Essays

‘You don’t need money to have fun.’ Write about some occasions when you have found this to be true.

‘I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight’. This phrase, sung by the famous Singer-songwriter Sia, serves as a perfect example of the non-existent necessity of money for our entertainment. Do we really need to spend to be happy? I thoroughly disagree. The sheer number of things that can be done proves my stand firmly.

 

I have had many experiences that have reiterated my point, that material wealth is not proportional to fun. Among these, is a memory I have from when I was 12 years old. At that time, I was residing in a secluded house in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It had a large and lush garden, where I would spend most of my days. I did not have a phone or laptop back then, so I would squander my time frolicking aimlessly about the garden. One day, I just broke and asked myself what other things I could do with my time to facilitate my boredom. Then it hit me, like an arrow. I could make a bow! I vaguely recalled watching a ‘Bear Grylls’ video on bow making and thought I’d give it a go. And so I set off. Although I may not have made the most efficient or powerful bow, the journey of making it and the satisfaction of seeing something fly out of it was enough to keep me entertained for days. Using only what was available to me, I was able to craft something new, and this opened up a vast array of new ideas and projects to me. This coincides seamlessly with the fact that everything around us can inspire, create and give endless enjoyment to us.

 

Another memory that resurfaces to me, is one from when I was ten. I used to go down to the amphitheatre area near my HDB flat, to meet my neighbours and play some games. On this certain day, the amphitheatre was assaulted with a colossal downpour, leaving me and my friends inside. We were indescribably bored, with presumably nothing to entertain us. One of my friends picked up a plastic bottle and whacked his head with it out of frustration. ‘Bong…’ We all turned and laughed, before deciding to join in. We had tons of fun experimenting with the different sounds and notes different bottles made, and we even made some half-decent beats. We had been at it for so long, that it had been an hour since it stopped raining! This just illustrates how simple items that require no money can be used for our enjoyment.

 

Anything can be fun, and we certainly do not require money to facilitate our euphoria. ‘I love cheap thrills!’ – Sia.

 

 

An Uneventful Event?

 

by Asher Nathaniel (3A’2020)

 

On the 7th of August, Queenstown Secondary School hosted two of the most anticipated celebratory events of the year, the Speech Day Prize Presentation and the National Day celebrations. However, due to the on-going Covid-19 situation, these events could not take on their full forms. This has resulted in many of the students finding the event to be lacklustre. So what did Queenstown get right? And more importantly, what didn’t they?

 

Food is one of the most motivating things in life. And Queenstown Secondary definitely knew how to use that to their advantage. On the morning of August 7th, our school challenged every class in every level, to an onerous quiz on Singapore trivia. The highest scoring class in each level were rewarded with bags full of titbits and goodies. This, combined with a spirit of friendly competitiveness, was sufficient in keeping the minds and bellies of students longing for victory. I was lucky enough to be part of one of the classes that got full points for the quiz, and I can corroborate that my mind and belly were ecstatic. The cornucopia of snacks kept me engaged throughout the festivities. Our school certainly knows how to win our attention with food.

 

One other thing that the students were captivated by, was the opportunity to cheer for their peers who have performed outstandingly for their examinations. In the class I was in, I vividly recall all of us applauding jovially for our classmates who were awarded. Every time we heard our friends’ names, we were energised with glee, and waited eagerly for the next awardee, hoping it would be another one of our peers. These joy-filled moments are something all Queenstownians look forward to on Speech Day.

 

Although there was a fair share of eclectic moments, many students of Queenstown Secondary School found the overall day to be boring and uninteresting. All of us were made to stay in our classrooms from 8.00a.m. to almost 2p.m. – a whopping six hours of cramps, numbness and what seemed like eternal boredom.

 

One thing in my opinion that particularly made this event an uneventful one, was the indescribably elongated speeches of the top students in Secondary 4. Many, including myself, felt that the videos of the students speaking were tiresome to listen to, and filled to the brim with repetitive information that could have easily been expressed in ten seconds. This definitely killed the mood for plenty of students.

 

Most importantly, something that contributed substantially to the dullness of the event, was the fact that the ceremony was broadcasted live, and not face-to-face. This inevitable decision forfeited the personal touch an in-person event would have offered. This led to the students finding the celebrations to be partial, and they could not truly be part of the ceremony.

 

This year’s pandemic situation has certainly caused some restraints, but there is always next year. Although there were a few cons, the pros outweighed them by a long way. This year’s National Day and Speech day celebrations will definitely live in our minds and memories for years to come.

 

 

 

Speech on Community Youth Leadership Project

 

by Patricia Sim (3A’2020)

 

Good morning teachers and classmates. Today I will be sharing my proposal for our Community Youth Leadership project. I have gotten news that due to the pandemic, there will be numerous restrictions for our CYL projects involving social distancing, limited crowds and strict hygiene protocols. However, I have found ways to overcome these restrictions – moving our activities online.

 

We will raise awareness on the abuse of animals as well as the ways pets are not taken care of properly. We will educate the school population and public, if possible, about being responsible pet owners and kind to animals. As our end-of-year exams will be in a month and a half, I would prefer to host our campaign afterwards, around October. These ideas will take around two to three weeks to materialise, depending on our efficiency, cooperation, and distribution of workload. The first idea is rather simple – we will make interactive activities for the students to participate in. We can set up a social media campaign using the school’s accounts. We can include fun challenges alongside infographics about animal abuse to encourage interactivity, such as answering questions or sharing educational infographics with a specific number of people. This will help the spread of the campaign, especially if our class alerts their own friends about this too. This will teach us about graphic design, social media marketing, and how to appeal to and educate a wider audience. It is rather simple to do as well.

 

Another activity that we can do is to make an educational video. We can get some people to act, write the script and edit it to present it to the various classes during CCE or CMCT. We can produce an entertaining video that encourages pet owners to be more responsible and highlights the difficulties and rewards that pets bring humans. As groups are limited to five people, I suggest we find creative ways to shoot our parts in a safe and law-abiding manner, such as recording scripted Zoom meetings, filming individual parts at home to make a mockumentary with narration, or even making a cartoon slideshow with voiceovers. Seeing that many of you are the confident and humorous type, I doubt you would have any problem scripting and acting out a down-to-earth, authentic video that manages to educate others without a forced hand. This also gives us an opportunity to practise our video editing skills.

 

I understand that we have many duties to attend to, and that even after exams are over we will still be busy. However, CYL is just as important as academics and more fruitful than recreational activities. Since you will be working with your friends, it will also be fun and less tedious. As we get closer to graduating, we will need to find accomplishments for our EAE and JAE, and this is a good opportunity to snag something for your applications. Not only that, this will give you some experience that cannot be learnt in the classroom. Online teamwork, editing, graphic design, acting, these are all things that will definitely be useful one day and we should be exposed to. Last but not least, we could help protect animals from abuse and neglect with our awareness campaign. It may be difficult to do, but we should be compassionate enough to at least try. 

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my proposal. I hope you will consider them, for both the animals and our sakes.

Why work hard, when you can play hard?

by Reynard Lie Sutrisno (3A’2020)

I have always been told, like many other Asian kids, that games are for after you have finished your school work, and that phones should be used sparingly. But I have been balancing my school work and my usage of gadgets for a very long time, and I can say with a definite voice: online gaming is more important than school. Allow me to explain myself.

Why do we go to school? To study, of course. But ultimately it is to get a degree to attain a “good” job. But here is the big shocker – the world has changed. Now, playing games online is a viable career choice. Aside from the highly competitive Esports scene that demands a lot of time and dedication, playing games casually and streaming it on YouTube or Twitch is also a money-making prospect. Instead of wasting our time trying to torture ourselves by cramming jargons into our heads, we can dedicate our time to building the foundation for our careers. By getting good at the respective games that we are going to capitalise off, we open ourselves to better business opportunities. By being addicted to your mobile phone and spending hours daily on gaming, you are building the foundation for your future.

Another reason why phone addiction to online gaming is beneficial is because of the relationships that it builds. When you socialise with people who are born around you and raised around you, they start to think and act like you. Since everyone has a similar background, aside from the occasional outlier or foreigner, your view of the world becomes highly constrained. When you play online games and make friends all over the world, this might result in you learning new things about the outside world, outside of the bubble of your immediate social life.

But alas, we teenagers are minors, and in a society that sees teenagers as angsty nuisances, we are hard-pressed to chase the path of phone addiction. This is evident in the law that many “developed” countries in the world impose – compulsory education. By forcing us to go to school, going so far as to make it a legal matter, it just shows how little society thinks of us and our decision-making skills. Some misconceptions that the adults of said society have regarding how we allegedly use our phones are simply shocking. One misconception is that we are unaware of the dangers of the internet: the many predators, hackers and viruses that lurk around on the net, or so they describe it. I love my mother but sometimes I am offended by how she thinks that I use my real name and give away my address to strangers online. Adults try to shield us from the “dangers unknown” by completely cutting off our access to the internet. How? By taking away our phones.

The teachers are no better, they have the misconception that we are using our phones to distract ourselves from their lessons. Whether it is by playing games or checking the time, it is a show of arrogance and disrespect. Well, maybe we just need a breather, a slight reprieve from all the cramming. And why should how we are using our phones be of any of your concern? Perhaps we just don’t care very much for a lesson due to how irrelevant it is to our future plans.

And so to cap my argument off, I propose a change. A new school rule that will allow students to use their phones whenever they want to, given some restrictions. “Students should be allowed to use their gadgets at any time except during examinations, provided that they remain silent throughout the usage.” This would solve all my disagreements and many others as I am sure that all we need is freedom. We own our phones, and so we should darn well be allowed to use them.