Round Square Conference 2010 - Steering Committee April 2009 - Oct. 2010

The Worldwide Round Square Conference is an event held once a year annually and participants come from around the world. All members of Round Square organisation usually all try to send delegates this year there were around 800 delegates. Round Square is a philosophy which quite a few school follow which have 6 aspects (pillars) IDEALS (Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership, Service). For approximately 2 years I have been planning for this event and each and every detail as a member of the Steering committee I have seen almost every detail of the conference and contributed to it as much as I can. The planning of the conference would be my biggest and most meaningful activity of all and this is why it will be my final post. 

My objectives of the conference were to meet new people from different cultures and different works of life, create a conference where the theme was emphasized enough that this could've started more service projects, convey a powerful message through different form of stimulus, show myself that I have ability to organize a major event, challenge myself in different ways, discover abilities I never knew I had.

As a team, the responses of the conference were very strong and everyone had a very memorable conference which touched them in so many ways, there were many positive response to everything that happened at the conference and the different aspects of the conference and although our main Pillar we focused Service we managed to incorporate all pillars into the conference. In the personal aspect I believe accomplished so much; far more than I could've ever imagine. I think that I discovered many abilities like behind the scenes work and event planning I've never knew I had. I challenged myself in so many ways that I surprised myself at times when I would conquer these challenges. For example, I consider myself as a somewhat socially awkward person, and find it quite difficult to bond with someone am also quite timid so challenging myself to meet people was a task that quite intimidated me, howeverge I overcame this task by getting enough courage to socialize.

I am proud of what I have accomplished, I know that all challenges that I had set myself were successful and all challenges as a team were successful. I would not change anything from the conference and any action I did with the exception of me being the delegate so I can experience the great Job I did on the conference. I think we were so successful because we worked together so well even though a lot of us were in different year and different ages, our team chemistry was high and everyone was open to constructive criticism, and we usually made collective decision. We were sort of a family, through time we developed bond with each other which is why we were so cooperative with each other.

1 Day LEFT!! apparently one person can't count :)

I think this very long activity developed me into a more confident, competent, cooperative, adaptive leader ; in general I would say all areas of possibly growth increase greatly. It definitely meant a lot to myself because it was so long and we developed bonds with each and we basically was always kept busy juggling our schedule to balance everything and we had to make sacrifices, all to come to the point of completion. This experience for me is an unforgettable one and one I would cherish my whole life. It has also opened a whole lot of doors for me present and future. Knowing I did this gives me the satisfaction of accomplishment, and if I know this I know I can conquer all obstacles to whatever it maybe. 

Baan Jing Jai Center Service day Oct. 2010

"Bann Jing Jai is an orphanage in Pattaya Thailand which houses 60 orphaned children, children who without the care and attention of the workers would no doubt be street children and sold into the sex industry the children range from 9 months to 17 years and am happy to be a part of this cause." - Baan Jing Jai Facebook page (made by supporter of the project)


For a day I had the fortunate opportunity to Join these kids for a day and painted the building a much brighter creamy pink colour. To know where these kids would've been heading if this center didn't exist, it just makes me appreciate more the life I was extremely fortunate to have with parents who give me the love and care and who are financially stable. I can't be begin to get close to imagining what these kids would be  going through, if they weren't saved by Baan Jing Jai Center.


Our objective of the day was to bring some brightness to the center of Baan Jing Jai, originally it was dark orange colour, and we painted it a creamy pink colour. This was for only half the day, for the send part, they taught us how to make some of these really nice looking bracelet which they sold to get some money for the orphanage. We also got to converse with them and have a bit of fun.


We were very successful terms of our objectives, I think we covered most of the building with our bright paint and the kids had a blast with us. We did run into some difficulties in terms of painting the building the surface was very dirty if it was quite tedious cleaning it up but as a team we got through it and we completed the task.


The activity was special to me because it made me appreciate how fortunate I am to have such good parents who are wealthy enough to give me good education, food, shelter, clothes and anything I could ask for. To help the people who don't get the same thing I get, its nice and I feels that as a species it is our duty to help the ones in need. 


I learnt a bit about painting like that we suppose to mix paint with thinner in order to get that glossy finish and a more permanent surface. but I also got the opportunity to learn how to make their cool bracelets.


I can apply painting for the future when I get my own place and renovation need to happen or when I want to get thing done by myself. Learning how to make the bracelet even though I probably won't need that skill in the future, it does give me some experience in working with these very tedious techniques and in the future any task similar to that won't be a overwhelming and difficult to grasp.

Jesters Fair 2010 Sept. 2010

Me manning the booth...
I'm the one with the white shirt and red towel

My main aim of the activity was to be in the booth selling the tickets because I haven't done this job in the previous years and wanted more responsibility so I would be in charge of the money and the social work. I was at the ticket booth for most of the day and gained some valuable experience with this. The Regents booth aimed to raise as much money as they could and in order to give us a higher chance of raising more we separated into different activities; penalty shoot out (most popular activity), The Regents Community partners merchandise was sold, building goal post challenge. This was done so we can target more people into the stall to raise more money.

In the end, we raised quite a lot of money for Jesters. The exact number, I'm not sure of however it didn't matter because I think what we had done had helped someone in need. I also managed to gain some experience in the ticket booth, but my biggest difficulty came when unhappy man came to ask for his money back, surprisingly I managed to convince this man to just give it to charity and would go to a good cause, as this man was quite intimidating I was actually quite proud of myself and found this a test of my courage. I did, however, learn a lot from the experience.

Some other booth employees!!!

I believe that the activity is aimed to help other people other than myself, and it doesn't necessarily have to be direct or in direct as long as action is taken. It does mean a lot to me that I could change somebodies life by doing such a simple job. I learn't to work collaboratively with each activity coordinator so that I could direct the people to they're desired designated activity.

The experience of this activity could be helpful in the future by giving me confidence in dealing with unhappy customers and be more organised to direct people effectively and efficiently.

Baan Mae Lid School / Mae Hong Son Hill Tribe Project Feb. 2010

Baan Mae Lid School is a community partner of the Regents school and have been working with each other for years. My older brother had previously been to this trip saying to me what a fantastic time he had. I knew I had to go.
My objective I wished to accomplish on this service project to interact and connect with people of Baan Mae Lid School. We did many different activities, learn how to bag weave, teach them English, play football, learn how to make bracelets and many more. Other there I learned knew skills as well as embracing the northern traditions and historically used tools of Thailand. My outcomes I feel I really achieved was that I connected with a few people, who I would say scared of my probably because of my large stature, into becoming fairly good buddies. I did however, come across a few difficulties as I do not speak much or any Thai at all so there were fairly difficult challenges for me. I overcame this problem by getting a buddy with me who would be able to translate and made it a lot easier for myself. This experience was an overwhelming experience and will truly be cherished and I will remember it for the rest of my life. The Hill Tribe community's hospitality was extremely generous and it made me learn that the simplicities of life are what we should cherish and be content with. With this Skill, I am now a very positive person and quite optimistic but I am still realistic and at time pessimistic. However, I will always keep whatever I learnt, experienced, received in the Baan Mae Lid School in the bottom of my heart.

Video I produced to be shown during assembly and to promote Round Square Conference 2010

Blind School (26th November 2009)

The Round Square student guild had donated money a few student from our school to give the Blind School a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Mr. Crouch had thought it was a good idea for the student guild members and Round Square 2010 committee member to tag along and enjoy the day with Blind School student. When I arrived there, I had recognized that place before, because I had been there before when I went with my church. We gave various different snack and drinks for them to enjoy. This day, I quite enjoyed because I had a good time talking with them and they also played music for us which pleased me quite a lot. This day was beyond satisfactory and learnt that even with limitation your world still is open to your choosing and that difficult obstacles are always possible, you just got to try, try and try. (3hrs of Service)

Amnesty International / Building outsized toys (Term 1)

These 2 activities were working in co-operation with each other to help in the center at Pattaya. The toys that we made would go to the children at the center for them to play.

week1
This week we were brainstorming on what toys we could make for them, I had come up with many ideas. This week, I learnt that the most effective way of brainstorming to making a product is to draw lots of sample sketches. These sketches did not have to be neat but able to see the idea and just needed to be quick. (1 hr of Creativity)

Week 2,3,4
These weeks we were assigned to design a 'overesized' snakes and ladders game. I learnt how increase things to scale. And I had been asked to also assist the younger student, if and when they had problems. By doing this, I learnt how do deal with less intellectual and younger student, some with poor English skill, when the don't understand, I would be able to explain to them. (3 hrs of Creativity)

Week 5
This week I went to the center where we would play with the little children. It was extremely difficult because I do not speak a word of Thai and they did not speak English. We played various games like hide and seek, monkey in the middle and sometimes we would let them play with the ball. I learnt how to communicate with another person when there was a language barrier between us (2 hrs of Service)

Week 6
This week I went back to the center again and this time I brought balloon for them to play with. They really enjoyed playing around with them however the balloon had burst quite quickly after a few minutes of playing with them. I learnt how to calm some of them down even though there was a language barrier.
(2 hrs of Service)

Croston House Walk (09 Oct. 09)

The Croston House Walk was a fund raising event for which The Regents School held. This event should've been a walk in the park as the previous year I had ran it and for me they made it much longer. It turned out is wasn't as easy as intended as I had assisted in helping from 8G, few of the student are not very fit. I stayed behind to assist the ones who required help, this required me to motivate them to go as far as they could go and required me to keep my 'cool' and be patient which I am trying to develop. In order for me to stay calm, I had a deal with Bavin to have alternating shift attending the slow and unfit walker.
I am very proud of myself as I managed to get this unvery unfit person to a resting check point which was about 4-5 km from the begging. I had also learnt and got some experience in crowd control as this event had the whole school walking for charity. (3hrs of Service and 3hrs of Action)

Jesters Fair (21st september 2009)

The Jesters Fair is an event hosted by a group called Jesters in which they raise money for 'care for kids'. At the beggining, I was just planning to have a fun time at the event but I had not much awareness of what jesters fair was really about. As I was'manning' the stall, I saw a couple of children playing around and then come to do the penalty shoot-out, they didnt manage to score all there shots, but they faces a 'glow' and i could tell they had lots of fun. I imagined those children that Jesters was helping. Then at that point of time, I got a warm feeling inside caus I knew that this deeply affected the lives of the children and hopefully a better future. Just the warm feeling and this feeling only was what it really was about. From this, I feel I am more passionate about helping other people than I had originally thought. Now, I am certainly hoping for another opportunity in which I can get that same feeling I had on this day. (3 hrs of Service)