The last time that the PFS student leadership workshop was held was some two years and 10 months ago. Even then, it was only half a workshop. Because of the nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19, my friends and I never got to continue with the second half of the four-day workshop. Since that 2020 workshop, Penang Free School had even undergone two significant changes: Omar bin Abdul Rashid had retired as the headmaster at the of 2020 and his replacement, Shamsul Fairuz bin Mohd Nor, lasted only a year before he was eventually transferred elsewhere.
The new headmaster is Syed Sultan bin Oothuman; he's not an Old Free per se as he had never studied in Penang Free School. But Syed Sultan had taught at the Free School from 1992 until perhaps three years ago when he was transferred out. When we learnt that he was to be transferred back to Penang Free School as the new headmaster in January this year, we welcomed it because we knew that we could depend on him to uphold the many traditions of this Grand Old Lady. He would have been very familiar with them already.
When I had met Syed Sultan some three or four months into his new role, one of the first things he expressed was a desire that the PFS student leadership workshop be continued. I told him that he should also speak with Lean Kang since he was one of the main initiators of the workshop in 2017. I wasn't; I was only roped in to help in the workshops later.
After many months of discussions with the school, the 2022 edition of the workshop was finally realised. The first two days of the workshop was held over the last weekend with 25 participants comprising the pupils from Form Four and Lower Six. Lean Kang did most of the talking in this workshop as coaching isn't my forte. I chose to be in the background most of the time to provide the necessary back-up. But on Sunday afternoon, I stepped forward to take charge of the history section and I must say that I enjoyed the interaction with the participants very much.
Both Lean Kang and I missed the presence of Siang Jin and Soo Choon. The latter, as many people already knew, had shocked us with his passing in March 2020, barely a month after the end of that year's workshop. And Siang Jin is now basking in the warmth of his revived interest in art, so much so, I'm afraid, the leadership workshops have temporarily taken a backseat for him!
All said and done, Lean Kang and I thoroughly enjoyed the sessions over the weekend. It says much that we could still interact with today's youths. In our own ways, we were still able to mold their minds and their thoughts. We were assisted during the two days by some alumni from the previous workshops, namely, Farhana, Afiq, Michael, Kar Yang and Norman. We shall be meeting up with the participants again at the end of January next year to conclude the workshop.
ADDENDUM: For the record, I had made this posting in the facebook page of The Old Frees' Association:
After a lapse of two years and 10 months, we resumed the PFS student leadership workshop last weekend with 25 participants from Form Four and Lower Six. Skeptics may ask why we continue to run this four-day workshop year after year, giving our time without personal financial reward (we stopped only during the pandemic lockdown), but let me say that having gone through the first weekend with them, there are still a lot of bright sparks among the present batch of students! My friends and I shall continue to help the school as long as we are able to. I hope others will too.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/ofapg/permalink/2888696967931834/?mibextid=Nif5oz
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