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| Hey Exco! During the weekend, I bought the April issue of herworld magazine out of curiosity. Initially it was to search for tips on where to get a nice white dress for my confirmation in church, but eventually I found many relevant pointers for us as an Exco, so I thought I'd share it with you all.  This is from an interview with Taya Rogers, 23, a Thai-American MTV VJ. Power to you means... "having the passion and courage to make changes in the world, even through the little things. Something as simple as being friendly and smiling at people you meet can make a difference by making their day a litte brighter." The next section is by Eric Feng, the co-author of The FAQ Book on Public Speaking. "People are afraid of public humiliation, not public speaking! Asians, especially, are afraid of 'losing face'. For three years now, I've polled my clients on their biggest fear when speaking publicly. They fear blanking out suddenly and their audience walking out or challenging them." "Be audience-centric by focusing on the things you can control such as their needs. Ask yourself: 'What can I do to connect with them?', 'Is me speech addressing their problems?' and 'Is the room conducive enough for them to concentrate?'" I also read the article on herworld's Woman of the Year, Noeleen Heyzer. For 14 years, she has been shaping policies at the United Nations to improve the lives of women. She attributes a good part of her success to how she is able to motivate those around her. "I do it by building teams of people and giving them a common purpose and vision. I try to inspire them by talking to their hearts as well as their minds. I try to bring out the best in people by building on their strengths." It's important to be a good listener too, she says. "People like to be seen as strong and contributing; they like to be listened to. So I don't just come in and tell them what's right or wrong." She says: "The most important thing is to work from your heart and your own internal compass. Nobody can guide you; at the end of the day, you have to guide yourself. And in order for you to transform your environment, you have to transform yourself first." Herworld special: "Look My Way" (This is specifically for some workaholics among us!) Count those ZZZs. Too many late nights can leave your face and eyes looking haggard. Not enough sleep also stresses the body out and hinders skin's protective ability. Get at least six to eight hours of sleep each night. To relieve swelling in the face and eyes, try sleeping with your head elevated on an extra pillow or two to improve circulation. Herworld Body & Soul Special: "Size Matters" Avoid other activities while you are eating. This includes reading a magazine or watching television. You will be less likely to notice when you begin to feel full, leading to overeating. I guess I must stop having my dinners in front of the computer while working on projects or proposals.  Hope that information helped you in some way or another. Jia you for forum!  | | |
| Dear Exco, First of all, a big thank you to Sandra for her recent post. It was a refreshing read for me as she shared her insights from the book, Difference Maker. Thanks for taking the time and effort to blog it so that others may take a leaf from it too. I had a meeting today concerning student leadership training and it reminded me of the 5 practices in the Leadership Challenge that I introduced to you last year. Hopefully, you still have the handouts and remember what those practices are. For your convenience, they are: (i) model the way, (ii) inspire a shared vision, (iii) challenge the process, (iv) enable others to act, (v) encourage the heart. How are you faring in each of the practices? Are you applying these to your area of influence, in Prefectship, CCA and also in your class? Here's an excerpt from a book I read to illustrate (i) model the way: Modelling What we say and what we do must agree. Our people (our Prefects) will do what we (teachers, Exco) do more than what we say. What walks in fathers (that's us) runs in children (that's our Prefects). The way we handle our people is the way they will handle others. OUr lives are the most powerful messages we will ever preach. People ask themselves, "what would (that person) do in this situation? And thus they get counsel from knowing the life of their leader. Cheers, Ms Leong | | |
| Hey Exco! On my trip to KL last year, I bought a book by John Maxwell, "The Difference Maker". I've only had time since school started, to read the first few pages! Still, I'd like to share with you all what the chapter is about. I'll try to re-phrase everything so that it won't sound so dry.  Attitude. It "colours every aspect of your life". It's affected by your personality, environment, expression of others, self-esteem, experiences, your peers, and your thoughts. After reading that section, I compared my attitude with what was written in the book. I realised that with my personality, I'm easily affected by others. It may be a good or bad thing, which is what I've to decide depending on the situation. Most people can remember either the harshest criticisms, or the most uplifting praises in their lives. It is up to us to decide if we should dwell on something negative, or seek to improve ourselves. As a more down-to-earth example, I can share with you what my teacher shared with my class during CE lesson today. She told us a true story about one of her ex-students. My rendition of it may not be totally accurate, but I'll try my best to get the message across. The student she told us about was around our age. She didn't have a very good family background, and had was born with physical disablilities. However, she had a very positive attitude towards learning, and despite her illness, she was determined to go pursue a good education. After she survived an operation to remove the tumour, the doctors found cancerous cells in her brain. She passed away when they couldn't save her. I learnt that having the right attitude is definitely the difference maker in our lives. If we constantly give ourselves excuses for our downfalls, we can never improve. So now, I'm inspired to put my best effort in everything that I do. Telling myself that I was simply born with an inability to do say, Amath, is as good as a lie. We should be thankful for the environment that we're in, and strive to make our lives worthwhile! Hope that my post was inspiring in some way! We should all look for a greater purpose in life. Okay, that sounded really cliched, but it's just something I wanted to share with you all. Sandra | | |
| Dear Exco, I have finally found the secret passage to your blog with the help of Sandra. How am I supposed to know that an obscure link titled "prvt" is supposed to be the gateway to this world? Heh... I hope all of us had a really good rest over the weekend after Investiture. It was very well-deserved indeed because you have been working long and hard at the preparations. Just in the month of January, we've had two high-key events such as Orientation and Investiture. I also know that on occasions, you have had to trade sleep for homework time, leisure for Investiture matters, meal times for more Investiture pracs and the list goes on. Still, I believe now that the job is over, you can look back and relish the work of your hands. Reward is sweet when you have "fought", wrestled, struggled and eventually triumphed over difficult times. And truly, that's how we enlarge our capacity as an effective individual. It is naive and unrealistic to think that change happens without strife and growth takes place without discomfort. Hopefully, you will be able to say in retrospection that this season has taught you lessons in leading yourself, others and sharpened your saw, so to speak. As we progress to February, I do not anticipate any high-key events to take place, apart from the service that we render to the school daily. So this is your time to return to the regularity of school life, catch up on your studies and homework, spend some time with family and also resume earthly hours of sleep in the night. I leave you a quote that I like for meditation: What we act on, we strengthen. If we are angry and we act on it, we strengthen anger. If we are anxious and allow it to drive us to action, we strengthen worry. When we control our temper, we strengthen self-control. Our will is like a muscle. Every time we make a decision, it is like lifting a weight. We strengthen the muscle of our will. Cheers, Ms Leong | | |
| I will start off with what I have learnt about leadership from "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John Maxwell. As I have mentioned in the email, the two laws that have left the most lasting impact on me are the Law of Sacrifice and the Law of Legacy. The Law of Sacrifice; a leader must give up to go up. Very often, I find that I have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy. Choosing what is right comes with sacrifices, such as spending time and effort to ensure that deadlines are met and that goals are reached. However, it also comes with its rewards; respect from your team and a sense of satisfaction. "For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something."
The Law of Legacy; this links very much to how we want to leave the Board stronger and more useful than before. Let me quote: "Just as in sports a coach needs a team of good players to win, an organisation needs a team of good leaders to succeed." That means us, the Exco. So, here's a little encouragement from your Head of Prefects' Welfare (in no particular order) ERYN; You have definitely surpassed everyone's expectations as a Head Prefect, and you're doing an awesome job! From planning to presentations, you have been a role model for everyone in the school to follow, including the whole PB and the Exco. Keep it up, we love you! MUNYEE: Thanks for all the encouragement you've given me through emails, they've definitely brightened up my day. You know when to be serious and when to be fun, and I think you're really cool at balancing both sides of it! Glad to have you in charge of Welfare, and I'm sure we'll have great fun together, love you loads. MEL: Hey funny monkey, thanks for always bringing smiles and laughter to all the prefects! It means a lot to them, I'm sure. We all know that you've been putting in a lot of effort for Orientation as well, and it was GREAT. Always be happy and rest well! YUS: ORIENTATION WAS A BLAST. Congrats on the great work done by you and SID. You've really applied what we've learnt at SLC, and surprised everyone with such a wonderful Orientation! But I must reprimand you for totally overdoing the Law of Sacrifice by not eating or sleeping well. It was my pleasure to help you with anything during Orientation, and through all the stress and pressure, I really hope you had fun and gained loads of experience! You are now who all the juniors can look up to for help, thanks to all your hard work put into the planning. Kudos to you! Thanks for all the lovely piggybacks, and Bicycle Crew rocks. LOVE YOU. ZAY: Hey secretary! You're always the one running around helping the Exco here and there, and although your efforts are not as recognised as big event planners like Orientation and Invest, I know you've contributed a lot to the Board. Please get well soon! Thanks for all the times you've cheered me up and helped me clean the room. Hahaha, keep taking those minutes and always be happy. SUB: Invest is coming up! I must say that you've delegated the different jobs for Invest very effectively, and put a lot of effort into doing the proposal. I enjoy all the times we spend together in the car, and being retarded on the bus. Those are the only times I can relax while not wasting time! Don't stress too much when Invest draws nearer; we'll all be here to help. Cheers to more pearl milk tea and bicycle crew outings! SARAH: Being Disco Head isn't easy, but you've done a great job so far! Don't stress so much alright, and you can always come and talk to me for help. "Always kind but not always nice." Just remember, whatever you do will pay off in some way, so always smile! Really sad that I'm not in your chem class anymore, but we'll still mug together okay! Must score well for Os. Love you loads! DAN: You totally saved me from being the only prefect in our class! Haha I think you'd know how difficult that would be. Thanks for always bringing laughter to the class and to the prefects! Keep up the good work for the PB and the school; don't be discouraged. RUIJUN: Hey treasurer! Thanks for helping Welfare with the accounts and budgeting; it has made our work much easier. Though you're committee-less, you've helped the PB in your own ways, and keep up the great work so far! You rock as the carbon scene I/C, keep smiling! DEB: I must learn from you; not smiling when I'm talking about serious topics! PSR will have to liaise quite a lot with Welfare regarding combined outings and such, so I hope we'll have great times working together. Keep up the great work in your academics and in the Board. Smile more! Before I go, this post seems rather empty without photos, doesn't it? 
Not bad, Yus. Hahaha. 
I LOVE YOU GUYS, SEE YOU IN SCHOOL! | | |
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