. We may feel like giving in to the exhaustion and giving up due to the monotony of our daily lives as a swimmer, but no, we push ourselves. You know what they say: when the going gets tough, the tough gets going! In addition, our teachers in charge, Mr Chan, Ms Lee, and Mr Swee, are always present to ensure we are managing well. 

The major swimming meets include the Singapore National Age Group championships and the National School Games held in March and April respectively. The adrenaline pumping through your veins when you hear the resounding cheers of support from your school and teammates before you plunge into the water and race your heart out is an inexplicable feeling you will never forget.

The Raffles Swimming Team has been consistently achieving commendable results, with the ‘A’ Division girls emerging as champions for many years. Meanwhile, the boys are long-standing holders of the first runners-up position.

Although most of us train at our respective clubs, we do have combined training sessions to facilitate team bonding. We usually have these training sessions once every 2 weeks from the start of the school year till the National School Games. Trainings are on Wednesday mornings at 5.30 AM. 

To join us, you will simply need a competitive swimming background and official timings from previous competitions which meet the qualifying times of the National School Games. We look forward to seeing you soon!

By David Toh (20S06J), Vice-Chairperson and Tan Xu Chen (20S06J), Secretary

Math: The only subject that counts.

Have you ever wondered about that budding interest in math you once had at a young age, only to be quashed by the stresses of school life? Do you enjoy solving topology puzzles or speed-solving Sudokus, but find yourself with no time to indulge in either? Or are you a brainiac with an eye for the messiest of geometry diagrams and the wackiest of combinatorial games?

Whichever you are, you’ve come to the right place!

Math Club is a tight-knit, close group of individuals brought together by our passion for mathematics and anything math-related. Don’t worry, we have no pre-requisites for joining—all you need is an inquisitive mind, an unquenchable curiosity and a penchant for having your mind blown!

What kind of math do we do?

Here at Math Club, the Exco conducts weekly sessions on a wide variety of math-related topics. Our members get to request topics, and even hold their own sessions too! These include:

• Olympiad math / problem-solving—for those who love solving any and every kind of math problem;
• Pure math—for those into more “chim”, abstract concepts such as knot theory, statistical analysis, differential geometry or cutting pizzas in weird ways;
• Fun math—including but not limited to puzzles, paradoxes, games, logic, Kahoot, troll questions, and more!

Apart from our regular sessions, we also have a range of activities throughout the year! Members get to take part in competitions such as the Shanghai TI Cup, the Singapore Math Olympiad (SMO), and the American Math Olympiad (AMC1). We also conduct a few “open” training sessions closer to SMO dates covering competition content and strategies. There’ll also be club camp(s), games and much more to come—as a student-run club, we have free rein to organise intra-CCA and inter-CCA events!

Well… okay, but this sounds a bit daunting…

Fret not, for there are really no pre-requisites for being part of our club! Even though some of the content we cover may be more advanced, we always take into account our members’ feedback and plan sessions assuming no prior knowledge required. If you ever find yourself befuddled by a concept, rest assured that the rest of the members probably feel that way too! We always try our best to make sure every member is engaged and having the most fun-filled two hours of their life (well, maybe not, but their week nonetheless).

As an illustration, here’s a teaser that you may have seen before:

Carrie is given an m by n table. She realises that she can fit 100 coins of radius 2cm within the boundaries of the table, with all the coins laid flat and no overlap in between. Show that she can do the same with 400 coins of radius 1cm.

(Tip: you can’t fit 4 circles of radius 1 into 1 circle of radius 2 without overlap!)

Answer at the end of the article.

What are the commitments?

We conduct sessions from 4.30pm to 6.30pm weekly on Tuesdays. We’re busy people too, and we know the pain of having to juggle PW, schoolwork and the plethora of activities we all have outside of RI. You don’t have to worry about not having enough time for your other CCA, or for catching up on your much-needed Econs homework—we’ve got you covered.

And that’s all we have to share! We’ll be having a trial session in [to be confirmed], when all Y5s are welcome to join in and take a peek. Do come down if this sounds like your cup of tea!

Solution to above problem:

Place the 100 coins of radius 2 first. Then shrink the table to a m2n2table, along with the coins inside it. Now, put four copies of this small table together :)

By Hong Lin Shang (20S06L), Chairperson

Picture this: You’re in a classroom, having Civics. Your form teacher is about to show your class a very informative video about dengue fever and you are beyond excited to learn about the five-step mozzie wipeout. Suddenly, the screen goes blank. All your classmates’ eyes turn to you in your Raffles Crew jacket. It’s your time to shine.

Thankfully (or not), that is barely a fraction of what we do in Audio Visual Unit. Our job is to ensure the smooth running of the lights and sounds in various happenings in school. 

We cover a wide variety of events, including but not limited to: morning assembly, school-wide celebrations (National Day, Teachers’ Day etc), as well as concerts, events, and symposiums held by other CCAs. This means that you can get free tickets for your friends’ performances, as well as backstage passes to meet Personalities behind the scenes.

As a side advantage, when we are free before and after rehearsals, we get the AV system and the booked location to ourselves, which has resulted in many Unconventional Incidents. 

We don’t have any actual photos of us At Work, but this is close enough I guess.

“But I have not done anything more advanced than bluetooth speakers before!” you say. Don’t worry, we conduct training sessions with all members so that you will be confident in working the lights and sounds for all the different venues in school. No prerequisites are needed and many skills can be picked up along the way with experience.

Once the training sessions are complete, there will not be any fixed CCA sessions for the rest of the year and you can feel free to sign up for whichever event fits into your schedule! However, do take note that some events can end as late as 10 pm, but the timings will be given beforehand. 

Over your two years in AVU, you will have to fulfil at least 60 hours of service in total (it is a lot more manageable than it sounds), after which your service hours will be counted as VIA hours! You will also get to interact with many different individuals, and gain new experiences and skills that can help you in the future. Most importantly, you will forge many new friendships with your CCA mates and discover the colourful backgrounds of each member through your time spent together. Hopefully, the memories you create together will help you pull through these tough two years of your JC life. 

So if you think that this is your cup of tea, come give AVU a try! We’ll be seeing you from the control room either way. 

If you have any questions for us, feel free to email us at avurjc@gmail.com or DM us on instagram @auspiciummeliorisav! 

By Ashita Ashish Sule (20S03J), Chairperson

The referee’s whistle blows. Cheers erupt from the crowd, excitement and tension fill the air. You are far away from the spotlight, but your battle is no less intense, for the consequences of failure can be so much more severe. A few quick, well-practiced moves serve to securely fasten the bandages around your newest charge, just in time for another goal to be joined by a collective shout of triumph. Your own victory is much softer: a quiet murmur of thanks, relief at a wound ably seen to, and satisfaction from a job well done.

Upon joining RCYC, you’ll have the invaluable opportunity to learn and apply First Aid skills that extend beyond theory—to the school, at home, and even to our larger community. As a member of RCYC, you will be provided with compulsory Standard First Aid (SFA) Training, a 2 day course that equips you with First Aid knowledge and skills, such as tending to common wounds to bandaging for dislocations, and even carrying out CPR and using the AED for life-threatening emergencies. Following your training, there will be countless opportunities available for you to use your skills in reality: from offering First Aid coverage to the school during events such as the Team Raffles Games and Y5 Orientation, to participating in initiatives by the Red Cross Headquarters including the First Aid On Wheels (FAOW) at East Coast Park and other community events such as marathons. 

Our outreach to the community is also centred around contributions to several welfare organisations that you can choose based on your interest. All members volunteer at a Voluntary Welfare Organisation (VWO) of their choice weekly. Currently, such VWOs include volunteering at the Good Shepherd Student Care (GSSC), interacting with dialysis patients at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), and visiting patients at Ren Ci Hospital. Furthermore, regular opportunities are given for the entire batch to engage in service with a beneficiary of their choice together. Coupled with direct service, each member also gets to initiate, organise, and execute their own service project, either at their VWOs or at another beneficiary of their choice. Hence, as everyone gets to choose the beneficiary they would like to work with and the events they would like to take part in and organise, every individual in RCYC has a unique service journey.  

RCYC members also meet up for General Meetings (GMs) every Wednesday from 2pm to 3pm where we discuss upcoming events and opportunities and work on our self-initiated service projects. Members are typically organised into committees of their choice and are given the space to plan and execute activities that the committee is involved in. Our Welfare Committee organises fun bonding activities during GMs, while the First Aid Committee organises First Aid Refreshers to ensure that we remain in touch with our First Aid skills and knowledge. 

One of the highlights of our outreach to the school is the planning and execution of our biannual Blood Drive, which provides a platform for members to involve the school in giving back to the community.

As an RCYC member, you can engage in exciting opportunities that extend beyond the local community based on your interests, ranging from service-oriented activities such as Overseas Humanitarian Programmes, exchange programmes with Red Cross members internationally, and programmes which tackle global issues like humanitarian diplomacy and disaster management. 

To sum up, here’s what you can expect:

1. Weekly service at one Voluntary Welfare Organisation
2. Allocation to an organising committee, where you will help plan for events such as Blood Drive
3. First Aid training and opportunities
4. Ad hoc programmes by Red Cross Headquarters 

As such, the RCYC experience will definitely be a meaningful one: one that allows you to shape and explore your own interests in the multitude of unique opportunities provided for you. RCYC is not just confined to the boundaries of service—rather, it extends its opportunities to widen your global outlook and contribute to causes much larger than those within your immediate community. Undoubtedly, that is what sets us apart from the other service CCAs in Raffles.

If you would like to know more about us, visit us at our booth during Open House! And if you want to pick up First Aid skills and interact with our members, join us at the January Induction Programme (JIP) First Aid Workshop.

By Garrison Koh (20S06C), Captain, Aw Zi Yann (20S07A), Captain, Nicholas Chang (20S06Q), Vice Captain, and Mabel Ong (20S03G), Vice Captain

Have you ever seen people playing basketball or heard the sound of shoes squeaking against the floor and the excited hollers of both players and spectators? Ever admired Stephen Curry’s shooting form or Kyrie Irving’s handles? If you’ve ever wanted to start playing basketball, now is as good a time as any. Besides participating in exhilarating matches, if you find sweating it out, physical contact, and bonding with your teammates through trainings exciting, Basketball might just be the right CCA for you!

A typical school week during pre-season has 3 training days—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have two types of trainings: court training and conditioning. Court training is when we have our official practices with our respective coaches, while conditioning is when we work out our muscles to get stronger physically. In a week, we might spend a total of 9-10 hours training. Boys and girls train separately, but conditioning is conducted together.

To go more in depth, our court trainings are directed by our coaches. Thus, we do a variety of individual and team drills that get the team to work better together. Often, we play against each other on opposing teams for practice. As basketball is a team sport, being able to play well together as a team can be even more important than individual skill, so by training together over a period of time, the team is able to bond and create chemistry with one another. As for conditioning, we use various equipment such as cones, platforms, balancing boards, ropes, et cetera, instead of going to the gym. Although they are tiring, both conditioning and training are often fun and fulfilling.

One of the main events we have every year is the Gryphons Cup, whereby alumni and current players play against each other. Not only will it reunite most Raffles basketballers, it also serves as an experience for the younger players to learn from their seniors through play! We also take part in various other competitions such as the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) Tournament in preparation for our season. Moreover, to gain more experience, Raffles Basketball has flown annually to Taiwan, with 2018 being an exception where we flew to Hong Kong instead. Having the opportunity to play against foreign players who are stronger, faster, and better than we are is really exciting as we can see how other countries play and how we can improve ourselves! The main event would of course be the National School Games which takes place from March to April. We have placed well in previous years, with the girls attaining champions last year and the boys looking to reclaim the title, so we’re hoping to do equally well or even better in 2020!

As a team, we push each other to run harder and do better, and we’re always there for each other as teammates. It doesn’t matter if you have prior experience as long as you have the right attitude and a passion for the game. If you want to find out more, feel free to drop by our booth during Open House!

Dream. Team. Fight. Win. 

By Photographic Society ExCo’19

“Anyone can take pictures. What’s difficult is thinking about them, and trying to use them in some way so that some meaning can be constructed out of them. That’s really where the work of the artist begins.” 

— Lewis Baltz (visual artist)

 The Raffles Photographic Society (RPS) provides a community of like-minded and passionate individuals who share a love for photography, as well as avenues to hone your photography skills and pick up invaluable experience. Our sessions are run by professional instructors who guide and push us to develop our style and skill as photographers.

Training is held every Friday from 3.30pm to 5.30pm. Sessions typically alternate between external guided shoots—essentially field trips to take photos—and photo review sessions, where we critique and receive critique on our photos.

In addition to attending weekly sessions, every Raffles Photographer is required to fulfill a minimum of 40 hours of Event Coverage duty over the span of two years (any additional hours surpassing the minimum will be counted as VIA hours). Event Coverage involves shooting for various school events, including sports competitions (e.g. the National School Games), performances, and concerts, among many others. We also provide a photo booth and printing service! An archive of our work can be found on our Flickr.

The life of a Raffles Photographer demands commitment and responsibility. It does, however, come with its perks. More often than not, on-duty photographers are granted complimentary entry to payable events, exclusive access to restricted or backstage zones, and a free pass to the best viewing spots. 

Because we work so closely with various groups in the school to provide our photo-taking services, being in RPS also means lots of networking and collaborative opportunities. For one, we liaise with every other CCA to take the team photos that are put up around the school at Blocks J and K. This project, termed “Deck the Walls”, is a customary yearly affair that every batch of photographers will get to embark on. We also often work with Raffles Runway (to do studio shoots), Raffles Press, and Students’ Council. Come 2020, we are projecting a special collaboration with Writers’ Guild!

Our biggest highlights year after year, however, are our exhibitions. This is where members get to showcase their work to hundreds of viewers. Every RPS member gets three such opportunities—two in Year 5 and one in Year 6. Two exhibitions are held yearly, one at mid-year and the other at the end of the year. Year 5 members are given a small role in the mid-year exhibition, and subsequently take on the full spotlight at the end-of-year exhibition. A Year 6 member’s journey with RPS ultimately culminates in the mid-year exhibition, where they will showcase their best and final piece of work as a Raffles Photographer. The mid-year exhibition (our most notable event of the year) is truly a time for the Year 6s—and the skills they have honed over the past one and a half years—to shine. (Read about our mid-year exhibition 2019, Kalopsia, here.)

If the above sounds enticing to you, then being a Raffles Photographer may just be the perfect fit for you. RPS warmly welcomes you to join us! Trials are casual and do not involve any tests. Simply bring along a portfolio of your best work, and let us get to know you better through a short interview.

We really look forward to seeing you, and your stories—because a picture truly speaks a thousand words, and sometimes even more.

By Kaelynn Yap (20S03A), President, Chua Yang Jie (20S03L), Vice-President, and Chee Min Yee Sarah (20S07C), Vice-President

Service begins from a place closest to home: it comes from the heart, from the simplest but greatest wish of serving others. It is about letting your heart brim with love for the people around you, and allowing that love to reach others when they need it most. Interactors put in time and effort to build connections with people and aim to touch the lives of others by being messengers of warmth and care. Just like how a single candle lights up an entire room, Interactors not only deliver joy to others, but in doing so also receive warmth in return, in ways we never expected. 

The purest form of happiness comes from bringing happiness to others, and this is something you’ll experience in the smallest of moments. It’s in the split second when the student you’ve been trying to befriend for weeks cracks a smile at you for the first time. When you listen to an elderly auntie with dementia break out in song, only for her to ask “Do I sound good?” with a toothy grin. When your buddy with an intellectual disability grins victoriously at you after persistent tries at reading a picture card. It’s in these beautiful moments that you realise that there’s so much more to life than just yourself.

Service before self. Perhaps a little lofty sounding, and daunting to most: Where does one even begin? Well, Interact is a safe space for you to learn and grow. It is a place for you to take that leap of faith and embark on what is a lifelong calling for many. Maybe it’s a little intimidating to put yourself out there, but don’t be afraid. Service doesn’t need you to be perfect; you can come just as you are, because what truly matters is that you have an open mind and a heart of love. 

Interactors take our first steps in our service journey through our weekly service sessions, where we head down to the different service centres to spend those precious few hours with our beneficiaries. We reach out to the community through elderly care centres (COMNET Senior Services), welfare organisations (MINDS and Sunlove Dementia Care Centre) and organisations that help children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Pertapis Children’s Home, Henderson Care Centre, and Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home). It is in these regular interactions that we build the strong foundations of trust and friendship with our beneficiaries.

Building on these service sessions, we have weekly General Meetings, where we equip ourselves with the skills and experiences to better empathise and reach out to our beneficiaries, and to prepare for our yearly events. Our signature events traditionally include Youth Got Heart, Live in the Dark, and Interact Camp. Each of these large-scale events is a crucial platform for our club to come together and achieve something greater than ourselves. Reaching out to very different members of the community, each of these unique events are undergirded by the desire to make a difference to the wider community, a core tenet of our club.

As a family of 150 like-minded people, we come together in hopes of being part of something greater than ourselves. At the end of the day, what brings us together more than anything is the love for the community that we hold so dear to our hearts and the close ties we have forged with one another. As long as you share this love for others, we welcome you with open arms. Your Interact journey awaits!

By Hao Sitong (20S06H), Chairperson, Albert Ariel Widiaatmaja (20S06J), Vice-Chairperson, Madeswaran Devnavin (20S02A), Secretary, and Samuel Foo (20S06G), Quartermaster

Does the idea of self-driving cars excite you? Are you intrigued by robots and artificial intelligence? If you do, look no further for the chance to pursue your passion. Club Automatica is your chance to build robots of your own, right here in RI (and yes, they’re 100% self-driving). If you have a passion for technology and innovation like us, Club Automatica is the place for you!

Club Automatica is the robotics club of RI and a home for people who share a passion for technology and solving problems. We participate in 2 competitions each year—RoboCup and the National Robotics Competition (NRC). Depending on the category each team chooses, we build robots and program them to either finish complex missions, compete with other robots in soccer, or put on a dance performance. In RoboCup Singapore 2019, we won a total of three awards: 1st and 3rd place for Rescue, and 2nd place for Soccer (pictured above).

Throughout this experience, you will learn engineering skills—how to design and build a stable, functioning robot. You will learn and apply knowledge of programming to program the robot to make decisions. You will also be constantly challenged to think of (or obsess over) ways to improve your robot to function more efficiently. But most of all, you will spend a significant amount of time with like-minded people and have loads of fun working/fooling around together. 

Of course, the experience will not be smooth-sailing. You will likely despair when nothing seems to work and your robot takes on a personality of its own. But the sense of satisfaction when you finally solve these problems is worth the struggle. Through these moments, you will also create memories and forge bonds with your teammates that will last a long time.

CCA is held twice a week during competition season, once on Saturday afternoon and the other flexible according to the schedule of your team. However, do expect to have more impromptu meetings closer to the competition. If you have prior experience in robotics or programming, Club Automatica is the place to challenge your abilities and connect with like-minded people. If not, it is the place for you to learn and develop your skills, as long as you have a passion for robotics and can persist through the challenges you will face. Your seniors and an instructor will guide you along the way, and experience is not necessary.

If you are interested, feel free to chat with us during Open House, or sign up for our open session! See you there!

By Nancy Xu (20S07C) and Ethelyn Kek (20S06B)

“What’s REN? Oh, you mean the CCA that sells the Raffles shirts?” 

Yes, that’s us, Raffles Entrepreneur’s Network. As underrated as we may seem—and as we acknowledge that we’re practically only known for the (ahem, highly sought after) shirts we sell—REN is really so much more than that.

So what exactly does “entrepreneurship” entail? Is it just some cool big word that we use to boost our egos when we seal a deal on Carousell? Or is it something so elusive and intangible that only the elite can truly appreciate and live it out? Well, here at REN, we aim to let you define “entrepreneurship” for yourself, providing the best opportunities for you to truly uncover the beauty and underlying meaning behind it.

For us at REN, the whole year is exciting and enriching. We start the year off by enrolling in the Social Innovation Relay (SIR), a competition where we work in groups to curate solutions for pressing problems plaguing today’s increasingly globalised global village. Put off by its lofty-sounding name? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. We assure you that it was the first ever competition for the majority of us, which means that most of us were at ground zero, and the playing field was definitely level!

The next major programme on the list is our annual camp. That’s where we make our first business pitch, and experience our first judging by REN alumni. During the camp, we also have the chance to listen to our alumni present about their REN experiences, as well as their start-up successes and failures that they’ve met with in the corporate world. Alongside gaining insights about entrepreneurship and businesses, we also take this one-day affair to get to know our CCA mates better through an amazing race and a Nerf gun battle. It is during these activities where our perseverance and teamwork is put to the test—both of which are crucial to being a successful entrepreneur.

Fast forward a few months, we are met with our biggest school wide event of the year—Entreweek! 2019’s Entreweek took place from 5th to 7th August, and involved many fun activities that were targeted at the school population in order to better raise awareness about entrepreneurship. We invited social enterprises to set up booths in our canteen, allowing fellow Rafflesians to put their money towards causes they strongly believed in. REN.Co, our own humble social enterprise, also set up a booth for Rafflesians to purchase our self-designed Raffles Originals shirts.

Wait, our very own social enterprise? Yes, you read that right. Ultimately, in REN, we’re all entrepreneurs in the making. REN.Co aims not only to give back to the Raffles family through the 1823 Fund, but also the wider community. In 2019, REN.Co was proud to work with the Bone Marrow Donation Programme to offer enamel pins for sale, and part of the sales proceeds have gone to supporting the donation programme.

In late August, we have our largest event of the year—Raffles Business Symposium! Raffles Business Symposium, or RBS for short, is an in-house Raffles-organised competition cum symposium that aims to cultivate the entrepreneurial dare in like-minded individuals and serve as an incubation ground for their ideas. It helps to bring out your inner Steve Jobs, and the go-getter spirit that all real entrepreneurs embody. For RBS 2019, the theme was healthcare. The four finalist teams presented their innovative yet practical solutions to environmental problems in a heated finale where everyone watched intensely, with bated breaths.

Throughout the year, REN members are also encouraged to participate in various competitions besides the two compulsory ones (SIR and RBS). However, to truly experience what it is like to be a struggling entrepreneur fuelled by passion in the volatile world, there is a plethora of other competition options for us to choose from. In 2019, our talented REN members Shao Qibin (20S03I) and Zhou Xianyu (20S06H) participated in the 13th FedEx Express / JA International Trade Challenge and emerged as winners, representing Singapore in the Asia Pacific Regional Challenge held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

If large-scale events seem too daunting for you, fret not! Here at REN, every week is a fresh new experience, and for those who prefer to slowly savour the meaning of “entrepreneurship”, REN invites a different speaker each month to share their experiences being an entrepreneur in an intimate and comfortable setting—our cosy CCA enclaves D23 and D24. It is during these sharings where you get to ask your most burning questions, as well as connect with notable people in the industry. We also conduct industrial visits yearly, where our fellow aspiring entrepreneurs get to broaden their horizons by overcoming the numerous hurdles one is bound to face while setting up a start-up. Afterall, REN is not just another plain old club or society. We are a network of like-minded individuals who share a common future goal of being an entrepreneur. 

If all these seem extremely appealing to you, we’re glad that we were able to interest you in our humble network. For more information, do head down to our Instagram @rafflesentrepreneurs! (shameless plug, sorry—at least we host giveaways! hint hint.) Feel free to drop us a DM if you have any queries, and we hope to see you at our trials! It’ll be worth it. 

By Huang Beihua (20A03A), Corey Koh (20A01B), and Lu Yuxuan (20A01A)

Model UN (MUN)

Do you have that burning desire to fix the world’s issues? Or do you want to see the world burn? Do you want to experience the gruelling tribulations of being a diplomat? Or do you just want to prance about in a suit? 

We know you want to. Regardless of whether that “yes” was said audibly in a large crowd of people, or quietly in your heart, HSTA may just be the place for you.

Why do we say so? What do we even do? Well, we are one of the few school clubs across Singapore that specialise in Model United Nations. (Why the complicated name then? Join us, and maybe you can help come up with one in time for next year’s CCA reviews.)

A training ground for future diplomats (lol), MUN is where 40 or so bored intellectually curious teenagers gather for three days and discuss how to resolve some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. What makes it even more interesting is that you will not represent yourself. Rather, you will be the delegate of a particular country, representing that country and fighting tooth and nail for its interests—just like diplomats would in the United Nations. As diplomats, you will use convincing argumentation and silky interpersonal manoeuvring to grapple with the subtleties of international issues and the magnitude of their implications to fight for the interests of your people. Or maybe just your regime.

Exciting, right? But if you find yourself intimidated beneath that excitement, fret not—we’ve all been there. MUN can be a terrifying experience for the uninitiated. 

What we do

And that is where we come in. We take in all who are willing to discover the world of wearing fancy suits hardcore diplomacy, and in weekly sessions on Wednesdays, from 2.30pm–5.30pm, we guide our club members in picking up skills ranging from public speaking and negotiation to resolution writing. Regular MUN simulations will also be held to provide a safe environment for budding MUNners to familiarise with the often alien, and certainly terrifying, experience of an actual MUN. No fear even if you know nothing about these world issues—with a group of well-informed seniors and the help of content lectures, you’ll have all the support you need to become a wise scholar of the world!

RMUN

The Singapore MUN circuit’s high academic standards and constantly innovating debate styles have long since been of renown. Indeed, one of our alumni proudly claims it as “the best in the world”: the quality of the conferences in Singapore is applauded not only by local delegates, but also by friends from all across Southeast Asia.

We are proud, then, to say that we have been a part of this community since its earliest days, by organising the annual Raffles Model United Nations (RMUN). With an illustrious history spanning almost three decades, RMUN was Singapore’s first MUN conference and remains a respected bastion of academic rigour and professional conduct. Every member of the CCA is involved in the organization of RMUN—it not only helps us gain experience of the inner workings of MUN, but also gives us the precious opportunity to organise large, inter-school events with close to 400 participants. If that sounds interesting to you, joining us will be a great opportunity to start!

Who should join HSTA

Despite having “History” in its name, taking the subject is not a requirement to join HSTA! Neither, contrary to popular belief, is MUN experience. Many illustrious past members joined HSTA with no experience, and went on to do great things. You can be one of them too! 

We are simply looking for intellectually curious individuals who are interested in current affairs, willing to learn, and not afraid to share their opinions. Our trainings are targeted at beginners and battle-scarred veterans alike—there will always be new things to learn about the MUN circuit. 

So, if you have a desire for world domination the above traits, do come down to our CCA booth to check us out!

By Valerie Tan (20A01E) and Coco Liu (20S06L)

This week, Year 6s across the island breathed a sigh of relief. As they put down their pens and closed the booklet of their last ‘A’ Level paper, they were also closing this chapter of their lives. And they might be asking: what next? While some may be looking forward to travelling or simply enjoying their free time, others might be looking into getting a job or an internship. And where else to find one than in their very own school as a teacher?

We interviewed Chung Sohyun (18A13A) to find out more about her experience relief teaching Economics.

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I took HELM (History, Economics, Literature, Maths) and GP in the Humanities Programme! My CCAs were RJ Fencing and Press.

How did you get into relief teaching?

I was texting my Economics tutor a few weeks before my A Levels to discuss some questions and she randomly asked me if I was free for relief teaching! I decided to relief teach as I wanted to try teaching my juniors while earning some money.

How was the relief teaching experience?

I really enjoyed relief teaching! I was blessed with great classes (20S03I, 20S06E and 20S02A) and supportive Economics teachers who went the extra mile to help me. The whole experience provided me with an insight into a life as a teacher and it is not easy! I only had to prepare and deliver my lessons, but other teachers usually have a lot of admin (e.g. CCA, CT, etc.) to attend to as well. Because they dedicate so much time to the students’ learning, I think it takes a lot of love and pain to be a teacher. 

As all teachers would probably agree, I didn’t enjoy marking at all. It is very time-consuming to go through every single script in detail and some students have handwriting that I could not make out. Please write legibly!

What I loved the most about relief teaching, though, was the sense of fulfillment I got after stepping out of a class, knowing that I managed to teach my students something. I also had the privilege to use the clean staffroom toilet and staff lounge where I took a lot of fruits from and heated up my food in the microwave.

The most challenging part for me was engaging the class. Honestly, it would be easy for both me and the students if I were to flash the model answer and ask them to copy it, but that doesn’t actually make the students think, and it would just be a mini lecture. So for me, getting the class to contribute and building onto their ideas instead of giving every answer was the toughest aspect of relief teaching.

How did you do it in the end? Was there a method that you found could really engage students?

At first I called on individuals, but because it put them on the spot, there would be an awkward silence… I think it worked when I gave them time to discuss with their friends before I asked each group/individuals to contribute!

How did you start out preparing your lessons; what was the process like?

The department decides which questions to go through by which week, and I plan what to cover based on that. As for individual lessons, I’ll do my own “suggested answer” first. I used to rely on slides but there was too much copying and no listening, so I switched to writing on the board based on what the students brought up. After I gathered their responses, I would correct their misconceptions, build onto their points, and insert what they have missed out.

Now that you’ve experienced being a teacher, is there anything you would have done differently as a student?

I think that as a student in class, I was attentive and hardworking so I believe I was respectful towards my teachers. But some things I should have done better are talking to my teachers more, showing my care for them, and making some interesting memories outside of classroom!

What was your favourite moment (if any) in your time teaching?

I was teaching at 20S02A and one of my students wanted to ask me a question but he called me “Madame” super loudly! The whole class couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes.

Do you have any advice for students aspiring to be teachers?

I would advise them to 1) be prepared that it is going to be challenging, 2) be open because there are so many things you can learn from your own students and other teachers around you, and 3) be approachable so that the students can also come to you for things beyond acads and treat you as an adult they can rely on!

What are your plans in future? Are you considering teaching full-time?

I hope to be a good mentor to my juniors but I don’t plan to be a teacher! I am definitely not patient enough, and I think I’ll get frustrated if I try hard but the students don’t care at all :( I am studying law so I plan to practise for a few years after I graduate :)

By Raffles Symphonic Band EXCO ’20

When you hear “band”, what do you think of? Words like “instruments”, “concerts” or “music” may come to mind, but here at Raffles Symphonic Band (RSB), band is not just a group of people who sit down and make sounds with their instruments. Rather, our band cymbal-ises a close-knit community of people whom we can always count on. 

Being on the opposite end of the school campus over at the Y1-4 side, it might seem inconvenient to trek across the school to get to the band room where we have our CCA sessions. However, every cloud has a silver lining—the joy we get from seeing each other and practising together after an intense day of lessons makes the long walk worth it. Open practically everyday, the band room is also a place for all of us to chill and hang out: we practice, do homework, and even catch up on lost sleep at the Cozy Corner. It is literally our second home!

On Wednesday and Friday afternoons, we come together to plain black notes on pieces of paper to life under the baton of our resident conductor, Mr Lim Yean Hwee. To complement our regular combined sessions with Mr Lim, we also have sectionals with our respective tutors as well as masterclasses conducted by professional clinicians! All these sessions ensure that we are adequately equipped with the skills needed to become better musicians and in turn, foster a deeper appreciation and joy for music-making. 

What makes us special is our series of annual concerts—we have not just one, but two: A Tempo in May and Bandemonium in December! With a challenging and captivating musical repertoire, our two concerts never fail to draw crowds every year, be it musical aficionados in Singapore’s band community or just fellow Rafflesians wishing to support their friends in RSB. A Tempo, being our main focus, has always been a gruelling but indisputably fulfilling experience for RSB members. Just this year, A Tempo XXVIII: Britannia treated a 700-strong audience to a selection of music of various genres, including the enduring band classic The Year of the Dragon! Our year-end concert Bandemonium, by contrast, is more light-hearted, with our repertoire consisting of several crowd-pleasers and familiar tunes such as Christmas classics and pop hits. It’s also special as our alumni and potential future RSB members (hopefully you!) are invited to join us as guest players. 

Apart from concerts, another event we hold is our annual Tune-In. Tune-In is a day event open to Secondary 4 students from bands all over Singapore. Held after the ‘O’ Level examinations, Tune-In promises to be a memorable and fulfilling day lined up with many fun-filled activities. For reminiscent students interested in reliving their band experience, this is the perfect opportunity for such musicians to be reunited with their instruments. Tune-In is an event for these students to unwind after the wearying months of preparations for their national examinations. This year’s Tune-In will be held on 18 November and we’re hoping for a lively turnout!

That’s not all! Overseas exchange programmes are an integral part of every RSB member’s band journey, giving us the rare opportunity to experience new cultures and to learn from passionate like-minded individuals, while making new friends along the way. Just last June, our band visited Osaka, Japan and interacted with local bands from Konko Osaka High School and Settsu City Junior High School. Trips like these truly provide us with the time and opportunity to forge everlasting bonds with each other, effectively giving us an unforgettable and meaningful once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

Of course, RSB is much more than just these events! RSB prepares for other events too such as Farewell, Band Camp, and other school performances. Throughout the year, we hold multiple informal gatherings like chalets, batch outings and our usual band dinners after band practices. Amidst the rapid pace of JC life, these moments spent together are a much-needed breath of fresh air. The memorable experiences we share, as we band together in this close-knit family, are ones that we’ll look back on fondly in the years to come. 

And lastly, auditions! They will consist of

• Scales (up to 3 sharps and flats)
• Sight-reading
• Interview 

Do let us know if you need to borrow any instruments for the auditions. We’re looking forward to seeing you there! 

By ODAC Exco ’20

Picture this. You’re walking through a lush, green forest one sunny afternoon. It’s quiet out; all you can hear is the soft rustling of leaves overhead and the crunch of dirt beneath your feet. Sounds like an ideal afternoon? Then the Outdoors Adventure and Activities Club (ODAC) might just be the CCA for you!

For those who are looking to get outdoors for some fun, ODAC has it all. As a CCA, we take part in a myriad of outdoor activities ranging from hiking and cycling to even overseas expeditions. Through these activities, we ultimately aim to instil in each Odacian a sense of respect for oneself, others, and the environment. It is also through these shared experiences that we are brought together to form a close-knit family.

Being a non-competitive CCA, we have a few key milestones that every Odacian has to go through. Each milestone serves as a goal for Odacians to work towards.

Firstly, we have the Basic Training Camp (BTC). This is the very first outdoor camp that is usually held at Pulau Ubin for the incoming Y5s to orientate them to our CCA. It is where they’ll get to hone their tent pitching and outdoor cooking skills, as well as bond with their batch mates.

Secondly, we have ODAK (Outdoor Adventure for Kids), a community outreach programme that is organised by Odacians. During this VIA opportunity, we partner with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled Singapore (MINDS) to bring special needs children on a day out for them to have fun and enjoy the outdoors!

Our third major event is Gear Up, a school-wide cycling event organised and facilitated by Odacians. During Gear Up, participants cycle 55km throughout much of Singapore, with the chance to see some amazing views! No doubt, completing this event is no easy feat, but it’s definitely worthwhile and enriching.

In June, we have our first overseas expedition trip to Malaysia. In 2019, we went to Mount Ophir in the Gunung Ledang National Park located in Tangkak District, Johor, Malaysia. During the June expedition, we got to do activities such as waterfall abseiling, river scrambling, as well as trekking on unfamiliar terrain by hiking up Mount Ophir.

Shortly after the June Expedition, ODAC hosts an alumni annual recall event, Odacia, where senior batches from ODAC return to interact with their juniors and new Odacians. It’s a chance for the ex-Odacians to reminisce about fond memories and for juniors to discover more from the seniors’ experiences.

In December, we have our second overseas expedition, the highlight of every Odacian’s journey, and a chance for Odacians to challenge themselves. Over the course of the year, Odacians train hard and plan for the expedition. In 2019, we went to (to be continued)

Our CCA sessions are held on Mondays, 4.30pm–6.30pm and on Wednesdays, 2.30pm–6.30pm.

On Mondays, we have training sessions where we do physical or skills training and games to prepare us for our treks and overseas expeditions. Besides just improving our fitness, we learn many outdoors skills too. Soil turfing, outdoor cooking, knot tying and fire starting are just some of these skills! They play important roles on our expeditions.

On Wednesdays, we usually head out of school to do fun activities like trekking and cycling! We have explored many picturesque spots in Singapore, from the well-known Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to Coney Island, and to lesser known trails such as the Pipe-A-Pipe trek in Marsiling. We have trudged along many nature trails and urban treks, and had the most unique experience of walking along the pipes that transport water from Malaysia to Singapore during the Pipe-A-Pipe trek. Join us and you’ll get to explore the many hidden gems our little red dot has to offer.

The nature of our CCA entails our members to have quite a high level of commitment. Hence, interested students should avoid signing up for enrichment programmes that have overseas trips, as well as other CCAs with clashing CCA sessions, which includes Students’ Council. Additionally, interested students should take note that joining our CCA might involve substantial costs such as costs for specialised equipment and overseas trips.

So if you’re looking for a challenge, for friends you can count on, and for unforgettable memories, then consider ODAC. We aren’t looking for the fittest person, or the most knowledgeable outdoor enthusiast. We’re looking for the thrill-seekers, those willing to go the extra mile for others, and those who strive to give their all in everything they do.

Adventures are where we go together.

By Zhang Yihan (20S03B), Chairperson, Saniyah Haider (20S06M), Vice-Chairperson, and Sun Zhongchun (20S06T), Welfare Head
Photos by Leong Sheu Wen (19S06S), Vice-Chairperson ’19

Do you have a passion for art but fear that the hectic JC life will leave you with no time for it? Does the love for art flow through your veins without someone to share it with? Well, fret not! We have a solution! Every Wednesday from 2.30pm to 5.30pm—that’s right, three whole hours every week!—Art Club holds its sessions for like-minded individuals to come together in the name of art.

Here in Art Club, we believe that every medium of art is important. This is why we have sessions dedicated to learning and experimenting with different art mediums and techniques. Examples of what we have dabbled in include ink painting, watercolour, digital art and character design, cyanotype, figure sketching, logo design and even simply doodling. Knowledgeable instructors are often brought in to provide us with the best guidance possible. Furthermore, we have critique sessions, or simply sessions for people to share their thoughts and ideas. We strive for improvement in all our members through promoting a safe and comfortable environment within the CCA where “mistakes” are not frowned upon, but celebrated instead. As Bob Ross once said,”We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”

Members of the CCA can also look forward to excursions such as our recent trip to the National Gallery, where we got to view the art of professionals in the industry firsthand and gain valuable experience of various art forms and styles.

But Art Club does not stop there. Alongside artistic self-improvement, we also value service. As such, we contribute greatly to the school. Be it designing logos for school events, doing up banners, or illustrating for the canteen and Hodge Lodge blackboards, we always ensure that the work we produce is of utmost quality. Additionally, we have collaborated with other CCAs such as Raffles Entrepreneur’s Network (REN). We even have plans to paint a mural for the school in the near future.

Some members have also taken part in VIA projects sourced externally to teach children art, and the club is also currently planning for a weekly VIA project in collaboration with an external organisation. 

So, if you love art and are looking for a positive environment where you can share your passion with others, try out different mediums, and be mentored by professionals, then Art Club is the place for you!

If you are interested, do check out our official Instagram account, @rafflesartists, or come visit our booth during Open House! Booths at Open House would introduce you to the variety of CCAs in Raffles Institution and you can also learn about more details regarding our CCA trial. While you need not be very experienced in art, a portfolio is recommended for trials. Hope to see you there! 

By Charmaine Tan (20S03A), Megan Khoe (20A01E), and Zitin Bali (20S06D) 

We’ll be honest. There will be flying balls that you occasionally get hit by. There will be times when you get stepped on by studded boots. And there most definitely will be times when you start training with a white jersey but go home in a brown one. But there is no greater satisfaction than the sound a football makes as it finds its way into the back of a net or the dumbfounded expression of an opponent when you execute the perfect tackle. 

As a developmental sport in RI, most of us, if not all, started from ground zero, so you need not worry about your prior experience or current fitness level. As our coach often tells us, fitness can be trained. More importantly, what we lack in experience, we compensate for with hard work, a burning desire to achieve our goals, and primarily—camaraderie. In our team, we are a family united by a common love for the sport and our teammates; pushing each other to reach the best of our abilities. Our trial consists of simple tests on your ball handling skills—dribbling, shooting, etc., but we are essentially looking out for members with an open mind, a willingness to learn, as well as wholehearted commitment.

If you love the sport and have thought of going far together with a group of 17 other girls that you will soon come to love as family, then maybe, despite the scorching heat, aching muscles and hours spent, you will find this experience worthwhile. Our training consists of Physical Training on Mondays (4.30pm-5.30pm), and Ball Training on Tuesdays and Fridays (4.30pm-7.30pm). This is by no means an easy commitment and there are days where you will be too exhausted to deal with that pile of homework after returning home from training, but what you will learn is that commitment and dedication go a long way, and it is the small sacrifices that matter the most. 

Being in Soccer Girls is nothing less than an enriching experience: there are times when we exuberantly rejoice over our first win and there are times when we are overpowered by the bitter feeling known as failure. We recently suffered a horrific defeat and we won’t lie to you—it hurt. This is when we, as a team, learn not to give up on working harder, and most importantly, not to give up on each other. We have a long way to go and it is never going to be easy, but we hope that at the end of our journey we can leave the field with no regrets. Soccer is a team sport, where you learn that everyone has a role to play, and that no matter how good a player you are individually, when you get swarmed by the opposition team, you know that you need your teammates there with you. If one person in the team does not put in effort, everyone else will have to make up for it, so eventually you will learn to work hard not just for yourself, but even more so for the team. 

Though the tough trainings and the commitment may seem daunting, you can be sure that you’ll have a strong safety net of support that you can fall back on: the coaches and teachers who never fail to guide us and care for us and our studies, who spend hours standing under the scorching sun with us during trainings, as well as your fellow teammates who will be sure to have your back both on and off the field. The friendships you will forge in this CCA will be some of the most precious and strongest ones out of your journey in JC, and the memories you will make will definitely stay with you far beyond your school days. The times when we fell to the ground laughing at silly mistakes we made, or when we pushed each other on through gruelling physical training are some that truly bond us as a team and make up the real experience of being in Soccer Girls.

Perhaps the most important thing you can take away from your time here is that putting your best into every training and every game is of paramount importance. Before our very first friendly, our coach told us that sometimes our efforts may not always commensurate with the outcome, but we will never lose on the field so long as we put in our all. And so, we would like to end off by quoting our coach—“Lose is okay. But must win.”

By Table Tennis ’20

Table Tennis might be an entertaining sport to catch sight of. However, beyond the spectacle of thrilling rallies lies a demanding juggling act—one in which consistent skills and mental toughness are put to the test.

In the 2019 National School Games, the RJTT boys and girls team took home the Championship titles, extending our title leads for the 16th and 9th year running respectively. The road to our victories, however, is never smooth sailing. Year after year, we continue to strive for excellence with the determination and fighting spirit that our seniors have displayed. 

To hone our skills, we train at the Gymnasium on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Monday and Friday, training is from 5pm to 8pm, and from 2.30pm to 5.30pm on Wednesday. Table Tennis requires a lot of maturity in thinking of strategies during gameplay, and thus one can expect frequent internal friendly matches with teammates and juniors from the RI and RGS schools. Through these matches, we gain exposure to players of different styles and further improve upon our techniques. 

In trainings and matches, our coaches and teachers (Mr Chan, Ms Lin, and Mrs Ng) guide us through advice and feedback, helping us to improve and reach our goals. Moreover, our past batches of seniors often come back to train and bond with us.

At Raffles Table Tennis, we are one big family, supporting and spurring each other on through highs and lows. It is a common sight to see players from all divisions training together in the gymnasium at the Y1–4 campus. This is one of the iconic features of our CCA—we work hard together especially during competition seasons to bring the Championship titles home. 

The support from our coaches, teachers, alumni and parents and teammates is what makes the experience at our CCA unique and unforgettable. Moreover, it is during competitions where the Rafflesian spirit is exhibited, where players shout the raffles cheers loudly, and compete like true Rafflesians, never giving up.

If you are determined to challenge your mental capacity and break past your physical capability, the Raffles Table Tennis team welcomes you with open arms. Do consider joining our family, and we will make your JC journey a fruitful and enjoyable one!

By Raffles Judo   

Into WWE?

Judo is probably the closest thing you can get to this, except not as violent and with different rules applied. However, you still get the same adrenaline rush of flying through the air or flipping your opponent (most of the time, your friend) and hearing that loud satisfying “PIAK” on the mats.

However violent flipping someone may seem, judo practice is actually quite the contrary—judo is all about gentleness and using others’ brute force to your advantage. Though trainings are tough and strenuous, a big perk is that they are conducted with air-conditioning. We train with RI from 3.45pm to 6.15pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, and 8am to 11am on Saturdays! 

Raffles Judo, or RAJU for short, accepts anyone of various sizes: be it short, tall, big, small, strong, or weak, or whether you have experience or not. The competition has many weight categories, ranging from under 48kg to even above 100kg, so everyone fights against their own size!

Most of the Batch ‘20 judokas are at least a brown belt in a martial art (low-key flex. #sopro), but most of us are only white belts in judo at the moment. So if we can do it, you can do it too! Experienced judokas are most welcomed to help teach and guide the beginners, and to bring glory to our school. However, as we put aside our different belt colours, we still care for and support one another. There aren’t many of us, so we are a closely-knitted family.  

Judo is filled with a diverse variety of people, ranging from different skill sets to different physical abilities. It is precisely because we are a mix of individuals with different and unique personalities that we are so bonded (or it may also be our 3 days per week training schedule *cough cough*). But we all also have one thing in common—we like to fall. 

Judo may seem intimidating as you have heard from others, or when you step foot into the Gymnasium and hear ‘AHHHHHHHHHHHHH’. This may deter you from joining Judo as you may think that there are many injuries involved and pain inflicted. But fret not! At the very start of every Judoka’s adventure, ‘ukemi’ aka breakfalls are taught and with the guidance of our highly experienced coaches, Sensei Low Chee Kiang (SEA games silver medalist) and Sensei Tan Yi (SEA games bronze medalist), as well as our captains Kom Hwee Ru and Goh Jun Wei (Future SEA games medalists), you’ll soon be flipping people as easily as you flip your pancakes at home! For example,

On a serious note, the most important thing in training is to keep a proper posture and presence of mind, and to use the body in a natural and reasonable manner when carrying out movements and actions. Opponents can be defeated more easily when the balance of the body is lost. When these two principles are put into practice in the judo contest—such as how to deal with the opponent’s power when applied upon us—flipping our opponent for the ippon is a piece of cake. 

Another largely important aspect of judo is courtesy. Courtesy is the formal manifestation of the spirit of respect, where we recognise the dignity of another’s personality. In other words, it is the spirit of living in harmony with one another. In a judo contest the contestants should face each other in the proper posture, looking properly at each other and using moderation in their actions. They are thus are in a state of harmony in which they never set each other at defiance. Therefore, it is taught that exercises in judo should begin with courtesy and end with courtesy, such as bowing before stepping onto the mats and to your training partners before randori (sparring) and shiai (competition).

All in all, Judo is a family. More well known as the RAJU family, we have each other’s backs, be it in training or in school. We always support each other no matter what, for we are a band of brothers and sisters, brought together by flipping each other 3 times a week.

Bonus flex from our coloured belts!

By Chess 

As Magnus Carlsen, the reigning champion of International Chess once said: “Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.”  

At Raffles Chess Club, we embrace the philosophy of appreciating and enjoying the game. We all want to win, but what good is the trophy if none of us enjoy it? Unlike most other competitive CCAs, we are open to both beginners as well as seasoned veterans who are looking for an environment to challenge themselves.  

For some, enjoyment means an intense game with high stakes, while for others, it means a leisurely game where both sides advise each other on the moves. Despite the differences, we all look forward to training sessions, be it to relax and have a friendly spar with friends, or to push ourselves to be better players. 

Our training sessions are held every Wednesday from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. We usually have coaches for both International Chess and Chinese Chess, who provide invaluable guidance in honing our skills. Although sessions are short, we learn a lot, both from the coaches and from our friends. That being said, most of our members do take time to practice outside of CCA and it is not uncommon to find us staying back after training hours. 

Despite chess being a single-player game, we still focus heavily on teamwork. During our training sessions, we discuss various positions and tactics with one another. Members also frequently observe each other’s games to give advice and support. As a team, we openly contribute without judgement so that everyone is able to learn and enjoy the process. Members are also free to rotate between Chinese Chess and International Chess. As a testament to our closeness, you can see our happy faces in the picture above! :D 

While we may be considered rather laid back, we also leave plenty of room for competitiveness and ambitious goals. Chess Club takes part in many tournaments every year; March and September are especially exciting and the most thrilling, during which we participate in the National Schools Individual Chess Championships and the National Schools Team Chess Championships, the two largest chess tournaments in Singapore. 

We also hold our very own annual Raffles Cup for Chinese Chess with over 30 years of history, as well as the Raffles Chess Championships for International Chess. They are both held concurrently in early May and we invite many other secondary and tertiary institutions to pit their wits against one another. In 2019, we achieved 1st place in the tertiary section of International Chess and 3rd place in the tertiary section for Chinese Chess.

Members of Chess Club are also given various opportunities to represent RI in many other tournaments, in addition to the National Championships mentioned above. You are completely free to choose which tournaments you wish to participate in; the only requirement is that you compete in at least two competitions before graduation, ensuring that all members have some level of exposure to what it is like to play Chess seriously at a high level and are given opportunities to represent our school. Moreover, all competition fees are fully paid for. All tournaments that you participate in, including self-sourced competitions, are given due recognition under your Raffles Diploma for representing the school. 

Are you an experienced player looking for a challenge? You’ll certainly meet other competitive players and be challenged in Chess Club. Or are you new to chess? As long as you are interested and willing to learn, you will definitely be able to pick up the game quickly with the support of your peers, and more importantly, have fun. 

If all these sounds like something you want in your JC life, come and join us, and be a part of the photograph below!

By Jenna Ong (20S07A), Captain, and Adhithya Raja (20S06F), Vice-Captain

Love badminton but not sure if you can make the cut for the school team? Want to exercise but not ready for the commitment in a Sports CCA? Or just looking for a new skill to pick up? Here in RI, we have the perfect balance of exercise and chill, a CCA where you can choose your own pace of learning, where you can meet up with friends and destress once a week—Recreational Badminton (RecBad).

Joining RecBad means making the most of your CCA time to take a break from hectic JC life. With an activity framework that allows you to boost your endorphins (and does not require you to work your brains!) yet is leisurely enough that you won’t have to go home fatigued, it’s no wonder that many of our members enjoy coming for CCA.

RecBad meets up once a week on Wednesdays from 2-3.30pm to train at the MPH. There are      no fixed regulations and what you do during CCA is mainly up to you—you can choose to play singles, doubles, or if you are feeling adventurous, even quadruples! If you want to try something crazy, you can even practice your dual-wielding skills or funky serving styles (we won’t judge!), or attempt to synchronise your hits with the tempo of the speakers blasting pop music in the background. Being a self-directed CCA also means that there is no gruesome PT! Jokes aside, we also often share tips and tricks amongst the batch, so be ready to learn some new skills each week to put into action in your next match :))

RecBad prides itself as the largest and most diverse sports CCA: everyone is welcome regardless of skill level as our only criteria for joining is interest. From badminton gods that can leave you breathless, to newbies who have never touched a racquet before—with almost 60 people in a batch you are guaranteed to be able to find a perfect match for your skill level. Badminton being a team sport, no one has to be afraid of not knowing anyone when you enter—all you need to do is to pick up your racquet and you can immediately join a match and make friends! Furthermore, as a recreational CCA, everyone is very supportive and you would often hear “nice hit!” or “good try!” echoing throughout the hall. The friendship between batchmates extends beyond just CCA: it is a common sight for many members, strangers at first but having gotten close, gathering for lunch and hanging out outside of training hours.

Once a year, we put our skills to the test by competing against Anderson Serangoon JC in a friendly match. This is a much-anticipated event that we all look forward to each year. Regardless of the outcome, our seniors can definitely testify that it was a fun and valuable learning experience! Members of our CCA can also look forward to other events like bonding camps, games sessions, and extra (optional) badminton sessions outside school.

The ecstasy of holding a good rally, the joy from smashing shuttlecocks into the ground, the way your face lights up with glee when your friend hits the shuttlecock out of the court… indescribable.  Why hesitate? All you need is a racquet and yourself for an hour and a half of fun, entertainment and gratification. Sign up now and we will see you there!

By Jerlynn Chia (20S03D), Chairperson, Karis Ma (20S03C), Secretary, and Ding Wenjun (20S06J), Treasurer/Wardrobe Mistress

Raffles Modern Dance is a tightly-knit family consisting of dancers who train, perform, and grow together. Though many enter with the sole goal of honing dance skills and performing on-stage, everyone eventually leaves with long-lasting friendships and a sense of belonging found nowhere else.

Under the tutelage of our resident choreographer, Mr Goh Shou Yi, our dancers grow into confident and creative individuals who are both team players and able performers. Through learning specific exercises and choreography, we reconnect with our bodies, and hone this ability to communicate ideas, feelings, and experiences. 

A CCA largely focused on contemporary dance, sessions usually begin with a quick warmup and strength training routine before moving into practice of set exercises, choreography for upcoming performances, and even free improvisation sessions, all with the end goal of training aware, thinking dancers. But fret not, for fun is always to be had in each and every session, be it by our coach’s rather wry sense of humour, a quick joke by a batchmate, or a chorus of encouraging shouts for a fellow dancer! 

Modern dancers also have various performance opportunities every year, including Teachers’ Day and Open House. For 2020, Modern Dance will be putting up our very own showcase, featuring pieces choreographed by not only our coach, but each and every CCA member. This allows you to not only develop a choreographic vision, but also step into the shoes of a professional dancer cum choreographer in producing a piece for all to see.

Our CCA sessions are held twice a week on Monday (4pm–6pm) and Wednesday (2.30pm–5.30pm). Nearing performances, practices will be lengthened and increased to three times a week, with the additional practice day being on Friday. 

If you feel intrigued by what Modern Dance has to offer, here is the information on our auditions! Everyone is welcome to sign up, including male students, and no prior dance background is necessary. With auditions consisting of learning a couple of short routines, and finally an improvisation section, dancers will be selected based on their ability to pick up choreography quickly, and overall performance and bodily awareness. (For the concerned, flexibility is definitely not a must, as contemporary dance emphasises fluidity of motion, more so than the height of a leg!)

If you passionate about dance or just simply love the stage, do sign up for our auditions, and we look forward to welcoming you into our family!