Hello again readers. Allow me to apologize for the excruciatingly long article before this one. I guess I got carried away, and all that words seemed to have dampened the effect of the contents. Since that is the case, I’ll hold back the continuation until enough readers request for it.
For now, I have composed a little something about a topic that is very close to my heart. If the title doesn’t give away the answer, then read on. If you’ve figured it out already, just read on anyway.
**********************************************************************
The Wilderness Series #01 - Of Glitter and Silk
A tribute to the student councillors
An article by Seraphim
**********************************************************************
[ Part I ]
Early morning, at the start of another school day, I stepped into the school feeling as though I’m doing it for the first time, for this time, there was something different. Unknowingly, I slipped into the morning crowd towards where my class was seated. It all seemed normal, yet I could not dismiss the emptiness that now resided in my heart.
I did not need a reminder of what I was missing, but a reminder was what came into my sight. From across the parade square I saw it; a glitter of gold reflecting the might of the morning sun and a swish of blue silk cascaded by little torches. It was the councillors’ badge and tie.
For almost as long as I have been in my school, the only version of myself that I could remember was as a councillor. But now that I have stepped down, my whole school life was seen in a whole new light. Without my appointment, I have begun to realize that being a councillor means a whole lot more than just wearing the badge and tie. Now that I am without it, I have begun to miss it.
One might ask, what is it about a councillor anyway? A councillor is truly to be a class above the rest. Their lives are dominated with authority and discipline, from the very start of the morning. A councillor’s routine starts with the punctual reporting and performing of duties. To even broaden the gap differentiating councillors and mere students, they even sit at a separate place. Checks on appearance and punishment are even done internally, isolated from outside influence. But that is just what everyone sees.
To be a councillor is to be more than just a disciplinarian. Every councillor is part of a bigger picture, one that have come to terms as family, for their relationship among one another is that close. Within the council itself are systems to keep every councillor in check, from their discipline to their very welfare. Councillorship is not to just be looked at, but also to be looked after. Only with that kind of unity can the council function properly.
Truly, a family exists within the council. They share numerous joyful moments together. A councillor’s life is full of outings for bonding, pizza treats for laughs and chats for the sake of fun.
This is not to say that it is an easy life. The consequence of misconduct is far more severe for a councillor. Upon their shoulder sits a very heavy responsibility, concerning not just themselves but the whole student body, as that is where their service and purpose lies. On the other hand, with these downsides in their lives their bonds become stronger, for it is not the happy times shared that brings people closer, it is the sad times that does.
[ Part II ]
For me, my life as a councillor was an unforgettable one. My batch was the earliest to be recruited, with our selection near the end of secondary one. Before we were even recruited, we were fortunate to participate in a selection camp, where our performance influenced our chances of proceeding.
Since the investiture was in mid sec two, there was an awkwardly long probation period. Most of us took this in a good sense as we got to do what the other batches did not; get to know the Exco. Due to the short coinciding service duration, the other batches of recruits barely had much chance to interact with their Exco, so we were considered lucky.
The official start of councillorship was a grand one, with a grand investiture and a councillor dinner just a week after that. Working with the new Exco was quite a fulfilling experience. We got to know how the other tick through daily duties and the torturing camps we endured. Kind to think of it, it was under their leadership that the most trying camps was conducted.
Then came my third year in school, qualifying me for an Exco appointment. Naturally, I was nominated for an Exco position. Looking back at the time before becoming an Exco, the journey before it was the most significant. The assistant Exco had to put together a play done by the new recruits, and to me it was under that pressure that we got to know each other by name. The final Exco was not as we expected. There was a lot of discontent (especially me) amongst us, something that we later found to have a different effect.
The Exco was finalized, and we had to bear our grudges against one another. The Exco were really strangers to each other at the beginning, some even had enmity between each other. Through our service for the council, we developed a strange dependency for togetherness, and become the closest of friends.
Now it is sadly the end of that road for us. The last part of it was the most tasteful. The Exco had a first hand experience at the process in the selection of the new recruits. Only then did we realize the importance this had to the school. We weren’t just separating the good from the bad, instead planning for the future of the school. Being a councillor gives one an opportunity to make a change, a power that could not be taken lightly. Only those with the purest of intentions were endowed with such power.
The investiture was yet another symbolic part of my service. The transition of the Exco was the sifting of the sand from the previous Exco to the next, symbolizing the handing down of our legacy and knowledge to live on in the new council.
Now that the 5th Executive Committee members along with the other councillors have stepped down, we sit back to watch the newly formed 6th Student Council fall into place and hopefully, bring up the legacy of the councillors.
**********************************************************************
A big thank you to all those who have helped the councillors in one way or another.
To the teachers who led us, a big hug for your perseverance and support.
To the ex-councillors under the charge of the 5th Exco, we salute you for your undying dedication to our cause.
To the 5th Executive Committee members themselves, there never was a tighter friendship than ours. I’ll always miss you guys.
To the 6th Student Council and its Exco, you can’t go looking for that light at the end of the tunnel. You have to spark it yourself. Now.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Forbidden Files #02 - Picking the Brain
Sorry to keep all of you guys waiting so long for this exposé. No one regrets this wait more than I do, believe me. You’ll be glad to know that this one will be a worthy read, or so I hope.
For this exposé, I’ll try to hit more for the wow factor than the controversy factor. It’s a topic hitting closer to home, or the graduating batch specifically. What I’m talking about here is the Adam Khoo workshop, what is formally known as the ‘I am GIFTED, so are YOU’ program. For others who did not attend it or don’t even know about it, don’t worry. I’m writing a full introduction and explanation for it.
Before you continue reading this, remember that the objective of this specific exposé is to reveal to readers what they had missed, not to spark a controversy like all the others. The inferences below are based on personal analysis and research and are open for arguments. With that, I hope that you confine your disagreements within this blog community.
This may be a bit lengthy, since it is a full analysis, so do be patient and take your time. So guys, the wait is over. Enjoy and be amazed (and comment on the tagboard!)
**********************************************************************
Forbidden Files #02 - Picking the Brain
An exposé by Seraphim
**********************************************************************
[1] Over the course of three weeks before the March holidays, the whole of the graduating batch of students from my school went for three day program titled ‘I am GIFTED, so are YOU’ by the Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group.
[2] A little background info on the program. The whole program is one of the many motivational programs that Adam Khoo and his collegues has created to cater to different needs. Being one of the top five most influential speakers in Asia, he and his team of highly qualified trainers have been changing the lives of many for most parts of their lives. When I say highly qualified, I mean these guys who trained us are damned qualified. One of the trainers, R****h, has won numerous speaking competitions internationally and another trainer, G**y, is a master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming (whatever that means, it just sounds difficult).
(identity disclosed due to privacy policy)
[3] The aim of the program is to make the attendees better students and ultimately become a success. Realize that these people mean to really CHANGE PEOPLE’S LIVES within 78 hours. Unbelievable? Believe it. That’s where I come in. There is a reason for everything done in the program. Now I’ll be sharing with you what they were and how it affected the attendees.
[4] In a nutshell, they achieved this with the successful integration of psychological techniques with teaching skills. In short, it is like brainwashing. The only difference is that this is willing change of thinking instead of forcibly doing it.
[5] What makes this program more effective than others is that it is delivered to the audience through multiple senses; sight, hearing and touch, along with appeal. This method of delivery was done throughout the entire program, which I will be elaborating in the later part of this exposé.
Day 1
[6] The first day was meant to be a very light one. In whole, the entire day was filled with extremely funny jokes that left everyone in uncontrollable fits of laughter at one point or another. It might seem insensible, but as I’ve said, there is significance.
[7] To make all the attendees motivated to succeed, it was important that everyone believed that all of them can be successful, which was no lie. The method to achieve this however, was full of lies. For half of the first day, attendees were told of stories, some true and some false, of how some initial failures ended up becoming winners at the end of the day. To deepen the effect, they used personal examples to have a personal touch with everyone, which also doubles up as a method to bond with the attendees through the sharing of personal experiences.
[8] By lunchtime, the mindset of attendees would have turned optimistic. With that change in mindset, the trainers then set out to permanently imprint that belief by reinforcing methods of achieving the success. Let’s sidetrack a bit. During my speech at the end of the program, I mentioned that the trainers did not teach us anything new, and that is indeed true. The methods that were ‘taught’ to achieve that success are in fact old methods re-taught to us and enforced by the power of belief.
[9] How many here know about mind maps to help revision and association to improve memory? I bet most of you do, but do any of you really hold on to these ideas to help improve studies? No. These are the two main techniques ‘taught’ during the workshop, and in truth they are very effective methods. To imbue belief into these techniques, they gave us unbelievable but real examples of how these techniques could be put to use. For mind maps, they showed us how a one-page detailed summary of a 30 page chapter could be done and how they could effectively memorize a series of random words in consecutive order. Cool right? And to think that anyone is capable of doing such things.
[10] For the later part of the day, the trainers went into more intense activities. They went into increasing productivity and rate of learning by teaching us how to maximize brain capacity and quickly pick out information. We were told that typical methods of revision only used up small amounts of brainpower, which is not absorbed well by the memory. By teaching us how to maximize brain capacity, more efficient memory is resulted. Also to help quicken word processing, they taught us the wonders of speed reading, that is the quickened ability to absorb information from text.
Day 2
[11] If the first day was about opening our minds, the second day would be to drill things in. This part of the program is the most intense. Read on to find out.
[12] The first day explored the possibility of success actually becoming a reality. The second day started with making that closer to reality. All of us are bound by the limitations of time, thus to achieve everything, we must work our way around it. The trainers introduced to us the ten step study plan, which is a comprehensive yet easy enough to follow guide which formulates our successes. Then they revealed to us the timetable that we’re supposed to follow to keep the lessons taught to us locked up in our heads. Oh yeah, I apologize if the descriptions are a little ambiguous, but I still need to abide the copyright laws of the contents of the AKLTG programs.
[13] The possibility of actually following the study plan is then enforced with the next segment, which was back to increasing productivity. The previous day, the trainers showed us how the techniques could be put to use, this time, they showed us exactly how it was done. They revealed to us the exact methods of how to imprint data and long strings of information onto our memory and how to unlock the full capacity of the brain.
[14] After lunch, the mood began to turn down a bit as the trainer was setting up the mind for the climax of the program. At this point of time, the trainer opened to us the realization that life does not end at secondary school, that once O levels are over, an enormous possibility unfolds. Also, through discreet means, the trainer made us spill out some of our guilty feelings that we had towards things in general.
[15] Now this part is my favourite: the climax. In order for the attendees to change their academic performance, everything has to change, including their environment. This includes changing our perception that we had for our family. Unfortunately, most of us do not value this as much as we are supposed to, making this part a little painful. So they had to make us appreciate our families like we are supposed to, so let me tell you how it was done.
[16] The upbringing of appreciation was done rather forcefully, with regret and sadness being the main tool here. For a human mind to feel extreme sadness, it has to first experience extreme happiness. That was the purpose of the abundance of jokes from the previous day. This part began with a thorough scolding. Don’t get me wrong, this is no lenient scolding. It was done with pure anger, violence and a loose mouth, if you catch my drift. The scolding part was to arouse the sense of initial regret for not taking the program seriously, not appreciating our parents enough, etc. Well, you should know how a real scolding feels like. But that was only the beginning; now let’s get on to the real part.
[17] With the regret part already brought up, now the sadness has to come in. By now, the mind would have been prepared to fall from that feeling of extreme happiness to extreme sadness. Nonetheless, the use of environment for this part further strengthens the arousal of sadness. To create the atmosphere of sadness, the lights were dimmed, the music played changed to a sad one, and the attendees were asked to close and cover their eyes and sit in a crouched position. All of this leads to the preparation of the mind and body to become sad. Then came the trickiest part.
[18] Through the power of words and mental visualization, the trainer made the attendees realize that the most important and closest person to us is none other than ourselves. Then they moved on to facing the vision of our mothers. The trainer articulated the appreciation our mothers have towards us, how proud they were for having us, how they had taken the trouble of bearing and raising us and the things they regretted doing that might have contributed to our current state of development. From here, you can tell that our regret was surfaced by the revealing of our parents’ regrets. From here we moved on to the vision of our fathers. Again, the same thing was done, with the inclusion of how our fathers regretted not being as close as they wanted to and how they could not appear as sensitive due to being the head of the family. By now, the feeling of empathy we have for our parents’ regret would have become our regrets too.
[19] To enforce this, the trainer then shifted the state of mind to shock by realistically articulating the death of our parents. If the previous feeling of regret was from empathy, the sense of regret that developed now would have been purely ours. The impact of this image is so powerful, the mind actually simulates our actual thoughts and feelings of how things would be when our parents would really die. Throughout this part, almost all attendees would have come to tears but this part brought wails of crying. Readers, I cannot emphasize further the power of words here.
[20] Making the attendees cry here is not for sadistic fun, it was to bring about the sense of appreciation that we are supposed to have for our parents. Other than that, crying is one of the body’s natural ways of releasing guilt and regret, something that most people rarely do. Despite the effectiveness of the trainers, I can classify three groups of people who would not have been affected. The first one are the veterans, those who have at one point of time or another felt this sense of sadness before. The second one are the innocents, those who do not have enough guilt or regret to bring about this extreme sadness. But majority of those who did not cry belong to the third one, the brainless. These are the people who were tipped off about the crying part and did all they could to distract themselves to avoid this or just don’t have enough intellect to comprehend sadness.
[21] All in all, that part was a success. We were then sent off for a silent toilet break and came back to write a letter to ourselves and another to our parents telling them of this encounter and new vows.
[22] Before, we have been realized the possibility of options after secondary school life. Now the trainers made us realize that we have a whole lifetime ahead of us, and what happens then depends on what we plan now. With the confidence that we could become successful at the beginning of the day, the trainer then guided us into setting our long term goals for ourselves, including our JC and university life and our careers. The day ended with further perfecting our speed reading skills.
Day 3
[23] For the whole morning until mid-afternoon for the third day, we were perfecting our ability to study smart with all the techniques taught to us. Oh yeah, our speed reading record was 1800++ words/min, that was how much words we could process, in just a minute. By the end of it we were able to create detailed mind maps of our own and were fully prepared for studying effectively.
[24] The time after that was spent fine tuning our time management schedules, from day to day schedules to monthly revision schedule. Then we moved on to fine tuning our long term goals. It was similar to a career/education consultation session as we got to ask questions about the career paths that we were interested in. By the end of it, we knew exactly what we would be doing from now till 20 years down the road, having planned an achievable and ideal goal for ourselves.
[25] Fast forward to the evening, which was the parents session and closing ceremony. The parents were first briefed on what their kids have been doing the past two days and what they have learnt. It also included advice on how to treat their kids better and some of the things they ought not to do.
[26] The most-awaited part of the closing ceremony was the speech part. The attendees were asked to volunteer themselves to go up on stage to make a speech on whatever they wanted. From this session, the personal lives of many of our friends were revealed; their personal problems, family problems, suicide attempts, private emotions, hopes and dreams, among other things. I myself made a speech (of course). It was a very brief yet made an impact and touching enough to bring people to tears, that also included an advertisement for the event management business that I aim for twenty years later. It ended with us giving our parents the letter we wrote the previous day and with a renewed sense of purpose, belonging and motivation in all of us.
**********************************************************************
I guess I would just like to stop here for now. Basically, the whole thing has so much to explore that I could barely organize my thoughts to write this recap. This recap of the day to day events itself took five full pages in MS Word! Apparently, there is more to be said of the program, thus I will continue in another entry. For the next one, I plan to do a breakdown of all the techniques used that are yet to be revealed.
I know that the recap above is not complete or might have errors, so do inform me by commenting on the entry.
Until then, be content with this entry, please, if you’re not then I don’t know how long I’m supposed to write to satisfy you…
For this exposé, I’ll try to hit more for the wow factor than the controversy factor. It’s a topic hitting closer to home, or the graduating batch specifically. What I’m talking about here is the Adam Khoo workshop, what is formally known as the ‘I am GIFTED, so are YOU’ program. For others who did not attend it or don’t even know about it, don’t worry. I’m writing a full introduction and explanation for it.
Before you continue reading this, remember that the objective of this specific exposé is to reveal to readers what they had missed, not to spark a controversy like all the others. The inferences below are based on personal analysis and research and are open for arguments. With that, I hope that you confine your disagreements within this blog community.
This may be a bit lengthy, since it is a full analysis, so do be patient and take your time. So guys, the wait is over. Enjoy and be amazed (and comment on the tagboard!)
**********************************************************************
Forbidden Files #02 - Picking the Brain
An exposé by Seraphim
**********************************************************************
[1] Over the course of three weeks before the March holidays, the whole of the graduating batch of students from my school went for three day program titled ‘I am GIFTED, so are YOU’ by the Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group.
[2] A little background info on the program. The whole program is one of the many motivational programs that Adam Khoo and his collegues has created to cater to different needs. Being one of the top five most influential speakers in Asia, he and his team of highly qualified trainers have been changing the lives of many for most parts of their lives. When I say highly qualified, I mean these guys who trained us are damned qualified. One of the trainers, R****h, has won numerous speaking competitions internationally and another trainer, G**y, is a master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming (whatever that means, it just sounds difficult).
(identity disclosed due to privacy policy)
[3] The aim of the program is to make the attendees better students and ultimately become a success. Realize that these people mean to really CHANGE PEOPLE’S LIVES within 78 hours. Unbelievable? Believe it. That’s where I come in. There is a reason for everything done in the program. Now I’ll be sharing with you what they were and how it affected the attendees.
[4] In a nutshell, they achieved this with the successful integration of psychological techniques with teaching skills. In short, it is like brainwashing. The only difference is that this is willing change of thinking instead of forcibly doing it.
[5] What makes this program more effective than others is that it is delivered to the audience through multiple senses; sight, hearing and touch, along with appeal. This method of delivery was done throughout the entire program, which I will be elaborating in the later part of this exposé.
Day 1
[6] The first day was meant to be a very light one. In whole, the entire day was filled with extremely funny jokes that left everyone in uncontrollable fits of laughter at one point or another. It might seem insensible, but as I’ve said, there is significance.
[7] To make all the attendees motivated to succeed, it was important that everyone believed that all of them can be successful, which was no lie. The method to achieve this however, was full of lies. For half of the first day, attendees were told of stories, some true and some false, of how some initial failures ended up becoming winners at the end of the day. To deepen the effect, they used personal examples to have a personal touch with everyone, which also doubles up as a method to bond with the attendees through the sharing of personal experiences.
[8] By lunchtime, the mindset of attendees would have turned optimistic. With that change in mindset, the trainers then set out to permanently imprint that belief by reinforcing methods of achieving the success. Let’s sidetrack a bit. During my speech at the end of the program, I mentioned that the trainers did not teach us anything new, and that is indeed true. The methods that were ‘taught’ to achieve that success are in fact old methods re-taught to us and enforced by the power of belief.
[9] How many here know about mind maps to help revision and association to improve memory? I bet most of you do, but do any of you really hold on to these ideas to help improve studies? No. These are the two main techniques ‘taught’ during the workshop, and in truth they are very effective methods. To imbue belief into these techniques, they gave us unbelievable but real examples of how these techniques could be put to use. For mind maps, they showed us how a one-page detailed summary of a 30 page chapter could be done and how they could effectively memorize a series of random words in consecutive order. Cool right? And to think that anyone is capable of doing such things.
[10] For the later part of the day, the trainers went into more intense activities. They went into increasing productivity and rate of learning by teaching us how to maximize brain capacity and quickly pick out information. We were told that typical methods of revision only used up small amounts of brainpower, which is not absorbed well by the memory. By teaching us how to maximize brain capacity, more efficient memory is resulted. Also to help quicken word processing, they taught us the wonders of speed reading, that is the quickened ability to absorb information from text.
Day 2
[11] If the first day was about opening our minds, the second day would be to drill things in. This part of the program is the most intense. Read on to find out.
[12] The first day explored the possibility of success actually becoming a reality. The second day started with making that closer to reality. All of us are bound by the limitations of time, thus to achieve everything, we must work our way around it. The trainers introduced to us the ten step study plan, which is a comprehensive yet easy enough to follow guide which formulates our successes. Then they revealed to us the timetable that we’re supposed to follow to keep the lessons taught to us locked up in our heads. Oh yeah, I apologize if the descriptions are a little ambiguous, but I still need to abide the copyright laws of the contents of the AKLTG programs.
[13] The possibility of actually following the study plan is then enforced with the next segment, which was back to increasing productivity. The previous day, the trainers showed us how the techniques could be put to use, this time, they showed us exactly how it was done. They revealed to us the exact methods of how to imprint data and long strings of information onto our memory and how to unlock the full capacity of the brain.
[14] After lunch, the mood began to turn down a bit as the trainer was setting up the mind for the climax of the program. At this point of time, the trainer opened to us the realization that life does not end at secondary school, that once O levels are over, an enormous possibility unfolds. Also, through discreet means, the trainer made us spill out some of our guilty feelings that we had towards things in general.
[15] Now this part is my favourite: the climax. In order for the attendees to change their academic performance, everything has to change, including their environment. This includes changing our perception that we had for our family. Unfortunately, most of us do not value this as much as we are supposed to, making this part a little painful. So they had to make us appreciate our families like we are supposed to, so let me tell you how it was done.
[16] The upbringing of appreciation was done rather forcefully, with regret and sadness being the main tool here. For a human mind to feel extreme sadness, it has to first experience extreme happiness. That was the purpose of the abundance of jokes from the previous day. This part began with a thorough scolding. Don’t get me wrong, this is no lenient scolding. It was done with pure anger, violence and a loose mouth, if you catch my drift. The scolding part was to arouse the sense of initial regret for not taking the program seriously, not appreciating our parents enough, etc. Well, you should know how a real scolding feels like. But that was only the beginning; now let’s get on to the real part.
[17] With the regret part already brought up, now the sadness has to come in. By now, the mind would have been prepared to fall from that feeling of extreme happiness to extreme sadness. Nonetheless, the use of environment for this part further strengthens the arousal of sadness. To create the atmosphere of sadness, the lights were dimmed, the music played changed to a sad one, and the attendees were asked to close and cover their eyes and sit in a crouched position. All of this leads to the preparation of the mind and body to become sad. Then came the trickiest part.
[18] Through the power of words and mental visualization, the trainer made the attendees realize that the most important and closest person to us is none other than ourselves. Then they moved on to facing the vision of our mothers. The trainer articulated the appreciation our mothers have towards us, how proud they were for having us, how they had taken the trouble of bearing and raising us and the things they regretted doing that might have contributed to our current state of development. From here, you can tell that our regret was surfaced by the revealing of our parents’ regrets. From here we moved on to the vision of our fathers. Again, the same thing was done, with the inclusion of how our fathers regretted not being as close as they wanted to and how they could not appear as sensitive due to being the head of the family. By now, the feeling of empathy we have for our parents’ regret would have become our regrets too.
[19] To enforce this, the trainer then shifted the state of mind to shock by realistically articulating the death of our parents. If the previous feeling of regret was from empathy, the sense of regret that developed now would have been purely ours. The impact of this image is so powerful, the mind actually simulates our actual thoughts and feelings of how things would be when our parents would really die. Throughout this part, almost all attendees would have come to tears but this part brought wails of crying. Readers, I cannot emphasize further the power of words here.
[20] Making the attendees cry here is not for sadistic fun, it was to bring about the sense of appreciation that we are supposed to have for our parents. Other than that, crying is one of the body’s natural ways of releasing guilt and regret, something that most people rarely do. Despite the effectiveness of the trainers, I can classify three groups of people who would not have been affected. The first one are the veterans, those who have at one point of time or another felt this sense of sadness before. The second one are the innocents, those who do not have enough guilt or regret to bring about this extreme sadness. But majority of those who did not cry belong to the third one, the brainless. These are the people who were tipped off about the crying part and did all they could to distract themselves to avoid this or just don’t have enough intellect to comprehend sadness.
[21] All in all, that part was a success. We were then sent off for a silent toilet break and came back to write a letter to ourselves and another to our parents telling them of this encounter and new vows.
[22] Before, we have been realized the possibility of options after secondary school life. Now the trainers made us realize that we have a whole lifetime ahead of us, and what happens then depends on what we plan now. With the confidence that we could become successful at the beginning of the day, the trainer then guided us into setting our long term goals for ourselves, including our JC and university life and our careers. The day ended with further perfecting our speed reading skills.
Day 3
[23] For the whole morning until mid-afternoon for the third day, we were perfecting our ability to study smart with all the techniques taught to us. Oh yeah, our speed reading record was 1800++ words/min, that was how much words we could process, in just a minute. By the end of it we were able to create detailed mind maps of our own and were fully prepared for studying effectively.
[24] The time after that was spent fine tuning our time management schedules, from day to day schedules to monthly revision schedule. Then we moved on to fine tuning our long term goals. It was similar to a career/education consultation session as we got to ask questions about the career paths that we were interested in. By the end of it, we knew exactly what we would be doing from now till 20 years down the road, having planned an achievable and ideal goal for ourselves.
[25] Fast forward to the evening, which was the parents session and closing ceremony. The parents were first briefed on what their kids have been doing the past two days and what they have learnt. It also included advice on how to treat their kids better and some of the things they ought not to do.
[26] The most-awaited part of the closing ceremony was the speech part. The attendees were asked to volunteer themselves to go up on stage to make a speech on whatever they wanted. From this session, the personal lives of many of our friends were revealed; their personal problems, family problems, suicide attempts, private emotions, hopes and dreams, among other things. I myself made a speech (of course). It was a very brief yet made an impact and touching enough to bring people to tears, that also included an advertisement for the event management business that I aim for twenty years later. It ended with us giving our parents the letter we wrote the previous day and with a renewed sense of purpose, belonging and motivation in all of us.
**********************************************************************
I guess I would just like to stop here for now. Basically, the whole thing has so much to explore that I could barely organize my thoughts to write this recap. This recap of the day to day events itself took five full pages in MS Word! Apparently, there is more to be said of the program, thus I will continue in another entry. For the next one, I plan to do a breakdown of all the techniques used that are yet to be revealed.
I know that the recap above is not complete or might have errors, so do inform me by commenting on the entry.
Until then, be content with this entry, please, if you’re not then I don’t know how long I’m supposed to write to satisfy you…
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