“I realized if I wait until I'm not scared to try new things, then I'll never get to try them at all.” This is a quote by the author Marie Sexton. This quote resonates with me as it pretty much sums up why I joined English Drama as my CCA in the first place.
I was a rather bubbly child in Secondary 1, despite being in a new school, I was positive that I would make the 4 years ahead of me a very fulfilling one. I always told myself that by the end of my 4 years in Nan Chiau High, I should have made an impact, leaving the school a better and more well-rounded person than when I joined. Thus during CCA auditions, I was not looking to return to the same CCA as I had in Primary School. I decided to try something new, and this ended up being English Drama. English Drama appealed to me as back in Kindergarten I had stage freight, however, I slowly managed to get over it. So, what better way is there for me to further develop my presentation skills than to join English Drama. It also helped that my good friends were interested in the CCA too.
My first year in the CCA was an exciting roller coaster ride. When I first joined, I felt a little out of place. I was new to not only the CCA but the concept of a play in general. I have never participated in anything remotely related to a drama piece and I wasn't sure how I was able to cope. Since it was an SYF year, I had expected not to be given many opportunities to showcase myself and had to wait patiently. However, to my surprise, I was chosen to assist in the lights and sounds team for the production. It was a daunting challenge, working in a field I had no prior experience in. I didn't know how to time the playing of sounds or how a light board even works. Thanks to the support of the seniors, I managed to quickly learn these skills. I tried to make myself as useful as possible despite being the only Secondary 1 part of the SYF group. Overall, it was an enlightening experience and I'm happy our hard work paid off as we achieved a distinction that year.
Later that year, I was chosen to take part in the national day recollections piece. I was blessed to have been chosen as one of the leads. At the time, I didn't think much of it, "what's the big deal of standing on stage in front of the whole school?" Looking back on it made me realize how far I've come from a 6-year-old boy, too scared to perform for graduation, to a 13-year-old, able to perform in front of the whole school. It was my first time acting as well, which made it more difficult. However, I did it anyways, and I am rather proud of myself for overcoming the challenge.
The year after was further development of my skills and self-confidence. I was appointed as level head of the CCA that year. It also just so happened to be the year I was appointed a student councillor as well. This is where my struggle to balance my time would start, and it would plague me for the rest of my secondary school life. However, I would not let that impact me too much and would still participate in the upcoming competition, the "Human Values Drama Festival." I was acting in the role of a younger brother, worried about his older sister.
Year 2 down, Year 3 still to come. Year 3 was such an enriching experience. The year started midway through our SYF preparations. The play we were presenting this time was a piece on loneliness. We gathered inspiration from the song "One is the loneliest number" by Three Dog Night. Once again, my job was to control the lights and sounds once again, except this time, I didn't have any seniors to help me anymore, I was the senior. Stepping up to lead a group of juniors was quite stressful, they do not have the experience in doing lights and sounds before, and I had to teach them from scratch. Everyone worked hard for this SYF, CCA sessions day after day, even on weekends. Even after all that hard work, we just couldn't get that distinction, only achieving accomplishment. I was disheartened that we couldn't achieve a distinction for my final SYF. Successful people always pick themselves up and that's what I did.
August approaches, I knew the upcoming recollections would be my final few performances. I couldn't pass up this opportunity. I was lucky enough to have been cast as a proud king of Singapore. The play centred around the development of Singapore from a sleepy fishing village to a bustling utopia. I treasured every moment of this process, from all the training to going all the way to Kampong Glam to buy batik cloth for props. I am elated that the school enjoyed our performance as much as we enjoyed putting it up. However, this wouldn't be the highlight of that year.
Becoming Vice President of English Drama was an enlightening but nerve-wracking experience. It wasn't easy, we were tasked to pitch ourselves on why we are suitable for the position we were running for, and also partake in a stressful interview by the seniors and teachers. Throughout this process, I started to doubt myself, maybe I'm not as capable as I thought... I had to stay positive, I put those thoughts aside, I must try my best and I'll see from there.
Now that it's been a year, what a journey it has been. Of course, the road hasn't been all smooth, we hit many obstacles, but we overcame them together as a team. The experiences we had together as a team would be unforgettable. Before graduating, I must mention the final performance I took part in. Even though I didn't participate in an acting capacity, I was assigned as the student director for this piece. Our CCA combined with Chinese Drama to put up a show at Gateway Theater to celebrate the school's 20th Anniversary since moving to Sengkang. Our piece was called "Setting Sail" and we had lots of fun practising for it.
When my journey in English Drama is set and done, I will forever be grateful for all the opportunities I have been given. Being able to learn skills such as expressing myself through physical movements, voice projection and even simple presentation skills. I would definitely return to visit in the future and would recommend English Drama to anyone looking to add skills to their repertoire.
Videos I produced for the CCA over the 4 years:
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