Another Semester, Another Year

Officer interviews, a three club jog-a-thon, holiday donation drive, and service trip registration -- this is what kept everyone at Outreach Vietnam busy in the last two weeks.

With the year coming to a close (Outreach Vietnam's first full calendar year!), members could have not been busier with final exams and club activities combined.

The holiday donation drive was the first activity of the month. Five boxes worth of items ranging from shoes to coloring pencils were packed away into three giant suitcases. Michael's upcoming trip to Ho Chi Minh City next week will see the delivery of Christmas gifts and Outreach Vietnam collected donation items to all 300 kids of the Anh Linh Free School. (Stay tuned for daily pictures and updates!)

On December 9, 25 members donned their running shoes to run as many laps around the high school track as possible in one hour. The all-too familiar Singapore rains, however, dampened the afternoon by cutting the jog short with 45 minutes left on the clock.

To make up for the lost 45 minutes due to the rain, members graciously returned today afterschool to finish the semester and last day of final exams with a refreshing, but hot, run.

The commitment of members to jog for a charitable cause did not go unnoticed. A quick calculation yielded a S$1089.26 fundraising gain in just one hour of running -- by far the best single fundraiser the club has held all year.

Officer interviews were also held throughout the final exams week. More than 12 eager, young members went through more than 10 hours of interviews with the officers, answering questions from their initial motivation to join the club to hypothesized scenario questions.

Finally, the service trip registration was finally closed. Outreach Vietnam had a record number of registrations this year -- 28 student participants in total, and 2 teacher sponsors (almost 50% more than last year!). With interest so high, it is up to the new officer team and members to ensure everyone will make an impact far larger than last year's trip.

December was one frightening, long journey that seemed to never end. But in the end, Outreach Vietnam persevered, completing more activities than the club has ever done in a single month. For that, we are proud of the members and of our achievements.

Have a fantastic winter break!