Inter-House Games ~ Project W.I.S.H.

On the 25th of May, 2012, CmPS Project WISH organized an Inter-House Game within our school.

A peak at the initial planning stage!

The Inter-House Games are essentially a series of games students can participate in to win points for their house. Individual games are each organized separately by a select number of student groups—this year, however, we were the only CmPS group granted permission to organize an IHG. We opted for a popular favourite- an Amazing Race style IHG.

Our aim in organizing it was to spread awareness about butterflies within the school population, and to promote our butterfly garden in school.

And so the Amazing Race became a Butterfly-Themed-Amazing-Race. Our tactical approach to this conundrum was to make the each station related to butterflies. For those of you unfamiliar with modern-day television, an Amazing Race is basically a race in which there are a number of teams with a series of stations to complete. Only upon each station’s completion are the teams given a clue, which once solved will direct them to the next station.

However given a number of constraints, we devised a points system so as to allow the game to suit the House system. So, a simplified explanation on the operation of our IHG: there are five teams, each representing the five houses. There are a number of stations, each staffed by a station manager. Each station houses a game or task, and teams are assigned points by the station manager based on their performance. It is only upon completion of each separate game/task by the teams to the station managers’ satisfaction that they are given a clue directing them to the next station.

And that’s the logistical side of it.

Our purpose in organising this IHG was to raise awareness about butterflies.

Pre-IHG briefing

In the pre-IHG briefing, we gave them a presentation about the importance of urban nature in Singapore, as well as the role butterflies play. They then went on to prove their newly-earned knowledge in various games and challenges.

The stations:

Kate's and Zek Min's station: the Koi Pond

Each group started from a different station. Kate's station was called 'Rapid Fire' where participants would have to answer as many questions as possible within the time limit of 10 minutes. We were glad to observe that most of them had absorbed the content of the briefing.

Zhang Xuan's and Beverley's station was titled 'Caterpillar Games' and served to evaluate the teams on their teamwork. The station was set up such that there were thirty individually numbered leaves placed around a given area in a random order. The participants formed a line before being blindfolded and left in the hands of a selected team leader, whose job it was to direct the group in completing a circuit of fifteen leaves in as little time as possible. This circuit was determined by the station mistress, who would call out a number and wait for the group to travel to the corresponding leaf before calling out the next number. Teams were assessed based on station mistresses' observations regarding their team work as well as on the time it took for them to complete the activity.

Zhang Xuan and Beverley's station: outside the KS Chee Theatre

For Yuexin's station, the participants were given a map and tasked to identify the locations of the butterfly plants in our school within a given time frame. This activity aimed to promote awareness of the different types of butterfly plants, especially so in our school community itself.

Yuexin's station: on the track

Shayna's station is called 'Matching'. The participants have to match the names of the butterflies to the respective pictures.

And finally, our IHG was set apart from past years’ by a very special touch—a last combined station. No points, no death and glory and honour for your house—just a last station where all the teams gathered together in harmony to...

Richardson house planting their own plant

Do gardening!

Ownership is tremendously important for urban nature to be fully integrated by individuals into modern society. It’s much easier to do something when you care about it. On a smaller scale, ownership is key for our butterfly garden to continue to thrive in our absence in about two years’ time.

Gardening under the hot sun

The idea was to have students of the school be part of the little urban nature/butterfly awareness project we have going on here. That they be made aware of the importance of urban nature and the importance of butterflies in urban nature, and care about it. And so the finishing line of the race was our school butterfly garden. Each team planted a butterfly plant in representation of their house. Each plant stands there as something that each house has done, has helped happen, and we hope that this has instilled a sense of ownership in the students.

The main goal of our project can be summarised in five simple words: we want people to care. And hopefully we’ll have accomplished that with this group of seventy or so students; yes, it’s not a lot of people, but it’s still seventy more people than there was before. Seventy more people spreading the gospel.