At GESS, students have the freedom to pursue opportunities in and outside their classroom, and encouraged to embark on self-initiated projects that benefit the school and wider communities. A group of Grade 9 students did exactly that – rallying the school behind them to raise funds for children, youth and families in need – and contributed this article for GESS Magazine.
Mex (Grade 9), Joao (Grade 9), Sath (Grade 9), Kiera (Grade 9), Zi Xuan (Grade 9) and Aiden (Grade 9)
How it all started
Satkrit: Life Community Services Society (LCSS) is a charity that works to help children in dysfunctional backgrounds, with an absence of parental figures. My mother has been a mentor participating in one of their programmes for over a year.
Around February, she got notified that LCSS was organising another edition of their annual fundraisers, the Run for Life event. Running is a shared passion of our family, and she immediately agreed to participate. In addition, she asked if I wanted to participate with my friends. After a few WhatsApp messages, my friends and I were quickly able to come up with an action plan.
Mex: This journey of promoting LCSS started a couple months ago. In February, Satkrit asked me to join him in the upcoming 5km run for LCSS. I agreed to join him because I thought it’d be a nice service learning opportunity as part of my school life.
Additionally, my other friends were also invited to join us. We didn’t really expect much at first, but that changed significantly – after some time, we realised that we really want to do so much more for the community, than just achieving another service learning for school. My participation in this fundraiser made me realise something crucial – we all have potential for doing something astonishing. In our case, it was raising awareness about children with dysfunctional families. As great uncle Ben once said, “with great power comes great responsibility”.
Maximising awareness
Zi: In order to create as much awareness as we could, I ended up creating a poster (above) that was placed around the school’s stairwells and presented to multiple classes and teachers. These posters encouraged generous bypassers who want to donate to the cause to scan a QR code. The poster was also posted on GESS Instagram, reaching a larger audience. Additionally, to complement our poster, the six of us created a presentation and went in several classrooms to present our initiative.
Kiera: We believed that true awareness lies beyond the school, through a far more connected medium – social media! With the help of staff members in our External Communications team Dil and Lynda, we decided to film an informative reel that would be posted on GESS social media accounts. Satkrit, Mex, Aiden and I then travelled to Gardens by the Bay, the location of the run, to film the video, recording well into the sunset.
Challenging ourselves
Joao: Waking up early on weekends to train wasn’t easy, especially with schoolwork piling up, but I kept showing up because I really cared about the cause. There were days I felt tired or unmotivated, and I even missed a few sessions because I was overseas, but the team was always supportive when I came back. One moment that stood out for me was seeing Mex who never stretches, actually warming up properly. That’s when I knew we were all ready to be part of this big event.
Mex: We all faced some obstacles in the training process, such as time management. Most of us haven’t even jogged such a long distance before, so we decided to train.
We would usually train in Bukit Gombak Stadium on the weekends. When we arrived, we’d start off with a little stretching. Then, when everyone was ready, we’d turn on music in the background and jog for about 1km.
After 1km, we’d take a short break, then continue running again till we’ve reached 5km. It was hard at first, but after more training sessions, it gradually got easier. Not only did we train together, we connected with one another. We’d hang out, share laughs and bond.
The Actual Day – 29 March 2025, 7:45am at Gardens by the Bay, Active Garden, Waterfront Plaza
Aiden: The sun rose from the sky and the wind streamed through the air, as I woke up bright and early in the morning to pack my bag. Arriving at the event venue, I met with my group members. We also met Senior Minister for State and Digital Development, Mr Tan Kiat How, who told us that he enjoyed our video. During the run, I was quite nervous on how it would turn out. We all ran at different paces which made it difficult to stay together. Not to mention that it was scorching hot because there was little to no shade on the route. Nevertheless I pushed on and powered through the first 2km. As I continued, I felt cramps in my stomach, however I told myself that I was going to follow through till the end and try to get sub 40 mins.
Joao: We kicked off the run together, and even though the heat was brutal, the energy around us kept me going. Around the halfway mark, I stopped briefly at a water station because the sun and humidity made it difficult to continue but that didn’t mean I would quit. I dedicated myself to push hard to catch up with the others, and to finish the last kilometre which I personally say was the toughest for me. But I just kept thinking about the cause and the kids we were running for. That reminder gave me the energy to finish the run.
Our ocean view on the run route
Kiera: After the 5km run, we met other participants of the event who were all driven by the purpose of making a real difference. To top it all off we were honoured by a special recognition from the CEO of LCSS, Ms. Moi Kwai, which made us proud of what we’d achieved as a team. We wrapped the day up with some chill time: cheers and laughter as Mex, Joao and I headed back to the Marina Barrage to enjoy the breeze and a serene ocean view.
Satkrit: After the intense stretching warm-up and rather gruelling 5km run, I think I can speak for all of us when I say I was tired. However, the fun wasn’t over yet. Over the next couple of hours, we had a well-deserved and fulfilling lunch. Additionally, LCSS presented a showcase of their efforts, and we were able to see not just the organisation, but the real people behind it all – the children, the blood, sweat and tears of so many dedicated individuals, and nearly entire communities that we were able to contribute to through our own efforts. I was truly moved.
Reflection
Zi: Next, the six of us would want to get engaged in other projects that make an impact no matter how big or how small. We would also like to participate in more opportunities to give back to the community in any way we can. Personally, I hope to participate in more initiatives similar to this and use my graphic design skills in order to spread awareness about other services. Additionally, I would also like to develop my graphic design skills by working on personal projects.
Aiden: For all of us, this experience taught us many things about Service as Action opportunities and what it takes from start to finish. Before the run, we had to begin advertising and encouraging people to participate among our community. Next, we would like to organize bigger projects to be included within the programme.
