What Makes A Young Champion?

Written by Raymond Tay on August 13, 2010 – 2:58 am -

I am very excited to share with you this marvelous event that I have attended on 7 & 8 August. This forum discussed about “What Makes A Young Champion?” and it is organised by National University of Singapore (NUS) and The University of Sydney, Center for The Mind @ NUS, University Cultural Centre. The delegates are students from Secondary Schools, Polytechnics and Junior Colleges. The Creator of this forum is Professor Allan Snyder, director of Center for The Mind. I am very impressed of the chosen speakers (a.k.a. Young Champions) and delighted to listen about their successful stories and how they view champions or life. Let me introduced some of them to you:

Bambang Reguna (aka Bams), Rock Star, 27
Indonesian

Bams is the lead singer of popular Indonesian band, Samsons, which has gained a wide-spread popularity due to their squeaky clean image. Apart from his musical inclinations, he is also the ambassador in Indonesia in the campaign against drugs and narcotics abuse and delicates time to many social causes.

 

Caroline Bird, Writer, 24
British

An up-and-coming young writer, Caroline has published two collections of poetry and six plays, garnering numerous prizes. Her work has been published regularly in PN Review, Poetry Review and The North magazine and has been broadcast on BBC Radio. In her spare time, Caroline conducts poetry workshops for other aspiring writers from primary and secondary schools in England.

Listen to her poem:

Johnny Strange, Mountaineer, 18
American

Climbing Antarctica’s Mount Vinson at twelve, Johnny became the youngest person to ever scale the Seven Summits on the seven continents. Advocating the message to stop genocide from the top of Mount Everest, Johnny combines his passion for climbing with calls for social change.

Leanna Archer, Entrepreneur, 14
American

At nine, Leanna founded her company, Leanna’s Inc, producing all-natural hair products, and she hasn’t looked back since. Today, Leanna’s Inc grosses over $600,000 a year and Leanna has been featured on numerous television shows including NBC’s The Today Show, Fox News and MSNBC. In her free time, Leanna also dedicates herself to social causes. In 2008, the Leanna Archer Foundation was set up to help provide schooling, food and other support to Haiti’s underprivileged children.




Louis Barnett, Chocolatier, 18
British

Having dropped out of school at eleven due to learning difficulties, Louis soon became a licensed chocolatier who was also the youngest supplier of both the Sainsbury’s and Waitrose supermarket chains at the age of fourteen. Since then, he has received Lord Carter Award for excellence in the food industry and also numerous nominations for showing promise as a young entrepreneur. An environmentalist, Louis is also actively involved in the conservation of the Chester Zoo’s Bornean Orangutan Conservation Programme.

Reese Fernandez, Social Entrepreneur, 25
Filipina

Reese Fernandez is the caring and enterprising co-founder of Rags2Riches, a social enterprise company that empowers woman who live in Manila’s Payatas waste dump by enabling them to sell their fashion products directly to retailers. These women have access to training in personal finance, health insurance and nutrition. Rags2Riches also provides mothers with the “Quality of Life” programme in which they can save a part of their income.

Besides the sharing from these Young Champions, there is also a showcase of the winning videos on “What Makes a Young Champion?”. I am happy to have a photo with one of the winners, Hannah Klassek, 19, Australian who created “Believe in Me“.

Take a look:

Ding Mingzhe, 20, Chinese, has also created a meaningful video, “A Frog’s Adventure“:

I love another video as well, by Phuong Anh Pham, 19, Vietnamese. Very touching. Title: “Marathon“.

Finally, below is a graphic representation of the entire event:

An amazing event for all esp. young people. Be inspired and be the next champion.


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Posted in Business, Community, Health & Fitness, Inspiration, Personal Success, Students, Wealth | 1 Comment »

Youngest Principal in the World

Written by Raymond Tay on June 16, 2010 – 1:24 pm -

This is a story of Babar Ali, 16 years old student from West Bengal in India. Everyday, he wakes up very early and rides on an auto-rickshaw to travel 10km to his school, Raj Govinda school. After his lessons, he shares what he has learnt with more than 800 students in his back yard for free. He began teaching his friends as a game when he was just 9.

If you are complaining about your school, teachers or homework, think of Babar Ali or the poor children who are not getting a proper education.


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Singing As One

Written by Raymond Tay on March 20, 2010 – 10:57 am -

This song, “We Are the World” (written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie) has really touched me, especially seeing so many new artists coming together to sing and call for more people to help Haiti. A person can only move a tree but a strong large team can move a mountain and do wonders. One of my favourite phrases in the song is “We are the children” as all of us should remain as kids who are willing to try anything, always making new friends and do not have prejudices about people.

Get inspired and help others:


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Giving Matters!!

Written by Raymond Tay on December 25, 2009 – 11:09 am -

This Christmas season I attended my friend’s church and watched their awesome performance about love story & the birth of Jesus. In the recent years, I’ve been spending my X’mas days in church as the origin of this festival is created by Him and I feel really peaceful & happy to join their celebration. I’m still a free-thinker and respect all religions. Just enjoy some of the Christianity’s preachings and their followers’ personal stories. At that church, they were issuing their magazines and after the service, I began to read a few articles in it.

There is an article talked about Arthur Brooks, a researcher and professor, and his book, “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compasionate Conservatism Who Gives, Who Doesn’t, and Why It Matters“. It has struck me about the benefits of GIVING.

“In terms of physical health and happiness, Brooks notes that people who give more charitably are 43 percent more likely to say they are “very happy” than non-givers, while non-givers are three and a half times more likely than givers to report they are “not happy at all.”

In addition, several large studies have also found that senior citizens who volunteer have a 40 percent lower probability of dying in a given year than people of the same age and health level.

Giving also increases personal and well as national prosperity. Pointing to a survey conducted in 2000 that controlled for education, age, race and all the other outside explanations for giving and income increases, Brooks reports that a dollar donated to charity was associated with $4.35 in extra income.

Of this additional income, $3.75 was due to the dollar given to charity. At the national level, a 1 percent increase in national giving appeared to increase real GDP by about $36 billion.”

(Adapted from The Heritage Foundation)

After reading this, we should strive to give whenever we can (esp. when somebody’s doing fundraising). It makes us feel good and let us know that we have more than enough.


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Be the STARS and Shine!!

Written by Raymond Tay on December 24, 2009 – 4:28 am -

During this month, I helped out in a life-changing Camp STARS @ Ngee Ann Polytechnic, organised by Clementi Police Division. A 3D2N camp for at-risk students. It was an unique & moving experience for me (esp. when I discovered about their lives, challenges & behaviours).

The camp started off by a talk on Social Entrepreneurship (speaker: Ms Elim Chew, Founder & President of 77 th Street (S) Pte Ltd). She shared about her beliefs and inspiring stories that she has heard of & created. By offering shopping vouchers to the students, she was able to let them realised how opportunities are being grabbed or overlooked.

Everyone has HABITS and if you take out the  ”H”, you have “ABIT”. If you take away “A”, you’ve “H  BIT”. When you throw away “B”, you still have “HA  IT”. It means you will always live with your habits, unless you took tremendous effort to change them. 

What is “IMPOSSIBLE”? It’s “I M POSSIBLE!!!“.

Sometimes we can feel down and unmotivated and there is a very interesting Fun Theory that you can apply or watch. =)


In Barcelona 1992 Olympic, which athlete do you remember? Or what is the name of any gold medalist? This is the man who didn’t win but many people will remember him. He is Derek Redmond and got a hamstring injury during his 400m race. His heavenly father helped him to complete the race.

The Camp STARS was full of powerful cheers and consisted of many students (from different schools, races & CCAs), facilitators, student volunteers & police officers.  The key activity was the Amazing Race which focused on racial harmony and different cultures’ festivals, apparels & music. The game stations are Police Post, Chinatown, Little India, Holland Village, Social Centre and Malay Village. It was my first time making a chinese dumpling and having my hands painted with hanahs. Quite fun and learn to appreciate different cultures. The students also had the opportunity to gain knowledge about investing & trading on gold, oil & diamond through a auction activity.

The whole 3D2N food were buffet and were the most scrumptious camp meals that I’ve eaten. Superb!! Great way to keep the students here.

At the reflection/sharing sessions, each students shared about their families & bad records that they had. One of the students had a single-parent and another student experienced child abuse by his father. Some students had been caught for stealing, fighting and even molesting. There was also a police officer who talked about his notorious brother who was caught for threatening a taxi driver for money and went to jail a few times. I felt a bit heartbroken & grief after hearing their stories.

Hope this camp had made them understand ”Any Action has its own Consequences“ and shared love, peace & joy amongst the people. Building friendship and support groups.


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Planning for Event or Overseas Trip

Written by Raymond Tay on December 15, 2009 – 1:28 am -

Just completed a workshop on “Safety & Crisis Planning & Management” under NUS Office of Safety, Health and Environment. It has reinforced & reminded me about the importance of safety and to think of all the necessary potential hazards that might cause risk to our event participants. Safety considerations are sometimes commonsensical but we should not take for granted. It’s better to have somebody to double check for us after we’ve given a safety planning on our own.

If you are organising an event (e.g. night cycling, sport carnival, adventure camp, expedition), you should have a separate person to act as Safety Officer (can be more than one) because as a project director, you’ll be too busy handling everything and might lose focus on safety aspect. It’s also recommended to have a Supervising Officer to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Normally, when planning any event, your organising committee need to go through three phases: Preparation, Execution and Recovery. Some important things to note will include recce trip, contingency plan and medical evacution. Indemnity form is also necessary to let participants take responsibility and protect the event organisers. However, if you neglect taking the necessary control measures, then you are still liable for any loss. Nevertheless, each & everyone of us must do our part to ensure all the activities are carried out safely.

In addition, Project Director & Safety Officer(s) should go for training on CPR & AED and borrow AED equipment for the event.

Here’s a checklist for safety planning:

1. Suitable use of Place/Venue, Sea &/or Land Route
a. Recce the place/venue, sea &/or land routes to be used during planning
b. Confirm any use of public road or places, sea lane/channel
c. Obtain relevant authorities’ official approval
d. Note & mark the hazard & risky areas due to terrain, vehicular & human traffic
e. Light condition, illumination required of the venue / stretches of route
f. Safe areas for arrival & dispersal of vehicles
g. Large area for mass assembly
h. Ease of mass evacuation & quick dispersal of crowd
i. Available covers/shelters for taking refuge from lighting & thunderstorm
j. Availability of ambulance access & casualty pick-up areas/points
k. Re-confirm the safety aspect of the place/route 2 hours before execution

2. Transportation
a. Proper & correct vehicle to be used
b. Licensed driver & driving experience
c. Familiarisation of route & danger areas
d. Carrying of load & people within allowable limits
e. Proper securing of load & bulky objects
f. Proper & suitable location for loading & unloading
g. Deployment of traffic cones & marshals
h. Use of Vehicular Rear Anti-Collision Devise / Cushion while working along
public road
i. Proper safety distance between vehicles traveling in convoy / group
j. Command, Control & Communication in dispatching, control & monitoring of vehicle convey

3. Material Handling
a. Handling of heavy load
b. Use of Material Handling Equipment (MHE) ie crane, scissor lift etc & licensed operator
c. Limitations on height & load bearing
d. Cordon & warning of MHE working area

4. Electrical Work
a. Danger of overloading of electrical power source
b. Employment of licensed commercial electricity generator, its area of
deployment, preventive cordoning & fire preventive measures
c. Safe laying, tapping down & covering of wires

5. Structural Work & Hot Work
a. Overall load bearing on the platform or structure
b. Use suitable material for construction
c. Securing of the platform & its stability
d. Engage licensed contractor & Professional Engineer certification
e. Use of proper power tools with proper license, training, proficiency & safety measures in place
f. Use of hot work eg. soldering, welding, etc with proper license, training, proficiency & safety measures in place
g. Ensure work place is clean, safe, free of obstacles, dangerous materials,
flammable materials & gases
h. Obtain relevant authorities’ official approval, if required

6. Sales or Provision of Food & Drinks
a. Engage qualified & certified food caterer/vendor
b. Obtain relevant authorities’ official approval, if required
c. Proper hygiene measures & practices in preparing food & drinks
d. Length of time between food preparation & consumption
e. Proper & appropriate storage of food & drinks pending consumption

7. Traffic Control
a. Closure of road/area
b. Employment & deployment of Safety Barricades
c. Sufficient Traffic Marshals to man the hazards & risky areas along the route
d. Traffic Marshals to wear bright colour / reflective clothing
e. Use of Safety Vests, traffic control batons & light sticks
f. Deploy Traffic Marshals at brightly lit, easily observed from oncoming traffic & safe location to manage the risky areas
g. Deployment of mobile patrol (using bicycle or motor-vehicle)
h. Command, Control & Communication
i. Obtain relevant authorities’ official approval

8. Medical Coverage & Evacuation
a. Command, Control & Communication
b. Locations & contact numbers of Medical Facilities (hospital, polyclinic, private clinic) to be used in time of emergency
c. Location of medical post
d. Availability of medical doctor
e. Sufficient number of current & qualified medics &/or lifeguards
f. Identify & employ those organisers & participants who have knowledge of first aid & CPR
g. Availability of medical equipment & supplies (including AED & Resuscitator)
h. Availability of safety vehicle &/or boat
i. Licensed driver & driving experience
j. Availability of Vehicle Commander/Assigned Personnel to accompany
casualty/victim/patient to the medical facility eg. hospital, clinic, etc
k. Recce & familiarisation of casualty pick-up point
l. Recce & familiarisation of evacuation route to medical facility

9. Weather & Its Effects
a. Lighting risk
b. Thunderstorm risk
c. Risk of strong wind & gust
d. Risk of flash flood risk near river, stream
e. Risk of potential dead fall in vegetated/forested area
f. Wet weather effect on road conditions for walking, jogging, climbing, competitive running, cycling & vehicular movement
g. Wild fire & fire prevention during dry spell/session
h. Command, Control, Monitoring & Communication

10. Hydration Plan
a. Participants’ hydration before event / activities
b. Number & location of water points
c. Supply & re-supply of water or other drinkable fluid for mass

11. Special Safety Arrangement / Instructions
a. Accounting of personnel before, during & after conduct of activities
b. Health check & declaration of participants before & after activities
c. Buddy system for participants
d. Risk of snake bite, hornet, wasps & wild animal attack
e. Risk of sudden drop in water depth (seaside & riverside)
f. Potential dangerous & high risk areas to be avoided venturing into
g. Risk of flash flood risk near river, stream
h. Risk of potential dead fall in vegetated/forested area

12. Sufficient/Special Training Required
a. Participants to receive sufficient or special training on risky activity,
performance, sports eg. mid-air flip & free fall in human pyramid
b. Enforce minimum requirement of participants’ proficiency in risky activities
c. Availability of Qualified Trainer
d. Compliance to the code of practice, established rules & regulations of
Professional Bodies in Singapore

13. Attire & Footwear
a. Proper & appropriate attire & footwear for the safe participation

14. Special Identification/Marking of Participants
a. Identification of less proficient / weaker / higher risk participants in potentially
risky event, eg, swimming, cycling, etc
b. Night marking for individuals

15. Participants’ particulars
a. Essential particulars, NOK’s contact
b. Blood Group, special medical condition & any allergy
c. Photocopy of participants’ passports or travel documents (for organized
overseas trip) for safe keeping by organizer on site & in office

16. Conduct of Briefing on the Conduct of Activities & Safety Plan
a. Briefing to cover Preparation, Execution & Recovery phases
b. Detail briefing to Organisers, helpers & Workers
c. Detail briefing to Participants


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Community Engagement Programme (CEP)

Written by Raymond Tay on December 9, 2009 – 12:05 am -

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) for Community Leaders under Ministry of Home Affairs. From this programme, I had gained a greater awareness of different religious & perspectives and got closer experience with Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on their operation. This CEP aims to maintain our social cohesion & harmony, strengthen inter-communal bonds and put in place response plans to help deal with potential communal tensions after an accident (e.g. a terrorist attack).

It was my first time stepping into a mosque (place: An-Nahdhah @ Bishan) and very surprised to know that there’s a Harmony Centre that provides venue to host events like CEP and Inter-Faith Dialogue. During the tour in the mosque, it was informative and I got to know more about Islam & Muslim culture (e.g. Prophet Mohammed, Zhen He, praying practices, meaning of halal & fasting).

There are ten religions registered in S’pore: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Baha’I and Jainism. Interestingly, the mosque has a small corner that educate people on other 9 religions.

As the selection group of people are from various religious groups and with different beliefs, we had discussions to share our views and ideas about religions and how we can help our people or the community as a leader in peace time or crisis time. An interesting concept that I’ve learnt is “Agree to Disagree” and it means we agree together that there will be moments for us to accept disagreements.

One participant shared that there were once when their Buddhist society displayed a word, “Buddhism”, using sweets to encourage students who were mugging for exams and allow them to take the sweets. However, there was an unknown person who messed up that word and used a marker and wrote “Christianity Rocks!”. This really annoyed their society and this showed an insensitive & immature act. Thus hope different religion believers will respect other religions.

In the afternoon, we had the chance to visit the Civil Defence Academy and the Chief Instructor & his team highlighted how SCDF has grown & innovated over time to provide ready & effective search & rescue operations in local & overseas. SCDF has also partnered with schools & tertiary institutions (e.g. Singapore Polytechnic) to set up National Civil Defence Cadet Corps (NCDCC) and Lionhearters to allow students to learn & be prepared for any emergency/crisis. We had a tour into their training site and experienced the heat & fire danger (esp. fire on the ceiling) in a building. After going through it, we should not be playing fire. =)

Enjoy a short clip about CEP:


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