This article was written by myself and another student during our year in the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP). This article was featured on the PFP newsletter - In The PFPipeline.
Last year, the PFP ambassadors successfully organised PFPlay, where a fun filled day of excitement and team bonding at Sentosa was planned for the PFP cohort!
At ten in the morning, more than fifty students assembled in LT 32, where a short briefing was held and the participating students were split into different groups, the group members of the various groups got a chance to get to know one another better over lunch in school, before heading off to Sentosa for the long day ahead, where numerous station games and activities were planned for everyone!
Following the arrival of the students at Sentosa, each of the groups headed off to the five different game stations spread across the island, ’human caterpillar’, ’earth ball’, ‘split till you reach’, ‘can you escape’ and ’cards on the floor’. After completion of each of the stations, groups would then pick from an envelope a slip of paper, containing a random string of words, these slips of paper would be needed to complete the mystery activity during the mass games, the last of the activities planned for the day.
The first station was ‘Human caterpillar’ was held at outside the aquarium at resort world Sentosa. The objective of the game was to move as a team to through terrane to collect an item and to return back. Seems simple right? However, each member’s leg is tied to the leg of another person, making communication essential in order to succeed. Determination and teamworked was shown as teams came up with different methods to work together in order to move. Unfortunately, most teams came up with the strategy of just shuffling randomly which made passer-bys curious as they looked like penguins.
Located right next to the ‘Human caterpillar’ station was the ‘Earth Ball’ station. Teams had to stand around in a circle and pass a large pink beach ball to each other by lightly tapping the ball to the other members, the point of the game was to tap the ball between each member thirty times without the ball ever touching the ground. Many groups laughed at the seemingly easy game and its mechanics, but overly excited fingers and forceful taps proved them wrong. This game really relied on cooperation and teamwork from each of the groups!
The third station, ‘split till you reach’ was held at Merlion Walk alongside colourful dragon sculptures that hold water streams. Between two lampposts, teams had to form a line with their bodies and making things worse, at least two members had to do splits with their legs. While teams tried their hardest to bear with the pain of splitting and laying on the ground, most lines did not meet the criteria and thus, teams had to come up with creative ideas such as using shoelaces to extend the line.
Located right at Imbiah Lookout opposite Madame Tussauds was the next station, ‘can you escape’. A rather contact game, group members had to surround their group leaders in a circle, whilst the group leaders attempt to escape from the clutches of their group members. Successful completion of the station would only be achieved when at least one group leader remains inside the human made circle after a minute and a half. Laughter, cries and cheers filled Imbiah Lookout as groups worked together to confine their leaders.
I build up castles, i tear down mountains, i make some men blind, i help others to see. What am i? You guessed it! Sand. Which is where the last station,’cards on the floor’ was held at, Sentosa Beach. Teams had to choose one participant, who would find cards which held answers to the questions given by the game in charged. But, being Singaporean, using one language would have been too easy, which was why the cards were multilinguistic. Teams had to cooperate with each other by using their mother tongue, which led to enhanced teamwork, yet confusion at some times.
At the end of the day, came the mass game, where groups had to use the words they had collected during the station games to complete the song ‘Under The Sea’ from the Walt Disney animated classic, ‘The Little Mermaid’, which groups then presented with an original and creative performance, with the PFP ambassadors as judges. To wrap up PFPlay, prizes were given out to the two most enthusiastic participants of PFPlay, Jordan Choo from 1E1 and Natasha from 1B2!
We asked Natasha and Jordan a few questions on their experience of PFPlay,
How do you find PFPlay?
N: PFPlay is fun and is great for strengthening bonds across the batch, the location and time was also appropriate!
J: I found PFPlay fun and other than fun I find it relaxing as we finished our exams and PFPlay was a much needed event to relieve my stress. As it was during the holidays, I got the chance to hang out with my PFP friends and to enjoy the whole day out.
What did you enjoy the most about PFPlay?
N: What I enjoyed most was the Mass Game after all the station games, probably because my group won!
J: What I enjoy the most about PFPlay is the time I got to spend with my friends from my class as well as the other classes. But I find it a shame that only a certain number of people could join, I hope that the whole PFP cohort will be able to attend in the future, so that everyone can get together and bond as a family.
Would you recommend PFPlay to the next batch of PFP students? Why?
N: Yes, I would recommend PFPlay to the next batch because it’ll be fun and it’s nice to be able to bond better with the PFP cohort.
J: Definitely, PFP is unique to TP because of the ability to bond together, as we have common subjects like L&C and mathematics, and because of that we can bond easily.
Along with Natasha and Jordan, we also managed to ask one of the PFP ambassadors who organised PFPlay, Cassandra from 1B3, about the event.
What was the main idea behind PFPlay?
C: It’s to bond the PFP students together, to get to know everyone better, even more after PFP orientation!
What were some of the difficulties did you face while organising PFPlay? C: There were quite a few people who signed up, but didn’t come. Also, some of the locations where the stations were at were not quite suited for the games. In addition to this, we weren't allowed to go near water, this made quite a number of people disappointed as they were expecting games with water involved.
In retrospect, PFPlay really looks like a fun and lively event, doesn't it? I’m sure there’s going to be more of such events planned in the future! Be sure to join in on the fun for events like this, a chance to make new friends and to grow even closer with your current friends!
Written By Andrew Christopher Forbes and Choy Fuyuan Clemens
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