By Borong and YiHe
DAY 1
2016. A new year, a new principal, and for our orientation Nova, a new world awaits.
The student leaders introduced the characters, the storyline and most importantly, the excitement. The depletion of Vitium, a vital source of energy on Earth has led people to search for it elsewhere, and they found it in abundance on planet Ignotus.
However, the spaceship failed to launch – there was a power shortage. Thus missions were delegated to all levels and as Year 4s, it fell upon us to solve the power shortage issue for the life support system.
Before dismissal, we were all given a lecture on safety, because Safety Is Paramount. Icebreaking activities in our assigned groups proceeded afterwards on the concourse.
The rest of the morning was spent on station games. “Laser Maze” was one of the more interesting ones. Constructed with string, we found a literal loophole – a space underneath large enough to slither across and avoid all other “lasers”.
After that we commenced the first session of the mass dance, our annual ritual for orientation. The song was Ready Set Go by Royal Tailor and we made great progress, managing to finish half the song’s choreography by the end of the session.
This day wrapped up with a successful blast-off to planet Ignotus.
DAY 2
The second day, the engine of the spaceship broke down. Planet Ignotus, you were so near, yet so far!
Today’s mission for the Year Fours – collect water from the water merchants to help.
The stations this time were much more enjoyable. We had to transport water bags across the basketball court without using our hands, which resulted in various creative ways being invented such as carrying them with our shirts and tying them to our shoelaces.
After lunch and a mass dance session, we split up into our houses. Our Fibonacci house leaders then informed us that we were “locked out” from our quarters in the spaceship by Nobel, thus we were to build our own escape pod and assemble a team of heroes to defend our energy.
The Fibonacci Year Fours had a chance to help out with the float, which was modeled after Baymax’s fist. We attached fingers made from cardboard onto the float and made the necessary adjustments so that they could move. Our hands were literally “stained red” from painting the float!
DAY 3
Full steam ahead to Fort Canning Park!
Year Fours were in for a treat this day at Fort Canning Park. It was a race to get resources – each house was divided into two teams and given clues to the whereabouts of the stations throughout the park.
Eight teams running around Fort Canning Park would inevitably run into each other at some point in time, which was proven to be problematic when four of the teams arrived at the same station. On the bright side, it also meant that you could follow another group if you couldn’t figure out some of the clues.
The final station was sort of like a party with all the balloons involved. The house that manages to get the most balloons wins, although everyone seemed happier popping balloons than catching them.
After lunch in school, we continued to work on our “escape pods” in our respective houses. Special effects like flames and LED lights were added to the float as we did the finishing touches. Oddly fitting that someone was playing a mashup of “Girl On Fire” and “Light Em’ Up” in the background.
Soon enough evening came and darkness set in. It was time for the finale in the hall.
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