Alumni Impact Report 2017

IMPACT REPORT

Welcome

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Introducing the TTS Foundation

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Back to Tanglin

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TTS Foundation Internship Programme

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2017 Alumni Giving Campaign

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Alumni Events

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Deirdre Lew Service Award

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Alumni Grant Updates

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Appendix: Deirdre Lew Service Award Trip Reports / Alumni Grant Trip Reports

TABLE OF

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CONTENTS

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Welcome Peter Derby-Crook

Nellie Rogers

Chief Executive Officer

Alumni Manager

Welcome to our first Tanglin Trust School Alumni Impact Report to showcase activities taking place in our Alumni and Friends of Tanglin Community. Find out who has been back to school for a host of different reasons, including as a TTS Foundation Intern, a participant on our life@university panel or National Service Q&A sessions and as a speaker either informally to groups of our Sixth Form students or more formally at events hosted at Tanglin in 2016/17. Check out our Alumni events both at School and at venues across the UK, in particular our London event which was our largest ever in 2016 attracting over 400 attendees.

Nellie Rogers

We love to hear from our Alumni and we are delighted that the majority of this report has been written by those who have benefited from a TTS Foundation grant either in the form of an Alumni Grant or a Deirdre Lew Service Award.

From China to the USA our Alumni have been exploring the world and expanding their horizons. In many instances they have been giving back to the communities they visit. We hope you will find it inspirational to read these accounts and that it encourages you to consider how you could contribute to the world we live in.

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Introducing the TTS Foundation The TTS Foundation was established in 2012 to enable exceptional opportunities for our community, including our Alumni. Key programmes benefiting Alumni are the Alumni Grant, the Deirdre Lew Service Award, and the TTS Foundation Internship Programme.

The TTS Foundation was, until 2015, funded principally by an annual donation from the School's Placement Right Programme. In 2015/16, our 90th Anniversary Year, we introduced the first fundraising campaign to the school community encouraging wide spread participation. Funds raised have enabled the TTS Foundation to sustain and grow projects. Encouraged by Alumni, in 2017 the Alumni community is now given the opportunity to donate philanthropically to the TTS Foundation.

Nellie Rogers

The three-week Giving Campaign is from 3 – 24 November 2017. Mindful that many of our graduated Alumni are still studying or career building, we are also enabling the opportunity to volunteer time to help our whole community flourish. You can find out how to give on our website. Whether offering to organise an event, submitting advice about life at your university to help our current students or volunteering your time at Tanglin, we are delighted to have your support.

Dominic Nixon

Cecilia Handel

Chair, TTS Foundation Board of Trustees

Director of Development 4

Back to Tanglin G'Day Mate...

MIRANDA WYETH (2013 COHORT) It is always a pleasure when an Alumni visits Tanglin to share with students their experiences whether it be travel, work or surviving University!

We were lucky to have Miranda Wyeth visit us and share with some of the Sixth Form students her experiences at University in Australia.

Any Questions?

SIX ALUMNI PANELLISTS In December 2016 our Sixth Form students got a chance to find out all about life@university from our six Alumni panellists who shared their experiences (both good and bad)! A huge thank you to Gaby Baxter, Oliver Katzinski, Rebecca Walden, Ellen Deely, Kim Wong and Holly Leadbitter.

For or Against?

Volunteer here for our 2017 life@university Panel

MARK GABRIEL (1993 COHORT) Last December, 50 senior student participants in the World Scholars Cup CCA attended a session about debating skills, facilitated by our Alumni Mark Gabriel (Tanglin Junior School 1983-1986).

Mark was Grand Finalist at the European Universities Debating Championships in 1999 and is now the Tournament Director of the Singapore Secondary Schools Debating Championships.

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Lights, Camera, Action!

JAVID REZAI-JORABI (2010 COHORT) December 2016 saw Javid Rezai showcase his latest short film ‘Pegah’ to our Year 12 & 13 Film & Media students. This was followed by a question and answer session about film making. Javid also caught up with Ms Palmer, Head of PPRS.

Attention!

ZEN TAN DANIEL MARJAN SCOTT PEARSON EWAN FERGUSON COLE TRANTER SEAN NOLAN SARHAN HASSAN AMAN BALI A massive thank you to these Alumni who participated in an informal Q&A session about National Service in Singapore. Your invaluable advice and personal National Service journeys are inspirational for the next generation of National Service men at Tanglin. We salute you!

Which Way? ROARKE LITTLE (2011 COHORT) Former Head Boy Roarke Little kindly volunteered to share his thoughts with our Year 11 students on taking the IB Diploma. Roarke highlighted how his results enabled entry into Cambridge and from there, commenced a career in financial services here in Singapore. He was also joined by our 2016 TTS Foundation Interns Gaby Baxter, Nico Wood-Olivan and Louise Villar who shared their A Level vs IB pathway perspectives. All round a very informative event for our Year 11 students!

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<fct><(ae*)= SOPHIA MCCALL (2016 COHORT) In February 2017 we were thrilled to welcome Sophia back to Tanglin. Sophia shared her passion for her cyber security course at Bournemouth University with our Year 12 IB and A Level ICT students. She plans on becoming an Ethical Hacker when she graduates.

Football Q&A OMAR CHAUDHURI (2009 COHORT) We were delighted to welcome former Head Boy Omar Chaudhuri to Tanglin. Omar kindly hosted a lunch time Q&A session on the fascinating world of "Football Intelligence".

Across the Pond!

PRAKRIT BARUAH & ARJUN BHALLA (2016 COHORT) A huge thank you to Prakrit and Arjun - both at University in the US for returning to Tanglin in January 2017 to talk to our Sixth Formers who are considering applying to colleges in the US.

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Double Dutch!

CHRIS OVERTVELD (2015 COHORT) A massive thank you to Chris Overtveld (2015 cohort) for sharing with our Year 12 students his experiences of studying Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft and his more general observations about studying in The Netherlands.

Y13 CAS TEDx Team The world’s first TEDxTanglinTrustSchool took place on 26th November 2016. The Y13 CAS TEDx team organised the conference on the theme “The Other Side”. Talks included “The Other Side of Sunday” (about Helpers in Singapore), “The Other Side of Being a Kid” by Alumni Dominique Schell (2014 cohort) (about resilience), “The Other Side of the World” by Martin Foakes about preserving the world’s natural habitat and “The Other Side of the Microscope” by Dr Graeme Wright (about the beauty of science). Videos of the event are available here. TEDx is taking place again at Tanglin on 25th November 2017.

Work Experience MATTHEW SEAH (2006 COHORT) The legal profession is always a popular option with our students and typically, during the Year 10 work experience week, we place around twenty students at law firms or with in-house counsel.

Matthew Seah was fortunate to experience a work placement at such a law firm when he was a Tanglin student. After completing National Service and taking his law degree at Nottingham, Matt completed his legal training in London at the very same firm in which he was placed whilst at Tanglin, having the opportunity to also spend time in their Singapore office. After relocating back to Singapore in 2014, Matthew joined the firm Stephenson Harwood LLP as an associate specialising in ship financing. Stephenson Harwood LLP has been a committed supporter of our programme since its inception. In May 2017 the company provided two placements to support our TTS work experience programme and Matt shared his insights with our Senior School students.

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TTS Foundation Internship Programme Interns Inspire our Senior Students In 2017 Interns have supported all faculties in the Senior School.

Objectives of the programme are to: • Provide positive role models for our Senior School students • Create meaningful opportunities for Alumni to stay connected with Tanglin • Support our students’ transition post-graduation from Tanglin Five Alumni volunteer interns, 16 TTS Foundation interns and four students from Oxford, Cambridge and the University of East Anglia came to school in August and September 2017.

Over the course of three to six weeks, they shared with our Senior students their experiences and stories of life at university. They also supported students in lessons, CCAs and workshops related to their area of study, injecting some of the latest expertise and academic discourse into our class discussions. We spoke with five interns about their time at Tanglin and how they hope to have inspired our students.

Emily Crowe, PE Department Emily studied at Tanglin for 10 years, graduating with three A Levels in 2014. This year she completed her degree in Geography and Sports Science at Loughborough University. “I play for the England Women’s Open Touch Rugby Team and had a strong interest in working within the PE department and to pass on my knowledge to the Tanglin teams. I have thoroughly enjoyed coaching others and seeing each player develop their skills and passion. A key highlight has been the matches against other schools where we’ve really shown our team spirit. Being a student at Tanglin is incredible as so much is on offer. I would encourage all students to embrace every opportunity.”

Jack Eales, Careers Department Jack is studying Economics at Oxford University. Each year our University Guidance and Careers department hosts two Oxford interns to support our Year 13 students. I’ve been helping students to write their personal statements for university, and encouraging them to stretch themselves to make a strong application. This process should begin early and students should read around to find out which subject and course truly interests them.

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TTS Foundation Internship Programme I’ve also given an extracurricular presentation to the whole Senior School discussing the Euro from an economic perspective. This, alongside leading classes for A Level Economics, has been a completely new experience. I enjoyed being challenged by students’ questions as this helped me to understand gaps in my own knowledge.”

Caroline Daumich, Science - Biology Department Caroline studied the IB Diploma at Tanglin (2013) and has a post-graduate degree in Sustainable Aquaculture Systems and a bachelor degree in Marine Biology from the University of Plymouth. “Working with both students and teachers in practical lessons has given me an insight into teaching and learning. I hope I have inspired students by showing them that they all have the potential to help save the environment and make sustainable changes to their daily lives. If you feel strongly about something, follow it through and act on it.”

Oliver Mando, Music Department Oliver studies at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. He graduated from Tanglin with an IB Diploma in 2016. “I really enjoyed working in a real music studio and learning lots of music production techniques. I also took on new responsibilities including holding a class and making sure everything is in order when the music department is booked by student bands and orchestras. Many students asked me about choosing music as a university and career path, which I hope gave them further motivation to follow their passion and to keep practising.”

Chris Jones, English Department Chris has just started as an English undergraduate at University Collage London (UCL). He studied three A Levels and an IB certificate in music at Tanglin (2017). “I delivered mini-lectures and extended talks to different classes. I also shared my love of poetry, holding a lunchtime talk and making video-tutorials for (I)GCSE students. I hoped to show Sixth Formers that the texts they’re studying are more than just words on a page – they are powerful cultural artefacts that can tell us so much about what life was like. I encourage current students to be resourceful, explore different types of content and to make use of Tanglin’s fantastically equipped library.”

Thank you to the TTS Foundation for sponsoring 16 of these inspiring young people.

Applications for the internship programme at the start of school year 2018/19 will be published in February 2018. The Oxford intern opportunity will be published through the Oxford University Internship Office in January 2018.

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2017 Alumni Giving Campaign We are keen to strengthen the connections within our community as well as grow and sustain opportunities for our Alumni. Hence, for the first time we are running a three week Alumni Giving Campaign (3 – 24 November 2017).

During this campaign we would love you to consider donating some of your time to help support the Tanglin community. You can volunteer on our online Alumni Giving Form. Here is how you can help: 1. ORGANISE A TANGLIN GATHERING in your city and enable the expansion of our community by connecting with more Alumni and Friends of Tanglin. Target cities are: Sydney, Melbourne, New York, LA, San Francisco, European capital cities, Exeter, Durham, Oxford and Cambridge. The Alumni team will support the promotion of your gettogether and you will receive an event pack to get you started.

2. VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME As a panel member for our ‘Life@University’ event on 13 December 2017. Ideally we are looking for Alumni who represent a range of universities, a variety of courses and are studying in different countries. Our panel volunteers will be allocated a named reserved seat at the Christmas panto on 15 December 2017.

Join our Tanglin Alumni Advisory Council and help shape future programmes. We envisage a termly meeting / Skype call as well as some input from you via email. We are really looking for a sounding board which would not take up a huge amount of your valuable time.

As a Careers Mentor and share your journey to your chosen profession with our Year 10 - 13 students at the Careers Fair on 25 January 2018 and/or help us arrange work experience places for our Year 10 students in Singapore from 7 to 11 May 2018.

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2017 Alumni Giving Campaign 3. SUBMIT A UNIVERSITY PERSPECTIVE to help our Sixth Form with their university choices.

This is an online submission which will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

View examples here

4. If you are based in Singapore or planning a trip to our little red dot, please reach out to VISIT TANGLIN and share your journey / expertise or passion with our students.

You can arrange your visit here

Check out past visitor photos here

5. Please consider MAKING A DONATION TO THE TTS FOUNDATION which funds exceptional opportunities for our Alumni including the Alumni Grant, TTS Foundation Internship Programme and Deirdre Lew Service Award.

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Alumni Events Each year the Alumni team organises several events to enable Alumni and Friends of Tanglin to connect with each other and to stay in touch with the school. The annual BBQ in Singapore in August creates an opportunity for our young Alumni to connect with our Sixth Form students. Since the majority of our registered and active community is in the United Kingdom, our largest event takes place annually in November in London. This year it's on 18 November 2017.

Additionally we have arranged for a catch-up with Alumni in Edinburgh on 17 November and Bristol on 23 November 2017.

Edinburgh Event 17 November RSVP here

Bristol Event 23 November RSVP here

REGISTER for our Alumni event in London on 18 November 2017 Click here

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Deirdre Lew Service Award

Encouraging Learning Beyond The Classroom Over the last four years the TTS Foundation has awarded 72 Deirdre Lew Service Awards of up to SGD 500 to students in Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 as well as to recently graduated Alumni. The aim is to encourage students to learn more about the world they live in, make a positive contribution and exercise responsible citizenship. Additionally the applicants learn a lot from going through this process as they organise their activity or trip entirely independently and pitch their proposal to our Deirdre Lew Service Award Panel to secure the award.

The activity is not geographically limited to Singapore, however for independent overseas trips it is recommended that a minimum of two students or Alumni travel together.

Independently organised CAS activities and self-organised NYAA gold trips with a service element are also eligible for a Deirdre Lew Service Award. Upon completion of their trip/activity the award recipients share their experiences with our students during an assembly and complete an activity / trip report reflecting on their learning. This will hopefully inspire even more students to arrange their own ‘beyond the classroom’ service activities and trips. Find out more and apply on the Alumni Community website.

To apply for a Deirdre Lew Service Award click here

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Alumni Grant Updates

In 2016/17 a total of 67 Alumni Grants were awarded by the TTS Foundation. The aim is to inspire our students and Alumni to engage with their communities and/or give back to those who are less fortunate. Over the last 12 months recipients have learnt new skills including skiing, cooking, diving, speaking Japanese and achieved qualifications in life saving, dive master, TEFL teacher, chalet cook and kayaking instructor. They travelled to countries all around the world including Mexico, Canada, Zambia, Fiji, Australia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Japan, China and India.

The grant is capped at SGD 1,000 and each applicant must get a part-time job to earn and match the requested grant amount. This job must take place after the student has left Tanglin. Last year the eligibility was increased to include Year 13 students and any Tanglin Alumni who are enrolled on an undergraduate course; during their gap year prior to starting at university; or before / after their National Service.

In selecting applications, priority is given to Tanglin Alumni who graduated from Tanglin in Year 13. Applications are pitched termly to an Alumni Grant panel and whilst a service activity or learning a new skill is optional, a strong sense of purpose or challenge makes a successful grant application more likely. Upon completion of their trip/activity, selected grant recipients share their experiences with our students during an inspirational assembly. All recipients complete an activity / trip report including a reflection about the impact on their learning outcomes linked to the Tanglin Learner Profile.

To apply for an Alumni Grant click here 15

Appendix Deirdre Lew Service Award Trip Reports 1. Volunteering at Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, Vietnam (Isabella Mansfield & Owen Lee) 2. Refugee Centre, Athens, Greece (Aneira Williams & Harry Quant)

Alumni Grant Trip Reports 3. Divemaster Course, Indonesia (Jaz Heber Percy) 4. Ski Instructor Course, Whistler, Canada (Sophie Brown) 5. Opwall Trip, Croatia (Charlotte Sansom & Emily Severn) 6. Travelling in China (Natalie Harris) 7. Varsity Ski Trip, Val Thorens, France (Laura Bossino) 8. Cooking Course, Tignes, France (Claudia Cowley) 9. Perth 2017 (Owen Lee) 10. Arvon Foundation Creative Writing Course, Wales, UK (Chris Jones) 11. Volunteering in Zambia (Jeanette Hayes) 12. BUNAC Summer Camp, USA (Saskia Hodges) 13. Backpacking in North India (Anvi Pingali) 14. Cultural Trip around Europe (Polly Garratt Langelier & Ernest Lam) 15. Trip to Eastern Europe (Daniel Mowle) 16. Inter-railing, Europe (Alyssa Claire Filippi, Sarah Divyanathan & Gabrielle Kennedy) 17. Euro Trip (Ashika Patel, Lucy Burridge, Hannah Brown, Elisabeth Bolliger & Camille Shone) 18. Euro Trip (Izzy Ingham, Maudi Broekhuis, Sophie Blower & Katrina Nielsen) 19. Coastal and Open Water Flight Training, UK (Dillon Falvey) 20. Examining Multiculturalism in California through Art, USA (Kristine Cho) 21. Exploring Mexico (Emily Black) 22. Silk Road, NW China (Joseph Rollason) 23. El Camino de Santiago (Martha Claxton) 24. Backpacking, Japan (Ryan Teo & Rishabh Chatterjee)

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Deirdre Lew Service Award 2016-17

Volunteering at Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation Isabella Mansfield & Owen Lee

Isabella Mansfield & Owen Lee (2017 cohort) received a Deirdre Lew Service Award, funded by the TTS Foundation, for volunteering with Blue Dragon in Vietnam to learn more about and have a hands on role in combatting human trafficking. Isabella and Owen were inspired to go on this trip following involvement in the 24 Hour Race in Singapore, where they began to learn more about human trafficking.

They went on this trip the summer after graduating from Tanglin.

Isabella Mansfield - My trip to Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation was one of the most life changing experiences that I’ve ever been on. Growing up in a very sheltered country such as Singapore, issues such as human trafficking and poverty are swept under the rug and instead replaced by the glitz and glamour of impressive skylines and high rise buildings. It was extremely difficult to see first hand the daily struggles that such young children have to battle through. It was heartbreaking to read about such innocent children falling captive to the hands of drug traffickers, sex traffickers and pedophiles all looking to exploit those unable to fight back. Whilst the traumatic past of some of the children cast a sad tone for most of the trip, my experience at Blue Dragon was nothing less than inspirational.

Everyday at Blue Dragon I was greeted with smiles and laughter. We spent a lot of time playing in the Drop in Centre, aimed at providing a safe environment for street kids to come in and play. Despite a slight language barrier, smiles and laughter were still shared as they continuously beat us at Uno, chess, table tennis and at our failed attempts to speak Vietnamese. It was truly inspirational to see how close some of the Blue Dragon employees were with the children, especially with those who they could not explicitly communicate with. Blue Dragon works with disabled children such as those with hearing disabilities, but it was heartwarming to see how despite these barriers they were still extremely close. I was helping to

run some makeup classes with some of the girls from Blue Dragonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Project X team which works with girls that have been rescued from sex slavery in China. Many of these girls were still extremely young, having had their youth and innocence stripped away from them. I was panicking before I left Singapore, as I was buying them makeup and I was so worried about what they might like and what they might not, but it was all irrelevant when they learnt that it was all for them. It was an experience that made me realize how easily we take for granted material possessions, although I only gave each girl less than 5 items, the gratitude they expressed was indescribable.

Overall, my Blue Dragon experience was hugely eye opening and inspiring. Although sad at times, it made me become even more inspired to fight human trafficking. My experience at Blue Dragon taught me several things, many of which revolve around importance. The importance of education, the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone and the importance of knowing where your products come from.

Owen Lee - I had previously worked with and met staff from Blue Dragon back in November of 2016. At that time I found out about all the amazing work they were doing to help child trafficking across Vietnam, and how they rehabilitated them back into society. From this, I wanted to help the charity and saw the Deirdre Lew Service Award as a brilliant way to kick start this. My plan was to use the award to pay for accommodation, flights and donations for the duration of my two week trip.

I arrived at Blue Dragon (BD) and was greeted by an incredibly friendly group of children and workers alike. I was given a quick tour around the charity building and met all the staff, who were all very welcoming. I worked alongside the communications department, and was in charge of taking photos of the children during activities and editing videos that would be then put on the charity website.

I think one of the most memorable activities was going to basketball practice with the children. They were all so excited and happy to run around and play with each other. They involved us too and despite the heat, it was incredibly worth it. They were all so fascinated by the camera and at times it would be hard to get it back off them! Of course I also had free time with the kids and spent hours playing games of UNO, chess and snap â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all of which they were very good at! For me, this was my favourite time of day at the charity as I felt so welcomed into their little community.

Whilst the trips to the charity were physically tiring, it was definitely worth the early starts and long car rides: even on the weekends we were asked to volunteer but I met a lot of teenagers our age, all who had amazing stories to tell. One boy came from a rural village outside Hanoi and has graduated university and is going to study his masters in Chemistry in Tokyo on a scholarship! We also embarked on a little outing with the kids to the local museum, which was incredibly hot given the near-40 degree heat but was once again, very fun thanks to the charity. The children have certainly made my time in Hanoi a very memorable one.

Overall, I am incredibly grateful that my trip to Hanoi was successful. It has certainly opened my eyes to future ventures in aiding people and having that interaction with the children really made me feel so thankful to be in the position I am in. Without the Deirdre Lew Service Award I would have not been able to do this â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thank you.

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Deirdre Lew Service Award 2016-17

Refugee Centre Athens Aneira Williams and Harry Quant

Harry Quant and Aneira Williams (2018 cohort) received a Deirdre Lew Service Award, funded by the TTS Foundation, for $500 each, planning and carrying out a weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work in a refugee centre in Athens during the summer between Year 12 and 13. They decided to volunteer because Aneira has a family link to Greece and they made a decision to see, first hand, the European Refugee Crisis.

Click here to view our video Our week in Athens was an enlightening experience. As students who lived far away from Europe, all we saw of the refugee crisis was what we saw on the news. After a few months the news moved on from the subject but we knew that the problem was still very much ongoing. After hearing a speech at a Model United Nations conference from an activist who spent his life travelling the world from crisis to crisis, we decided we wanted to experience travelling abroad for the sole purpose of helping someone else. The

Deirdre Lew Service Award gave us the opportunity to do just that. We had accommodation through Aneiraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family and we used the train to get to and from the refugee centre every day. There were volunteers working at the centre from many countries including France, Belgium and America. The refugee centre was a small building with 4 floors. Entering on the ground floor, the first floor had the kitchen and dining room where we worked for four of our five days at the centre. The second floor had a clothes bank, where we worked on our first day. The top floor had social and financial services and some offices for the charity managers. The clothes bank was open on Mondays for women and children and Wednesdays for men. We worked there on the Monday and were amazed at the number of clothes that were being given out. Our job was to sort the clothes out of the donation bags and put them into another room where they could be collected. It was great to see children coming in being given toys and games to go away with as well. It was hard to imagine that these people had travelled to Europe with nothing but what they were wearing. When we saw how much they appreciated getting the clothes we understood that what we were doing was incredibly worthwhile.

The kitchen was probably our favorite place to work, simply down to the ability to physically see how many people we were helping. We would prepare food, peeling and cutting hundreds of potatoes and carrots before lunch and then when lunch started we were either washing up or cleaning tables and filling up water jugs. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like we were doing anything particularly special, but on one of the days the only people who werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t volunteers were the chefs so we were very valuable in ensuring that lots of refugees got to eat. On any one day we helped to feed around 450 adults and 100 children, an incredibly rewarding experience.

It was an incredibly fulfilling experience and one that both of us would love to do again. It opened our eyes to the suffering of the refugees, the amazing work that charities around the world do and the importance of volunteers in the process. Our biggest recommendation is to plan and book everything as early as possible avoiding the stress of last minute organisation!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Divemaster Course, Indonesia Jaz Heber Percy

Jaz Heber Percy (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation that allowed her to achieve her divemaster qualification. Through the course she learnt invaluable life skills. Additionally Jaz encountered various new experiences and had to dig deep for tenacity and resilience to overcome challenges.

Having earned since 2012 thanks to an innovative small business in art, she was able to continue earning and raise the funds needed to match the grant.

Click here to view video I had decided that I was going to do my divemaster back in 2013, no matter what. I heard about the Alumni Grant and with this opportunity to apply for a substantial sum of money, it suddenly made my plan realistic. I very much doubt I could have earned enough between applying and the date on which I hoped to travel, to have been able to afford to do this solo. On top of this, I was juggling the IB monster and the general madness of life. I did it though and feel that I can take on any challenge now.

For me this experience was truly amazing and will be a time in my life that I will always reflect upon fondly especially when I just need something good to focus on. Despite the fact that Indonesia isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that far away, traveling alone is a different ball game. I love being with people but at the same time am very content

with my own company. If you are someone who needs other people to have a good time then perhaps applying for a grant with a friend would be more suitable. I was by far the youngest person at the dive centre. This meant everyone else had families and lives of their own to go back to at the end of each day.

The independence I had was great. I was up with the chickens at 6.00am every morning and needed to be at the dive centre by 7.30am each day. I didn’t take a day off all month either, as I am a bit of a dive junkie and wanted as much ocean time as I could possibly get. However, if I had wanted a day off they would be very accommodating. Additionally I found I had to learn to manage my money and organise my day making sure I ate well. All good fun though!

Skills that I have taken away from my divemaster include improved public speaking and interpersonal skills. Dealing with paying customers means my organisational skills are more polished now and I have more self discipline and confidence after having had to lead people around dive sites. I had to consider the weather and the conditions and not be an ‘IB risk taker’ when it comes to currents and downwelling, etc.

It was amazing to realise that people trusted me. Customers looked to me for information and help. Safety was my priority. I was responsible for them and the other divers to a certain extent.

What a magnificent end to my time at Tanglin. Like I said, I will always look back on this gloriously lengthy period between finishing IB and starting the Uni chapter of my life, and think to myself: Not bad… not bad at all.

So for all of you people with something in the back of your mind you fancy doing, if you can get it together and sort yourself out in time, I thoroughly recommend applying. Especially if you doing the IB as after the exams you have a lot of time to play with. Do something you can be proud of later in life and talk and rave about for eternity. TREMENDOUS!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Ski Instructor Course - Whistler, Canada Sophie Brown

Sophie Brown (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation as she was keen to acquire a new skill of becoming a ski instructor. She was already a confident skier, however she had never formally taught children before. Moreover, it was anticipated teaching would be a challenge with a diverse set of children in an unusual and potentially hazardous environment. To secure a ski instructor job in Whistler, Canada, Sophie applied through Oyster World-Wide and she also had to apply for a Canadian IEC Working Holiday Visa.

At the start of her gap year Sophie worked with young children supporting the Early Years Curriculum in a school in Amesbury, UK to earn the matching funds for her grant. Additionally, this helped her develop an appreciation of classroom management and working with young children.

Click here to view Sophieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gap year blog.

Qualifying as a ski instructor is definitely a tall order: I had never skied for a period longer than two weeks so this was a challenge mentally and physically. I began my three week level one ski instructor course in mid-November 2016 with the CSIA (Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance). There at two elements to the exam, skiing technique, which I spent two out of the three weeks working on, and teaching ability, which I spent the final week perfecting by teaching a group of peers. The course was intensive and the three day final exam was quite nerve racking!

I began teaching just before the busy holiday period on the run up to Christmas and New Year. I was given my first group of kids to teach unsupervised on the 14th December which meant I had very little time to learn the ropes of ski instructing before the ski school was flooded with three and four year olds. Although teaching is very tiring, it is extremely rewarding to see a child go from never seeing snow before to being able to snowplow to a stop.

On top of working with the kids in sessions, I had to work with the parents to make sure they were happy with the progress that their child was making in the lessons. I was also collaborating with the other instructors on planning sessions.

I lived in the Whistler Blackcomb staff housing which is located on Blackcomb Mountain very close to the lifts. The accommodation was made up of self contained flats, each having two bedrooms, a lounge, bathroom and small kitchen. Each caters for four people so I was sharing my bedroom. One meal is provided on working days and the rest is self-catering so from time to time I cooked a few easy dishes.

On average I worked six days a week, however occasionally I got some extra time off and I could free ski the mountain. Whistler has some of the best views I have ever seen, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an amazing place to live/work! I've made some great new friends here and stayed on to try for my level two qualification in February 2017.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Opwall Trip, Croatia Charlotte Sansom and Emily Severn

Charlotte Sansom and Emily Severn (2016 cohorts) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for the Operation Wallacea (Opwall) trip to Croatia. The trip’s purpose was to volunteer conservation efforts in Croatia by assisting scientists in data collection, as well as completing the PADI Open Water diving qualification. The funds were earned for this trip through a variety of ways, including working as teaching assistants in the Infant Summer Camp, waitressing for a hotel, babysitting and other casual jobs.

Click here to view the video of their trip.

Our visit to Croatia consisted of a two-week research trip with Operation Wallacea, focusing on wildlife conservation, one week spent at Krka national park and the second week spent completing our PADI open water qualification on Miljet Island. Krka national par is a stunning national park located in Southern Croatia, a remote, mountainous region with stunning waterfalls and monasteries. We arrived at a community centre in a tiny village that had been turned into a makeshift camp for the duration of the research taking place by Wallacea for the summer. We were introduced to the researchers, who were from an organisation called ‘BIOTA’, and had partnered with Wallacea to help fund conservation projects in Krka national park.

The conservation project was split into 5 different sections: mammals, caves, birds, fish and amphibians. The research assistants (us!) were split into 5 groups and each day we switched amongst the different specialists, allowing us to gain insight into all 5 areas and learn about different qualitative methods used for different types of animals. Due to the location of Krka national park, lying in the transition zone between evergreen Mediterranean and deciduous sub-Mediterranean vegetation belts, the vegetation type is widely varied and species type diverse. Some research took place in grassland, particularly when completing snake surveys, whereas fish and bird surveys took place on the low-lying wetland by a monastery next to a river and lake. Each evening we had a lecture from a researcher on their particular specialist topic. This helped further our knowledge gained from the day spent with that particular scientists.

One of the best days whilst in Krka national park was the day spent completing the cave surveys, where we entered a cave that was not open to the public. We had to trek for about 2 hours to get to the cave. We then completed transects and quadrats within the cave systems to estimate diversity of groups adapted to cave living. We took soil samples to estimate soil biodiversity and did climate tests at the entrance of the cave and inside the cave, where we discovered that there was deep lithosphere. Inside the cave there was minimal wildlife due to the harsh conditions. Nevertheless, it was the habitat for many bat colonies, thousands of which flew around the entrance. With the cave specialist we went further into the cave, where the bats donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t colonise because it is too far from the entrance. Here there is freshwater, and its level varies throughout the year. We collected samples of the insects found here, as well as the fungi and bacteria. This information will be collected throughout the summer and compiled to give an accurate indicator of the condition of the caves.

In terms of conservation research, the fish study was possibly the most interesting. There was not a wide diversity of fish species due to isolation by continental drift, and many species were endemic due to invasive species. We would capture fish and identify and measure them, then take genetic samples before releasing the local species back into the lake, but having to dispose of all invasive species, as the scientists were required by law not to release any invasive species we caught, as part of their agreement with the government to conduct research in Krka National Park. We used electrofishing and netting surveys to capture the fish. During one electrofishing trip, our group managed to catch a 7.5kg Pike, the hardest catch so far! The pike is an introduced species in the National Park and therefore we were not allowed to return it to the lake. Instead the scientists look the pike back to our field centre where it was dissected - inside there were two partially digested smaller fish. The data collected with this specialist will be used to measure the efficiency and progress of Krka National Park as it will be compared to historical records.

At the end of the week in Krka, we spent a day travelling to the stunning island of Miljet, where we stayed our stay in old army barracks, located on the side of the island that was practically untouched by tourists. Here, we completed our PADI open water diving qualification. Towards the end of the week, as we were becoming more experienced divers, we took boat trips further out, where we saw a much wider selection of fish, and other species such as starfish and a barracuda. It also meant that we were able to go much deeper, reaching the deepest depth of 18m. As we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t qualified divers for the majority of this week, we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to assist the scientists with their marine research. Therefore we had lectures everyday which taught us about the methodology and procedure of the data collection the scientists were conducting. Overall, we had an unforgettable time on our trip to Croatia. It was an amazing trip and provided the opportunity for us to learn and develop over the two weeks. It enabled a range of experiences such as assisting proper scientific research and learning to scuba dive.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Travelling in China Natalie Harris

Natalie Harris (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation to support her trip to China in July 2017. Her time there was divided into two parts. The first part was a three week voluntary TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teaching placement in Chongqing at a summer camp for Chinese students where she taught English. During this time she also earned a 120 hour in-class TEFL certificate. Natalie also took time to explore some of China. Her matched funding was earned through working part time as a waitress during her first year at university.

My one month trip to China was divided into two parts. I spent three weeks in one city teaching English as a foreign language to Chinese students whose ages ranged from six to eleven years old, before heading west to explore the stunning landscape of the Guilin Province.

Having been involved in several volunteering projects with young children over the course of my time at Tanglin, I knew I enjoyed teaching and was keen to get my TEFL qualification. Whilst teaching a class of forty could be challenging at times there was nothing more encouraging than seeing an improvement in the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s language abilities, whether that was in confidence, vocabulary or pronunciation. Mornings were spent teaching English, whilst the afternoons were filled with hands on activities like arts and crafts or school trips.

Aside from teaching, I was extremely lucky to have a chance encounter with a very kind local who owned a tea shop and this ended up giving me the most fantastic insight into Chinese culture. I spent many an evening chatting with the owner, their family and friends over cups of tea in their tea shop.

It was here that I learnt about and got to taste many different types of high-grade Chinese teas. I remember being handed a pretty little teacup and the next thing I knew, I was being taken to a pottery studio to meet its craftsman. The next day, I was given a pottery lesson by an individual that had revived an ancient Chinese style of pottery and is one of only two people in China that know how to create such pieces. My final little insight into traditional Chinese culture, was when I was given a calligraphy lesson by a local master who had been practising the art for sixty years. What was amazing about these opportunities, was that I was able to bring back a keepsake from each person (tea, a teacup, calligraphy) as a memento of my time in the city. The hospitality of the people I met is something that I will never forget.

After my time in South China, I then travelled to YangShuo in the Guilin Province. Here, I visited a six kilometre long underground cave and took a dip in the mud bath. I also spent a day cycling in the countryside. With beautiful Karst Mountains on either side of me, it formed the most stunning landscape but what was even more unique was getting a bamboo raft, with my bike, across the Yulong River. To my amazement, the raft was steered by an elderly Chinese farmer who seemed completely un-phased by the strong currents of the river or the fact that he was having to punt six people and their bikes across this riverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wide berth.

One of the best ways to see Yangshuo is on foot and so I went on several hikes. One of which was to see a sunrise and it involved leaving my accommodation at 3:30am to climb to the TV tower located at the top of the highest mountain within the city. Later on that afternoon, I hiked up Moon Hill and was presented with a spectacular 360 degree view across the province that was speckled with Karst peaks. Whilst I had a lot of fun doing all of these activities, I think the highlight of the trip had to be hiking to a secret waterfall that fewer than 100 people have visited. Getting there involved walking along a river cliff, through a forest, followed by pomelo fields before scrambling up a narrow edge and climbing up part of a retreated waterfall to reach the plunge pool. Being able to swim at the foot of the waterfall was simply amazing.

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to explore a different part of China and I am very grateful to the TTS Foundation for helping to fund part of my trip. I have had many new experiences and learnt more about Chinese culture and history, something that I have a particular interest in, whilst also gaining a TEFL qualification from the teaching. For anyone thinking of travelling independently, I would highly recommend visiting China and applying for an Alumni Grant.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Varsity Ski Trip - Val Thorens, France Laura Bossino

Laura Bossino (2015 cohort) received an Alumni Grant for her varsity ski trip to Val Thorens, France in December 2015. To raise the matching funds for her grant she worked in the Development Office at Balliol College, Oxford. She chose this trip to challenge herself to learn a new sport.

Click here to view her video.

Having lived in Singapore for most of my life, skiing was an activity I had never had the opportunity to attempt. I was extremely confused about how people are able to comfortably glide over snow with two planks of wood strapped to their feet, so I decided to apply for an Alumni Grant and give it a go.

In order to save money, I took a long arduous coach journey (20 hours) rather than flying. We arrived in the evening after a quick stop at a supermarket to stock up for the weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cooking supplies. For the first three days in the mornings I had 3 hour lessons, then a break for lunch and free time in the afternoon to meet up with my friends to ski.

We started slowly on day 1 mostly covering the basics, such as how to actually put skis on and how to stop. This proved to be a challenge because I accidentally used my friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skis instead of mine, only to find that unsurprisingly they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fit! My instructor was able to tweak the sizing so we could get on with the lessons which was great news for me, but unfortunately left my friend stranded in our room. On day 2 we graduated from the nursery slopes and floated down some green slopes and on

day 3 we attempted a blue slope as a class. By my final day of skiing I was comfortably tackling the blue slopes and also managed to just about survive a red slope after taking a wrong turn - I won’t lie, it was terrifying… but at least I can say I did it!

Skiing was so much more fun than I could’ve expected and I’m unbelievably grateful for the Alumni Grant for enabling me to have this experience. I will now have the opportunity to arrange races and challenges, in the spirit of healthy competition, between my peers at Oxford and those from Cambridge.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Cooking Course - Tignes, France Claudia Cowley

Claudia Cowley (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation to enable her to travel to Tignes, France to undertake a course to improve her cooking skills with the intention of a job offer to work as a chalet host last winter season. Claudia is taking a gap year following her graduation from Tanglin.

To raise the matching funds for her grant she worked at the retail shop Sole Trader for five months.

To begin my travels, I flew from the UK to Geneva and spent the day in Geneva whilst waiting for my transfer to the French Alps. During my visit to Geneva I visited some of the city’s most renowned landmarks including Jet d’Eau and L’Horloge Fleurie. After a stimulating day in this intriguing city, I embarked on the four hour journey to Tignes.

The second day, I began the cookery course where I learnt many valuable skills to support myself in my training towards becoming a chalet host. Firstly, we had an hour’s theory lesson to learn about safety as well as hygiene in the kitchen and to ensure that we were both safe and hygienic when cooking. Following this, we began to make our first three course meal. I learnt how to make French Onion and Curried Lentil Soup. For the main course I had a go at creating ‘Tartiflette’ which is a creamy

and comforting oven bake of potatoes, cream and bacon. My first dessert was a ‘Tarte Tatin’ which is apples caramelized in butter and sugar with puff pastry on top. It is cooked upside down and then flipped over after baking.

During the week, the trainee chalet hosts and I prepared a three course meal every day. My favourite was Pork Normandy with fragranced rice, honey glazed carrots and black pepper green beans. We also learnt how to bake afternoon tea treats such as scones and cakes which we then very much enjoyed eating!

In December 2016, I will be moving out to Val Thorens in France. I’ll be working as a Chalet Host in a Ski Resort until April 2017. Having the privilege to go on this cookery course has allowed me to gain the necessary skills and knowledge needed to be a successful host during the 2016-17 ski season. I am also pretty sure my improved cooking skills will also come in handy when I start at university next year.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Perth 2017 Owen Lee

Owen Lee (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant for his trip to Perth to explore Australia to try to get involved in ecotourism and environmentally friendly activities. He had never visited Australia before.

He earned his funding through tuition services over the past year.

I previously had not visited Australia but have always been told of the wildlife and nature that it has to offer. Since my original plan to go to the Philippines fell through due to the threat of a terrorist attack, I thought this might be a window of an opportunity to take and go an explore Perth.

I had managed to fund about $1,200 through tuition and helping out with tutoring friends and family, which had enabled me to be eligible for the grant and the money was to be used for covering living

expenses such as accommodation, food and flights. I had looked at Perth since it had a lot to offer and was the most affordable option for me to take.

One activity I found myself doing was helping out in a Kangaroo sanctuary on an island. The island was fenced off from humans and man-made pollution and provided a stark contrast from the urban landscape of Perth city itself, yet it was only 10 minutes away. Here, I had set up feeding stations for the kangaroos which provided places where they could eat so they didn’t starve during the bleaker winter season.

The area was incredibly well kept, and literally looked as if we were entering a random part of the outback: there were warning signs of snakes, we saw a huge variety of birds, fish and of course the kangaroos. It was clear to see how Perth was set up in terms of eco tourism as the strict guidelines for tourists meant that the kangaroos and other wildlife were unharmed and unfazed by the frequent, yet controlled human activity.

The kangaroos in particular, were very docile and were not afraid to be petted or played with and was an incredible experience.

Furthermore, another aspect of Perth I found myself enjoying was King’s Park. Essentially on the brink of the CBD, the park boasted a large range of botanical flora species and was one of the more impressive gardens I had visited with the workers taking great pride and care in their work. There were sections where otters and badgers could roam freely, as well as lizards and other reptiles, which truly encapsulates Australia and more specifically, Perth’s attitudes towards nature. I had wanted to visit the famous Rottnest Island, the only home to the Australian quokka’s, however due to the expensive nature (no pun intended) of the ferry ride and factoring in the average costs I spent during the trip, I was not able to go.

From the trip to Perth, I have definitely changed my outlook on tourism and how there are alternative methods for tourists to explore a place without damaging or interfering with the natural environment. I would certainly recommend students to take up the Alumni Grant - there was flexibility with the trip options and the staff in charge of the grant were incredibly helpful.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Arvon Foundation, Residential Creative Writing Programme - Wales Chris Jones

Chris Jones (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation to spend four days at the Arvon Foundation campus on the Anglo-Welsh border to work on his writing and to reflect on his time in the Sixth Form. Chris was very keen to shut off from the world and hence switched off his mobile phone and technology for the entirety of the trip. The Arvon Foundation is a British charity that works with both established and upcoming writers, providing classes and retreats in various locations, including in the Shropshire Hills.

Chris earned his matching funding through profits made through his music project, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;These Brittle Bonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which he worked on extensively during his time at Tanglin.

I am extremely grateful to the TTS Foundation for providing me with a matching grant to go on such a special retreat and to give me space to think at a very crucial time in my life. I went on the retreat just weeks after finishing my A-levels and before I had heard that my University offer was confirmed. This was a time when, like many alumni and my peers know too well, I felt in limbo – unsure of my future and even what I would be doing in two months’ time. It was extremely rewarding to take a few days out and just focus on writing amidst these anxieties.

I spent four days at The Clockhouse in Shropshire where there were three other writers (who were much older than me!). I have been writing music since I was young and writing lyrics meant that I had some experience with the written word, but I wanted to try something new and to begin writing without music, and this took the form of poetry. I had been really inspired by the poetry we studied in English A-level (many of the poets in our Anthology have previously worked with Arvon) and thus I was full of new ideas to put pen to paper. The image of the writer slaving away at their desk and producing a work of genius overnight is far from realistic and I didn’t pressure myself to finish my work in the four days I was there. I instead saw the retreat as a breeding-ground for new ideas, to get inspired and to take advantage of the gorgeous scenery and see if this found its way into my poems.

I think one of the most important things I took away from the retreat was learning the importance of switching off completely and putting all electronic devices in a drawer where I couldn’t touch them. Being alone with your thoughts is incredibly underrated, as I had the joy of experiencing during my time there.

Whilst I was not taught creative writing directly during the retreat, I took away with me a wealth of advice from the other writers who were in the residence; they spoke to me at great length in terms of how to manage your ambitions and to set yourself realistic targets to complete, pacing yourself and not beating yourself up if a creative idea doesn’t work out. I would highly recommend this programme anyone wanting to develop their passion for the written word, regardless of their previous experience.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Volunteering in Zambia Jeanette Hayes

Jeanette Hayes (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for S$1,000 to travel to Zambia with five other students from Edinburgh University, to volunteer with the Charity: Community Centre for Children and Youth Development. She helped with teaching at local schools and taught HIV awareness and prevention. Moreover she assisted with the construction of two classrooms for a Vocational Centre which the group fundraised the money for.

The charity we were working with in Zambia was founded a few years ago by our host, Alex Bwalukaa.

His aim was to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in Solwezi. This idea is very close to his heart as it is based on his own personal experiences as a child. Throughout my first year at university, together with five other students, we raised over ÂŁ9,600 to build two classrooms for a vocation center in the Solwezi district of Zambia. We went to live with Alex for eight weeks during the summer. Our main job whilst out in Zambia, was to ensure that all the money was being spent on its intended purpose and assist in the building of the two classrooms. Over the eight weeks we helped with moving bricks, brick laying, plastering and painting, whilst getting to know the vast range of people involved.

The charity also works closely with the American Embassy to reduce numbers of HIV in the north western province of Zambia. In June we went to an agricultural fair and helped out with raising awareness surrounding HIV by helping the nurses carry out tests, distributing flyers and condoms.

Throughout our stay it was really interesting to see the attitude people had towards HIV. Thankfully

an increasing number of younger people are aware of HIV nowadays due to it being a part of their education at school.

We also helped out in the local village school. Together with one of the students, I set up weekly politics classes for the students to complement the core subjects taught at school. At the school we got to observe lessons not only in English, but also in one of the local languages called Kaonde. Living in the local community gave us the opportunity to really get to know Alexâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family as we had our dinner and played with the children every night.

Their attitude towards us was always positive and welcoming. Moreover, they taught us basic skills we no longer use at home.

From this experience I have learnt so much about a completely different culture, with very different standards of normal. The people we met across the two months were always genuine and welcoming, and I still keep in contact with many of them today. I would strongly recommend to anyone thinking about doing something similar to have a go as I thoroughly enjoyed my 8 weeks in Zambia.

For further details on the charity, Community Centre for Children and Youth Development, please click here

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

BUNAC Summer Camp 2017 - USA Saskia Hodges

Saskia Hodges (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for $1,000 to gain experience to work with children in a US summer camp and quality as a lifeguard and kayaking instructor over the summer. She used an organisation called BUNAC in order to apply and get a job in the United States.

In order to earn her matching funding, Saskia spent five months as an intern in the PE department in the Senior School at TTS. She helped out in lessons and coached both netball and volleyball CCAs after school.

Click here to watch Saskia’s video of the summer.

I spent my summer at a Girl Scout camp in Maine called Camp Pondicherry. It was such a rewarding experience and I loved every second of it. I originally heard about working at a summer camp from some teachers at school and thought that it sounded like such an incredible way to spend my summer.

And what better time to do it than during my gap year.

I used an organisation called BUNAC which is a British organisation that offer various jobs, volunteer work and other opportunities around the world - from summer camps in America to volunteer work in China, Ecuador or Nepal - to anyone above the age of 18. It costs £269 without flights to apply for a job through BUNAC. The money goes towards BUNAC and their partners in the USA, CIEE, finding you a job and camp that’s right for you. I had a very informal interview with BUNAC discussing my application and the things that I had written about. Once the interview was completed my application was sent off to the USA for camps to look at.

My application was sent off in mid-November and I heard from Camp Pondicherry in March when my camp director emailed me to set up an interview. I was offered the job and then had to apply for my visa after which I was required by BUNAC to attend a meeting in either London or Manchester to go over the application process and what to expect at camp.

Finally, I headed off to the US to start camp. I met other first-timers in a hostel in Boston called Hostelling International where we had a meeting with CIEE about American laws and our social security numbers. The next morning I headed off to Portland, Maine with other counsellors from my camp where we were picked up by our camp director.

The next two months at camp flew by. The first week, Cert Week, was extremely busy as we became certified in our specific teaching areas. I was a lifeguard and head of kayaking so became certified as an American Red Cross lifeguard and qualified in Small Craft Water Safety. After another week of staff training, the kids arrived. Our camp, as it was a Girl Scout camp, was set up differently to the typical camp where they have 2, 4 and 8 week residential camps. We had four weeks of residential camp where the campers came from Sunday to Friday.

As staff members, we would get every other siesta off, one evening a week and every Saturday off.

After the four weeks of residential camp, we then had two weeks of Troop Camp and mini camps where campers would spend one, two or three nights at Pondi with their friends and troop leaders.

During these two weeks, the schedule was much more relaxed as they were able to move freely between activities.

Residential camp was hard work - there were some challenging days that I encountered along the way but I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have traded my summer for anything. I made some incredibly good friends, I felt myself grow as a person - I became more patient, more understanding and I found that I had positive effects on the children that I looked after, which is incredibly humbling. Nothing is better than watching and helping the kids improve their skills, toasting marshmallows on a campfire and singing camp songs so loud that you lose your voice.

For anyone who is thinking of applying to work at a camp I recommend you be yourself, be confident, be enthusiastic and be willing to step out of your comfort zone. I spent most of my summer on stage in front of about 100 children singing songs and dancing when I am tone-deaf and have two left feet, so make sure to be willing to not take yourself seriously! Camp is such great fun and if you do those five things youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll fit right in.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Backpacking in North India Anvi Pingali

Anvi Pingali (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation to backpack in India so that she could have the experience of independently organizing, planning and funding her own adventure abroad. This trip was a challenge and an experience neither she nor her two friends had ever had before.

She earned matching funding by working as a banquet server with a company in Singapore for over a month and then worked for a weekend at the National Gallery helping out with an event.

Click here to view her video.

Backpacking around Northern India for 18 days made for a truly unforgettable graduation trip. I went with two of my closest friends, who like me, had just completed the IB. As this was our first time travelling alone and we all live in different countries, we started planning the trip 3 months in advance. We also chose a region that two of us were vaguely familiar with, just to be safe. Each state in India is known to have its own rich culture, its own languages, food, customs and branches of religion. The country is vast and while I lived in southern India for many years, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never had the opportunity to explore the north. I knew it was something I ought to experience to find out more about my country of origin and my two friends - one from Germany and the other from Switzerland, were more than eager to explore the same.

We met in Delhi and spent a few days going around the capital. We then took a morning train down to Jaipur and found our way to the hostel we’d be staying at by auto-rickshaw. Being short for time meant that we only had a day to explore the entire city. Fortunately, at the hostel, we met two Tunisian senior college students with the same objective as us and decided to hire rickshaws to take us around the city as a group splitting the cost. We managed to see everything we wanted to see from Jal Mahal to the Monkey Temple and made it back in time to catch the overnight train to Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer was by far my favourite place to visit in the state of Rajasthan. It’s a desert city and everything quite literally glows golden under the sun, prompting its nickname The Golden City. We found that the place we were staying at was also a tour company and decided rather spontaneously to pay a little extra and spend the night in the desert under the open sky. The guide from the hostel drove us about 50km outside the main city in a jeep, stopping along the way to see old ruins and a Jain temple. We then rode camels to a camping spot and he set up a couple of mattresses as well as making us a simple dinner over a fire which we ate with our hands in the dark. There was no roof over our heads that night but we still felt incredibly safe and there was something thrilling about sleeping under the stars amongst the dunes like that.

After a quick stop back in Delhi, we flew to Leh in Ladakh, at the very tip of India. We spent 8 days there both exploring the city and state itself and trekking. The weather was completely different to that of the desert. There was an intense heat from the sun but the air we were breathing was colder and thinner. We spent a day acclimatizing to the new conditions, visited a range of historical monasteries and even went on a day trip to the shockingly blue Panggong Lake on the border to China. We then set out trekking afterwards but were forced to turn back a day and a half early once we reached 4,000 meters as I’d never been at that altitude before and fell ill because of it. In the end, however, we all agreed that Ladakh was the highlight of our trip.

Travelling on a lower budget, independent of the direct safety net of parental support (that most of us have grown used to having travelled mainly with family) was a challenge at first. Moreover, carrying out first aid, watching for pickpockets, bartering and losing and finding your way again were all part of being street wise!

The two main recommendations I’d make to anyone backpacking for their first time are firstly, learn at least a little of the language of the country you’re travelling in. While my Hindi is far from fluent, I knew enough to get around comfortably and this was a great advantage, especially during emergencies. And secondly, it’s also helpful to have an emergency contact in the country itself. I was fortunate to have relatives in Delhi who helped us prepare during the first couple of days in the capital and checked in on us by calling every so often during the rest of the trip. Two of us were under 18 at the time so this was important. The experience was worth it in every way and my friends and I plan on going on another trip again very soon.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Cultural Trip around Europe Polly Garratt Langelier and Ernest Lam

Polly Garratt Langelier and Ernest Lam (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation in order to travel around Europe. Being surround by so many different nationalities at Tanglin had inspired them to experience the cultural diversity in Europe. During the preparation for the trip, a challenge they encountered was that four members of the group had decided not to participate in the trip. This meant that the original plan had to be drastically changed so that it was able to accommodate two people rather than the original six.

Ernest matched his funding by working for a company at weekends doing general administrative work. Through this experience he gained a taste of working life and being able to earn his own money. Polly chose a slightly different route by working as a private personal trainer where she developed better communication and organisation skills with her clients.

Click here to view their video Our first stop on the Europe trip was Amsterdam. We had booked an Airbnb to stay at however, due to poor planning and insufficient research, its location was far away from the town centre, which is where most of the activities that we had planned to do were located. We soon discovered that there was a bus stop conveniently located outside the apartment with buses that took us straight to the

town centre. One of the highlights was a cruise through narrow canals of Amsterdam eating a beautiful cheese and meat platter.

Our next stop was Berlin. We were located right next to the centre which was ideal as there were more buses we could take and the activities that were on our itinerary list were more accessible. We enjoyed our stay in the hotel as it was better located and more equipped than the previous. During our stay in Berlin we wanted to learn more about the Berlin Wall so we visited the East Side Gallery.

The colourful graffiti on the wall is an ‘international memorial for freedom’ – it was very moving. We discovered that the artists tried to express philosophical, spiritual, playful and political views in their drawings.

We then travelled to Prague. Once we arrived at the airport we realised that Ernest’s suitcase had been left behind during a connecting flight. Luckily our bag was found and returned to the hotel on the last day. This was a slight problem during our time in Prague as Ernest had no other clean clothes that he could wear! We explored the old and new town and visited the John Lennon wall where we were able to spray paint symbols of peace and love.

After Prague, we headed to Athens to then catch a ferry to Santorini. As we did not book any accommodation for our short stay in Athens, we dropped our luggage off at a storage facility near the port where our ferry would dock. We then took a nearby train to The Acropolis to spend the remainder of the day before heading off to Santorini. We visited a museum dedicated to the ancient artifacts of Santorini and we tasted the local wine of Santorini. Furthermore, we had also decided to visit and enjoy the exquisite beaches that Oia had to offer. We found it very crowded as it was peak season.

Overall the island was still very enjoyable and didn't find the abundance of tourists to be too detrimental to the experience of the trip.

Throughout this trip we have learnt how to be more independent, live on a budget and use location skills to find our own way around. We learnt about the local history of each city through cruises, tours and museums e.g. The Berlin wall. We would like to emphasise how important it is to buy travel insurance as we had nearly lost our suitcase. We would also recommend more research into the location and safety of the hostels/hotels.

Overall, we are grateful for the opportunity that the TTS Foundation gave us and we strongly recommend anyone who is reading this to apply for the Alumni Grant. In our opinion, we have grown through this experience and will definitely be using the new skills and knowledge obtained on this trip, in the future.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Trip to Eastern Europe Daniel Mowle

Daniel Mowle (2015 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for SGD$1,000.

Daniel chose to go on an adventure with University friends. They looked for a whole new experience in Eastern Europe as he and his group felt like the trip would be remarkably different to anything they had experienced before. With Daniel also looking for inspiration for his upcoming dissertation he thought he could experience a diversified culture of less economically developed countries and how these poorer regions fared on a day to day basis.

Daniel matched his earnings during his Easter break where he was provided an internship experience working at a Real Estate investment firm in London.

Bulgaria After months of planning, our journey finally began with a cheap SGD$15 flight from Heathrow to Sofia, Bulgaria. After checking into our Airbnb, we proceeded to explore the city. For the next three days we were able to truly experience the culture which Bulgaria had to offer. With phenomenal looking architecture everywhere we went, we never really wanted to leave. The highlights of our experience here stemmed from visiting churches, cathedrals, museums and seeing the vibrant city come to life not only at night but also with street dancers and markets providing us entertainment throughout the day.

Macedonia After a seven hour bus journey we eventually reached Skopje, Macedonia. Despite being the only tourists in this city, it ended up being the most favoured spot of our whole trip. Due to the currency weakness, you cannot exchange the currency outside of the country hence everything here was extremely cheap. This meant we were able to do a lot of excursions on our budget. We stayed in the city centre which had a beautiful square with a gigantic statue of Alexander the Great in the centre. It was simply breath-taking!

Alongside the many monuments and bridges, we chose to take a trip to one of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most beautiful lakes where we took a boat trip and dived through caves. The local cuisines were a joy to behold especially the Baklava dessert.

Montenegro and Croatia After experiencing vibrant cities, we crossed the midlands to have some down time along the coast. Budva, Montenegro provided us with an incredible experience ranging from hiking up mountains to relaxing by the seaside. This region was stunning, yet two days here was more than enough to experience the culture as it was slightly over populated with tourists. Another bus journey north took us to Dubrovnik. This city is surrounded by walls and is most famous for being the location of Kings Landing on Game of the Thrones. This cultural city offered us experiences ranging from kayaking and snorkelling off the coast to discovering the bazaars and historic wonders within the city walls.

This trip was not only eye opening for me but was truly one of the best experiences I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. This trip allowed me to learn and reflect on my responsibility, determination, enthusiasm, cultural awareness, ability to navigate and communicate and decision making skills. I would never had experienced such a trip. There were times when I thought the trip was never going to happen but youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just got to remember that it will all be worth it at the end of the day. Being away for around two and a half weeks has changed my perspective on some aspects of life: be it responsibility or even just confidence in myself. Without a shadow of a doubt I would do this trip again and recommend it to anyone who wishes to explore an adventure into places which you usually wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of visiting. I initially had many reservations about personal safety in these Eastern European countries due to existing statistics but I honestly not once felt uncomfortable. If anything, I just loved every second of this experience and am so glad I made the effort to make this trip happen. Finally, I find it amazing that the TTS Foundation are offering this opportunity to Alumni who have already graduated. I do advise anyone interested to go for it, I wish I had done it sooner!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Inter-railing - Europe Alyssa Claire Filippi, Sarah Divyanathan and Gabrielle Kennedy

Alyssa, Sarah and Gabrielle (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for their Euro-Inter-rail trip through Paris, Prague, Vienna and Budapest in June 2017. To raise the matching funds for their grant, Alyssa worked at Abercrombie & Fitch in Vancouver, Sarah waitressed in Jamie’s Italian Restaurant in Singapore and Gabrielle volunteered as a police woman as well as waitressed in Central Perk in Singapore during her gap year.

Click here to view their video.

Paris was the first stop of our Euro trip adventure! We lived the typical Parisien lifestyle eating at Parisien cafés and travelling on the Métro. We visited sites like Montmartre, where we admired the local artwork produced by street artists and the iconic Palace of Versaille which gave us a lot of insight on the history of France. Paris being the Fashion Capital of the world, it was only right for us to make a stop at The ChampsElysées! This led up to the Arc de Triomphe, where we learnt more about the wars that France was involved in. On our last day in Paris, we went to Disneyland as this was on our bucket list. At night, we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower one last time. It was truly spectacular – a perfect way to end off our stay in the City of Lights!

Visiting Prague was a truly unique and historical experience. Our first full day in Prague was spent visiting Prague’s most iconic bridge – the Charles Bridge, walking around Old Town Square and indulging in local cuisine. We also visited the colourful Lennon Wall which featured vibrant Lennon inspired graffiti and climbing the 200 steps to the Prague castle to see the formal changing of the guards’ ceremony in the courtyard.

Vienna was the next stop on our trip. The most enjoyable aspect of Vienna was feasting on all the delicious food including Wiener schnitzel, sachertorte (Vienna’s famous chocolate cake) and apple strudel. We visited Vienna’s most famous church, St Stephen’s Cathedral, which was decorated with colourful mosaic tiles on the exterior. We made our way to the Greek-Roman style Parliament buildings and visited the scenic Hofburg Imperial Palace.

Budapest was charming, lying alongside the River Danube. To fully enjoy the sights along the river, we booked a dinner cruise with live traditional Hungarian Folk dance performances. It was incredibly fun! We saw the parliament building lit up beautifully at night and we saw the interior during a daytime tour. We also visited the Budapest House of Terror Museum - a monument to remember those tortured, held captive and killed in the building. From this, we gained a deeper understanding of what life was like for Hungarians after surviving two terror regimes.

We recommend that when exchanging currencies during travel, you are not cheated on exchange rates, get to know how the public transport system works in each city you are visiting and do research before you go on what sites you want to see and where best to stay within reach of those sites.

Our Euro trip was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and we highly recommend inter-railing to any one looking for a fulfilling adventure around Europe. Thank you to the TTS Foundation for offering this grant, allowing us to experience Europe in a unique, enjoyable and memorable way.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Euro Trip Ashika Patel, Lucy Burridge, Hannah Brown, Elisabeth Bolliger and Camille Shone

Lucy Burridge, Ashika Patel, Elisabeth Bolliger, Camille Shone, and Hannah Brown (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for their trip to Europe because they wanted to immerse themselves in to different cultures and prepare for the independent responsibilities which their university experiences will bring. Facing the difficulties of budgeting, booking appropriate accommodation and travelling with no prior knowledge of the cities, the students sought the opportunity to widen their safety and awareness outside the security of Singapore.

To match the Alumni Grant, Ashika Patel worked as a hostess at Club Street’s ‘Drinks & Co’ for one month, as well as working for ‘Gourmet Ready Meals Pte Ltd’ during the month of May. Lucy Burridge and Hannah Brown worked at a horse riding stables where they exercised horses for owners and for the riding school throughout the first 5 months of the year. Elisabeth Bolliger worked in a bar and a cafe for three weeks and Camille Shone worked in the shop at Hotel W for 3 weeks.

Click here to view video.

During the course of our two week trip to Europe, we visited six different cities/towns within five countries: Amsterdam (Holland), Berlin (Germany), Budapest (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic), Split

and Hvar (Croatia). Whilst planning the trip, we found it quite challenging organising the accommodation and transport for each country so we allocated a country for each of us to organize and coordinated our bookings/ideas/info into an Excel spreadsheet. This allowed us to analyze and compare the costs of each country so that we were able to budget efficiently and inform our parents of our planned whereabouts and costs in a simple manner. We travelled to and from each country on trains (inter-railing). Most of the train journeys were four to seven hours apart from the thirteen hour overnight train from Budapest to Split where we slept in small cabins on the train.

A challenge we faced during our travels was using the local public transport facilities to navigate ourselves around the cities/towns. This was a much easier task in the smaller towns such as in Prague where our accommodation was walking-distance from the majority of the attractions. The city we found the hardest to navigate was Berlin due to its very large size and the attractions being so spread out from one another, which made planning for each day quite a hard task. We learnt that prior to visiting the city/town it was useful to analyze maps and public transport routes so we could make the most of our experience within the different countries.

Planning our budget was quite challenging as most of us had decided on a daily spending limit. However, we quickly realised that some cities were more expensive than others. For example, in Amsterdam and Berlin, a short bus journey from our accommodation into the center of town could cost over â&#x201A;Ź4. However, a similar length journey in Budapest would cost between â&#x201A;Ź1-2. This meant that our budgets had to be adapted to suit each city. A couple of us were down to our last few Euros towards the end of the trip which meant that sticking to our budget was even more crucial for the last few days.

From this we learnt plenty of easy ways to save money which will likely be extremely useful at university in the future.

Overall we managed to experience a huge amount of European culture many of us had never had before. We learnt valuable life skills and we had to opportunity to be totally independent which will be hugely beneficial when we start university this year.

We are all very thankful to Tanglin and the TTS Foundation for providing us with this incredible opportunity and we fully recommended current students to apply for the Alumni Grant in the future!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Euro Trip 2017 Izzy Ingham, Maudi Broekhuis, Sophie Blower & Katrina Nielsen

Izzy Ingham, Maudi Broekhuis, Sophie Blower & Katrina Nielsen (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation each for $1,000. They had planned a trip around Europe to gauge a better understanding of European culture and history. All of the members of the trip focused on planning a specific location, so that the time was well spent in each country. Spreadsheets were the best way to budget for the trip as calculations could be made easily and it helped keep the overspending in check!

The group had been dreaming of doing a trip around Europe together since Year 7, so it was so exciting for them to finally have the opportunity.

Izzy worked as a barista / service staff at Baker and Cook Ltd for 6 months to match the grant funding.

Sophie worked at Tanglin in the Drama Department as an Intern helping with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Moby Dick the Musicalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and helped in the PR Department at Cherry Discotheque. Maudi worked in retail at Willow & Huxley and Katrina worked in catering at private events.

Our Euro trip began in Split, Croatia. We all arrived on separate flights at separate times and then met up in our hostel. We made the most of our one day in Split by exploring the old quarter and the palace. After a five hour bus journey we arrived at Zagreb intending to board a train to Budapest, unfortunately we boarded the incorrect train which was heading straight back to Split. We were able to overcome this issue by quickly thinking up a plan B, alighting at Ogulin station and waiting there the night to catch the next train to Budapest.

Budapest was one of the most exciting cities. A highlight was the House of Terrors: a museum documenting the Communist and Fascist regimes in Hungary. We were able to instantly draw parallels about both regimes in such a short time, it was informative and absolutely incredible.

The next stop was Vienna where we began by having a lovely picnic beside the old Gothic church in the park. We spent two days exploring the city; a highlight was the statue of Athena outside of the parliament building. In Prague we visited Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock, the Jewish Ghetto Cemetery, Charles Bridge, the John Lennon Wall and last but no least the Sex Machines Museum!

The final two stops were Berlin and Amsterdam. Berlin was a lovely city with cool street art, record stores and cafes. Beyond that, however, was the astonishing history of the city. We visited the East Side Gallery, the Reichstag and the Jewish War Memorial. It was very sobering seeing all of the things we had studied in the classroom come to life. Amsterdam was the perfect city to end our trip. We arrived just in time for Amsterdam Pride which was so vibrant. We visited the Anne Frank Museum and spent many hours lazing around the canal. Everyone was so friendly and the nightlife was fantastic. A perfect end to a full on trip!

On this trip we learnt a lot about communication, time-management and planning. In order to get to each location successfully and conveniently (which we learnt was harder than anticipated) we had to do sufficient planning. After the first hiccup, we were able to do this very well and we caught all of our trains and transport without any hassle. Staying calm and learning to deal with various situations got us through this trip. Working together with your friends to solve what at the time seems like a disaster, will always end up being something you look back on and laugh.

We became closer to each other, fostering a deep bond which could only come with experiencing each other at our lowest and also by creating each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happiness.

What a great experience to treasure for the rest of our lives â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thank you Tanglin and the TTS Foundation!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Coastal and Open-water Flight Training Dillon Falvey

Dillon Falvey (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for flight training to contribute to his portfolio of skills; adding to his achievement of a Private Pilot License in 2015. This was a meticulously planned and executed task which provided valuable educational and practical experience.

The flight training took place in the South of England, with Dillon flying out of Fairoaks Airport, a smallprivate airport located in Surrey. Dillon matched his funding through a summer job in the year previous to his experience.

Click here to view a ‘snapshot’ of Dillon’s experiences Flying and general aviation have always been points of keen interest for me. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to travel a lot and as a result of these experiences, my passion for flying grew. This led me to completing my first trial flight at 15, during which I ‘caught the bug’ (an industry term for becoming very interested in flying). A year later, I started my flight training in the summer of 2015 and after completing a 6 week training programme, I became a fully-qualified pilot.

Primarily, I fly the PA28 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a Single-Engine Piston (SEP) aircraft which seats 4 people. I wanted to further my skill set in flying through additional training but more specifically improve my skills in relation to flying over water. Whilst this training was a small part of my initial flight training, I wanted to improve it so that longer distance flights which track over large bodies of water such as London-Dublin or London-Jersey, could be completed in a smaller aircraft more confidently. This would enable me to be able to navigate more competently and carry out emergency operations over water. A SEP aircraft only has one engine so fine-tuning these skills is very important.

The training entailed a few hours of briefings and instruction, as well as a number of solo hours to practice the skill. There are a number of additional things a pilot must consider when flying over bodies of water; such as gliding distance to land and avoiding spatial disorientation. I felt that the training was a success, and I practiced a number of flights over medium to large bodies of water.

The Alumni Grant program, funded by the TTS Foundation, enabled me to extend my skills and open up the world of aviation further. Through the hours of additional training, my skillset, knowledge and ability in this domain of flying has been extended and I have greatly benefited.

It will enable me to embark on new challenges as a pilot and explore new regions of Europe and wherever else my piloting takes me. A highly recommended experience for all!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Examining Multiculturalism in California through Art / USA Kristine Cho

Kristine Cho (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation of $1,000 to follow her interest in art. Although she identifies as Asian American, she has not had many opportunities to engage with Asian American culture and American multiculturalism in general.

Through this grant, she wanted to develop a deeper understanding of her ethnic identity and culture.

She wants to use this newfound knowledge of cultural art to express her personal identity in her own art.

To raise the matching funds for her grant, Kristine earned money by working as a TTS Foundation intern in the Psychology Department.

Click here to view my website Having lived in Singapore for most of my life, I was accustomed to its dynamic multicultural scene. I am going to college in California and because I am interested in art, I decided to explore how multiculturalism in California is portrayed through art.

To examine this, I visited four cities in California: Los Angeles, Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and San Francisco. In Los Angeles, I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Japanese American National Museum. The LACMA collection showed a strong interest in diversity, as I saw exhibits by an Arab, a Korean-American and U.S. Latinos and Latin Americans. The exhibition HOME – So Different, So Appealing particularly struck me, as some of the artworks expressed the difficulty of feeling American in the face of racism. This thought was echoed in the exhibit Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066 at the Japanese American National Museum, which focused on the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II and the lasting effect of discriminatory policies. It appears that this struggle has continued to the present day.

I searched for street art to understand the contemporary art stage, finding many examples of it in the L.A. Downtown Arts District. Many of the works seemed to have strong cultural influences, showing Hispanic colour palettes or Chinese aesthetics. Other works strived to show the diversity of Los Angeles: I saw a couple of murals that showed different races intermingling with each other. There seems to be a focus on both expressing one’s cultural identity and protecting the multiculturalism that perhaps defines Los Angeles.

Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey are right next to each other. Carmel had a great collection of galleries, some of which had distinctive styles, showing the diversity of modern art.

In Monterey, I visited Dali17, a gallery dedicated to Salvador Dali’s works as he had lived in Monterey. I was inspired by the expansive collection of his lithographs, including his illustrations of the Bible.

Surrealism originated primarily in Europe, but I learned that he hosted a “Night in a Surrealist Forest” party at Monterey to raise money for artists in the aftermath of World War II, the décor of which was displayed on the first floor of the gallery. I believe that such endeavors contributed to expanding the scope of the American art scene.

Finally, I went to San Francisco and visited the Walt Disney Family Museum with the objective of seeing the effect of pop culture on art. I had already seen a bit of this phenomenon in the Japanese American National Museum’s New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei, which showed the art inspired by this Star Trek actor. An exhibition entitled Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle, which showed the art of Eyvind Earle, a leading artist in the production of Sleeping Beauty, greatly impressed me. I read that Earle used Japanese aesthetics in his works, which may seem an odd style to use for a French fairy tale, but it perfectly suited the simplified gothic style, suggesting that the right combination of international design can lead to novel results.

Overall, through this trip, I was able to examine the multiculturalism of California and how people express this and their own cultural identity through art. I engaged in the more contemporary art scene by searching for street art murals and by visiting galleries in Carmel-by-the-Sea. I learnt that art from across the globe can spread in Dali17 and the Walt Disney Family Museum and witnessed the darker side of multiculturalism in racism in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Japanese American National Museum. The Alumni Grant gave me a great opportunity to initiate a project of my own, tailored to my own interests, before beginning college.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Exploring Mexico Emily Black

Emily Black (2011 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation for $1,000 towards a five week backpacking trip with a friend around Mexico. She chose Mexico in order to experience a real mixture of vibrant cities, impressive history and beautiful coastline.

Matching funding was earned by working as a carer for adults with learning difficulties.

Our first days in Mexico were spent exploring the capital, getting to grips with my ropey Spanish (sorry Mr Hatton-Burke and Mr Bosch!) and talking to other backpackers who gave us tips for the rest of the trip. We visited Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city and went to Frida Kahlo’s ‘Blue house’ where she spent most of her life. Mexico City has a lot to offer and we really enjoyed it, but it is vast and sprawling making it easy to feel overwhelmed.

We travelled overnight by bus and arrived in Oaxaca late morning. Oaxaca is the second largest state in Mexico, but the capital Oaxaca City felt much smaller than Mexico City. The weekend we were there was the festival of Oaxaca and so we were lucky to be able to watch street parades, live music and enjoy the craft and food markets in the town square. Oaxaca didn’t disappoint - we tried lots of new foods and had some of the best meals of our trip whilst in this vibrant city.

Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast is a popular destination for Mexican tourists, and so we felt we were getting an authentic Mexican beach holiday rather than the touristy beaches we knew we’d encounter along the Caribbean coast. One night we went on a boat trip to see the bioluminescent algae. We travelled far into a lagoon, jumped in and were able to see the algae glowing with every movement - it was magical! We did have one night where we went to a salsa club. The locals tried their best to teach us to salsa - I’m sure we looked ridiculous!

San Cristobal is a stunning highland town in the state of Chiapas. We chose to visit the El Chiflon waterfalls which were absolutely beautiful – without a doubt the biggest and most impressive waterfalls I’ve ever seen.

Valladolid in the Yucatan peninsula is a perfect spot to go and visit Chichen Itza, one of the wonders of the world. We took a collectivo (local bus) early in the morning and waited in line. The pyramids, built by the Mayans, were incredible. That same day we made my favourite visit of the trip – to the cenote Hacienda San Lorenzo Oxman. Cenotes are natural sink holes. We spent the afternoon swimming and being nibbled by catfish.

Cenote Hacienda San Lorenzo Oxman

Whale shark – Isla Mujeres

The beach in Tulum was stunning and the weather was beautiful. We visited some more Mayan ruins which were on a cliff top overlooking the beach.

One of our most anticipated trips was swimming with whale sharks on Isla Mujeres. We had to take a long rocky boat ride to reach the site where the whale sharks congregate. Swimming with the sharks was incredible; they are the biggest fish in the ocean and grow to around 12m long.

The majority of vehicles on Isla Mujeres are golf carts and so we decided to rent one for a day to explore. We used our wheels to visit the turtle sanctuary and find a secluded beach in the daytime.

Late that night we returned to one of the quiet beaches where we were lucky enough to be able to watch 6 turtles come out of the sea to lay and then bury their eggs in the sand.

We were met by torrential rain on our first day on Isla Holbox. The island doesn’t have any roads that are properly tarmacked and so the sandy tracks quickly turn to very slippery clay. After being forced to spend our first day indoors due to the heavy rain, we were able to relax and make the most of the last few days of our trip enjoying this less populated island and exploring the quiet coastline. We ate a lot of fresh fish, went on some long walks and took sunset swims every night.

Merida was the final destination before we headed back to Mexico City for our flight home. Merida has so much to offer: museums and art galleries, craft markets and an amazing array of food.

Mexico is unlike anywhere I have ever been before and this trip has given me so many memories.

Mexican people are some of the most generous and welcoming that I have ever met. Despite its reputation for crime and danger, we felt that as long as we were sensible and respectful we were no more at risk than we had been whilst travelling in Europe and South East Asia. I highly recommend getting out of your comfort zone and visiting new countries and exploring new cultures. Thank you Tanglin and the TTS Foundation for funding this grant.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Silk Road, NW China Joseph Rollason

Joseph Rollason (2016 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation. During his gap year, Joseph had set himself the challenge to learn Chinese and live in China. He lived in Shanghai with a Chinese family, attending a state university and travelling with Chinese friends within the east and north-east of the country. He explored the Chinese section of the Silk Road in order better to understand minority culture as well as Chinese economic development and its 'One Belt, One Road' project in particular.

Funding was earned through working at a hotel in Galle, Sri Lanka as well as teaching English in Shanghai.

Click here to view Instagram.

I set out to travel on land from Shanghai to Xinjiang province - the northwestern corner of China. This route takes you along the old Silk Road, an historic trading route, as well as through some of the most ethnically and culturally diverse areas of the country. I was particularly interested in the Uighur ethnicity in Xinjiang province, due to ongoing tensions and conflict with the government over their unique cultural identity and the CCP's aggressive reaction to it. However, the route also sees Tibetans, Hui, Tajiks, Russians and Mongols, as well as the enormous variety within these groups. I hoped that seeing these unique Chinese minority cultures and the local government surrounding them would provide greater context to better understand the fascinatingly complex country I was living in.

Typical of my experiences of travel in China, things didn't go to plan. After 33 hours on a hard seat, I arrived in Qinghai's provincial capital to stay with a local IT shop assistant. This was Xining city, a typical 3rd tier city developing at an astonishing rate, drawing in an eclectic collection of people from across the province. There was a fantastic mix of food and the blossoming city was a fascinating insight into the megacities popping up all over the country.

I then decided to visit for the day the 'Mirror of the Sky', salt plains sat beneath an ethereal mountainous landscape. However, I got stuck in a nearby village.

This lead to a long ordeal to find accommodation involving a water bottle seller, his friends, his friends' friend, a non-existent tent in a military occupied zone, a pro-foreigner policeman and an anti-foreigner police chief.

Ultimately, at 2 AM, I was snuck into the staff quarters of a nearby hotel and placed on the first bus out in the morning. I unfortunately became the centre of a local political power showdown between two officers. This lead me to reassess my going to Xinjiang due to the security situation and surrounding paranoia. Therefore, I decided to continue with my route towards the North of Gansu then loop back to the South of the province.

I continued onto Dunhuang, the famous trading outpost of the old Silk Road lying on the outskirts of the Gobi desert, containing the 'Crescent Lake Oasis', a famous site closely tied in with the history of the Silk Road. The small desert town provided a good base to go out on camel and camp out in the desert.

I then turned back towards Zhangye to see the famous Rainbow Mountains, multicoloured striped landforms just outside of the city. Interestingly, when walking through a Muslim neighbourhood containing mostly butchers, multiple people assumed I was Chinese from West of Xinjiang. This shows how ethnically diverse China is, and linguistically perhaps, if such people can be expected to butcher their Mandarin as much as I do.

After this I made my way to the southern corner of Gansu which has a strong Tibetan and Hui concentration.

Beginning in Xiahe I stayed beside the Labrang Monastery, an enormous complex housing monks and providing temples for surrounding villages to visit. An annual religious festival drew in many Tibetan spectators. This was the first time I'd encountered Chinese citizens that were unable to speak Mandarin. The first thing I was told upon arriving was 'you're not in China anymore, speak Tibetan' - though the government may disagree with that, as the Chinese flags almost smothering the small town proved.

Langmusi sat in a valley on the border between Sichuan and Gansu province. The village could be divided into two halves, the Buddhist and the Hui side. From here I crossed 7 hours on horse through vast grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau, to my guideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm. We stopped for lunch in the yurt of his friend who spotted my $4 fake Casio watch and was astonished by it. After I told him it was from Shanghai, he asked what country that was in. It showed just how disparate some areas of China are. Upon arriving at the farm we first had to herd the yaks into their pen then joined the 3 generations of family in eating dinner. The guideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family could only speak Tibetan. I was thoroughly tucked in through a cooperative effort of the entire family with a gentle note that if we leave the yurt at night the dogs will ravage our genitals. Then finally I was handed an umbrella to hold in my sleep for the oncoming storm and was covered, head to toe, in a sheet of plastic. The next morning they yet again treated me to the vast array of Yak-sourced products, Yak cheese, Yak milk, Yak jerky and luckily in the tea there was Yak poo that is used to fuel the fire.

My next stop was Jiuzhaigou, however, I had booked my train ticket prematurely and decided not to change the ticket. Instead I headed to Linxia, the supposed Islamic centre of China and a predominantly Hui city.

Unusual hybrids of classical minarets with Chinese architectural influences filled the city.

Finally, I returned to Lanzhou, Gansu, and embarked on the train journey back to Shanghai. News broke on the train that Jiuzhaigou was hit by a severe earthquake.

As a PPE (Philosophy, Politics, Economics) student for the next 3 years, this trip was very helpful towards appreciating the complex relationship between these three subjects. The range of challenges faced by China in trying to establish the modern Silk Road perfectly illustrate this. I look forward to tackling the subjects of PPE with the day to day consequences of public policy and influence of political ideals observed in North-western China in mind.

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

El Camino de Santiago Martha Claxton

Martha Claxton (2017 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation to walk a section of the Camino de Santiago (St James’ Way) in order to improve her knowledge of the Spanish language and culture ahead of her University studies. In addition to the physical challenge of walking 285km whilst carrying all the necessary supplies and equipment, as a medieval pilgrimage, she was able to participate in the rich history and traditions of the Camino and its’ particular pilgrim culture.

Martha received the full grant of $1,000 to fund the flights and daily expenditures of the month-long trip. This was matched through informal earnings throughout Year 13 by providing private tuition, and through employment post-exams as a stand-in helper.

Deciding to walk the Camino de Santiago came about for a number of reasons. It was initially brought up in conversation with a friend after both reading Laurie Lee’s autobiographies. As Beth is going on to study History with core modules on Spanish history and I’m going to take Spanish single honors, we both wanted to travel to Spain and following the route that Lee took in ‘Red Sky at Sunrise’ seemed a fun way to do it.

We soon scrapped that idea however, after quickly realizing that if we wanted to hike in Spain, then the Camino was a clear solution.

El Camino de Santiago is a 800km pilgrimage starting in San Jean, in the Pyrenees, and ending at the Cathedral of Compostela de Santiago, in Galicia - the northernmost part of Spain. Beth and I walked 285km of the Camino, starting in Astorga – to receive the Compostela it is required to complete only the last 100km. Even just doing this relatively small portion of the pilgrimage, we experienced an extraordinary range of landscapes, from mountains and meadows to vineyards and forests; no two days were alike, particularly once factoring in the extraordinary people we had the pleasure of getting to know every day.

The only constant was the routine; every morning my alarm went off at 5am! You have to start early to avoid walking in the afternoon heat and to ensure a bed in the most comfortable donativo, a pilgrim albergue providing free lodging and breakfast on donation. We would walk without stopping until around 10am, when most cafés start cooking tortilla or empanadas. Ideally, we would choose another albergue for late breakfast and more often or not we’d get food for free in return for washing up. We’d aim to arrive at the albergue by 2pm where we’d usually rest for an hours’ siesta and foot-tending with the rest of the afternoon taken up with washing, provisioning and cooking.

Even taking a couple of rest days to swim in rivers or recover from the oddly frequent fiesta, we completed our section of the Camino in under 13 days - half of the time we had allowed and so continued the pilgrimage ‘extension’ to Finisterre, or Worlds’ End, where we ended up sleeping 3 nights in just our blankets on the beach having not booked a hostel in advance. Nonetheless, the extra beach stay at the end was a really amazing experience and an invaluable time for reflection.

I would highly recommend walking the Camino de Santiago particularly as a trip to do post Year 13 as after a year of sitting at a desk studying, it is an amazing opportunity to expand your horizons and have the headspace to think as well as being exposed to new experiences.

I gained so much from the trip, from the close friends made from all over the world, to learning basic skills such as cooking a full meal for five people with only a microwave, one Tupperware container, and a swiss army knife!

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Alumni Grant 2016-17

Backpacking - Japan Ryan Teo and Rishabh Chatterjee

Ryan Teo & Rishabh Chatterjee (2015 cohort) received an Alumni Grant funded by the TTS Foundation in order to backpack across Japan with the aim of improving their proficiency in Japanese and to explore the local culture. To raise the matching funds for their grants, they earned money from tutoring and their NS salary.

Our trip started in Tokyo – a sensory overload of neon lights and foreign noises. Walking around the city was an experience in itself as we soaked in the sights and sounds of the bustling metropolis. After our eyes had adjusted to the blaring lights, we then faced the overwhelming challenge of navigating the Japanese train system. We found ourselves staring at the station staff with blank faces as they attempted to give us directions in Japanese. Through some feat of broken English and hand signs, we managed to reach our next destination – Yokohama – home of the infamous Cup Noodle Museum.

Leaving Yokohama we headed to Kamakura where we visited the Hokokuji Temple which is best known for the beautiful, small bamboo grove found behind the temple, which lies thick with over 2000 dark green bamboo stalks. We managed to avoid the crowds by going early and walking along uncommon routes, and the lack of people combined with the beautiful scenery made it a very peaceful place to be. We then walked to Zeniarai Benten Shrine located on the western side of the town, which people visit to wash their money (Zeniarai translates to “coin washing”). It is said that money washed in the shrine’s spring, will double, but this reward was too dubious for us to dip any of our already tight budget in the water.

Hakone was the next area we visited. Blessed by a wonderful natural environment, superb scenery and an abundance of natural hot springs, Hakone is a leading tourist attraction in Japan. The Hakone Ropeway service operates at approximately one-minute intervals, and the 30-minute journey to Togendai Station, which nestles on the shore of Lake Ashi, gave us spectacular views of the crystal-clear blue waters of the lake, the rising volcanic fumes of Owakudani and the grandeur of Mount Fuji on a fine, sunny day.

We were really looking forward to our next destination, Ito, where a chair lift takes you to the top of Mount Omuro, an extinct volcano with panoramic views that include Mount Fuji and Oshima Island – an absolutely breathtaking sight. Or so we thought. Our plans were salvaged by the windy weather and rain, which led to the closure of the lift, perhaps the most depressing moment of our trip.

Needing some respite from the daily travel, we spent the next three days in Kyoto. The first day we walked through Ichinenzaka, Ninenzaka, and Sannenzaka, which are pedestrian-only streets lined with beautifully restored shophouses and a taste of what Kyoto’s traditional past looked like. The next day we cycled to Tenryuji, a world heritage site which is ranked first among the city’s five great Zen temples.

We briefly passed through Nara on our way to Osaka. Nara Park was undoubtedly the highlight of our trip as we spent hours sitting in the park surrounded by wild deer that bow when you feed them. Two deer approached and sat next to us, and we spent the next hour hanging out with our newfound friends. Osaka was reminiscent of Tokyo’s busy city vibes and we spent our time soaking in the atmosphere around Shinsekai and Minami.

Next we caught the cable car to the traditional temple town of Koyasan where we stayed in an authentic temple as guests. Here, we lived like monks – from waking up at 6AM for morning meditations, to restricting our diet to two vegetarian meals per day, we got a glimpse of a lifestyle so foreign to ours.

From here we travelled through Himeji to Hiroshima. We visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack, and to the memories of the bomb’s direct and indirect victims (of whom there may have been as many as 140,000). The next two days were spent in Itsukushima, also known as Miyajima, a small island in Hiroshima Bay. It is known for its forests and ancient temples. Just offshore, the giant, orange Grand Torii Gate is partially submerged at high tide. It marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, which was first built in the 12th-century.

The following day we travelled to Kanazawa where we spent the day exploring on bikes. Our bike trip included visiting the Higashi Chaya District, the Kenroku-en Garden, 21st Century Museum and Ninjadera. The last few days were spent travelling through Takayama, Hirayu, Matsumoto and Kusatsu – each place an experience visiting various tourist attractions including the Okuhida Hot Springs Village!

We went to Japan with the intent of improving our fluency in Japanese through language immersion over the course of 3 weeks – this we did and at every opportunity tried to communicate in Japanese. My recommendation for anyone planning a similar trip would be to invest most of their time into planning their travel and very little time on their itinerary, since we rarely followed our itinerary and ended up spontaneously going to places recommended by local Japanese.

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