Prata, Ice Cream, and Zumba: How Victoria Junior College Celebrated Staff Day

Walking down the corridors, music could be heard playing over many of the classroom speakers. Some classes had even organised class activities such as karaoke, while others hosted games such as Mafia and Just Dance. One civics tutor, Ms Lim Jia Yin Sharon, bore witness to a passionate group rendition of Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s ‘One Kiss’ by the boys in her civics class, 23S62.

About an hour later, all students and tutors were called to the hall for the concert segment of the day. Hosted by May Nay Chi Oo (23S31) and Yanamandra Krishna Kaushik (23S45) from the Staff Day Ad Hoc, the concert followed this year’s theme of ‘Eras’. ‘Eras’ was chosen to celebrate the childhood memories of the tutors, matching this year’s Staff Day Dinner theme. 

The hosts first took the audience back to 1950 with a nostalgic game show segment. Civics tutors and student representatives from the senior and junior classes had to work together against four other similar teams, competing for the top prize of power banks. 

The teams competed in three rounds. First, they guessed the identity of tutors from baby photographs. Then, they had to identify messages written in illegible handwriting, and finally, each group played increasingly difficult games of charades. The audience participated in the last round, having to guess the performed action via Kahoot, and whether the team gained points depended on the number of audience members guessing the correct option.

Afterwards, May Nay took the audience back to the modern era and began with another prize-giving ceremony. This time, the awards were for the tutors specifically. 

The Staff Day Ad Hoc had sent out a form to all students the week prior via Whatsapp. It asked them to vote for the most deserving tutor across several, light-hearted award categories, including awards such as the ‘Most Humorous Teacher’, ‘Teacher who Replies to Messages the Quickest’, and ‘Teacher with the Biggest Caffeine Addiction’. This was to highlight the unique teaching experiences as offered by the different tutors in VJC and celebrate their contributions as teaching staff.

On Staff Day, the tutors were called up on stage to receive certificates of their awards from the principal, Mr Jeffrey Low.

To end off the event, four student-led performances came up and captivated the audience and tutors with their music. This began with a cover of Jessie J’s ‘Flashlight’ by Heng Yu Kai (23S37), who did both piano and vocals. Students waved their phones in the dark hall, flashlights on, as Heng covered the well-loved song.

The next act was a duet with piano accompaniment of ‘Never Enough’ from ‘The Greatest Showman’, performed by the group Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich. Tho Wee Chong Joshua (23S56) was their pianist while Chau Yi Ling Sarah (23S55) and Thongthornpatch ‘Pluem’ Chamadol (23S56) were the alto and bass vocalists respectively. 

Chau and Chamadol’s stunning vocals resonated throughout the hall with the first chorus, eliciting gasps from the audience. Each succeeding chorus was just as powerful, as was the beautiful piano solo by Tho, and the group bowed out with loud applause from the audience.

Seet Ju Jing Sebastian (23S41) followed up with a cover of ‘Bewitched’ by Laufey. The bass singer had a moving voice, matching the heartfelt lyrics of the song. Audience members swayed to the music and waved their hands in support of the singer.

Finally, was the band Purely Business. Unfortunately, technical issues with the keyboard’s amplifier ended up delaying their performance. The curtains closed just as multiple people were seen running to the malfunctioning amplifier. This left the hosts, May Nay and Kaushik, to improvise so as to keep the audience entertained, and they ended up having an on-stage discussion about the concert and their day. 

Fortunately, after several minutes, they were able to fix the amplifier and the audience cheered as the band members returned to the stage.

Despite the initial enthusiasm for the only band in the lineup, their thirty second cover of ‘Just the Two of Us’ by Grover Washington Jr. seemed underwhelming to the audience. After such a significant delay, members of the audience were heard mumbling amongst themselves about the short performance, unimpressed.

However, the vocalist, Naomi Madison Yong from 23A12, then surprised the hall by changing the sweet, gentle tune for new raw opening lyrics. The band slammed, stunning the audience, before picking up the mood with ‘It’s My Life’ by Bon Jovi to loud cheers. They played loudly and passionately, ending the Staff Day concert with a bang.

“It was really fun to perform with a group of Victorians with similar passions and also inspiring to watch us solve problems together,” Seet reflected after the performance. 

The following Monday (28 August), the Parent Support Group (PSG) and the college had prepared their own celebrations for the teaching staff as well. 

In the Concourse, a spread of dishes was made available to the tutors, courtesy of the PSG. Classic Singaporean dishes, such as laksa, roti prata, beef biryani, and satay, were served, alongside various cakes and an operable claw machine for Ben & Jerry’s© ice cream as dessert. Drinks were also provided with free-flow fruit punch in two kegs near the ramp. 

“I wanted to be part of a large-scale project and wanted to challenge myself in organising such an event,” May Nay commented about her time in the Staff Day Ad Hoc. “I also thought it was a really nice way to give back to the staff.”

Though, she doubted that Staff Day alone was enough. To her, it was the little things that had a bigger impact in improving support given to the staff. “It definitely helps that it’s a whole day dedicated to them. But, it’ll be nice if we could remind them regularly in small ways that we really do appreciate all that they do.”

Indeed, the proceedings of Staff Day as organised by her and the Ad Hoc were exemplary of what we could do to show appreciation for our tutors. As May Nay mentioned after the game show, we could “improve our handwriting” in our written submissions. Or, we could take the time to send messages of appreciation, as was done for the Class Party. Small efforts such as these could play a big part in brightening up their day.

Support for our tutors can extend well beyond a designated special day too. As Mr Low had said previously during this year’s College Day, VJC’s ‘Work hard, Play hard’ culture extended to the staff as well. Through the efforts of the Ad Hoc, the student performers, and the student volunteers, it was clear that given the platform, VJC students would step up to uplift and support this culture, as the tutors had done for us.