Meeting The JUMP! Foundation

Student Representative Council's meeting
with the JUMP! Facilitators 

Since the third term had just approached and our exams were going to start, the teachers had decided that they would let us have a carouse on 29th April through learning about community and global citizenship. For which we were introduced to a group of adrenalized people whose motto was to "Inspire, Empower and Engage" a young bunch of teenagers like us. The class representatives had a meeting with the leaders of the JUMP! Foundation for their program the day before the event, and they felt that it would be a huge success.

The JUMP Foundation is a non-profit organisation that inspires the youth to solve problems as a community of the global issues. Due to them, we had gotten the chance to celebrate the IPS Community Day. 

To start the ball rolling, we were firstly allocated in different groups. My brain felt numb, as I was unaware of what was happening. Why weren't my friends all in the same group? With a heavy sigh, I walked up to my groupmates which unfortunately were the ones I had barely spoken to. After that, Mr Mitchou introduced himself with his colleagues and started to demonstrate the various types of handshakes, such as the fisherman handshake and the Jellyfish handshake. We were instructed to do it with someone that we are not close to, which was not that difficult considering people have known me here. Plus we made-up our own handshake and gave that handshake type a name. While performing this, the facilitators were asking questions regarding the IPS community.

Top Left: Aravind and Harsimran trying out the handshakes demonstrated by the facilitators. Top Right: Saksith teaching his partner to do the handshake through their legs. Bottom Left: Paulo and Kurt showing their made-up dope handshakes. Bottom Right: Me and Ryan explaining our made-up handshakes.

After that, Mr Mitchou and Mr Carson started explaining about the "Growth Mountain" chart. Mr Carson firstly started by saying how nervous he felt about standing and speaking in front of us.

They had filled the court with ropes drawn around shaping like a mountain. The facilitators gave us scenarios, and we had to run across to the court to find out whether we were on the growth peak, ridge of relaxation or panic cliff. The facilitators seemed impressed by how we recognised ourselves in no time!

Facilitators explaining the tasks to students

Next was the interesting part! It was time for the rotation of fun-filled activities. The activities included mostly needed teamwork and a strategy. I personally felt that the "Hoolium" was one of the best games I have played so far. In that game, our aim was to bring the hula-hoop to the ground, while our eyes were shut and only could be done by using our index finger. Also, I loved the part when the student's arms were tangled around each others, and we had to untangle and come out. This game reminds of my childhood, as I have played it at that point. 

Next up was the session of lunch which was usual like always. Nothing new in that. We then were called for an indoor activity where we were asked to draw how we see the definition of a global community. Most people preferred to draw a globe with stickman figures on it. We were then instructed to write the reasons why we appreciate the IPS community.

These activities have aided us to know ourselves, embrace our diversity and treat one another with respect and compassion.

Students learning to share their values and ideas to the rest of the group.

Picture taking sessions with the facilitators before they left