CONNEXIONS 2021 ISSUE 2

CONNEXIONS 圣苑情

National Day Celebrations

ISSUE 2 2021

Founder’s Day Mass

SYF Arts Presentation

欢庆 教师节

Principal’s Message This issue of Connexions celebrates the hope, unity and resilience of our youth and country.

Capturing the highlights of many exciting events such as National Day, Racial Harmony Day, SYF Showcase and Student Council Investiture, it showcases the vibrancy and tenacity of the St Nicks spirit and the confidence that Singapore will prevail over the pandemic.

As the Covid-19 safe management measures went through cycles of loosening and tightening this past year, I am heartened to see the staff and students taking the uncertainty and volatility in their stride. The CCA groups had to toggle between eCCAs and in-person activities.

Their training tempo was disrupted and those preparing for competitions did so under numerous constraints. Yet, driven by purpose and passion, the students remained steadfast in the pursuit of their goals. Despite numerous challenges, they achieved outstanding results and did the school proud.

Another big constraint was the prevailing limits on group sizes which prevented us from coming together as a full school. Undeterred, the teams planning the various commemorative and school events demonstrated commendable ingenuity and creativity in designing online programmes and activities that transcended the virtual domain to rally staff and students as one big family. Harnessing the power of technology, intellectual pursuit and exchanges (both within and beyond school) continued to be well supported as events such as Tea, Tiffin & Poetry, Expanding Your Horizons and the Bicultural Studies Programme Camp went online.

If anything, these challenges have forced all of us to be even more adaptable and innovative in ensuring that we continue to live a life of fulfilment and meaning.

As we persevere in the face of uncertainties, we grow in the realisation that we are certainly much stronger than we think we are, and this gives us the strength to push on. Finance Minister Lawrence Wong underscores the importance of having a mindset of growth and determination so aptly when he urged young Singaporeans to “embrace the most difficult experiences as crucibles that forge character as well as the ability to do even better in future”.

As we look back and see the many challenges that we have overcome, I hope that we will continue to view setbacks with humility and see failures as opportunities to learn and grow. And may we continue to draw hope and inspiration from one another to forge ahead with faith, grace and confidence.

Mrs Fiona Tan 2 I CONNEXIONS

校长的话 本期的《圣苑情》展现了我们国家和青年的希望，团 结与韧性。通过关于国庆庆祝会，种族和谐日纪念活 动，新加坡青年节文艺汇演，学生理事会就职典礼等 活动的报道，我们可以感受到圣尼各拉学生的活力和 坚韧不拔的精神，也体现了新加坡必将克服疫情的信 心。 今年的防疫安全措施随着疫情的变化做了几次调整， 但教职员和学生们都能积极应对，让我十分欣慰。各 个课程辅助活动团体需要在线上活动和校园实地活动 之间转换。同学们的练习步伐被打乱了，在为比赛做 准备的同学们也面对许多限制。但同学们能凭着信念 与热忱，坚定地追求自己的目标，排除万难，争取优 异的成绩，为校争光，值得表扬。 此外，各类活动的人数限制也导致我们无法像过去一 样让全校师生聚集。各项活动的负责老师和学生便迎 难而上，发挥创意，善用科技，设计了各种线上庆典 和增益活动，例如英文诗歌论坛，科学学习展和双文 化营，让圣尼各拉大家庭能在线上相聚，并与其他学 校的师生交流和共同学习。 因此，疫情带来的挑战可说是让我们在追求有意义、 有满足感的生活时变得更善于应对困境、更有创造 力。 在坚强地面对种种不确定因素之余，我们愈发了解自 己比想象中强大，这也给了我们坚持下去的力量。财 政部长黄循财先生说，年轻新加坡人应该抓紧当前的 困境所提供的锻炼机会，打造自己的优良品格，并提 升自己的能力。这句忠言突出了成长型心态和立定决 心的重要性。 当我们回顾我们克服的种种挑战，我希望我们能继续 秉持虚心学习的心态，并将挫折视为学习和成长的机 遇。我也希望我们继续从彼此身上获得启发和希望， 共同凭借着信仰和信心，优雅地向前迈进。 杨淑伶校长

Racial Harmony Day Racial Harmony Day is celebrated annually in our school as an important reminder that all of us are equal, despite our different backgrounds. On this exciting occasion, students wore ethnic attire to school, clad in colourful saris, kebayas, cheongsams and even hanboks. “It is interesting that so many students wore ethnic attire from a different ethnic group. I was pleasantly surprised because I hadn’t expected them to have costumes that didn’t belong to their own ethnicity.” observed Gwen Chin of 1 Diligence.

Due to the pandemic, we had to adapt and change our way of celebrating Racial Harmony Day. Qian Ying from 1 Diligence missed the activities of past celebrations such as trying out traditional delicacies of different races.

“Unfortunately, students were unable to mingle with friends from other classes and the celebration was done online where students mostly learnt more about different races and their cultures through watching videos instead of actual hands-on experience,” she added.

Although the celebration took on a different mode, it was still meaningful for Iva Soh of 1 Loyalty. “The video on the racial riots reminded my friends and me of the importance of racial harmony to keep Singapore safe and peaceful. Another video by

the Malaysian international students also resonated with us. The video depicted how they adapted to living in Singapore such as learning to acquire a liking for local food such as laksa and hokkien mee which are different from back home.”

All in all, Racial Harmony Day teaches us the need to continue to deepen our understanding of different cultures. It opens our eyes to the uniqueness of beliefs and practices around us. As we gain insights into different cultures which make up cosmopolitan Singapore, we learn to appreciate how fortunate we are to live in such a culturally rich country.

Avelyn Wee, 1 Loyalty Heidi Chan, 1 Diligence Hii Ren-Ai, 1 Diligence

Racial Harmony Day teaches us the need to continue to deepen our understanding of different cultures. It opens our eyes to the uniqueness of beliefs and practices around us.

3 I CONNEXIONS

“See this island, every grain of sand”. This meaningful line from this year’s National Day theme song, The Road Ahead reminds us that Singaporeans can rely on one another and progress as a nation just like how every grain of sand makes up the Singapore of today. On 8 August, in line with this year’s National Day theme, ‘Together, Our Singapore Spirit’, we all gathered virtually, connected in spirit and at heart, although we were physically apart in our respective classrooms.

While celebrations were scaled down from prepandemic days, the planning that went into this National Day celebration was no less. Following the observance ceremony held via Zoom, each class was tasked to pack the care packs for SN Gives Back, a school-wide initiative that encourages students to contribute to meaningful causes, held in conjunction with National Day celebrations. Last but not least, the celebrations continued with performances by students from both the Primary and Secondary sections and ended off with a school-wide Kahoot quiz.

Most students thoroughly enjoyed this year’s National Day celebrations in school, especially “the streaming of old national day videos and short performances,” said Toh Kairong from 1 Grace.

Megan Sim from 2 Charity also shared that those nostalgic songs brought her back in time and allowed her to reminisce past events. “Our class was also quite enlivened as everyone was in a celebratory mood and our classroom was decorated with red and white streamers. To top the celebrations off, it ended with a

4 I CONNEXIONS

National Day

Kahoot quiz which was especially exciting as the whole school came together to play the game!” she added. The National Day celebrations were certainly very memorable for many of us.

Celebrations

Besides enjoying the celebrations, students also reflected on Singapore’s progress. “As a Singaporean, I am very proud of our hawker culture. Hawker centres are symbols of our diverse Singapore culture, as well as the different races we have here. Hawker culture is a big part of our lives, where many of us go to enjoy our favourite food, or simply grab a treat like Milo dinosaur. It is really one of Singapore’s iconic features, and as a Singaporean, I am very proud of our hawker food,” commented Charlotte Lee from 2 Charity. Echoing the same sentiment is Claire Woo from 1 Grace, “The Singapore culture is very unique. We are a country with a diverse group of people of different races and religions. There’s Sophia Teo, 1 Grace so much we can learn Tan Kia Hui, 2 Charity from each other, which is something not many countries in the world can relate to.”

With the wonderful celebrations coming to a close, we cannot help but feel proud of the progress Singapore has made over the decades. We look forward to celebrating National Day together in the future.

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2021 Founder’s Day Mass

This year, our Founder’s Day took on a very special meaning as it is the 400th anniversary of Blessed Nicolas Barré, as well as the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Catholic faith and education in Singapore.

Despite the challenges posed in this very uncertain time, the CHIJ Fraternity came together online to celebrate this special occasion. The Mass celebrated by Father Simon Pereira was broadcast over Zoom in all the classrooms of the full school.

Some Catholic parents also joined us from their homes, making this mass especially meaningful.

In his homily, Fr Simon reminded us of our Founder’s journey in helping the poor and how his faith and teachings inspired Mother Matilde and the other IJ Sisters to come to Singapore to start a school for girls. As students and staff of CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School, we are grateful and are encouraged to take up our calling to do great things and continue the legacy of our Founder and the IJ Sisters.

Ms Amanda Wong on behalf of the Chaplaincy Team 6 I CONNEXIONS

Fratelli Tutti (Poem inspired by the third encyclical of Pope Francis, “Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers) – On Fraternity & Social Friendship”) Erin Koh, 3 Justice Fratelli Tutti calls us to be brothers and sisters to all despite our differences despite our faith despite our race despite our culture despite our religion we are all related, and are obliged to live In Peace with our neighbours my very own 姐姐们 Understand this with no problem they love all their 妹妹们 with no judgement

in St Nicks my 姐姐, though we have different opinions though we face different challenges though we aren’t the same at all when I fell, crying on the way to class, stressed, exhausted, alone she picked me up, sat with me, talked to me, cared for me it didn’t matter to her that she was more tired than me that she had more things to do than me she knew I needed her and extended her hand lent out that kind heart of hers in the name of Fratelli Tutti

7 I CONNEXIONS

Drama Chinese Drama Society

SYF Arts Presentation 2021

D

Lau Clarisse, 3 Truth Olivia Yew Yen Ping, 3 Unity

Literary Drama Society

Chinese Orchestra

8 I CONNEXIONS

Orche

Dance Society

Band Symphonic Band

Danc e Dance Society

The Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Arts Presentation 2021 was quite a surreal experience. In this unprecedented, Covid-19 pandemic year, a lot has changed. Many important aspects of a performance, such as voice projection and actions had to be limited due to the imposed restrictions. Many of us in the Literary Drama Society felt lost at first and wondered how to put up a good performance amidst these restrictions as this was a whole new experience.

estra

Thankfully, our innovative seniors, teachers and instructors thought of many inventive ways to showcase our best performance. For drama, one of the ma jor changes was the splitting up of roles between a physical team and a vocal team. We had to learn new skills such as syncing our actions to a voice track, which was in this case, vital to the success of our performance.

The SYF 2021 certainly put our teamwork, creativity and resilience to the test and we are proud of our achievements. We will certainly remember this experience for many years to come.

String Orchestra

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In May this year, the Student Council heralded a new batch of leaders in a momentous occasion. Despite Covid-19 measures put into place, the student councillors successfully carried out the 15th Student Council Investiture.

In preparation for the handing over ceremony, we worked very hard to film the various segments beforehand. To retain the purpose and significance of this event, each wing planned our own unique ways of handing over our Student Council blazers to honour this moment. With the help of many councillors, the ceremony video was completed with pride.

For the newly invested councillors, filming the performance video also posed a challenge as we had to choreograph a new dance to gain the attention of the student body through digital means. Thankfully, through our hard work, the event managed to run smoothly with many cheering us on in our leadership journey.

15th Student Council Investiture Samantha Looi, 2 Truth Valerie Koh, 2 Unity

Although many councillors were disappointed at first that we could not carry out the event in person, that quickly changed to elation when we rose to the challenge and managed to adapt to the changes to make the investiture memorable and meaningful for everyone. More importantly, we were eager to kickstart our new term of service to the school.

Proud to be a part of the 15th Student Council, we hope that next year will be an even better one!

10 I CONNEXIONS

中二职业嘉年华 (Sec 2 Career Carousel)

钟晓涵、邱琪媗 （中二勤）

今天七月，我们全体中二学生参加了学校和校友会联 办的 “职业嘉年华”, 聆听了各行各业的校友姐姐们 精彩的分享，让我们对不同行业有了更多和更深的了 解，也让我们对未来的世界充满期待。

而不是随波逐流。著名作家张洁说过：“爱好即获 得知识的第一步。”兴趣爱好是我们学习和工作的起 点，也能使我们不断地为这些兴趣爱好付出努力，找 到人生的方向。

我们班很荣幸能与设计 “红龟粿女孩与好友” 的李士 佳学姐面对面，聆听了她创作“红龟粿女孩与好友” 的过程以及面对的挑战。俗话说：“经一番挫折，长 一番见识。” 通过她的分享，我们了解到做任何事情 都不是一帆风顺的，在通往成功的路上难免会经历挫 折。我们也通过学姐的分享了解到她是怎么去克服困 难，挑战自我。

我们也有幸聆听了新加坡报业控股华文媒体集团主管 李慧玲学姐的分享。从她的学习和工作经历中我们领 悟到：只有细水长流、持之以恒，才能学好一门技 能。她告诉我们，她以前很内向，但在工作中不断历 练，克服挑战，渐渐地变得外向，从一个早报记者成 长为今天更好的自己。她对工作的态度给了我们启 发：要想取得成就，一定要坚持不懈！

此外，虽然李士佳学姐已经取得了成功，但她还是不 断地追求进步与成长。这种不断进取、追求卓越的精 神真值得我们学习！同时，她也让我们意识到，若一 个人有兴趣爱好，应该为此付出努力和坚持。比如， 我们可以按照我们的兴趣爱好去选我们中三的科目，

我们非常喜欢这次的活动，让我们能与校友姐姐们近 距离接触，聆听她们的成功经验。校友姐姐们都非常 亲切，也乐于分享，我们都受益不浅，也对未来的职 业规划和前进方向有了进一步的认识。

11 I CONNEXIONS

欢庆教师节2021

教师节庆祝会当天，校长在献词中感谢所 有老师对学生们的无私付出，以及在教学工作中的 无限努力。尤其是今年我们仍面对着冠病疫情，在 居家学习期间，老师们既要保证高质量的教学，又 要兼顾家庭，克服各种教学困难，熟练掌握多种教 学科技，并鼓励与督促学生跟上教学进度，确实不 易。“十年树木，百年树人”，老师们在教育事业上 所灌注的爱心和努力，同学们能够真切地感受到， 也深受启发。我们一定会认真学习，向老师们看 齐，希望将来也能成为发光发热，对社会做出贡献 的人。

这两年的教师节不同以往，师生们不能像 往年一样聚集在礼堂举行大规模的庆祝活动。虽然 程序上精简了不少，但我校还是组织了精彩的庆祝 活动，让大家在各个教室里欢庆教师节！同学们参 与趣味Kahoot游戏，问答题目都和自己的老师们有

关，因此同学们认为问答活动特别有趣，我们也从 中了解老师们的好多趣事，例如他们课余在学哪些 新技能，童年时期的样子。有些班级也组织学生们 5人一小组进行游戏，在保持安全距离的情况下， 老师和同学们玩得非常尽兴，从中也拉近了心与心 的距离。此外，学生理事会也邀请多才多艺的同学 们为我们敬爱的老师们献上精彩的表演，如歌舞表 演、歌词改编、乐器演奏等，老师们看得津津有 味，大家都乐开了怀！

希望师生们喜欢今年的教师节庆祝活动！学 生理事会在此祝福各位老师，教师节快乐！您们辛 苦了！我们爱您！ 云乐晴 中二庄

Showering Our Teachers wit The Covid-19 pandemic has undeniably impacted our lives and the environment. To cut down on waste generated from Teachers’ Day gifts, the Green Club launched an initiative to reduce packaging waste. This initiative aims to encourage students to give hand-made gifts and e-cards instead of store-bought items to teachers. The money that would have been spent on the purchase of gifts and cards would be donated to help needy families to get them through the Covid-19 crisis.

The project took off extremely well, with many more teachers receiving heartfelt e-cards or presents wrapped in eco-friendly packaging, rather than gifts wrapped in plastic, which was the common practice in previous years!

A zero-waste lifestyle is truly not easy to achieve, but we can keep striving towards a lifestyle with minimal wastes!

Chantel Chan, 3 Purity Lao Ruoxian, Amy, 3 Truth

12 I CONNEXIONS

Teachers’ Day celebrations

th Gifts, the Eco-Friendly Way

13 I CONNEXIONS

全国 双文化营

今年的双文化营于6月假期中举行，为期三天，令我和其他同学获益匪浅。 在双文化营中，我们有机会认识了许多来自其他学校同样修读双文化课程的优秀 同学，在了解中华文化、当代中国和用创意完成小组任务的过程中互相学习。其 中一个最令我印象深刻的小组活动是介绍一个和中华文化相关的人物。我们组抽 到的是四大名著之一《红楼梦》的作者曹雪芹。为了准备呈现，我和来自不同学 校的组员一起写了一个有关《红楼梦》的剧本。在创作过程中，我学到了许多关 于《红楼梦》的知识，也让我更加了解中国文化的博大精深。 除了小组活动外，双文化营中举办的不同讲座也让我学到了很多关于创业和企业 发展的知识。比如说，主办方邀请了新加坡品牌里喝茶( LiHO Tea) 的创始人兼 董事经理郑振良先生为我们介绍他创业的历程。他也向我们讲解了自己在新加坡 取得成功后选择带里喝茶进军中国市场的理由，说明中国“赛道够大”，新加坡人 也不必觉得自己无法在中国庞大的餐饮市场赢得一席之地。只要脚踏实地，有清 醒、深入的自我认知，同时以世界观开创格局，就有可能在激烈的竞争打响自己 的品牌名声。这些都让我们更深入地了解了新加坡企业扩大事业版图所面临的机 遇与挑战，也让我们对经济与企业发展有了更多兴趣与认识。 中三纯 郑睿雯

两位主席认真、尽责、努力，凡事亲力亲为，在整个筹划过程 中，常常自动自发地处理一切大小事务。谢谢你们的用心与辛 勤付出，让双文化营得以顺利进行！ 中四领袖会议6

主席

副主席

14 I CONNEXIONS

e-Tea, Tiffin and Poetry

The ‘Tea, Tiffin and Poetry’ workshop is an event for Secondary Three English Literature students to cultivate a deeper appreciation of poetry. Together with students from the N6 cluster secondary schools, the students spent an enriching session with three well-known local poets, Mr Gilbert Koh, Ms Pooja Nansi and Dr Alvin Pang. This year, due to the Covid-19 situation, the event was held online. Despite this, most students still had a great time and learnt how to write engaging and inspiring poems.

The event started with the teachers giving us a short briefing before we were split into different breakout rooms to be with the poet that we were assigned to. The three poets helmed the sessions, ‘Extracting from the Everyday’, ‘The Spoken Word’ and ‘The Revelation of Form’ respectively. Prior to the workshop, we had already analysed some of the poets’ most well-known poems beforehand and we seized the opportunity during the breakout sessions to ask burning questions on their works. These sessions, where we met them up close and got to engage in a lively exchange with them, were enriching, as we could raise questions to quell our doubts and clear our misconceptions of their poems.

“I enjoyed the breakout session! They managed to keep the workshop light-hearted and fun but at the same time answered many questions we had about poetry and how to approach it. The participants from all the other schools also made the workshop very interesting and meaningful. I learnt that writing poems need not always have to be about very profound issues,” said Liu Yuxuan from 3 Wisdom.

“I attended Workshop 3 with Ms Pooja Nansi. She was very engaging and the workshop had the perfect blend of wit and ingenuity to capture everyone’s attention. I’m thankful that she managed to touch on sensitive, important topics in a light-hearted way and taught us how to approach them while still writing in a poised manner,” added Nicole Shiv-awn Hin Hiang from 3 Wisdom After a mass Q&A session with the poets, the results of the Poetry competition were announced. The competition was a chance for students to put their skills to the test and compose a poem from the title ‘Mask, Unmasked’, clearly referring to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Isabelle Ho from 3 Justice won Most Thought-Provoking Poem while Chan Min from 3 Wisdom won Most Popular Poem and Best Writer’s Craft from our school.

“The process of writing the poem was extremely interesting. I had to think of ways to align and weave the different stanzas and lines together based on my friends’ ideas and feedback. It definitely made me think about how I could portray two perspectives of a ‘mask’. I also enjoyed getting to learn from the various poets about how they come up with their own poems: the creativity and the thought process behind the craft, and discussed with them some ways to improve my own poems. I learnt that we can take the simplest examples from our daily lives as inspiration to construct literary works and how to put words in a way that can form imagery in one’s mind,” reflected Isabelle Ho from 3 Justice.

Without a doubt, this event has helped us further extend our knowledge on poetry and we are grateful to be given this opportunity. Being able to listen to the stories of such accomplished poets was definitely a fruitful experience and we would definitely want to attend more in the future!

Talia Ann Chung, 3 Justice Emma Tan, 3 Wisdom

15 I CONNEXIONS

Have you ever committed a faux pas in an unfamiliar cultural context? If the intelligence may help you avoid such situations in the future. The dictionary def relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations, and the capability to cr cultures. This is the theme for this year’s Year 1 and Year 2 Joint Integrated Program (WRP) Symposiums held on 13 August.

Keisha Leong and Lee Kicia, 1 Purity

YEAR 1 WRP SYMPOSIUM

The programme began with Dr Thia Jang Ping, a civil servant working in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Mr. Alexander Charles Louis, the president of the United Nations Association of Singapore (UNAS) discussing the importance of cultural intelligence. It was reiterated to the audience that different cultures have their own set of rules and it is crucial that we know some of them so that we can better understand people from different cultures. Both speakers stressed the importance of being knowledgeable and adaptable to prepare ourselves for the outside world or the consequences will be dire. They shared examples that made us realise that having a basic understanding of another culture was important, so as to prevent unintended offense to the other party and to keep a healthy relationship with friends from other cultures. “I’m enlightened by the new insights of the topic which was done through anecdotes which made the talk more engaging,” said Zoe Loke from 1 Purity.

Subsequently, we watched three short documentaries about keeping our culture alive made by seniors from the JIP schools. The videos explained how our hawker culture was fading and there were various ways to revive it, for example, modernising some hawker food such as kaya toast.

“To be honest, although I am a person who doesn’t really eat hawker food, the videos made me realise that hawker culture holds an important place in all Singaporeans’ hearts because it is our heritage,” shared Ho Raetung from 1 Purity.

16 I CONNEXIONS

The next segment showed a scenario where people did not trust the invention of lifts, we were then invited to respond to questions such as “How can we get other people to use our inventions?” and “How did people feel when the lifts were invented?” on Slido. We had fun reading other students’ responses and learnt more about how technology can help in our daily lives. Some interesting responses included how they would first demonstrate how to use the lifts to convince the users while others would explain scientifically why lifts are safe.

We were divided into smaller groups to brainstorm ideas on how to persuade others to use our inventions. Not only were we able to strengthen our bond with other classmates, we were also able to come up with innovative ideas and concepts from different perspectives, which allowed us to think more creatively.

In a nutshell, we had a fruitful and enjoyable time throughout the symposium and would love to attend similar ones in the near future. Gaining knowledge and having fun at the same time, this programme was truly insightful and enlightening.

answer is yes, boosting your cultural fines cultural intelligence as the skill to ross boundaries and prosper in multiple mme (JIP) World Readiness Programme

Marianne Neo and Ashley Ng, 2 Loyalty

YEAR 2 WRP SYMPOSIUM The programme commenced with an opening address by Mrs Eugenia Lim, the Principal of SCGS. She warmly welcomed all the students and emphasised the importance of cultural intelligence in today’s culturally diverse world.

Following her address, videos created by students who participated in the JIP film project were screened. Our seniors had the opportunity to work in teams to create a short documentary together with their peers from other JIP schools based on the themes of culture, courage and resilience. The three main topics chosen by the teams were about Lau Pa Sat, hawker culture and mama shop, which is a convenience store or sundry traditionally operated

by Indians. It was especially inspiring because students not much older than us worked with new friends and managed to produce such insightful, high-quality videos.

After this segment was the keynote address by Mr Alexander Charles Louis, president of UNAS. He gave us a broad overview of cultural intelligence and the importance of embracing cultural diversity.

He spoke about the benefits of being culturally intelligent and embracing cultural diversity, such as peace and harmony in families and societies of diverse nationalities. This is important because the spate of racist incidents has been increasing around the world as of late, with just a few examples being the racist chants at the Euro Cup after Italy beat England or racist remarks toward an interracial couple in Singapore. Being culturally intelligent also adds a competitive edge to businesses because cultural intelligence improves communication, cooperation, teamwork and performance, as well as drives innovation and improves decision making.

It also increases staff productivity and retention, leading to higher profitability.

Dr Thia Jang Ping, the Principal Economist in the Strategy, Policy & Budget Department of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, delivered the second address. He examined the challenges of living and working overseas by sharing his own experience working in Beijing to demonstrate the differences in culture between Singapore and China. He also stressed the importance of developing cultural intelligence as many people will have to join, if not have already joined, a culturally diverse workforce

in the future. Singapore is also a multicultural society where not everyone speaks the same language or comes from the same background.

As a result, misunderstandings may arise. He also explained how to develop cultural intelligence, such as reading the history of other countries to learn more about how their cultures originated, learning about the contemporary cultures of other countries, being open to friendships with others of different backgrounds, and being curious and inclusive, which will add richness to our life to better appreciate other cultures.

Students were then asked to share their thoughts on Padlet about how cultural intelligence can be developed and used in a daily context. Although it was held remotely, it was still a fruitful and eyeopening discussion as we could read everyone’s opinions. These viewpoints and elaborations complemented the speakers’ points and allowed us to see things in a different light.

We interviewed some students who attended the symposium.

Amanda Ong from 2 Loyalty felt that by knowing more about other cultures, she would be more aware of what is right or wrong in that culture, which allows her to avoid committing faux pas considered disrespectful in that culture when she interacts with people of different cultures.

“I learnt the importance of having an open mind and being aware of the different cultures,” reflected Goh Wei En, also from 2 Loyalty. She also learnt how she should not assume that everyone she interacts with has the same culture and she should be understanding of different cultures.

This is definitely an experience to remember.

Through the WRP symposium, we gained a deeper understanding of the significance of cultural intelligence in this day and age, where Singapore stands at the centre of international trade. Cultural intelligence will guide us in steering our way through difficult cultural situations effectively and allow us to communicate clearly. It is, without a doubt, an essential skill in this volatile world and this symposium taught us how to gain an advantage in our lives ahead.

17 I CONNEXIONS

Expanding Your Horizons 2021 Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) is a yearly event organised by our school’s Science department to spark interests and passion in Science activities and careers in the students. This year, the theme for EYH was ‘The Wonders of Science’, and it was held on 30 July. EYH 2021 comprised two sections: a keynote address by Dr Wong Han Teng from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology at A*STAR, as well as a Science Quiz.

This event has undoubtedly continued to open our eyes to the ever-present wonders of science. Though the keynote address was held online, it was intriguing and enriching to hear Dr Wong share about what he does in his daily life as a scientist and it was an eye-opening experience to see a real scientist’s laboratory. Through his sharing, our desire to dive deeper into the realm of Science has grown, and we are extremely grateful for this rare opportunity.

The Science Quiz allowed us to exercise our critical thinking skills as a class, while trying to figure out the reasons for certain phenomena we see in our daily lives. We are also thankful to the teachers who specially set aside time to explain and demonstrate these phenomena for us to better understand them.

We hope that the school can organise more of such events so that we understand how science knowledge is applied in different professions, as well as in everyday experiences.

It was truly a wonderful experience well-organised by the teachers and students who worked so hard to make EYH 2021 very engaging and interesting. We look forward to next year’s programme!

Lew Zi Xin, Janelle and Chia Chern Yee, 3 Wisdom

18 I CONNEXIONS

第七届 圣尼各拉 校园歌曲 创作比赛 曹振淼 中二爱

今年我校推出了第七届校园歌曲创作比赛！这是 由我校华文部与美育部联办的活动。由于疫情的 关系，这项比赛去年停办一年，所以我们今年很 开心能够有机会参赛，学习如何写词作曲。 当胡老师向我们班说明比赛详情时，我已经难掩 心中的兴奋。当我们听到冠军队伍将获得由专业 团队录制音乐录像（MV）的机会时，我立马望 向志同道合的朋友们，恺暄、靖惟、柔萱以及睿 司，示意我们也来参赛吧！我们果然有默契，大 家面带微笑，频频点头。于是，我们填妥报名表 格，接下来的几天，我们便开始兴致勃勃地构思 我们该写些什么歌词。熟悉弹奏乐器的两位同学 也开始哼起了美妙的旋律。 今年的创作主题是“同心”，我们与其他参赛组 别十分荣幸有机会参加由Intune Music创办人冯 启胜和音乐人谭志华举办的词曲创作工作坊。两 位老师非常专业，和我们分享了许多歌曲以及写 词、谱曲的技巧与要素。此外，两位老师也为学 生们点评作品，被点评的学生也虚心受教，希望 能够让自己的作品更动听。我曾听过这句话：“ 有些人或许会认为作词作曲门槛太高，自己听听 歌就好。然而他们不知道的是，在听歌的过程 中，其实已经不知不觉地开启了创作词曲的道 路。”我和中二爱班的四名同学都热爱音乐，也 非常喜欢徜徉在音乐世界中，感受歌词的美。我 们在几个月的时间里接受导师的指导，修改歌词 与曲风，彼此之间的友谊也更加深厚，就如比赛 的主题“同心”一样。

创作源于生活，来自实际的经历，也来自丰富的 想象力。这项比赛激发了同学们写歌的兴趣，让 我们更热爱华文，更热爱创作。两位老师鼓励我 们采用押韵、象征手法、修辞手法如比喻、拟人 来写歌词。他们也一再提醒我们要写出听者读得 懂、看得懂、听得懂的歌。我们可以口语化，但 要避免“流水账”，不应把琐碎、无关紧要的事 物都一一写出来。一系列的工作坊让我们对歌词 创作有了新的认识，也纠正了我们以往对写词的 一些误解。 光阴如梭，很快的，老师宣布了赛果。我们…… 我们荣获冠军！当时，我们五人难掩心中的喜 悦，烟花似乎在空气中爆开，一簇簇鲜花怒放， 我们冷静的情绪霎时变成了花的海洋。再次感谢 学校给予我们参赛的机会，也要感谢老师们与同 学们的支持与鼓励！

校园 歌曲 创作 19 I CONNEXIONS