Wednesday, September 3, 2014

           
 An event that shaped my life will be when I decided to join Student Council in my Junior College.  Previously though I had experienced being in various CCAs back in primary school and secondary school I thought I didn't have much opportunities to develop myself. As part of being a councillor I had to an opportunity to be the overall in charge for food during the orientation camp for incoming JC1 students.

                 When I was given the opportunity to lead a team of councillors to plan the meal plans for the 3D2N camp, it didn't seem so much of a daunting task until the actual day of the camp itself.  It was during the camp that I learnt the difference between being a leader and a follower. As a leader, I had to make sure all my members knew what was happening at every point of the camp in terms of the logistics and manpower.  Prior to the actual camp I had to meet my team several times a week to come up with proposals and alternative meals plans. And on one of the actual days of the camp, it was a very chaotic situation as food from a particular vendor didn't arrive on time as expected and campers were waiting for their meal.  It was that point when I was forced to work with what I had and solve the problem of  food shortage for approximately 500 campers.


                 Thus, I will say that joining student council impacted me as a person and it definitely  contributed in shaping the person I am today, as it was through such circumstances where I learnt to work with what I had and mostly importantly it helped to develop the “people skills “ in me.

3 comments:

WeiSiang said...

Hi Pavi,
glad to see that you are learning at every life station you are being placed in.

Your narration of the event drew me deeper into the event that happened to you. This also resonated with me well when i was managing a camp in Boys' Brigade during my secondary school days.

Brad Blackstone said...

Thank you, Pavi, for sharing this important experience with us. In it you describe the context of your development of leadership skills. However, I would have liked to have learned about the way that you actually solved the problem of 500 hungry campers who had to wait for their food. I'd like to see what the experience actually brought out of you in the way of quick thinking and leadership.

Can do in a revision?

Xuan said...

Hi Pavi,

As I previously held a role as one of the main committee members of the Japanese Cultural Group in my polytechnic, I can totally relate to this experience you had, especially about the part of something going wrong during a camp. However, I think that it is through these experiences that we can train our problems-solving skills and become a better person.

I totally agree that taking up a leadership role is really beneficial in developing our character. I am glad that you manage to get the most out of your CCA and I hope you had fun during those times too. :)

~ Xuan ~