Well…this is it…the last weekly blog update from us.
One can understandably assume that much work have been done to prepare for Unspoken. But it must come to your attention that this work have not come to an end just yet. Week 14 was our final week. To tie up loose ends, pack up, make final contact, reminisce pre-event memories and also hmmm…write a 2000 word graded reflection journal within a span of 5 days. That’s like 400 words a day. Sigh…
We, the Unspoken documenters, are also guessing that the most probable readers of this blog post goes beyond people who are still interested in our event (I mean…our event’s over already, right?). You, reading this, are very likely to be our juniors tasked to organised your own graded community engagement event that would take place in 2019 or 2020 or 2021 or 2022…and who knows, you may be reading this cause Saras is asking you to organise a drama for which the president is invited as guest-of-honour…gasp!
To tailor our blog post to such unique reader demographic, we are going to include a snapshot of every word of advice each sub-committee has for future Social Work students to bear in mind as you embark on the tall order of organising a community engagement project. They will be marked with this cool font! Wait you didn’t see it? Oh…here it is again.
Let’s quickly begin with Programmes sub-committee:
From left to right: Rosameera, Yi Xuan, Maxine, Helena, Radhiyah, Linus
Not in photo: Vina
“We gathered as a team to account for our event’s financing and budgeting. We collected all the receipts from the different sub-comms, calculated all the $$ we had used and how much we are left with. What have we learnt from this? We, social workers, also learn how to be accountants. >.<
Our journey as Programmes have been a great experience, tiring yet fruitful. Despite the onslaught of many challenges coming our way, we found ourselves better able to overcome and bond more as a cohort. It was cool seeing how everyone had worked to together for the best of the event. #saikangwarriors
To our juniors, please press on even when it gets hectic. Organising an event is a meaningful and fulfilling experience! Everyone should play their own part! Don’t burn out; please do express yourself and get some timeouts whenever you need some self-care time! Even when it gets stressful, practice self-awareness and keep your cool.
Lastly, take the time to forge new friendships through communication and bonding…who knows, maybe your next BFF is someone unexpected in your group? Hehe!”
Logistics!
From left to right: Thivya, Sandra, Ummi, Wafa, Valerie, Ee Ting (we call her makan), Fatin
“We cleaned up a lot of the remaining logistics that were had yet to be packed properly after the event. Some of us, together with volunteers from other sub-comms, came down on Monday morning to return the logistics and props borrowed. The potted plants back to the our SHS school garden. The video cameras back to the SIDM school. The partitions back to proper storage. We also cleared up our classroom, K502 and tidied up as much as we could (and that includes leftover snacks…shhh, don’t let anyone else know).
Wafa also helped to export and convert the video coverage of our entire drama production from SIDM’s video cameras. That also includes TFA’s control room device that recorded our drama too. She saved it into a disc and sent it to Saras for editing. Soon, we would upload these footages on a shared Google Drive for everyone in Unspoken to have free access to it.
Our journey as Logistics comm was a peculiarly interesting one. At the very beginning, we were afraid of working with one another as our team members came from different classes. Furthermore, the duration given to us to prepare for the drama production and exhibitions was the shortest ever in our course’s history. We felt that it was not totally plausible for things to pull itself together in time! Fun fact: None of us had any prior experience to stage management. It sounded scary when we first began.
During our first few meetings, we started to open up to one another and this brought us closer as a team. As days went by, rehearsals started and tension gradually built. We were still learning and coping to meet demands. Lunch breaks became our outlet to vent our anger, frustration and ohh...the tears. :’) We gave each other feedback and lent a listening ear to one another. All our meetings had plenty of ridiculous but memorable moments where we entertained ourselves amidst the dread of work.
Sourcing for props, building the puzzle prop, planning for stage management, coming earlier than the casts to carry logistics, staying in school till the wee hours of the night…etc. was no easy feat. Every day, despite the occasional setbacks, we grew closer as a team to make this production a success. It was worth it and we learnt a lot. #mictest #cuelights
To our juniors, we implore you to always plan for the worse, because what can go wrong, will go wrong. BUT take heart and enjoy the process! These may most probably be the best memories forged in your poly journey.”
Publicity!
From left to right (top row): David Lee, Sharon, Joanne, Ulfah
From left to right (bottom row): Rou Ci, Veronica, Iwani
“Throughout this week, we monitored our social media accounts, checking the number of followers and views we had for each of our posting. We are also considering posting some closure updates on our publicity efforts. We also checked on our giving.sg campaign. As of now, we reached a total of $2600 donated by 16 generous sponsors. Thank you so much for your contribution to our event and to providing resources needed by the mental health community!
Hmm…about our journey as a committee? We worked together as a team throughout all these weeks and we discovered that there were many differences amongst our working styles, expectations and communication patterns. Although there were some conflicts that caused immense strain on our working relationship towards the last few weeks of preparing for the drama, we strived on and put aside our personal grievances for the common good. Of course, we addressed these issues through a face-to-face debrief as we brought to closure all that we have done together. We cleared and expressed ourselves to each other, clearing any misunderstanding that we may have harboured for some time. We are now ready to open another new chapter of our lives…and who knows…we may able to work together again for our FYP projects or internships!! #ouuuch #don’tsaythat
To our juniors, always keep an open mind to changes and never take arguments or group tensions as an end-all to all working relationships. These conflicts are good growing grounds for fresh beginnings and important lesson points. So, take them lightly and keep moving on as a team!"
Sponsorship!
From left to right (top row): Jasmine Lau, Manzurah, Indah
From left to right (bottom row): Adilah, Charmaine
“We have sent our emails of appreciation and gratitude to all our sponsors for graciously providing for the goodies you have brought home! We also sent a screenshot of our sponsors’ marketing collaterals presented in the pre-drama slideshow as per stated according to their specifications.
Our journey as a committee had been like a roller coaster ride. The past few months were one of the most stressful periods for us as we had to juggle our time between exams, assignments, group presentations and, yes, our social life too while also preparing for Unspoken. There were many times we wanted to give up as there were simply too many things to work through. But with grit, perseverance and some occasional grumbling (I mean…who won’t grumble right?), we managed to push through and work together till the very end.
Many of us started off as “strangers” from different classes and ended up as close friends. There were many ups and downs throughout the entire preparation process as we learnt more about each other. We had to get comfortable in working with one another and understanding each’s individualised working personality. Our group dynamics was not always smooth sailing, but we did not let these problems get in the way of our task at hand. We stayed strong throughout and stayed together. #overlyattached #oinkoink #abang
To our juniors, whilst it is good to be ambitious about your programme, please also be realistic about your ideas! Remember that planning for an event is not easy, so be mentally prepared and always do your best. This module will push your limits multiple times so do not ever forget to have some self-care. Please REMEMBER to communicate with your group members and supervisor if there are any challenges you or your team can’t manage on your own!”
And finally, it’s our turn! Documenters!
From left to right: Atika, Huda, Isabel, Melvin, Bryan, Genevieve, Shan Wei
“We came back to school on Tuesday to compile all the 242 evaluation forms we collected from our event. We analysed the raw data and compiled an evaluation report to send to Saras for vetting before broadcasting to all our committee members. We also discussed on the contents that ought to be included in our final blog post (which is what you’re reading now) and our final documentation video. Lastly, we started writing our final documentation report of Unspoken in an After-Action Report (AAR) format. This formal report provides a detailed layout of all the Unspoken committee had done pre-event, during the event, and post-event. We had another Skype call (which we once again threatened to kick Melvin out) on Wednesday evening to further discuss how else we can edit the final documentation report.
Our journey as Documenters have been nothing short of humour and playful threat. Whenever we met as a team, someone threatened to throw her slipper. One threatened to bite anyone who reminded him of his absence for vacation. The other threatened to kick a group member out of all communication platforms. And yes, to placate the group members, some made a smart attempt to buy nuggets and chips as treats for sharing. Smart move there. Juniors, please learn.
Working as documenters was an exhausting affair too. Crafting our first script was tiring enough after almost spending almost 15 hours at Saras’ house plotting Shane’s story. Sometime later, we were informed that we needed to craft a second script with a sharper focus on the symptomatic nature of mental illnesses instead of Shane’s character development. It was an initially arduous task for us inexperienced drama scriptwriters, but with some careful interweaving of all our wacky ideas, the drama took our story live and our audiences loved it! #budakbudak #biteyou #throwmahslippers #selfproclaimedbrilliance #awkwardpotatoes
To our juniors, do not dismiss your wildest dreams. Yes, keep things practical but do not dull down what you hope to achieve from your event. Take full ownership of your event and you’ll soon discover that the event’s success will become one of your greatest joys in Social Work. Take everybody seriously and be committed to your work. Practice consistency. If you choose to be a video editor, commit to that role. If you choose to be a blog writer, commit to that role. If you choose to prepare reports, commit. Lastly, throw in some occasional humour into your group dynamics, this is especially helpful to keep your pace and enjoy the documentation process.”
After making that final journey to Saras’ office to submit the dreaded 2000-word reflection journal with our peer evaluation submission, we had our final debrief session!
We shared our reflections on how we felt about our event and what we thought were our event’s strengths and weaknesses. We closed off with a final phototaking session of each of the sub-comms.
We also gave our appreciation to our drama teacher, Adeeb, who so sacrificially came down for every rehearsal and to coordinate the acting for our casts.
And let’s not forget our lecturer, Saras, who made this all possible. We had our awkward potato and slipper thrower OICs to present Saras a thank you card too!
And how better could we have ended Unspoken than with…
You guessed it! PIZZAASSSSSSS! Here is a photo, just to show you how appetizing these pizzas were! These probably gave us back the calories we burnt from carrying all those logistics for the past three weeks.
You thought that the pizzas were the only things Saras gave us? You thought wrong! She gave a personalised appreciation laminated card for all of us!
One final thing for you to note. We have received many requests for our original song composition, played at the finale of our drama, to be recorded and broadcasted. Well, we heard you, and the Unspoken band is arranging a meetup next Tuesday to make it happen. Do stay tuned to our YouTube channel for any updates on where the soundtrack could be accessed!
We have come to an end of our Unspoken journey. With every ending, comes a fresh beginning. Juniors, the mandate is on you to carry on the legacy. Stay committed to your work and enjoy the process of doing so. May you share the smiles, joys and challenges that we ourselves are blessed to have when organising Unspoken.
With that, we bid you fellow readers and juniors farewell!
Thank you for the support you have given us to speak the stories of the unheard, silent and hurting, in our world.
