Go Light Your World
Discover how student leaders at PLMGS(S) give back through volunteering and self-led projects. Read about their inspiring efforts to make a difference in school and beyond.
The “Go Light Your World” initiative seeks to encourage PL-Lites to make a difference in school or the community with their ideas and presence. This initiative, helmed by PL Lead and mentored by PL Lead teachers, will provide opportunities for PL-Lites to participate projects within and outside school. This exposure will be an enriching experience for all PL-Lites and will aid in their holistic development. This initiative goes above and beyond PLMGS(S)’s Values-In-Action (VIA) programme that is anchored by PL Reach. We seek to encourage our student leaders to spark initiatives beyond their VIA projects according to what interests or moves them in the community and environment.
“Go Light your World” has two components, i.e. “iVolunteer” and “iInitiate”.
“iVolunteer” provides PL-Lites with opportunities to volunteer their time to participate in school endorsed projects planned by students or external organisations.
“iInitiate” is an extension of the Student Suggestion Programme which provides opportunities for PL-Lites to initiate projects internally / externally with support from the school.
In 2019, a group of Sec 1 PL-Lites came together after hearing an assembly talk from our principal, Mrs Quek, about writings that have been left on some tables at the Ebenezer Hub. They approached Mrs Quek on their own and offered to clean and polish up the wooden tables. They spent an afternoon at the D&T studios, learning what it means to clean and polish, then buff the wooden tables till the writings are gone.
In 2020-2021, a passionate group of Peer Lites participated in Temasek Junior College’s nation-wide leadership competition Temasek Leadership Showdown and emerged 1st runners-up. One of the final tasks in the competition finals required the team to come up with a campaign to raise funds for their chosen beneficiary, the Rainbow Centre, by coming up with a one minute pitch video to attract donors to their cause. Titled Project Moira, they also presented their pitch to representatives of the Rainbow Centre over a Zoom call. It was extremely nerve-wracking for the girls, as they rushed to complete editing the video, as well as coming up with a pitch that was both persuasive and creative. In the end, their efforts paid off as they managed to raise $1410 for their beneficiary which will go towards building the Rainbow Centre’s third campus in Admiralty. After a few months of additional fundraising online, the PL team was also named the top fund-raiser in the competition!
In addition to raising funds for their beneficiary and making a difference, our student leaders benefitted greatly from this experience too. While it was certainly very stressful to undertake the tasks, with encouragement from each other and mental resilience, they managed to complete the tasks on time and to the best of their abilities. They also had a chance to use their leadership skills not just in the school context, but in the community too, where they could help others in need.
It was especially heartening to see our students donating their prize money to the Rainbow Centre, and they continued their fund-raising efforts for Rainbow Center in our school this year. In February 2021, they approached the school to ask if they could direct some of the Chinese New Year tithings collected towards Rainbow Center, and their publicity campaign to the Sec 4s and 5s raised $715 for Rainbow Center.
After that, the 4 Peer Lites set up their own Project Moira online shop that sells cute and affordable lifestyle products to raise funds, and all of their fundraising efforts combined since late 2020 saw them raising almost $3000 for Rainbow Center! We are proud of the Peer Lites who displayed much passion, tenacity and commitment to their cause and hope that they will inspire more PL-Lites to do their part for the community.
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