School: Saint Joseph's Institution
    Singapore, -, Singapore

6 students, ages from 13 to 17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 28, 2002. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 1999, 2000

Classes and Teachers: Miss Lorraine Lim, SJI Computer Club (Webpage)

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.sji.moe.edu.sg

1. Description of Our Community

We consider our community to include our country Singapore and our school.

Singapore is an island country located at the tip of the Malaysian Peninsular. Although small, Singapore is peaceful and prosperous, with a multi-racial and multi-religious society. Originally a Malay fishing island, Singapore has since developed into an efficient shipping port and also boasts a world-class airport, the Changi International Airport.

On another level, our school is also part of our community. In SJI, we not only focus on academic success, but more importantly, our school stresses on all-rounded education, to produce ‘Men of Faith and Service’, through our school motto, ‘Ora et Labora’ (To pray and work hard).

2. Summary of Our Project

The Society of St Vincent de Paul was founded by Frederic Ozanam in Paris, France, on April 1833. It was named the Society of St Vincent de Paul, based on the exemplary charitable life led by St. Vincent. Many churches in Singapore have these SVDP societies to render financial assistance to those who need it in their neighbourhoods. In SJI, the SVDP is one of the service Co-Curricular Activities.

In this project, we cover the works and activities of the SVDP group in SJI. Every week, they make visits to Care Corner, a child-care center, and the Kwong Wai Shui Home for the Aged. The SVDP is an active service group, which has many ‘conferences’ all over the island.

Sadly, not many people are aware of what they do. Therefore, our site aims to inform these people of the Society and its good works. We take a look at the Society from a local perspective. Following our school’s SVDP group on a trip to Care Corner, we had a first-hand experience of the aims and activities of the SVDP. With this web site, we hope to inform people about this Society, which aims to build a community of care and service.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Throughout the course of this project, we encountered quite a number of problems. Firstly and most importantly, were the tight schedules of the team members. As students, we had to juggle our schoolwork with our various school commitments and this project. The three Secondary Two students (14 years old) in our team had to go through the end-of-year streaming examinations this year, resulting in a more pressurized studying environment for them. Jing Kai (17 years old), who is in Secondary Four this year, also had to prepare hard for his end-of-year GCE ‘O’ Levels Examination. Furthermore, all the team members had to complete their various Inter-Disciplinary Projects, a requirement for all students in SJI. As a result, we had to plan our time very carefully, so as to be able to accomplish all our commitments.

Research information on the St Vincent de Paul Society in Singapore was also hard to come by. To get more information for us to work on, we had to interview members of the SVDP in our school.

Originally, we also planned to follow our school’s SVDP group to the Kwong Wai Shui Home for the Aged, but unfortunately, the Board decided that they needed more time to review our request closely, and as such, we couldn’t meet the dateline.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

This project was definitely very meaningful, as we got to understand, what the SVDP did though first-hand experience, how the members felt doing their job, and ultimately, to inform others of this Society.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The principal educational focus in Singapore is to achieve a knowledge-based economy through creative thinking and information technology. By using the tools in IT (e.g. video editing, digital designing and webpage programming) we learn how to better prepare ourselves for the workforce.

Since we had to source information from many people and places, we had to learn to be resourceful as well as creative in our approach.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We have used a variety of tools and technologies to assist and help us with the completion of the entry. They range from software tools to the various hardware gadgets.

Before the site was created, we had to gather information for our site. We had searched for information from various sources from the Internet, to having interviews with the members of the Society of the St Vincent de Paul. We had made fieldtrips together with the members to places like the Care Corner. During that period of time, we had also captured video and taken photos of the places we visited with digital cameras.

After relevant and sufficient information was gathered, we then started working on the site. During the process of making the site, we have used several software tools to create our site. For graphic making, we used Adobe Photoshop together with Paint Shop Pro. As for the building of the site layout, it was done using Microsoft FrontPage and edited with Notepad.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Being out there in the field watching and working with the SVDP allowed us to tell people about ourselves and about Cyberfair. We played games with the children at the Care Corner and we even helped them with their schoolwork.

By telling our friends and family visit our site, they too have learnt more about SVDP and the work they do in our community.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

We are very certain that our project will definitely make a difference in this world. If we start to publish the works of what our community had done to achieve a ‘Community of Care and Service’, the majority of the people in our community will also do what they can to make sure that the community can be a community that cares. This always has to start from an individual and slowly builds up so that the whole community will be a caring community.

Our presentation is unique in a way that we have detailed information about what our local community’s activities and projects to help those who are in need. In fact, we had interviewed a few of the members of our local community to obtain their opinions of the activities and special projects done by them. Apart from that, we had photographs that reveal the sincerity of our local community’s help given to those who are in need. We are certain that the locals here will enjoy learning about the ideas and information about our community.

We have from this experience learnt how the people of Care Corner extend their loving and caring hand to needy children in their community. We have learnt also how to work with sensitivity whilst dealing with the less fortunate in out community.

The teachers-in-charge of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society had helped us tremendously by giving us extra information, which they thought would be helpful and useful for our project.

Our Web site has made them aware of their surrounding. They are definitely more sensitive towards their surrounding now, as they realize that all around them are people in need of love and care. We had been informed that some of them had started helping those who are in need through ‘Care Corner’ that was published in our site. Apart from that, they had tried to reach out their helping hand not only to the local community but also to the other parts of the world that are in need of aid or are in trouble.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

Our team definitely needed a lot of advice and help in order to complete our entry. We had approached the St. Joseph’s Institution’s St. Vincent de Paul Society members as well as the teachers-in-charge of the society. They are a group of people who go around giving aids and helps as well as doing charitable works. We found out about them through our learning of what kind of activities they carried out in their Society. Apart from that, they are one of the Service Clubs and Societies in our school and it is more convenient for us to approach them. One of the teachers had given us advice during one of our tour to the Care Corner. For example, we were advised not to talk about sensitive issues with the children in Care Corner. We were also advised to ask for permission before taking any photos and videos in the centre.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

From doing this project, we are able to realize that our world is not 100% perfect. This is because there are still those who are in need of help and in trouble. We discovered that we are one of those fortunate ones being cared by our families and friends. Furthermore, we already had the basic necessities in life while we still demand more from our parents. From this project, we will be more sensitive towards our surrounding and readily and willingly render our help and service whenever and wherever we are able to.