Developing resilience and leadership in our youth

Andrew Smith

Vice-Chairman, Outward Bound International

Nicholas Conceicao

Executive Director, Outward Bound Singapore

OBI Delegates

Friends of OBS

Ladies and gentleman

Introduction

1. A very good evening to all of you and a very warm welcome to Mr Smith and the delegates of Outward Bound International to Singapore.

2. First and foremost, I would like to congratulate the OBS Leadership and Service Award Recipients from the three batches that are here today. You have stretched your physical and mental limits during the 21-day course, and worked closely together to organise the Project Island-A-Hand Environment Service Day last month. Well done, and thank you very much for your service!

Outward Bound Singapore - Celebrating our past

3. Outward Bound Singapore is celebrating its Golden Jubilee this year. I am so happy to mark the commencement of the celebrations with all of you. It is timely for us to look back on how far OBS has come in the last 50 years, and how it has played an instrumental role in instilling ruggedness and resilience across generations of our youths.

4. OBS was established shortly after our nation's independence, by then Minister of Defence, Dr Goh Keng Swee. We were a young nation, faced with an uncertain future. It was crucial to nurture a rugged society to meet the challenges ahead. We had to develop in our youth the tenacity to work hard, and the ability to work well as a team. OBS played a key part in achieving this vision.

5. We are grateful to the international Outward Bound community who supported us in our efforts. Two Outward Bounders from New Zealand, Hamish Thomas and Al Cameron, played a key role in setting up OBS, and became the first warden and chief instructor respectively. Some of our earliest instructors were also sent to Outward Bound New Zealand for training under the “Colombo plan”.

6. Back then, OBS operated as a small school in an abandoned quarry on Pulau Ubin. With a humble set-up, rope courses were attached to Casuarina trees, and participants used small sailboats for their water activities.

7. OBS has come a long way since. Today, it is a premier institution, respected here and abroad. We have one of the largest Outward Bound centres in the world, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. Our youths now get to be challenged by modern high element rope courses such as the Tripod course and Inverse Tower, and ride in cutter sailboats for their water activities.

8. True to its motto of “to serve, to strive and not to yield”, OBS imparts essential values of resilience, leadership, empathy and service to community in our youth.

9. When you take part in the trust dive, you learn to trust your team mates completely. You gain self-confidence when you conquer the height elements of the challenge ropes course. You also get to work as a team to overcome the challenge of creating a raft and paddling in the sea – It makes you self-reflect and think about your own weaknesses, and how you can overcome them. These are all tasks that can only be achieved through teamwork, tenacity and resilience.

10. A stint in OBS is transformational in so many ways. Having gone through such physically and mentally challenging obstacles, you learn to push your limits and overcome your fears; and in doing so, you discover your potential. Participants leave OBS with a new-found confidence, which bear a lasting influence in all spheres of their life. And I am sure the memories will last with them for a lifetime.

11. I, too, have fond memories of my OBS experience last year. I was paired with 15-year old Lisa Giam to challenge the 20 metres inverse tower climb. From about half way to the top, I came to realise that I had to rely on my partner to reach the top. Lisa was calm and composed, more so than I was, and guided me through the climb. She was there as one of the participants for a 5-day course along with her school mates and the climb occurred on day 4. It was amazing to see how confident, and how encouraging she was throughout the climb. I was encouraged by the values I saw in her and I was made more convinced about the value of OBS in developing our youths.

12. Some OBS alumni are with us here today, including Mr Ikram Bin Daeng, who went through OBS in 1985. Up to today, he still remembers his experience, and how the programme has changed him for the better. One of his fondest memories was taking part in the famous OBS Jetty Jump, and crawling through the mud with his peers. Another achievement was going from 0 to 12 pull-ups after his 21-day OBS classic challenge!

13. More importantly, the leadership experience at OBS contributed to him becoming a Warrant Officer while he was in the Singapore Armed Forces. So you can imagine Ikram's delight when his son, Aiman Jianhao Bin Ikram, had the opportunity to experience OBS too.

14. Similar to his father, Aiman developed his leadership qualities at OBS. Ikram notices the differences in his son, who demonstrated leadership during his rugby trainings these days. And OBS has created a shared experience and bond between father and son.

Launch of the OBS 50th anniversary campaign

15. Sharing such stories is a great way to celebrate 50 years of OBS.  Hence, I am happy to kick-start OBS' 50^th anniversary celebrations by launching the #myOBSstory campaign.

16. Over the next 2 months, we call on OBS participants and instructors, present and past, to come forward to share their personal OBS stories. Our strongest ambassadors are those who have been through the OBS courses, and grown in courage and character. So share your OBS stories with us. Tell us your fond memories, and more importantly, how the experience has inspired and left an impact on you.

17. Some of these stories will be compiled and published in the OBS 50^th Anniversary book. This coffee-table book will showcase the evolution of OBS, and how it has impacted generations of Singaporean youths.

18. To mark this special year, you can also look forward to a series of commemorative events, including the first-ever homecoming day in September. Family members and friends of OBS alumni will be invited to come “home” to OBS and together, rekindle their OBS moments. They will get to walk down memory lane, and participate in various outdoor activities such as the flying fox or the ever-popular jetty jump.

19. The OBS 50^th celebrations will culminate in a dinner in October, together with the launch of the Anniversary book. It will be a time to celebrate the achievements of OBS, and look forward to the future.

Closing remarks - Onwards to the future

20. And there is much to look forward to, as OBS enters its next phase of development.

21. Fifty years on, we are living in an increasingly uncertain and volatile world. It is vital for all Singaporeans, particularly our youth, to gain a sense of ruggedness and resilience. We must also remain a united and cohesive society so that we can face our challenges with confidence, and chart a bright future for our nation. To this end, outdoor adventure learning will play an even larger and more impactful role in contributing to the development of our youth.

22. When OBS@Coney is ready in 2020, it will be able to serve 45,000 youths per year, triple the capacity today. This means that every young person, not just student leaders, will have the opportunity to go through a 5-day OBS camp at least once in their schooling years. This is a paradigm shift, and in time to come, the OBS experience will be a common one for all our youths.

23. We have started taking in batches of students under the new MOE-OBS Secondary Three Programme this year, while the new Coney OBS campus is being developed. Unlike existing programmes, there will be a good mix of studentsfrom different schools in one camp. This will enable youths from different backgrounds to interact with one another, and work as a team. The new campus will also offer facilities and programmes which encourage greater teamwork to overcome more challenging obstacles. Its unique location, being connected to mainland Singapore, will also provide participants with a more diverse experience across a variety of physical terrains.

24. I would like to encourage OBS to harness technology, to further improve its processes and operations. Among other things, OBS can seek innovative solutions to customise programmes for participants, automate its logistics, and improve documentation processes. Such improvements will enable instructors to focus on their core roles, and deliver a better learning outcome for participants.

25. We are confident that the OBS experience will contribute towards equipping our youths with the necessary skills and values to navigate a more challenging environment, as they transit from school to the economy of the future.  This is why OBS will continue to be an important institution in Singapore, and will play a key role in developing youths for the next 50 years and beyond.
    

Conclusion

26. Finally, I would like to thank all the past and present OBS staff and instructors for your dedication and commitment. My appreciation also goes to the international community of Outward Bound, for furthering your mission worldwide, supporting one another, and more importantly, supporting OBS.

27. Thank you all for the evening and happy anniversary.