I joined the Student Ambassadors team in Singapore Polytechnic, School of Digital Media and Infocomm Technology (DMIT) from 2016 to 2018, where I had the opportunity to serve as a Student Leader for Events Management and Training. Prior to my appointment, I also held other roles such as being a Cyberwellness ambassador.
Background
School-based Student Ambassadors teams enable Singapore Polytechnic to build and reinforce the connections that foster relationships among the alumni, schools, staff, and prospective students. In the School of DMIT, now renamed as School of Computing (SoC), student ambassadors can gain interpersonal skills and build social and professional networks. There are activities such as Parents Forum and Cyberwellness Outreach for secondary schools. During my tenure, I planned and managed school-wide events, and also took part in various community involvement activities.
Cyber Wellness Outreach
As part of outreach efforts in Cyber Wellness, I had to promote the safe usage of the Internet and raise Cyber Wellness awareness among students in Singapore. For example, I conducted talks at various secondary schools during their school assembly, and one of which was a talk on Cyberbullying at St Patrick’s School. Hours of preparation went into the rehearsals and self-creating the slides from scratch. Despite the effort required to conduct the talks, it was fulfilling to learn and spread the key messages with others. I am grateful for the opportunity to overcome my fears on stage.
Apart from talks, it was my privilege to commit as a student volunteer for the MightyKids, Family and Community (MKFC). We organized various bonding activities to foster cohesion and semiannual visits to MKFC to help the students with their school work. It was also a platform for us to spread the importance of Cyber Wellness while having fun with the kids.
Managing Schoolwide Events and Training
On top of Cyberwellness, I actively participated in multiple events such as the polytechnic Open House, Parents Forum and National Software Competition as an ambassador to help visitors with wayfinding and to promote the courses we have in school. It was essential for me to be equipped with soft skills such as communication and situational awareness at every single event.
Along the way, I also forged lasting friendships with the other student ambassadors.
While 2016 was eventful and fulfilling, my journey did not stop there. Instead, I challenged myself to lead the other ambassadors and manage ground operations when I was appointed as a Student Leader in 2017. As the person in charge of Events Management and Training, I led my executive committee in the planning of every event which include the recruitment and rostering of manpower, drafting the event floorplan and creation of briefing and training slides.
As a leader, I also learnt to listen actively and catch what others have to say and to be objective in every situation. On ground, every volunteer’s voice matters because we only have a bird’s eye view while our volunteers see each individual aspect of the whole event. It is crucial that we ask them questions to clarify what happened or seek feedback on what could be done better as a team, so that the next event would be an even better run.
Thank you to all the volunteers who have contributed your time and effort at our events, without whom our events would not have been as vibrant and fun. Aside, I was honored to receive the Certificate of Appreciation for Valuable Contribution towards a Safer Cyberspace as well as Gold with Honours for my CCA in Singapore Polytechnic.
Check out video of my Cyber Wellness talk at St Patrick’s School:
