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Republic Polytechnic’s Student Ambassadors and members of the International Students’ IG put their leadership and event management skills to good use in collaborating with the Singapore Tourism Board to organize and host a teambuilding event for tourism ambassadors from across the island.
The STB Pre-Campfire Teambuilding Activity saw over the largest attendance since the inception of STB’s tourism ambassadors initiative, with over 100 tourism ambassadors from five primary schools, four secondary schools, and Temasek Junior College attending. The event was held on July 10, 2005 at Costa Sands Pasir Ris. This event was jointly planned, organized and hosted by Republic Polytechnic’s Student Ambassadors and International Students’ IG.
One month before the actual event, two representatives from each interest group were appointed to form the main committee to plan the overall theme and design the games. They were Zheng Wei Xiong (OIC) and Felicia Hu (AIC) from SA, and Choong Bey Ni and Lim Dit Ching from ISIG.
This event was one of the most challenging projects ever undertaken as the organizers had to propose themes and activities that catered to more than 100 tourism ambassadors from as young as eight to junior college students, incorporating knowledge and facets of Singapore’s history and culture, and to also seed excitement and confidence in the tourism ambassadors to host a delegation of over 500 visiting international students at the campfire immediately following the teambuilding activity.
The proposal was reviewed by STB during the third week of June, and was approved immediately. Our activities revolved around the idea of creativity and fun, and in anchoring the objectives we designed our activities such that they revolved around Singapore’s unique history and culture. It was now down to the action plan, mobilizing members from our own interest groups, and holding regular meetings and forming the larger committee to run the event.
A total of 32 Student Ambassadors and 11 ISIG members volunteered to be part of this event.
The day before the actual event, STB provided us with a premier chalet to help us conduct our dry-runs. The dry-runs enabled all of us to be familiar with the flow of the event, as well as how to conduct the games. We also gathered feedback to further improve and refine our activities. The dry-run ended with everyone excited and all prepared for the actual action the next day.
On the actual day, the event kicked off with Wei Xiong giving a short speech and a briefing on the overview of the program we had for the day. The baton was then passed on to the Game ICs, Dino and Rendall.
A total of three indoor and two outdoor activities were designed for this event. To meet the objectives of this event, a debrief session was conducted after every activity where the team leaders shared a short account of Singapore’s history and culture with the participants. We had games such as Food Guess, WWII Treasure Hunt and Singapore’s Mini Quiz.
The highlight of the event would have to be the activity where the tourism ambassadors were given limited amount of materials to make a mascot they feel best represented Singapore. The ten teams made mascots such as the Esplanade, Singapore Flag and Changi Airport and shared their thoughts on their mascots.
Before coming to an end of the Pre-Campfire event, the SAs put up a short skit to illustrate to the tourism ambassadors how they can be good hosts to international students. The event ended with smiles and laughter from the tourism ambassadors and a thumbs-up from STB.
Though we were running the event under very tight constraints especially on the time factor, it was a learning experience for most of the SAs and ISIG members in organizing such a large scale event. We certainly enjoyed every moment, from the start to the end.
All the SAs and ISIG members involved in this event must be applauded for the initiative and leadership they demonstrated in helping the event become such a success.
We look forward to more collaborations with the Singapore Tourism Board, and hope that the tourism ambassadors had an enriching and fun experience with us.
“Your Tourism Ambassadors were simply fantastic! 3 cheers for all of them...Hip....Hip...Hurray....Hip....Hip...Hurray..........Hip....Hip...HURRAY!!!!!!!! Please thank all of them on our behalf.”
Valli Samugam
Senior Officer Enrichment and Corporate Training
Singapore Tourism Board
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