First Aid Proficiency Bagde

30^th May 2009

This blog was written by Akela

This Saturday was devoted entirely to the 8 cubs pursuing the Akela Award, to help them complete all the requirements, except for the final test – the interview at HQ. Generally the outstanding requirement was the First Aider badge.

The 8 candidates are:

Foo Yi Wen

Ann Maria Lee

Carine Lee

Bryan Wang

Shaun Teo

Brandon Yeap

Marcus Tong

Samuel Chin

The toughest part of the First Aider badge is CPR (or cardiopulmonary resuscitation or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation). The candidates are required to have a knowledge of CPR and demonstrate it by use of a mannequin. Getting the mannequin proved to be a big challenge, but Grey Wolf was extremely resourceful, and managed to borrow one for our use. However as we could only have the mannequin for 3 hours, we had to start the training and testing immediately after the group met. Grey Wolf and Akela demonstrated the CPR method, and the cubs took turns to practice. The girls initially balked at having to blow air into the mannequin’s mouth, but all turned out well. It was hard work, firstly to remember the steps, and secondly to do the blowing and the compressions, but it was well worth it, as this is a valuable lifesaving skill. The cubs, being what they are, managed to create some fun and laughter in between the serious efforts they put in.

The cubs also packed a first aid kit, showed how to control bleeding by direct pressure, dressed minor cuts, among many other things they had to do in order to pass the test. Dr Foo Fatt Kah, a scout parent, was present to test the candidates. To everyone’s relief and joy, all passed! And everyone present is now the proud holder of the First Aider Badge.

Akela then briefed the candidates on the requirements of the personal scout log, emphasising that the HQ Assessor would be looking for reflections of their scouting experience rather than mere narration of the scout activities attended by the cubs. The candidates promised to put in their best, and will submit the logs to Akela before the end of the June holidays.

It was time well-spent by the 8 cubs, and here’s wishing them the best in their pursuit of the Akela Award.

23rd May 2009

THE AMAZING XXX TRAIL

The 4th Amazing Trail is here, with more than 200 participants eagerly waiting to set off on a journey of fun and discovery.

BRIEFING OF FACILITATORS

As early as 0745hrs, some 30 facilitators gathered in the AVA room for a pre-trail briefing by Akela and Bertrand. The theme for this year's trail was finally revealed: The Amazing Sculpture Trail.

Teams had to travel by public transport to locations as described in the clues given and locate sculptures to earn points. Once there, teams had optional tasks to earn bonus points. The team with the highest points wins. All teams had to be back in school by 1700hrs. Late arrivals would incur penalties.

BRIEFING BY AKELA


BRIEFING BY AKELA

BRIEFING BY AKELA

At 0900 hrs, a general briefing was given by Akela to all participants who had gathered in the school hall. Akela outlined the objectives of the trail, and defined markers for all to observe. Parents were reminded to play a passive role and allow the Cubs to make all the decisions. Parents were to ensure the safety of the Cubs and provide necessary support. Amazing Trail T-shirts were distributed, along with some snacks and a botltle of Newater to all participants.


PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING

PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING

PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING


PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING


BAGHEERA & BALOO

Once the intial planning was completed, the teams set out on their journey of fun and discovery.

Teams started departing from 1000 hrs, with the last team leaving at 1020 hrs.

TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL

TEAMS BEFORE DEPARING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL

TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL

TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL

TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL

TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL

THE LAST TEAM TO DEPART

While teams were out hunting down clues, Raksha and her team of dedicated helpers busied themselves with seating arrangements and decorations. Tables and chairs had to be arranged, balloons had to be sculptured and decorative facades put up. Gifts and souvenirs had to be arranged for ease of distribution later in the evening during the grand gala dinner. The programme had to be rehearsed and fine-tuned by Louis and Bertrand, the two MCs for the evening's programme. Our ex-Cub Scout, Timothy (BIG-T) turned up to lend a helping hand. Thank you, Tim.

In the meantime, Cubs were hunting down sculptures following the clues provided. Once there, tasks had to be performed. At the Registry Of Marriages, Cubs had to 'propose' to a member of the public, while at other locations, Cubs had to persuade members of the public to recite the Scout Promise! One task involved getting 15 members of the public to take a snapshot together with the team.

Most teams returned before the deadline of 1700 hrs. Two teams were a little behind, by 8 minutes each, and suffered a penalty of 8% off their accumulated points. The winning team, Team G, had a score in excess of 3000 points.

The following anecdotes was submitted by Paul Lin (facilitator).
1. It was around a quarter past noon. Group D was at the Dalhousie Obelisk. While the more senior cubs are taking down notes from the plaque to answer the mandatory questions and most of the others are taking a break, someone asked, "when's lunch?" "one hour later," replied one of the cubs. "ONE HOUR LATER?" exclaimed a little girl cub, with hands to her face in disbelief.

2. At the Registry of Marriages, there was a mandatory task which requires a cub to propose to a passer-by. There was no one around, except for the security guard. However, the girl cubs were too shy to propose. Just then, there was a lady coming in our direction and one of the boy cubs hurried over and did the proposal. The task was completed and she was literally married to one of the members in our group. She is the mother of one of our cubs and was coming to join us for the rest of the trail.

Another anecdote submitted by Bagheera (facilitator).
The most memorable and daring act was by a young Indian little girl cub from Group E. She knelt down to propose to an adult at the MOM without any hesitation in order to gain the 100 points.

2ND RUNNER UP


1ST RUNNER UP


TRAIL CHAMPIONS


The evening's programme was graced by the presence of the Deputy Chief Commissioner, Mr. Tan Cheng Kiong, and several Commissioners from the SSA. With a rousing 'Adiji' yell to welcome our honoured guests, the programme went into full swing with Bertrand and Louise directing. Akela welcomed all guests, and appreciated that some had taken the day off from work to spend time bonding with their children in this Amazing Sculpture Trail. Dty. Chief Commissioner Mr. Tan shared his excitement to be part of this Amazing Trail. He also talked about the 100 years of Scouting in Singapore next year, and the Singapore Jamboree as part of the centenniel celebrations. Although Jamborees are mainly for secondary school Scouts and beyond, he hoped to open participation to older Cubs Scouts to experience a Jamboree. He noted that Singapore held a Jamboree once in every 10 years, and this would be a great opportunity for Cub Scouts to join in.


DEPUTY CHIEF COMMISSIONER, MR TAN CHENG KIONG THROWING THE YARN



Mr. Tan was invited to 'throw the yarn', a long-standing Scout tradition. With other guests joining in, everyone was joined in a web of friendship.


JOINED BY A WEB OF BROTHEROOD AND FRIENDSHIP

JOINED BY A WEB OF BROTHERHOOD AND FRIENDSHIP

Dinner was a buffet spread of fried rice, vermicelli, sauted chicken, mixed vegetables and 'otak', with cakes and 'luohan kuo' for dessert. While everyone was enjoying the scrumptious food, a slide show highlighting the day's events was shown.

Games time is always a hit among the children. Seeing that the Cubs were getting restless, Baloo started a table game. 15 theme songs of hit movies and TV serials was played, and each table had to guess the title of the movie. There were 15 theme songs, ranging from the well known ones like Star Wars to lesser known shows like An American Tale and The Apprentice. Once all 15 theme songs were played, Baloo was inundated by Cubs rushing to the stage to submit their answer sheets. As it turned out 3 tables had the same number of correct answers, and a tie-breaker of 5 songs was played. Table 16 was the eventual winners.

Principle of Henry Park, Mr. Ng Teng Joo gave away plaques to the top Job Week earners.

Bertrand and Louise had 5 parents up on stage together with 5 Cubs for the next challenge: Marshmallow -in-mouth. Each contestant had to hold marshmallows in their mouth and say the word "Tabby Chubby". With more marshmallows in the mouth, it was increasingly difficult to make sense of what was being said. It was hilarious.

The Batucada dancers put up a fantastic performance by dancing and drumming on pails in time to the beat. Led by YiWen and Bryan Wang, they put on a great show of precision and synchronisation. Well done, dancers!

Next, Baloo invited 5 parents and 5 Cubs on stage to participate in a dance. As it turned out, more than 20 Cubs scrambled on stage, but NO parents. Despite calls for volunteers, no parents were willing to come forward. It was then left to the Cubs to "coerce" their parents to volunteer, and we finally had 5 sporting parents to participate. Baloo first showed them the steps and led them in a dance to the tune of Jai Ho, from the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire.

The audience were the judges, and we managed to trim the numbers down to 4 Cubs and 3 parents, and were treated to a gift each for their sporting nature, and great moves! A Cub Scout from ACS Barker was the crowd favourite with some very vigorous moves! Well done, dancers.

Dty Chief Commissioner Mr. Tan gave away trophies to the Trail winners.
Akela gave out souvenirs to all our VIPs and all those who had helped out in the Amazing Trail. Akela was thankful for all those who ahd come forward to help in one way or another.

It was time for the final hymn, the Scout Hymn, led by Baloo, to the music accompaniment of Bernette Koh, daughter of Akela and Raksha.

16th May 2009

16th May 2009

This post was written by Akela.

Midyear exams are over, and it’s back to scouting! The Batucada performers continued with their practice, staring at 8 am and did not finish till 10 am, as they had been doing for the last 5 weeks. This is in preparation for their performance during the Amazing Trail Dinner.

While waiting for the performers’ return, Akela played a game. The pack was divided into 4 groups (A, B, C, D), with each member numbered from 1 till the last member. Each team was formed in front of the side of a square. In the middle of this big square was a small square, and in front of each team was a small square each. 7 coins were placed in the centre square, When Akela called out the number, a member from each team having that number would rush out and take one coin and place it onto his own team’s square. He/she then rushed back to the centre square and tried to take the second coin and placed it onto his/own square. He/she then rushed and took the third coin from a neighbouring team. Teams could steal coins from the others’ squares. Team C was very quick, and raced again with 4 points with the other 3 teams having zero points. The other teams then realized their strategy, and started to target and steal coins from Team C, with the result that the other teams started to catch up. But it was too late! By the time, the game, ended, Team C was the champion, with 9 points, followed by Teams A & B with 6 points, and team D with 4 points. It was really fun!

When everyone had cooled down, Akela sent the Sixers to lay 2 trails while he taught the new scouts about signs used in laying a trail. For the older scouts, this was just a revision, as most of them had passed this test. The new cubs were very curious, and they had an interesting time following the trail, guided by the senior cubs.

This week, Wallaby came in first for their scout log, followed by Echidna. Kookaburra and Kangaroo were joint 3rd. Bilby, Platypus and Wombat 1 did not submit their scout logs, and were given 50 demerit points. Tsk, tsk, tsk. A very poor showing!

All too soon, it was time for sunset party! Next week will be the Amazing Trail, and everyone is looking forward to it.

During the Sixers Council, Akeal briefed the 6 Sixers who were pursuing the Akela Award on the requirements of the personal log.

2nd May 2009

2nd May 2009

This post was written by Raksha.

This week we completed Part 2 of the Athlete Badge – throwing a cricket ball of 135gm. However we couldn’t get hold of a cricket ball, so we used several sepak takraw balls instead. Would you believe, they are heavier than a cricket ball, at 160 gms! So Akela made a slight allowance, and reduced slighty the distance requirements.

Before starting the actual test, Akela bounced the ball over the heads of the cubs who were seated in Indian file. Cubs tried to keep the ball in the hall and pushing up the ball whenever it was within reach. The rattan ball was harder than it looks! Ouch, my head!

All the cubs were excited to get a chance to throw the ball. Before the actual throw, each cub had a try first to see how far the ball would go. Some cubs found it easy, and their ball could travel a long distance, enough to earn 3 points. A small number didn’t have the strength or technique and the ball stopped short of the nearest point , so they failed to get even one point. So sad!

The meeting was cut short at 11 am as there was a briefing for the Amazing XXX Trail at the school hall, for parents and cubs. As in past years, it was well attended, and it was clear that this year the Amazing XXX Trail would be another great success. We were dismissed at 12 noon.

The scout logs were of a high standard this week, and Akela was very pleased. Wombat 1 was first, followed by Koala, and then Platypus. All other Sixes (except Possum) received 10 merit points for their fine effort.

Bryan Wang and Shaun Teo received their Gold Arrow badge. Congratulations! Keep up the good work. Next, the Akela Award.

25th April 2009

Akela called the meeting to order. Snr. Sixer Yiwen and Asst. Snr Sixer Bryan Wang were still practising the Batucada Brazilian Dance, together with some 16 other Cub Scouts, and would be joining the meeting shortly after.

Some Cub Scouts could not stand still while at attention. Some were fidgeting, while others had an itch somewhere that needed urgent attention! Akela was quite annoyed that these Cub Scouts were not disciplined enough to remain still. Carine Lim did the Flag Break. Good job, Carine. All went well.

Rei informed Akela that despite having booked the AVA room for our use this morning, another group had also booked the room and were using it. This was not a good start! It would only be available from 1100 hrs.

Nevertheless, Baloo started the 2nd installment of the "UP" programme by discussing the principles of flight, how an aeroplane could fly and the modes of propulsion. Some Cub Scouts were quite knowledgeable and offered some great answers during the discussion. Baloo also demonstrated the Bernoulli's principle by holding 2 pieces of paper about 4 inches apart, and blowing down between the sheets of paper. As the air flowing between the sheets of paper travelled faster, it produced a region of low pressure, causing the air pressure from the surrounding to push the paper together. This is how the wings of an aeroplane produce lift. The aerofoil shape causes air over the wings to travel faster than the air beneath the wings as the aeroplane travelled through the air. This causes a low pressure over the wings and high pressure beneath the wings, producing lift and takes the aeroplane up in the air.

Baloo also taught the Cub Scouts a song about kite-flying. It goes like this:

"Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest heights
Let's go fly a kite, and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere, up where the air is clear
Oh! Let's go fly a kite"

Akela got the Cub Scouts to write a story using the words 'rocket', 'asteroids', 'Packman' and 'Cub Scouts'. He also read a story containing those words. When he mentioned 'rocket', the Cub Scouts would yell 'blast off', 'asteroids' and the cub Scouts would yell 'look out'. 'Packman' would be 'battle stations' and 'Cub Scouts' would be 'yippee'.

Snr Sixer Yiwen wrote the following:

"Is it safe?" asked Packman (battle stations). His Cub Scouts (yippee) friends sighed and nodded. The Cub Scouts (yippee) climbed into the rocket (blast off) and Packman (battle stations) reluctantly followed. The rocket (blast off) blasted off as the Cub Scouts (yippee) and Packman (battle stations) gripped their seats tightly. But within seconds, they were floating in space, inside their rocket (blast off). Packman (battle stations) groaned, "I'm hungry!" He took out a bag of chips and opened it before the Cub Scouts (yippee) could stop him. 'No!" the Cub Scouts (yippee) screamed. The potato chips were floating around in the rocket (blast off). Packman (battle stations) and the Cub Scouts (yippee) slowly ate the potato chips floating around. One of the Cub Scouts (yippee) screamed, "asteroid!" (look out) An asteroid was headed right for their rocket! (blast off) "We're all going to die!" cried Packman (battle stations) Packman (battle stations) floated towards the controls and banged on the buttons. The Cub Scouts (yippee) stayed calm and pressed the button that said 'land.' They landed on the moon and heaved a sigh of relief. The Cub Scouts (yippee) cheered with joy.

Sixer Brandon Yeap had the following story to share:

"Get your suits ready! We are boarding the rocket (blast off) soon," Packman (battle stations) said to his fellow Cub Scouts (yippee).
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off!" the Cub Scouts (yippee) excitedly shouted.

As they went past the atmosphere, Packman (battle stations) realised on the radar that there was as many as a hundred asteroids (look out) above the atmosphere in their way. As soon as they were in space, there was a barrier of asteroids (look out) trying to fend them off, unfortunately for them. The Cub Scouts (yippee) used their Spartan Laser. They cut through the rocks with ease and they managed to pass through. With the asteroids (look out) cut through, they shouted, "we are going to Mars!"

Well, what a story! Well done!

The Cub Scouts were given instruction on how to make a paper aeroplane of an F-117 Stealth Fighter. The final steps were rather difficult, and many Cub Scouts needed help from Akela, Raksha and Baloo.

It was time for the battle of the paper planes. The one that could fly the furtherst would win points for the Six. Some glided well, while others crashed and burn, much like the Hoopsters last week! Others would turn in mid-air and land near the starting line!











While the contest was going on, some Cub Scouts who did not remain seated were asked to sit on the side and not participate in the contest.






After 9 attempts, Wombat 2 emerged the champion with 8 points, followed by Bilby, Echidna and Emu with 7 points. In third place was Koala, Platypus and Possum with 6 points each.

We proceeded to the AVA room where Akela briefed on the assignments to be done to qualify for the "UP badge.

Marcus Tong and Brandon Yeap passed the Gold Arrow Progress Badge, while Jonathan Pang passed the Silver Arrow Progress Badge. Congratulations to these boys.

Best Scout Log for last week went to Bilby. Keep up the great work boys.

We assembled at the Kidz zone once again for the Sunset Party.