Eighth student leadership workshop

The first weekend of this academic year's student leadership workshop for the Fourth Formers of Penang Free School is over. My friends and I held it over the last weekend, and I must say that we are satisfied with the quality of the boys that attended the workshop. This is the eighth workshop that we have organised since 2017 and every time, we see fresh faces attend, initially feeling guarded over their expectations of us but by the end of the second day, all their inhibitions are gone.

We always start each day by asking them to sing the School Rally, usually more than once in order to get the participants more animated. By the end of the second day when I asked them to sing again, I could detect a different lift in their voices.

For this edition of the workshop, we we forced to seek an alternative venue for the first day. Our normal venue was the Pinhorn Hall, but on Saturday it was used for the MUET examinations. As such, we chose the Kutub Khanah Tunku instead. On the upper floor was a conveniently-sized conference croom to accommodate all of us. Sunday's session was back to the Pinhorn Hall although the boys had to put in an extra effort to clear the space of the examination tables and chairs first.

I arrived a little late on Sunday to find that the workshop had moved to the stage. Using the huge projector screen was a welcome change For once, our presentation materials were large enough for all to see. But there was a distinct disadvantage for me on a personal level. Every time I mounted the steps, I had to walk gingerly and mind where I was to place my foot next. No more bounding up and down quickly.

These pictures below tell the story of the boys' activities over the weekend. Apart from Loh Lean Kang and I, we were assisted by Sue Chan, SK Cheng and Benjamin Aw. Hue Yan Tatt, Malik and Danish from last year's batch, helped out on Sunday.. The second weekend of this workshop will be on 19th and 20th August.

The Headmaster, Syed Sultan, came to address the participants on Saturday. He is very supportive of our endeavour as through the years, he had seen how Lean Kang, Siang Jin, myself and the late Tan Soo Choon had struggled to make the workshops a success.  

Picture by Chan Sue Hay

Picture by Chan Sue Hay

Picture by Chan Sue Hay

Picture by Chan Sue Hay