Singapore–MIT Alliance
Published in March 2007
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Theme: Waltz
Class starts on 3rd March
Every Saturday from 5PM to 6PM
@ The RiverWalk, Clarke Quay
Fee: $100 for 8 x 1 hourly sessions
Participants need to pay $20 one time off registration fee
Come and Join us!
Register by 19 February 2007
For more info, contact Indra (HP98176704)
Exclusively brought to you by SMAAC Health & Fitness Committee
Cruise onboard Chengho
"Around The World"
31st March 2007
Boarding: 17:30 H
Harbourfront
Alumni
$40 for SMAAC members and $60 (inclusive of 1 year free membership) for non SMAAC members and guests.
Current Student
$40 for SMA students and $60 for guests.
|It was a nice way to mark the ending of another great year full of events for SMA Alumni Club. On a Saturday night at around 9.30 PM, despite the slight drizzle at the earlier part of the evening, thirty SMAers including some of their guests turned up at East Coast Park to participate in our Night Cycling Event. It was the first time that our club had organized such event under the Health & Fitness Committee.
It was a peaceful breezy night and, to our great relief, the rain had stopped in time for us to proceed with the event as scheduled. We gathered in front of Kit Runners, a bicycle shop near ECP McDonalds, and the participants were split into 4 groups, each consisting of 6-8 people with an assigned group leader. Everyone looked excited and ready to start the journey.
After the safety briefing by the respective group leaders, we gathered everyone for group photo taking with our new club banner. In all future events, you are guaranteed to spot us with our club banner. We did group warm-up, prepared our bikes, put on our helmets et voilá , we were all set for our quest! As an added bonus, we were also given a crash course on how to switch gears and were shown the trick to quickly fix the bike chain when it came loose by the bike shop manager. That was sure good tips for people like me who had not cycled on the road for such a long distance.
Each group departed one after another led by the group leaders and closely followed behind by the safety van driven by our club president, Sei Wee, who was always on the ready whenever anyone needed help. As we cycled along the stretch of the ECP beaches towards our first pit-stop at the Kallang Indoor Stadium, it was a nice chance for everyone to get to know their group members while enjoying the sceneries around. The whole journey was a real treat to the eyes with beautiful night sceneries such as the landmark bridge at the indoor stadium, the Merlion, the Esplanades and even the office buildings and skyscrapers all seemed to light up at night. Halfway through the journey, we stopped for a nice supper at Lau Pa Sat. Everyone was also given a chance to really mingle around, interact and catch up with some of our friends while we were digging in. When we reached our final pit-stop at Labrador Park, it was about 3AM in the morning. Some of us were tired out and grabbed some rest at the pit-stop while others strolled along the foliage on the cliffside, chit chatted while enjoying the scenic view of the Southern Islands of Singapore. In the distance, the many chimneys of Pulau Bukom’s and Pulau Semakau’s oil refineries stood out clearly against the dark night sky.
The journey ended at the West Coast McDonalds. Everyone looked tired but pleased. We took another group photos before saying good-byes. Overall, the Committee was delighted with the turnout of the whole event. It achieved the intended objectives of enhancing the bonding among members through health and fitness activities. Some of the participants had expressed interests to join in our subsequent H&F activities. Hopefully this event will spark the interests of our other sport-enthusiasts to participate in the future events. We look forward to organizing more fun-filled activities in 2007. On behalf of SMAAC, I wish everyone a happy new year!
|Labrador Beach is probably one of the smallest beach on mainland Singapore, but rich in heritage and bio-diversity as it host the only coral reef left around the main of island Singapore. It was these reasons that prompted the SMA Alumni Club’s decision to organize a coastal cleanup there on 23rd September when the tide is said to be at the lowest for the month.
The day arrived with the participants slowly trickling in to the gathering point beside the beach at around 4 pm. Nearly all were charmed by the panorama before them, for Labrador Park combines the beauty of the sea, the rustic nature of the forest and the awe inspiring height of the cliffs. Was it no wonder that all of us were really motivated to do our part to save the environment by ensuring that the debris and litter from the sea be cleared? Organizing ourselves into three different groups, each group was assigned a different part of the beach to clear. "More hands make light work," said one of the participants. That was true as within an hour, the beach was free from any visible litter. Alumni and students worked together to remove the trash such as plastic bottles, raffia rope, Styrofoam boxes, and pieces of glass. We also gathered broken pieces of wood for recycling. Of course, the hard work was rewarded by the various novel finds such as the different crabs, seaweed, and sea grapes that were spotted.
After the cleanup, we enjoyed a small picnic of sandwiches and local sweets as we mingle and renewed acquaintances. We had a good mixture of alumni and students, which hopefully led to some bonding between them. Afterwards, about 13 participants went on to do a guided tour of the World War II tunnels preserved at Labrador Park while the rest of us waited till the tide receded further before venturing into the exposed coral reef (due to the receding tide).
There, we found a number of interesting finds such as the male fiddler crab which scuttled away from us, the hermit crab which hid inside its small shell, fearful of the large humans surrounding it, schools of tiny fishes, and the lone sea-horse which clung onto the seaweed. We also saw this large (but not identifiable) crab, trapped in a small puddle of water and several different hard corals. The tide was low enough to reveal the patch of sea grass growing further away from shore. It was interesting to note that the tide receded to reveal a wealth of landscape within such a small area; Labrador beach had grasslands, "swamps/mudlands”, deserts/sand dunes, and the mountainous/rocky areas catering to different species of sea creatures.
On the whole, we were glad that we helped these sea creatures maintain their habitat by ensuring that the litter do not pollute the waters and endanger them. However, it was sad to note that the government would be reclaiming this beautiful and rich stretch of beach, thus destroying the very environment which we are trying to save by our beach cleanup.
|The first event organized by the SMA Office and SMAAC 6th Management Committee went underway on 29th July 2006 at Bukit Batok Civil Service Club. It is a Bowling cum Barbecue event that starts from the afternoon till late. This event saw a strong turnout of 53 participants, particularly from the fresh intake of SMA students.
First to start was the SMA Bowling Tournament, which saw 35 participants (22 SMA students and 13 SMA alumni) registering for it. All the participants were gunning for the top three teams and individual trophies. After two rounds of games, the winners finally emerged. The top team winner comprised of Karri Badarinath (IMST 2005), Sbrahmanyam Ganapathi (AMMNS 2002), Justin (CS 2002), Zhao Zhengyi (HPCES 2002) and Yusdy (MEBCS 2006) who had a combined a total score of 1141 points. The top individual player also went to Karri Badarinath (IMST 20005) who managed a respectable score of 270. After the prize presentation, most of the participants eagerly adjourned to the barbecue pits.
Not even a heavy thunderstorm before the barbecue can dampen the spirits of the SMA family. As the weather started to clear, the crowd proceeded to the rustic tree-house area that overlooks the swimming pool. There is no better way of satisfying a bunch of hungry bowlers than to treat them to a feast of barbecue food. With the rain subsiding and the cool wind blowing, the fire was started and the feasting began. Friendships were made over the fire and old days were reminisced under the stars.
Overall, the Committee was delighted at the outcome of the event and many of our intended objectives were achieved. The bowling and barbecue served as a perfect platform for alumni and new students to mingle and interact. Many of the fresh intake students would have picked up little tricks on how to better adapt to life in SMA and what to expect for their trip to MIT. The clubs also benefited from the event as there were 16 new signups and another 15 members renewed their memberships. A few participants had also expressed interest to join the SMAAC Management Committee. This Bowling cum Barbecue event has kicked off our new term to a good start, and we look forward to organize more fun filled activities for the SMA community.
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