Outstanding Scouts and Guides receive awards from President Tharman
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President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his spouse, Ms Jane Ittogi, taking a wefie with award recipients from the Scouts at the Istana on Dec 2.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
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SINGAPORE – The Scouts was not 18-year-old Lin Chuan Yu’s first choice for a co-curricular activity group when he started Secondary 1 at River Valley High School. He was assigned to it.
But he stayed on as he appreciated the values that he learnt from the uniformed group’s activities.
Six years later, Chuan Yu was one of the 14 Venture Scouts – members of the movement’s unit for older boys – who received the President’s Scout Award from President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Dec 2 at the Istana.
At the same ceremony, six Guides received the 2024 President’s Guide Award.
The President’s Guide and the President’s Scout awards are the highest honours bestowed on Singapore’s most outstanding Guides and Venture Scouts of the year for their well-rounded performance, service to the community and dedication to the Guide and Scouting movements.
The award recipients are students who have shown extraordinary leadership potential as they take part in projects that address national or global issues.
In 2023, Chuan Yu led the team conducting Project Reminiscence, a values-in-action (VIA) project by the Scouts in his school.
Under the project, the Scouts take elderly beneficiaries of partner organisations such as SG Cares, Thye Hua Kwan and Sage Counselling Centre to historical and scenic locations to encourage them to reminisce about the past.
The project helps seniors and students interact and share their life experiences with one another.
“The elderly hold a lot of wisdom and knowledge,” Chuan Yu told The Straits Times. “We can learn (from them) how to be more humble and be more steadfast in whatever we pursue.”
During a trip to the Botanic Gardens in 2023, he met an elderly woman who recognised him from another Scouts project in which he participated in 2019.
“It really showed me that while VIA projects like this might be temporary and fleeting for students, it means a lot more to the elderly,” said Chuan Yu, who is waiting for his A-level results.
That conversation made him realise the importance of such projects to beneficiaries, and he has since trained and mentored younger Scouts to keep the momentum going.
He said: “I will try to push for Project Reminiscence to be a trademark of River Valley Scouts, and to be an annual event for the school.”
(From left) Lin Chuan Yu, Celestine Ng and Thanong Virabhak with their awards at the Istana on Dec 2.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Another President’s Scout Award recipient, Thanong Virabhak, 18, also finds purpose in befriending the elderly.
The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student, who is awaiting his International Baccalaureate examination results, spends every other Sunday at NTUC Health’s senior daycare centre in Serangoon teaching the elderly there new skills as part of a Silver Befriending Project he organised in 2023 for the Scouts in his school.
“When I see elderly (folk) who look lonely around my estate, I wonder how I would like to be treated when I grow old,” Thanong said. “I think I would want people to talk to me.”
He has made friends with the elderly at the daycare centre and even bought one woman a colouring book as he knows she loves to colour pictures.
Describing his encounters, he said: “There’s one senior who is always telling my team of Scouts to study hard all the time. We have another one who’s always trying to teach us Chinese idioms.”
One does not need to volunteer at an organisation to help the elderly, said Thanong.
“In fact, we see the elderly all the time, and what matters is taking the initiative to talk to them,” he added.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his spouse, Ms Jane Ittogi, taking a group photo with award recipients from the Scouts and Girl Guides at the Istana on Dec 2.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
While the two Scout award recipients enjoy helping the elderly, one recipient of the President’s Guide Award is a champion of climate action and community care.
Celestine Ng Hui En, who was from the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School, led an advocacy project in 2023, called The Thrift Circle, which promoted environmental sustainability.
When the 16-year-old took over the reins of the project from older Guides in her school, she wanted to go beyond simply raising awareness. “We wanted to encourage people to take more tangible actions,” she said.
The Thrift Circle organised activities such as donation drives and thrift fairs at the school.
Pre-loved items were collected from the student body and made available for students and teachers to take for free during the fair.
“We also wanted to emphasise the importance of responsible consumption and only using what we need,” Celestine said.
She added that winning the President’s Guide Award has renewed her passion for guiding.
“I believe it is our generation’s responsibility to step up and make a difference by pursuing these sustainable practices and being a catalyst for change,” said Celestine, who is waiting to enrol in Eunoia Junior College in 2025.
