Youth with Vision 3.0 (Queensway Secondary School)

Youth-with-Vision aims to engage secondary school students through motivational programs to unlock their potential. Through the programs, the students are encouraged to build up their resilience and develop good personal and study habits. First started as a Capstone project in 2013, YWV had its third run with Queensway Secondary School (QSS) during January to April 2014.  Twenty five students from QSS came to CAPT for a four-week program together with 18 mentors from CAPT.

The sessions focused on themes such as goal setting, self-awareness, personality types (MBTI) and presentation skills to better equip them for the future. Students participated in hands-on activities, games and discussions to learn more about themselves and how they can achieve their potential. We also invited speakers such as Mr Kenny Leck (Founder of Books Actually) and Mr Khoo Yi Feng (Public Speaking Trainer) to share their inspirational stories and practical skills with the students.

One highlight of YWV 3.0 was the Mirror Project where students come up with ideas on how to benefit their community, such as writing encouraging notes to their peers in school. This is then carried out by their mentors in the CAPT community. Mentors also befriended and guided the participating students, helping them discover a sense of purpose in life. Both students and mentors cited that more sessions could be organized, and that the information and materials shared during sessions were helpful and applicable to their lives. The programme concluded on a good note and aims to expand its outreach by engaging university mentors from NUS, instead of only from CAPT, for future runs.

Reflections from Capstone team members
“Through this experience, I felt that I had grown a little wiser. I learned to consider things that I would not have in the past. I had to account for everything that I put into the program, and how this will benefit the students. Since I was the project leader, I had to liaise with different parties, such as the school and the original team who was mentoring us, to ensure that the needs of both sides are met. As a leader, I was also able to expand on my leadership style, to focus on developing my team members to work for the cause, instead of setting the goal and fitting my team members in”.

-Ng Ching Siang

“I am graduating this semester and am glad that I was given the opportunity to carry out a Capstone project. I love all the ideas and possibilities that came with the project, my team mates, and the chance to meet so many young friends that have so much potential to shine. I have been out of touch with younger people- and as clichéd as this sounds, the youth is the future. I enjoy being in their presence and just soaking in their infectious energy”.

-Soon Tzu Hsiang

“It was indeed rewarding to play the role of programmes head as I get to see how “mentees” improve over time through the lessons learned. I also enjoy the challenge of this role because it sparks more thinking about things that work on the ground and things that don’t, and such things cannot be learned that well through textbooks. Through this program, I also managed to overcome my fear of speaking to large groups of people. And last but not least, this program has allowed me to realize that some things are worth giving up for. Although sometimes my workload is building up, I still spend time on refining the programs because I hope that the trips to CAPT made by the youths are worthwhile”.

-Vanessa Ng Wan Ning