National Day Celebrations @ SST 2012

On this special day, the 8th of August 2012, SST commemorates the nation’s 47th birthday in the new premises of the School of Science and Technology at 1 Technology Drive. This year’s celebration was newly organised by the PforSST group, comprising of voluntary parents of students here in SST and the event takes on a new concept today. Instead of the usual performances and singing of the national day songs routine, the PforSST planned a series of new activities like a booth stall styled carnival where students and teachers were free to move about to explore each different themed stall.

Mr Chua kicked off the event in the morning with the reading of the Ministry of Education’s message for the National Day 2012. Next, Ms Tay presented a video that was submitted for Hi-Story, My Story Filmmaking Competition. The film was to show the evolution of Bras Basah Complex throughout the years. The film was produced by Matthew, Luke, Ben and ... from S202, who had sacrificed parts of their June Holidays in producing the inspiring film. Following, was the inviting of Mr Chua and Mrs Chew to pen down their wishes for Singapore on a huge banner that was specially hung up on a side of the Multi-purpose Hall.

P For SST with Mr Chua and Mrs Chew

Mr Chua and a Parent signing on a banner

Upon the emcee’s cue, everyone was dismissed and disperse off to the various booths set up in the Multi-purpose hall and the Indoor Sports Hall. Every student participating will collect a special card where the station master at each booth will stamp on the card upon completion of the activity.

To introduce, there were booths set up  to promote culture and appreciation of heritage for the Chinese, Malay and Tamil, traditional games competition region and the food centre. At the Chinese heritage booth, students can experience calligraphy on traditional paper fans or paper. The three races also displayed their traditional costumes for students to try on and snap photos for remembrance. Traditional games like Skipping, Gasing (Spinning Top), Five Stones, Chapteh and Zero Point also set up stalls to hold mini competitions to stand a chance to win prizes. The food centre sold traditional authentic food like Mee Goreng, Bee Hoon and small snacks.

Attractive prizes can be won when presenting one’s card at the prize collection area. With different number of stamps collected will determine the prizes that can be redeemed.

Lastly, the prizes were given out to the top three winners of each game in the Multi-Purpose Hall. The parents volunteer and PforSST members involved in the preparation of this event were gathered on stage for a photo shoot following by a sing-along session to the 2012 National Day Themed Song - Love at First Light and the familiar tune of Stand Up for Singapore and Count On Me Singapore.

The celebration closed off with loud bangs of confetti poppers after the final singing of the National Anthem and the recitation of the National Pledge. Together as a SST community, we had observed and rejoiced over Singapore’s remarkable spirit in overcoming challenges and strived for success today, 8th August 2012. SST would sincerely like to wish Singapore a Happy Birthday!

Article by Mavis Cheng S201
Pictures by William Ming, Meredith Teo, Jericho Manguan
Date : 8th August 2012