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JIS v. ISB Rugby Tournament [26/11/2018]

After so many sessions, then it came to our last rugby tournament and it was against ISB. Every single session we would constantly do drills to improve on our skills that could be applied to this upcoming tournament. For the first time, our game against ISB took place on their field which got me excited because I wanted to have the experience to play on different fields. All those training sessions really pushed us to our limit which led us to play to the best of our abilities in every single game. Every minute counts! We’ve played against their times numerous times before this tournament and we used this to our advantage because we recognize how their plays worked over the course of the games. Nevertheless, there were challenges faced during the event such as conflict of interest with the referee but we’ve learned to always respect them despite the frustration felt towards the game.

By the end of the game, we won and I managed to score a try!! This made me feel so happy and reminded myself how much I enjoy and passionate about this sport. This also encourages me to improve on my skills to the best of my ability and I aim to be better than I am now in the future. Since it was the last tournament, I was pretty sad because I loved working with this group as well as our coach because despite the tiring drills and practice matches, it was definitely one of the highlights of 2018 and I hope they could carry the team once the Yr 13s and I graduate. Go JIS!!

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Eagle/Fireback Netball Night [18/10/2018]

We often need to work with our brother house, Eagle, to collectively come up with ideas to encourage the younger girls and boys to integrate with one another. I believe that the relationship between the Yr 13s in Fireback and Eagle has really strong because of our occasional meetings about future events. As a fun activity session, we all decided to have a netball night in school before the half-term holiday. Netball is a strength of the girls but not for the guys, however, they are much faster than us and they understood the gist of the game. To make it fair, we split and mix girls and boys into separate teams. 

We didn’t really play according to the rules the entire time but the boys did end up learning the right ways to actually play the sport and because of how fun the night was, they want to organize another one of these events in the future. This just helped build our chemistry as a partnership and grew our relationship stronger. This definitely makes it much easier for us to communicate with each other and not be afraid to approach one another about anything. 

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House Football [20/09/2018]

Football isn’t a forté of mine when it comes to playing. It’s embarrassing to say that every year, I would always try to avoid this specific house event because I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of other people. However, as Sixth Form came around, I made a promise to myself to overcome my fear and step out of my comfort zone especially since I’ve taken up a position as House Sports Captain in my house now. I needed to present a good message towards the younger girls and let them know how regretful it could be to miss out on opportunities just because you wouldn’t look good. Taking up this position allowed me to be more engaging with the younger girls and teaches me to be more responsible with any activities I’m in charge of organizing. Before each event, we would usually hold a practice session for those who are not familiar with the rules and simultaneously we would come up with strategies for our games during the event. Considering I’m one of these people, I was able to gain so many skills from the experience and from my teammates and overall I was proud of everyone who participated because although we didn’t win many games, the excitement coming from the players was more than enough to push ourselves to the limit and do our best.

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UBD Touch Rugby Tournament [16/09/2018]

This year the rugby team is considered to be a league and the first tournament we participated in was the UBD Touch Tournament. To be honest, I was nervous because we didn’t practice as much as we needed for this event and we were still trying to build our chemistry as a group. This was necessary because it was important for us as a team to recognize what our best position and strengths were. 

The teams we were against were experienced and they practice with each other almost every other day of the week. This was the advantage they had over us. Nevertheless, by just watching the games, our coach made sure we were attentive and paid attention to the strategies and tactics applied to each and every game. Many of us managed to score some tries over the course of the tournament which was rewarding considering we had such little time to practice for the event. 

Everyone was supportive of each other and this further encouraged everyone to do better in every single game. Although we lost most of our games, our determination and motivation were never diminished and this encouraged us to further improve our skills. In rugby, an advantage for people to improve in this sport is their speed. However, I don’t really enjoy running but when it comes to rugby I would always push myself to my limit to do my best in every game. This allows me to improve on my capability to run faster than I usually can which is a challenge that I face in all the sports I enjoy to do. Being the driver, one of the middle positions, our job is to mainly cover as much ground as we could nearer to the try line. It also includes passing to the wing, as this position would usually be played by the people who could run fast, and score a try. However, I managed to run past the wing and score a try!! I believed that pushing myself to the limit allowed me to achieve this goal and I hope that the more I practice, I could score more tries in the near future. 

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Borneo Project Trip [29/06/2018 - 05/07/2018]

The day that I was anticipating all year finally came. Throughout the year of collective hard work, it was finally time for us to meet the community that benefitted from our donation. Going to the airport filled with excitement and not knowing what to expect from the trip definitely hyped me up even more. Nevertheless, we were already told in advance that we would be doing hard labour work such as mixing cement and many other challenging tasks. From the first day we’ve started the CCA, the teacher in charge, Ms Henning, constantly reminded us that the trip is about the community and engaging with them and not about what we wanted. As soon as we arrived the campsite, Camp Bongkud, we were welcomed with such open arms and appreciation from the elderly of the community as well as the children of the people who were running the camp. Being able to engage with the people who our donations were going towards was rewarding and worth all the hard work. To see the smile of their faces despite the conditions they were living in made me grow so much respect for these people and made me realize how privileged I am to be living such a fortunate life. We were greeted by such an amazing tour guide, Eve, who had such a genuine and caring character that helped us to understand the culture and the people within the community.

The community organized four different tasks for the groups that we were organized to be in over the course of the trip. On the first day, my group and I started off by working on bricklaying to build a public restroom for the local kindergarten school nearby and the field seeing as the school was not big enough to build a restroom within its land. We also learned how to make cement and this was definitely the intense task everyone had to deal among the other tasks. This task also needed precision and accuracy when it came to laying the bricks on top of each other as one dictates whether the sequence will be straight or not. The Chief of the camp was working with us the entire time and teaching us how to lay the bricks properly and according to the sequence that was previously applied at the bottom. After spending the whole morning under the scorching hot weather, we would go back to the campsite and have a lunch break allowing us to rest under the shade.

All the meals throughout the week were cooked by the elderly group of the community and every single dish was delicious!! We were also given the chance to organize games and activities to engage with the children from the community. As a reward, we bought candy bars from the local grocery store near the campsite. Overall, the game they enjoyed the most was the classic Musical Chairs. We were able to get to know each and every one of the kids and many of us got so emotionally attached that they wanted to meet us again the near future. Unfortunately, that day was our last day of the trip and this brought many of us to tears.

I enjoyed working with my team because they knew how to make the best out of every situation. We would occasionally play some music while we worked and our teacher was kind enough to let us do so. Our last task was to collect dig up soil and wheelbarrow it to the back of the campsite. Although this was tiring work in the hot sun, our group, at least, would partner up and use the wheelbarrow to race up and down the narrow road just to kill time and make the best out of our jobs.

By the end of every day, we would always see people play sports such as Volleyball and football on the field near the campsite. Those who were playing were kind enough to let many of us participate and another group decided to play a friendly game of frisbee which was so fun! I got to play with people who I don’t normally talk to in school and this was one of the highlights of the trip.

On our last day of being at the campsite, a few people from the community brought us trekking up a hiking trail of where we could see a beautiful view of Mount Kinabalu. Normally I would avoid doing activities such as hiking but every step I took going up that trail made me think how much closer I was to reaching to see such a wonderful view. It was worth it! This was no doubt one of the highlights of the trip.

Overall, this trip made me grow so much respect for people who are less fortunate than others and reminded me how little ‘teaspoons of change’ could make such a huge difference towards the lives of others. The open arms and appreciation the community showed made me feel so attached to the place and if I were given another opportunity to go, I will not hesitate to participate. This trip definitely helped me grow as a person as I learned how to be more sensitive and appreciative of the people around me as well as those who are in need. 

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House Dodgeball [07/12/2017]

This year JIS decided to add another sport to the annual House Sports Events which was DODGEBALL! This sport is not widely played in Brunei and for the school to include this allows us to be more exposed to other kinds of sports from across the globe. However, the games were much harder than it looked. You would think it’s just a game where you just hit people to get them out of the game but NOPE! Each team needed to have 8 players overall and even though that seems a lot and easy to eliminate people from the other team, but as the players, we have to be aware at all times and if we aren’t, the other team is at an advantage. 

What made the event more interactive and engaging was because of the themed concept. Our sports and house captains came up with an 80s theme where we could wear colourful shorts, armbands, headbands and other accessories that related to that period of time. Since it was the first time all the houses playing dodgeball, so many people participated and supported the event which made it more enjoyable and exciting. Most importantly, it was about the excitement the girls gave during the games that encouraged us to go further and do our best. This is why I’m so appreciative of the girls I’m surrounded by in this house. Although it was a tough sport, I was glad I was able to gain some skills from a game that I was not familiar with, this was one of the highlights that made me step out of my comfort zone in 2017!

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House Netball [08/03/2018]

Considering we won Netball in the House Sports Events last year, the girls in Fireback and I had the motivation and determination to win again this year. Netball is one of the sports that I feel passionate and competitive about as I felt that I’ve improved my skills over the years I’ve participated in CCAs as well as other tournaments. I was surrounded by very skillful and professional players which kind of made me feel intimidated at times, but I was able to gain some skills and tactics from these people which helped me grow as a person in this sport. This made me feel very appreciative of the idea of teamwork and communication.

I was immensely proud of my house and grateful to be in such a great house! We were incredibly strong in every game and each and every one of us would regularly give feedback as to what could be improved in each game. By the finals, WE CAME FIRST PLACE!!! This just enhanced my motivation for the next tournaments in the future. I hope this really boosted our place in the overall House Cup!! Go Fireback!

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Beach Clean Up [16/09/2017]

This year a few friends and I took the opportunity to be apart of the Ocean Conservancy International Beach Clean Up Day 2017. I made a promise to myself that the next two final years of being in JIS, I was going to be as active as I can and make the most out of it which was why I decided to volunteer. I wanted to be a part of a community where we could make an impact towards the environment for the greater good. It was an enjoyable and rewarding event to be able to lend out a helping hand with others who care to make the world a much cleaner place to live in. In the second picture, we were trying our best to pull out a huge tangled net underneath the sand. This event took place in Jerudong Beach and conveniently there was a seafood restaurant located nearby. Usually, they would receive their fresh seafood from the fish market nearby the beach which is where all the fishermen would sell their seafood. The nets they use would also be left abandoned by the shore and day by day more sand would sift through the net and start to build up, getting deeper into the sand. No matter how tiring, it was all worth it by the end, even though we only managed to pull one whole net out of the sand. 

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Earth Day Beach Clean Up [18/04/2018]

After selling drinks in the hot sun for a whole hour, I decided to volunteer for a beach clean-up campaign after school. Greaaaattttt!! In the 4 years, I’ve been in JIS, I would usually be too lazy to volunteer and just been in my bubble of comfort but when Year 12 came along I made a promise to myself to be as active as possible and make the last two years in JIS as memorable as possible. By doing volunteer work, it reminds me of how easily life is taken for granted and how people nowadays are ignorant towards our environment. I wouldn’t have done this without my friends encouraging me to do so and it has become an activity that we all genuinely enjoy to do and not to mention, it’s at the BEACH!! 

The clean-up campaign took place in Tungku Beach which was only a 20-30 minutes hike from our school. The hike to the beach was an adventure because we had to go through a long, dark, and slippery tunnel and my friends and I was holding on to each other for dear life. As we approached the beach, we were given a pair of gloves and a garbage bag each to pick up litter scattered across the beach. We also had a long walk whilst carrying our large and heavy garbage bag to a car that was going to bring the rubbish to the dumpster. Once we’ve finished, we started a bonfire and did activities such as long jump rope and frisbee. 

The hike, overall, was tiring (well for me at least) yet amusing because along the way we shared jokes and sang songs loudly in the jungle, especially going through the tunnel where everyone, the girls especially, would scream so loud because of our fear of slipping and getting wet. This was definitely one of the highlights of my academic year because if I was still the lazy and ignorant person I was before, I would have never imagined to experience this kind of adventure.

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Earth Day BP Sales [18/04/2018]

Then it came our group’s last Borneo Project sales which were on Earth Day and to be completely honest it was a sad yet rewarding moment for us. The reason for this was because our group placed such ultimate effort in every single event to contribute to such a charitable and meaningful organisation. The sales were tremendously successful as always because we manage to sell out all of our canned drinks!! Not to mention, it was also an incredibly hot day in the sun during the event which made people buy more drinks. Every time it was our group’s turn to sell, we would always increase the number of drinks we aim to sell and constantly sells out!! Since it was Earth Day, we were also encouraged to ask the customers to recycle the cans they bought to contribute to the event.

Knowing that it was our last sales event, we kept talking about our first sales event (Peace Day) and how challenging our experience was throughout the whole year. The total amount of money Borneo Project manage to raise was as much as BND$10,000!!! I couldn’t ask for a better group to work with because in every event we would try to make the sells as genuine as possible and put our best effort in raising as much money and awareness for the charity we were representing and we couldn’t be more proud! 

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Sound of Music BP Sales [9 & 10/03/2018]

Our next big Borneo Project sales were the next school production of the year which was the Sound of Music. Considering we’ve had the opportunity to experience a big sales event during the previous production, in this case, it was definitely much easier to handle. For this event, we decided to sell homemade cupcakes, yet again, but different flavours compared to the previous production. This was a bit of a challenge for me because I decided to bake something that I’ve never made before, which worried me a little because I didn’t know what to expect. We also sold homemade Banoffee Pies which we bought from a Year 13, which made us realize that informing customers that all of our baked goods were homemade made them buy more. There were a lot of customers that came back from the show that was familiar with our sales and bought twice the amount they bought in the last production. Along with the sweet baked goods, we were encouraged to sell hot drinks rather than soft drinks because of the cold temperature in the Auditorium, we thought it would’ve been the best option. 

For this production, we had to sell our goods over the course of two days with three different periods of time, according to the times of the show. This time we had more people volunteering because most of them had fun selling in the previous school production which resulted in a much larger team. During the times we were waiting for intermission to approach, the whole team would get together to play cards and integrate with one another just to kill time. I loved these moments because we were making an effort to know the whole team and not only segregate ourselves to our accustomed groups. 

As more people decided to volunteer, it just got me more excited about the event because we would always have the most fun just engaging with everyone, especially being an IB student, I usually don’t speak to any of the new students in A Level. However, with Borneo Project, it gave the chance the do so and improve on my skills in being more confident with myself and step out of my comfort zone by getting to know people I’ve never met.

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Fireback House second Concert [03/05/2018]

In term 3 of Year 12, Fireback had its second house concert and I decided to participate which was unusual seeing as I performed for the first concert. Yet, I decided to go for it anyways! This was because I was still trying to improve my progress of performing in front of an audience. I still realized that my voice and hands were shaking while I was performing but because of my song choice, I encouraged myself to let go of my fear and just have fun. Considering my last performance I used a backing track, this time I made an effort to actually find someone who could play the guitar for me while I performed. The song I chose was already in the acoustic version which made the whole process of rehearsing much easier. 

Overall, it was such an enjoyable experience because I had my friends, peers and Housemistress supporting and cheering for me from the crowd. This allowed me to further step out of my comfort zone and encourage me to perform for other school events that may come in the future, which I plan to. Can’t wait until that day comes!

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Netball COPA

In the second term of the school year, I participated in a Netball tournament for 7 weeks called Netball Copa de Jerudong. What was fun about this was that the team members of each team were chosen at random from different envelopes filled with students names according to their custom positions of the sport. I was able to pick up so many new tips and tricks from my team captain, teammates as well as the teachers who were responsible in overseeing this event. 

I was incredibly proud to be apart of such an amazing crew and was able to meet some of the nicest people. Our team captain especially, she knew how to keep us on track and made sure we played to the best of our ability. We only lost 1 game in the whole tournament and came FIRST PLACE!!! Let’s Go Pink Fever!! We had students from Year 9s all the way up to Year 13s. Overall, it was such an amazing and beneficial experience as it did allow me to slowly reach into my goal of having a healthier and more fit lifestyle. 

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Netball Funday [11/03/2018]

Netball Funday is an annual event held by JIS and on my second last year of being in JIS, I could easily say it was one of the most memorable moments that I will always cherish. We enjoyed every single game in the tournament and only lost 1 game. This weekend was the most hectic for me because I’ve been selling for Borneo Project School Production and had gotten sick the day before Netball Funday. However, I pulled through and did my best to participate in as much games during the tournament. This event was a great way to end the weekend spent with great teammates and friends.

We came 3rd Place out of all the teams!! I couldn’t be more proud of be apart of this team. Go Dance Moms! Our support and determination for one another strengthened our teamwork. Netball is another sport that I’ve always been interested in since I came to JIS and I’m glad to say that I’ve improved so much. In Term 1 of Year 12, I joined a netball CCA where we would just play games for an hour every Monday for the whole term and regularly change team members. We were in the development group as we just wanted to have fun and play normal games without being competitive with one another.

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Rugby Funday [10/02/2018]

Every year, JIS would usually uphold events on Sundays such as Netball or Football Funday. This year, however, JIS organised a new event called Rugby Funday. The past few years I’ve gained an interest in rugby as it does help improve my fitness ability especially when it comes to running. Being able to improve in this sport is such a huge achievement for me as it helps me achieve my goal of approaching into a much healthier lifestyle. I’m glad that I was able to share my interest in this sports with a group of friends who brought me into their team and apply the skills we’ve learnt and experienced from previous tournaments.

GO TEAM NEW ZEALAND! Overall we only lost 2 of our games during the whole tournament and came 5th!! It was such a huge achievement for our first Rugby Funday Tournament and I had so much fun going against other students from different year groups. At times we did get competitive even though it’s a ‘funday’ but that competitiveness feeling is what boosts our adrenaline and drives us towards victory.

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Midsummer Night’s Dream (BP Sales) [10 & 11/11/2017]

Every year JIS has a school production and this year was Midsummer Night’s Dream. Students who did BP last year and advised us, the current BP students, to sell hot drinks and desserts as an alternative way to raise more money for the charity we’re representing. The two days that the show was scheduled, we managed to raise over $800!! Not to mention, we had 15 people in the BP group who volunteered to help and do the sales for both days and we got to integrate and bond with one another. We worked hard and persevered to make it our goal to raise a large amount of money by the end of the school year to deliver it to the charity organization during our Sabah Trip, where we help build a school for the kids in Sabah. 

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International Day Sales (Borneo Project) [1/11/2017]

Another event came by and it was International Day! Everyone was dressed in their own type of clothing which represent their own country or of other’s. My group were, again, in charge of selling drinks during these type of events and we sold more drinks than during Peace Day to try and increase our profit! We kept yelling “Buy drinks from Borneo Project, $1 per drink,” over the chaotic commotion of students, lining up to buy food from the restaurants that were selling in the area too. We had other people from Borneo Project to come along to help sell drinks and walking around the canteen to persuade people the benefits of buying them (hehehe).