21A04

Sympathetic and cognizant of the daily struggles faced by ex-convicts, Our Class Campaign would leverage on the use of social media to reach out to the masses. By doing so, we sought to achieve two main objectives:

1. The first is to dispel some of the public's misconceptions regarding ex-offenders

2. The second is to promote the celebration of their integration back into our society

A three-pronged approach, our Service Learning Day started off with the class being split up into three main groups:

• Group A - Responsible for managing our social media accounts

• Group B - Responsible for the filming and production

• Group C - Responsible for the creation and management of the podcast

Following from this, each group went about their day doing up and delivering on their task objectives. After which, the fruits of each group's labour were consolidated and uploaded onto our social media account in spaced intervals ( every 2 days or so ).

For Group B, our class edited out snippets of our video production and posted the highlights onto our Instagram Page. The full video was uploaded onto our Youtube Channel.

For Group C, our class edited out snippets of audio from the podcast which perfectly summarised our verbal opinions on the matter of ex-offenders and the struggles they faced when integrating back into Our Society. As with our video, the full audio podcast was likewise posted on our Youtube Channel.

As a class, we felt the experience that we went through on Service Learning Day was both enriching and insightful. Not only were we able to acquire a more nuanced understanding of ex-offenders and their daily struggles, but we also found ourselves more emotionally invested and connected to their hardships and difficulties.

From this Service Learning Project, we have come to realise how unforgiving is society's treatment of ex-offenders even after serving their time in jail. Moreover, we have also learnt how the past mistakes committed by ex-offenders still continue to trouble them both even till today ( starting new relationships with others, applying for a job, finding a renewed purpose in life etc…).

Their stories not only made us think more critically on the dangers which stigmatization and discrimination have on others, but it also serves as an avenue for self-relfection on our part and how we conduct ourselves in the past when we encounter people with as troubling a past as ex-offenders.

Ultimately, our class agrees that more attention should be given to this issue regarding the stigmatization and discrimination of ex-offenders. We believe more should be done not just in eliminating the stereotypes Our Society harbours towards ex-offenders ( whether it towards their behaviour, attitude, morals etc… ), but also more of us should celebrate their integration back into Our Society by welcoming their start towards turning a new leaf in their lives.