12th Grade




Creativity and service

Tote Bag workshop

During Wells Without Walls in December, I proposed the idea to hold a tote-bag painting workshop which I organised by buying the paint and bags, and collecting fees from the participants. While the event was held primarily for non-club members as a creative activity, I was asked to paint one of my teacher's tote-bags, which I did happily.

The activity itself was considerably challenging to hold since I had to find tote bags in a specific price range and ensuring they would arrive in time. However, one of the sets was due to arrive after the WWW week and during school winter break. To combat this, I arranged for students to get their tote bags and bring paint home to complete the project at home. This fix to the issue, while the situation was not ideal, helped the students to still be able to participate despite the lack of materials at the time of the workshop. Despite the late arrival being part of the distributor's delay, I felt guiltily responsible for letting the interested students down. Though I realised that sometimes things don't turn out exactly as planned, and adapting to the issue is the only way to combat it.

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My friend Brandon and I learning from the skatepark staff

Activity

Skateboarding

After returning to Bang Krachao for another biking day a couple months later, my friends and I discovered a local skateboard park on the artificial island. While I had tried riding on my friends' skateboards (while failing and immediately giving up) a couple times beforehand, I decided to participate completely this time. For around 2 hours, my friends and I tried our hardest to learn how to skate. Despite the tiredness from riding the rented bicycles to the destination, we were absolutely thrilled by the experience. The initial struggle, while leading to us occasionally falling (primarily me), the rewarding feeling that followed was entirely worth it. 

I found that balancing on a moving board was much more difficult than anticipated, and despite getting frustrated, I learned to be resilient and continue striving to at least balance on the skateboard. However, towards the end of the session, my friend Brandon and I were able to skate around the park for 3-4 meter lengths at a time! The experience taught me that no matter how difficult an activity might seem, if you strive to accomplish it and maintain persistence, there's a much higher chance of you succeeding than if you don't try at all. 

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MCing while primary students show a demonstration on how to make Krathongs










Cup toss game booth at Wells Bangna






















Service

International Day: Loy Krathong MC

During our school's 2022 International Day in November, I MCed for Loy Krathong in front of middle and primary students. This activity proved to be a much more challenging and rewarding experience than my previous opportunities to MC. This time, the event tested my confidence, communication skills, and ability to connect with a more diverse audience by conveying information about Loy Krathong while still maintaining their interests. I found it rather difficult to write a script that did so while also ensuring I allowed the primary students to demonstrate how to make a Krathong. Throughout the process, would often confide in my MC partner as well as the organising teacher, who gave input where necessary. I found that I had to adapt my tone, language, and approach to meet the needs and expectations of the audience while still maintaining a sense of personality and chemistry with my classmate. As usual, I felt anxious with the fear of making mistakes or forgetting my lines since it was a high-pressure environment with a large audience, I wanted to do my best to ensure that everything ran smoothly. But as the event went on, I learned to trust my preparation, practice with my MC partner continually, and stay focused on the present moment.

Throughout the experience of MCing for Loy Krathong, I experienced a range of emotions, from nervousness and anxiety to excitement though I felt this particular event helped me become a better communicator as it added to my experience as I learned the importance of adjusting scripts to fit a younger audience. 

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Japanese Club Booth

During Wells Without Walls, I also participated in holding a Japanese club booth in Wells Bangna for their Christmas activity. The activities we held, while not directly correlated to Japanese activities, included cup toss, where primary students had to toss ping pong balls into cups, which we would give out origami and chocolate-covered bananas to if they scored more than 3 of the 6 cups. This event helped me improve my communication skills with younger children since we had to explain the rules to the 4-10-year-olds who participated. I found this somewhat challenging since I don't have much experience interacting with that age group. However, through patience, clarifications, and navigating correct wording choices, we were capable of explaining the details of the booth to them. Despite spending around 3 hours with our booth, the time flew by as we enjoyed interacting with the kids and each other. 

Since I was the only non-Japanese member, the other members taught me some Japanese words, such as colours inspired by the Christmas-themed balloons and the colour of the cups. The booth acted as a bonding experience among club members of all high school grades, and served a purpose to raise club funding for future activities and charities the club participates in.

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Thai Club at Samakhee Songkhrao School 

In November, the Thai club went to a catholic school called Samakhee Songkhrao in Khlong Toey district. The school, which was comprised of predominantly less fortunate students, welcomed us with warmth and delight. During the event, I acted as MC, introducing the students to Wells International School and explaining the purpose of our trip, which was to provide the children with activities to brighten up their day and inform them about traditional Thai games that they might not have heard of. 

One of the games that we played, held by the group I was in, was called "ทอยเส้น" (Toi Sen), which was a new experience for me. Learning to play the game required patience and practice that my group had learned together beforehand. We had spent the previous month coming up with potential rewards and equipment to use during our weekly club meetings. Eventually, we decided to use fake rubber geckos as a way to introduce more humour into the game. This part required a significant amount of brainstorming as we wanted to explore interesting and creative alternations to the usual rubber bands used to throw across the line. However, we worked as a team to come up with the idea. 

As I spent time with the children, I was struck by their resilience, optimism, and spirit. Despite the challenges they faced in their daily lives, they approached each game and activity with energy and enthusiasm, eager to learn and grow. The experience of going to Samukhee Songkrao with the Thai club also reminded me of the importance of giving back and making a positive impact in our communities. It was a reminder that we all have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves, and that even small gestures of kindness and support can make a big difference in the lives of others.

Overall, going to Samukhee Songkhrao with the Thai club was a powerful experience that allowed me to connect with children from a different background and gain a deeper appreciation for the importance of community and service. It was a reminder that we are all connected, and that by coming together and supporting each other, we can make a positive impact in the world even through small activities.

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