By Chloe Lim (20J04) and Hannah Soh (20J18)
If you have read Part 1 of the JC1 Orientation 2021 article published before this, it is evident that a lot of work has been put in by the respective house captains and your ever-enthusiastic Orientation Group Leaders (OGLs) to engage the J1 participants throughout the 4 days.
As such, many of the J1s have definitely enjoyed their Orientation experience, and we most certainly cannot disregard the team that made it all happen. Now, what better way to get an idea of what went on behind the scenes than to ask the organising committee of Odyssey 2021?
CHAIRPERSONS
Qi Qi (second from right) with her fellow chairpersons!
We were honoured to find out more about the chairperson’s planning process! Wong Qi Qi of 20J01 talks about how the most challenging thing about planning this event was to ensure safe management measures are being followed in all the different segments, and having to ensure that they did not have any mass gatherings.
Wondering what advice Qi Qi has for future chairpersons? Well, here’s what she has to offer: “It is difficult to manage the different committees when so many things are going on at the same time, so do trust your committee heads! Always have the big picture in mind so that your team is clear about what they are doing.” A very applicable tip, indeed!
Of course, behind every great leader is an even greater team. The three behind-the-scenes committees, Programmes, Logistics and Media & Publicity, have also experienced their fair share of challenges. Let’s first hear from the Programmes committee!
PROGRAMMES
To make your experience enjoyable, engaging, and enriching, a team of RVians have worked long and hard to come up with creative activities just for you, and they are none other than… the Programmes committee!
The Programmes Committee really racked their brains to come up with innovative activities!
Let’s find out what one of the Programmes heads, Johnathan Tan of 20J04, has to say when asked about what leading the committee had taught him.
“I’ve learnt to connect a variety of vague ideas to a larger picture. Additionally, a phrase that my Programme Head, Amanda, has deeply instilled in me is “Divide and Conquer”. Working as a team, and we were not limited to a single path. Instead, we are on 18 different paths which embody the same common goal. We branched out and conquered any challenges that laid ahead of us.” He adds that with the determination of members, Orientation 2021 has been a success. Way to go, Programmes committee!
LOGISTICS
Wonder who the people behind the 1600 newspaper balls, 36 1.5m toilet pipes and 12 mazes in your Orientation games are? Well, we managed to find out more from Chan Jia Wei of 20J07, who is part of the Logistics committee! This team spent a lot of time and effort creating the logistical materials that helped to bring the planned games to life.
The Logistics team posing with their committee identity!
We were curious to learn of the interesting events she experienced during the orientation. To this, she replied that since they were tasked to be zombies for the cohort game and had to go to individual classrooms to be ‘baited’ as traps, some of them were too embarrassed to go there alone.
They ended up deciding to go together, with the rest of them standing 1 metre apart at the windows as zombies. “It made the whole experience way more fun and interesting!”
MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
Have you watched the collage process videos posted on each house’s Instagram page in awe, featuring individual pictures being put together to create a hyper-realistic group photo? The team that made it happen is none other than Media and Publicity!
Fiona (back row, second from right) with other Media & Publicity members!
Fiona Ng of 20J11 shares that editing the group concept photos and stitching everyone into one picture was something she had never done before. “I was on Photoshop during any free time available, editing the group concept photo and I’m glad that our team managed to pull it off!” The impressive pictures that the Media and Publicity committee created in spite of the strict Safe Management Measures definitely made this orientation experience even more memorable!
Especially after hearing the thoughts from all these different individuals, we are certain that this Odyssey could only have been a success with the hard work and effort of every single RVian involved. Such dedication and resilience is truly what makes RV, and we must not forget to appreciate all of these RVians for making this year’s Orientation so memorable.
While JC1 Orientation 2021 has come to an end, we hope that the strong bonds you’ve forged with your OG and OGLs will last a lifetime. To end off, we also wish you all the best in your JC journey in RV!
Head over to tinyurl.com/orienqna2 for the full-length responses from our interviewees!
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