Hello! My name is Bryan, a final year Chemical Engineering undergraduate student. Outside of my academics, as the President of the Chemical Engineering Student Society and I have actively spearheaded multiple initiatives for volunteering/ altruistic events as I am a firm believer of the motto “paying it forward”. I would now like to share about my experiences upon completion of the course GEN2062: Community Activities for Seniors with SG Cares.
After considering the different GEN courses, my friends and I decided to register for GEN2062: Community Activities for Seniors with SG Cares as we wanted to participate in a platform that allowed us to contribute to the eldercare ecosystem and having opportunities to showcase our creative proposals and plans. Although some of my friends were worried about the intensity of the commitments and communication with the seniors, these lingering thoughts were quickly addressed during our first tutorial session by my tutor, Ms. Yvette Seow.
Simply put, GEN2062 is a weekly commitment to your selected centre where you will plan, propose, budget, and execute activities during the sessions for the seniors. My friends and I did our prior research; hence we knew that this course would span one academic year (totalling to 15 weeks of service and up to three hours per week), and we would be partnering one of the centres to propose activities and events every week.
The centre that my team and I partnered with was the Methodist Welfare Services Active Ageing Centre (MWS AAC) – Fernvale Rivergrove. The purpose of the Active Ageing Centre is to provide and improve the quality of life of seniors by enhancing their physical, social, emotional, and psychological well-being as well as to provide a space where seniors can participate in active ageing activities to stave off social isolation.
Through this course, we honed and developed our stakeholder management skills, event planning, presentation mastery and empathy with the constant engagement with the seniors. I also enjoyed the partnership and collaboration with MWS AAC, which provided a deeper understanding how the eldercare ecosystem works and how these centres play a key role towards the post-integration of seniors in our rapidly aging society.
One of the greatest experiences I had during the course was the joy of using my knowledge from chemical engineering to incorporate into one of the sessions. I spearheaded a “workshop”-style session where we conducted soap-making and lotion-making workshops. My team wanted to share the science and chemistry behind how soap and lotion are made with the seniors. We also provided them with some hands-on opportunities to make the soap and lotion with us, utilising our knowledge to share very simple science with them!
Photograph by Bryan Tan Guang Jun. Raw materials for soap and lotion making workshop.
Photograph by Bryan Tan Guang Jun. Finished hand cream product, in their tiny containers for seniors to bring home!
We could clearly observe that the seniors enjoyed the hand-on workshop, while bringing home their own bottles of soap and lotion along with some nuggets of knowledge from our “science workshop”! The biggest impact for me, was the learning lesson of resilience and the importance of the positive mindset!
The journey through the 15 sessions taught me invaluable lessons in resilience and the transformative power of embracing challenges as opportunities for growth. Initially, the fear of making mistakes and facing criticism from the seniors about my poor command of Mandarin was daunting. However, as I shifted my perspective to view these situations as learning opportunities, my apprehension turned into motivation. This paradigm shift was not only pivotal in wanting to improve my Mandarin but also in fostering a deeper connection with the seniors, which greatly enhanced the overall effectiveness of my service learning. The realisation that setbacks and failures are not endpoints but rather stepping stones to success has been transformative, instilling in me a resilience that I will carry into my studies, future career, and personal life.
In the initial weeks, you might find it intimidating, scary, unfamiliar, feeling of apprehension or maybe even exhausting due to the workload or feedback received from the seniors.
However, it’s important to realize that as you warm up to interacting with seniors and getting accustomed to the course, things will gradually become more manageable and fun!
Towards the end, you may even find yourself eagerly anticipating the sessions with seniors and carrying out your proposed plans.
Therefore, don’t let the challenges of the first few weeks overshadow the overall experience. Take each step as it comes, and I’m confident you’ll find as much enjoyment in the course as I did. 😊
Cup maze game that the team came up with. 8 seniors are seated around the maze course and communicating to complete the maze without touching the boundaries or toppling the cup.
Ever-grateful Bryan to be part of this awesome team!
21 Lower Kent Ridge Road
Singapore 119077
+65 6516 6666