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Selling S'pore across the seas

metalslug

Alfrescian
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http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,188968,00.html?

Selling S'pore across the seas
Hwa Chong boys create novel way of introducing our culture to others
January 07, 2009

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CASTAWAYS: From left: Kenji Takashima, Lee Joon Fai, Alfred Lua and Tan Wen Shan with their winning raft made out of plastic bottles. Each plastic bottle contains an iconic symbol of Singapore. PICTURES: ALFRED LUA, LEE JOON FAI


THESE boys had to come up with a new idea of what to do with plastic bottles, make a video about it and work with their counterparts in the US.

And their efforts won their team one of the awards in an international competition.

The four students from Hwa Chong Institution inserted iconic symbols of Singapore into 30 plastic water bottles.

The items included coconut candy, Merlion keychains and Chinese fans.

The team then made a raft out of the bottles, by taping them together, and symbolically floated it in the sea at the East Coast Park.

The idea was to show Singapore culture crossing the seas.

Said one of the team members, Kenii Takashima, 16: 'We hope that the (idea of the) raft can be passed along and people from other countries will be able to experience Singaporean culture.'

American partners

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The boys taping bottles together.

The team worked with students from the Loudoun County Academy of Science in Virginia in the US.

The US students created a similar raft there.

Together they formed one team and submitted their entry as part of the Global Innovation Tournament organised by Stanford University.

And their joint entry won the Extreme Collaboration Award in the competition.

The annual competition, held last November, required teams to make 'something of value' out of plastic water bottles.

A total of 88 teams participated, vying for the 22 titles.

The 'Most Practical, Re-usable Product Award' went to students of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Water Saver Award to students of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The teams also had to create a three-minute video on YouTube explaining their creation.

To work with their American counterparts, the Hwa Chong students had to juggle a 13-hour time difference between the two places.

Said team member Tan Wen Shan, 16: 'We communicated mainly online and had to meet at odd times.

'We usually met around 11pm Singapore time so we had to stay over at Kenii's place.'

Initially, the Singapore boys wanted to make something of commercial value out of the bottles, while the American students were keen to tackle environmental issues, said Lee Joon Fai, 16.

They reached a compromise after two days and after 10 earlier ideas were rejected.

Alfred Lua, 16, said that getting there required innovation and the ability to step out of their comfort zones.

'Every team had the same bottle and we had to come up with a different idea to make it meaningful,' he added.

Their teacher-in-charge, Miss Vivien Sim, 35, said: 'Our boys were given the title and acknowledgment and this is in itself motivation. They had fun and that's their reward.'

For their raft, the US students asked people on the streets for their opinions of America.

They wrote down those messages and put them in the bottles, before symbolically floating their raft out at sea.

For their cooperative effort, the Singaporean and US students were also featured in a report in the Washington Times.

Tan Su Vien, newsroom intern
 
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