Girls in Scouting

Just in case you did not know, from 2007 onwards, girls can join Scouts. The official reason is that in many countries all over the world, there have always been girls in Scouts. Even in our neighbouring countries - Malaysia and Indonesia.

Girls in Scouts should not be confused with Girl Guides who are also called Girl Scouts. Yes, they did originate from Scouts but their focus and activities are different. Girl Guides and Brownies learn more domestic skills rather than outdoor activities. The girls in Scouts, on the other hand, will go through the same rigorous activities as the boys. Meaning the same difficult tests and challenges.

I know many of you will be unhappy with this news. Two of the Sixers wrote down their feelings last year and I'm posting them for you to read. My own feeling is quite mixed. There are both pros and cons in having girls in Scouting. But if we follow our Scout Law closely - A Scout makes friends - then we should accept girls without any complaints. Let's just wait for the Recruitment and see how. If there are really girls who want to join our unit, then we will have to accept them. But if there are none, then so be it. :P

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Girls should not be allowed to join Scouts as they have their own activities (Brownies, Red Cross). We should do our own activities and they should do theirs. And if schools let the girls join Scouts, would it not be a waste of resources just to run Scouts and Brownies? If you look at it from a girl's point of view, if only one or two girls join, wouldn't they be very embarassed? And if a lot of them join, wouldn't it be embarassing for us? I hope that schools would rethink their option before announcing the final verdict. Many people would agree that Scouts should remain boys only. After all, you don't see boys wanting to join Girl Guides. Thus, if Girl Guides remain a single gender CCA, Scouts should also remain a single gender CCA.

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SCOUTS SHOULD NOT ACCEPT GIRLS!
The first reason is that the pupils in the school mostly have a gender barrier, like our school for example, not many boys would want to sit beside a girl and not many girls too want to sit near or beside a boy. The second reason is that Lord Baden Powell founded the two organisations and not as one. He decided to do this maybe because he wanted us to be better with people of the same gender first and not to feel the gender difference. Although there are reasons to not accept girls, there are some other reasons to accept them. One reason is that if the girls were to join, they might help that particular unit do well. Secondly, they might give the unit more chance of having trips. But I still think that Scouts should not accept girls as they are surely much more reasons to do so than letting them join.

year-end best wishes

quick sketch in 10 minutes. hope all of you like it.



all the best to 06 sixers as they go to secondary school.

merry christmas and happy new year in advance!

Scout Testimony by Daniel

MY CUB SCOUT LIFE IN TPS

In my 4 years of Scouting in Temasek, every single meeting was meaningful and worth looking forward to. The Scoutmasters were great and all the members could get along quite well with one another. Without the devoted teachers and members, there won’t be the great times I had in the school as well as in the Scout unit.

Many times we had to face challenges and we will remember the most important Scout Law that my Scoutmasters had thought us, A Scout Has Courage In All Difficulties. We stuck to this law and reminded ourselves to have the courage to try out new things and things we were not able to do so well. Through the many scout meetings we had, we learnt more about what it takes to be a good Scout and a good person.

When I did this reflection, I reflected on the good and bad times I had throughout the 4 years. They were all great memories and experiences to be remembered. From the great and bad experiences I learnt that we must take every lesson learnt seriously and bring it into our daily lives and not to be forgotten over a short period of time.

Through the 4 years I had in Scouts, I managed to make lots of new friends from different classes and different backgrounds. Mr Sung was our Scoutmaster for two and a half years and then Mr Lee took over the Scout unit.

We took part in outside activities like The Amazing Race in the Singapore Zoological Gardens with the St. Andrew's Scout unit, Bedok District Activity Day at Fengshan Primary and the National Cub Scouts Camporee in Sarimbun Scout Camp. These activities we took part in were very meaningful and helped us a lot in developing character values in ourselves.

With the trips and activities comes friends too. In this Scout unit, I made lots of pals and they all helped put the little bit of humour into every Scout meeting that made each meeting more interesting. The friends I made in the unit made every single moment of the meetings worth looking forward to. I didn’t regret joining Scouts at all because we learn lots of new things, made lots of friends, and most of all made the school life a whole lot better. Being a Sixer was a great pleasure and that gave me opportunities to learn more through exposure in the areas and it gave me the knowledge in the different areas.

Camps and campfires are a part that I look forward to when I first join Scouts and I still do now. They make Scouting special and memorable for everyone. The only regret I have is that we didn’t have many real campfires and camps in the four years or scouting. But with so many great memories all this regret is nothing. This year's scout unit is not really big and I hope that there will be more people who will be joining the unit not just to have fun, make friends but also to learn more that can help you in different areas in your life.

When I was asked to do a camp in June next year, I gladly accepted because it’ll be cool to meet new people and make the newer members enjoy Scouting in their primary school life. With enjoyment in Scouting, there will surely be more new members and I hope that the unit will grow bigger and better in the years to come.

All that I’ve gone through in those four years made me a better Scout and I really enjoyed all the meetings from the cycling trip at East Coast Park to getting lost in Macritchie Reservoir and finding our way out again. To all those who read this: Be Prepared.

In all that you do, be prepared and be ready for everything you may encounter. Good luck to all of you and I hope to be able to see you Scouting soon.

Daniel Lim Ying Hao
Senior Sixer
6A (2006)

Youtube

We now have our own Youtube account to stream videos of some of our activities. If you have broadband Internet connection, you can go to youtube.com and search under temasekcubscouts. Check out these videos from the Camporee! Awesome!

Noel conquering Rock Wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lu2VZygaN8

Sean plunging into Sarimbun infamous pool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVhgn0FuqHE

Scout Testimony by FY

Here's something written by Feng Yuan about his experience in Scouting. It was written as a Teacher's Day note. I feel it's very meaningful and worth sharing with all of you.

My Years of Scouting Experience from P3 - P6
by Lee Feng Yuan

In my first two years of Scouting, I made many new friends in the other P3 or P4 classes.

Towards P5, most of them left Scouts and joined another CCA such as soccer and basketball as they thought that maybe Scouts was not the right CCA for them.

I met other friends such as Daniel, Gerald Nat, Qi Jun and many more from different P5 level classes.

Some of them, like me, stayed in the world of Scouting from P3 to P6 (4 years).

Mr Sung was our Scout teacher until P6, when he had also 'graduated' to another Primary School, to teach newer students Scouting.

Mr Lee was our teacher for 1 and a half year. He did far more activities than what Mr Sung did.

He was the one who made Scout so much interesting and fun to be in. He made me one and three other Scoutmates to be Group Leaders and we led packs of 5 other members in a group (SIXES).

LBP, a.k.a. Lord Baden Powell was the person who brought Scouting to life,. Thank you, LBP!

Post-Camp Reflection

One thing that I didn't tell you is that it is good to do some reflection after every Camp. What did you learn? What did you do well? What could you have done better? I believe these questions were posed by the Camp Commandant during his closing ceremony speech. They are actually quite standard post-Camp reflection questions.

Most of you probably didn't do a proper reflection. But if you had felt a strange feeling of emptiness the day after the Camp, that means the Camporee had made an impact on you. You might miss your Group members, the station activities, the pre-meal "Tick Tock", even the stinky field toilets! If you had these feelings, then I congratulate you. Because this shows that you enjoyed and treasure the whole Camporee experience.

But of course, if you were super relieved to be back home to your comfortable bed, TV, proper toilet, aircon, Maple, then I really have nothing to say..

My own personal reflection - I enjoyed the Camporee very much. Even though my group members were young and inexperienced, they were very teachable. No spoilt brats or crybabies. All of them were willing to learn and try new things. Noel made me very proud by successfully scaling the difficult rockwall. He may not be as smart as his brother but he has tremendous courage and determination. Same for Sean who tried his best in all the physical challenges. I also had the pleasure of knowing Justin, a P5 Sixer from Princess Elizabeth Primary (PEPSI!) with the most potential in a Cub Scout that I have ever met. He is like our Daniel and Feng Yuan combined together and he's only P5! I nearly kidnapped him back to our school!

I can see through the cheers that some of you (such as Daniel and Christian) really connected with your groups. I hope you took down your group members' contacts (telephone number, MSN, address, etc). Do keep in touch with them. Send them a Christmas card. Hope that you see them again in future Scout camps. Daniel once wrote on the tagboard that all Scouts are our friends. That's right! In fact, all Scouts are brothers. Oh, yes, even the crybabies..

To end off, do be appreciative of the efforts of people who made this Camporee happen - the Scouts, Ventures, Sub-Camp Chiefs, Camp Commandant, Camp Counsellors, Squirrel and Sparrow and many many others. For our unit, we have to thank LTT for subsidising $70 of the $80 camp fee (some schools required their boys to pay the full $80 on their own!) You should also thank your parents for allowing you to go. And of course, one last person you should thank. I leave you to figure out who he is. LOL!

More Camporee Pics - Kotick the Seal

National Cub Scout Camporee 2006

Countdown to Camporee - 1 Day to Go!

Today's tip:

2 words.

HAVE FUN!

See you tomorrow!

:-)

Countdown to Camporee - 2 Days to Go!

On Campfire Night, some of your parents will be coming to see you at the Camp. The other Scout teachers will be coming as well. Plus our Principal and our "favourite" HOD - LTT! Some of our very good friends may also come. Be alert and look out for them. Once you see them, do go up to them to say a friendly "Hi!". They may not be able to differentiate you from the other 200 boys. When they ask you how is the Camp, please say good things - no complaints! Try to leave a good impression on the VIPs because we may need their help and support in future!

Countdown to Camporee - 3 Days to Go!

A Scout's uniform is very important. Here's a reminder to check the badges on your uniform. If any badge is placed wrongly, do get them fixed. You all know how particular I am about badges. I really don't want to rip anyone's badge out on Monday morning before we board the van for Sarimbun. Speaking about badges, here's my new name tag!