Written by: Alvin Lim
Edited by: Celine Koh, Justlyn Yeo
Photos by: Jiang Xu, Niki
“Why did you want to be a Group Leader (GL)?” Many people have posed this question to me during and after NTU-USP Freshmen Orientation Programme (FOP). I didn’t like cheering, meeting new people, and orientation camps in general, so why would I pick this role out of all the different ones?
Being a GL for a camp is a blessing. It is a role that requires lots and lots of interaction during the camp. Welcoming the incoming batch of NTU-USPians and making camp as fun as possible for them were our main responsibilities. Most importantly, we had to facilitate bonding between the freshmen and break the ice between these people who would soon become great friends in NTU-USP. The camp was just the beginning of their years together, and all we had to do was make their 3 days a fun and memorable one.
Therefore, I thought that I could contribute best to NTU-USP as a GL despite being relatively reserved. When I was a freshman, I really appreciated the GLs who were always checking up on our well-being during orientation and those who chatted with the quieter freshies. Not all GLs have to be about cheers and winning games. In fact, I think the main committee (and Ethan, our Chief GL) did a great job of mixing and matching our personalities to balance out each orientation group. With this mix, we could balance the orientation camp between competition and having fun – which is important for the end goal of creating an enjoyable camp that is beneficial for all parties. Creeping fatigue during camp often lead to irritable or selfish actions from tired people, but I remember how glad we were when the freshies in our OG continued to take care of one another and chose to have fun instead of trying to be competitive and win in all the games.
The games we had which ranged from physical to mental challenges catered to the different interests and capabilities of the freshies and were as inclusive as possible. For me, an outstanding game was the gauntlet of escape rooms with wildly different (and extremely difficult) puzzles. These rooms were a product that must have required tons of brainstorming and research on the part of the programmers, who oversaw the games and activities.
As a GL for this camp, another activity that stuck close to my memory was the Social Services Project (SSP) that we participated in on Day 2 of camp. As a freshman last year, I always thought that the SSP component of NTU-USP’s FOP sets the camp apart from all the other university camp. As a returning senior this year, I was once again reminded of sharing the joy with others around us, and that the fun should not be limited only to us students. This event that was jointly organised by FILOS Community Services allowed me to interact with the seniors of Chai Chee residences. I believe that both the freshies and I returned to school with a bus-load of intangible rewards.
All in all, being on the frontline as a GL, to me, would not have worked out without the hours of back-end work by programmers or welgies (committee members in charge of welfare and logistics). Their work receives far less recognition as compared to GLs (who are constantly with the freshmen), but this camp was only possible due to all the behind the scenes work before and during the camp. Seeing everyone working together as one NTU-USP to make NTU-USP FOP 2018 a successful one shows how much NTU-USP means to us. It has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in University so far.
