MGSKL Olympian Outreach Inspires Stdents

2012 marked the third consecutive year that MGSKL succeeded in organizing the Olympism Outreach Program (OOP).  The 3 day program held from October 31st to November 2nd was well accepted by the 14 year old students who participated in various activities which required them to work as a team.  

Since it's inception in 2010, Olympism has been a unique highlight of MGSKL.  It has managed to win over the hearts and minds of the principal and teachers of MGSKL and this year, other Olympism activities were organized including an Olympism week, an Olympic Exhibition leading up to the London Olympics and an in-training Olympism Workshop for teachers.

The Olympism Outreach Program this year was conducted by Ms. Tay Li Neo and Ms. Low Mai Keok and facilitated by the school's three Olympism Ambassadors; Low Jean Hwee, Arissa Jemaima Ikram and Xenia Clarissa Sebastian and several of the school teachers.

The first day of the program saw the students getting to know each other through various ice-breaker activities and later on forming eight groups of 10 student s from different races. from each class.  

Their first activity as a group was to name their team in honor of International and Malaysian athletes and to get to know more about their team members.  From there, Team Nicol, Team Daley, Team Pandalela, Team Chong Wei, Team Djokovich, Team Azizul, Team Bryan and Team Bolt were born.


The teams than gathered to watch a video on the Ancient Olympics and learn about "Ekecheiria" or the Olympic Truce before moving on to find out more information about the Modern Olympics and Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the computer lab via the internet.  As the computer lab could not fit all 80 students, the eight teams were divided into 3 sets of groups to complete the other two tasks which were to create and design their team flag and motto and having a group discussion that revolved about sports that could have been played in the ancient Olympics.

The day ended with each group presenting their flags and a briefing of the next day's activities that were to take place outdoors in Lake Gardens.


A fun filled day was in store for the participants on Day 2.  The "Puteri Gunung Ledang" Teamwork in Action activity always managed to get some quizzical remarks by the participants as to how they should execute their tasks.  Teams were instructed to bring various things like an egg, a pail and a musical instrument but were not told why they had to bring them.  The main objective of the activity was to move from point A to point B in a group while fulfilling each role according to the set rules.  This activity tested the teams’ ability to strategize and work together in order to achieve their goal.

In essence, all activities organized were very closely related to a student's everyday life and values that a student should possess.  On the other hand, the program also aimed to unearth leaders amongst the pack.

After a short break following an exhilarating "Puteri Gunung Ledang" Teamwork in Action activity, each team was given a short inspiring story of an athlete who displayed outstanding achievements practicing the values of Olympism.  The teams read and discussed the story and later acted it out in front of everyone.  


To complete the day, the students were introduced to the sport of "Ultimate Frisbee" where they learnt the basic skills, rules and format of the game.  The eagerness and excitement of the students showed brightly on their faces when they passed the disc from one another shouting out their names and laughing when they couldn’t throw or catch the disc properly.

The third and final day activities tested the students’ collective innovation, creativeness and imagination.  Each team was given a stack of newspaper, masking tape and a bottle of 1.5 liter soft drink.  With the items given, they were told to build a structure strong enough to withstand the weight of the bottle and at the same time able to place a pair of shoes under it.   It was interesting to observe the teams communicated and planned their structure design.  Team Djokovich emerged with a ingenious and solid structure that didn’t only withstood the bottle of 1.5 liter soft drink but could also take the weight of a person.


The Olympism Ambassadors were up next as they presented the Olympic Symbols.  Jean Hwee, Xenia and Arissa each delivered one or two Olympic Symbols namely the rings, the torch relay, the motto and the creed.

After recess, the teams were given 40 minutes to rehearse for their cultural performance which had to incorporate the elements of sports and Olympism.  The cultural performance were then witnessed and judged by the principal, Pn. Phoon Yoke Meng and Ms. Low Mai Keok.  Team Daley outshined the rest with their choral speaking rendition of Olympism and Malaysian athletes which they whipped out in that 40 minutes.  



At the end of the program, one outstanding student who displayed leadership qualities, expressed and discussed ideas well with her group and demonstrated the ability to speak confidently in front of the crowd will be nominated.  Raenuga from Team Daley, Priyanka from Team Djokovich and Hafnie from Team Nicole were shortlisted and finally the coordinators, teachers and facilitators chose Raenuga as she showed more eagerness and curiosity towards Olympism and initiative when it came to group discussions.

Prizes were awarded to the best team in the “Puteri Gunung Ledang” Teamwork in Action activity, the most sturdy newspaper structure, and the best cultural performance.  Pn. Phoon closed the program with a speech that reminded the students to practice the values of Olympism and that the sky is the limit for each and every one of them.


MGSKL is moving forward strongly with Olympic Education and are in the process of making their very own Olympic Education handbook.  The three 15 year old Olympism Ambassadors that were nominated have shown outstanding commitment to promoting Olympism in school and they will be conducting their own “Introduction to Olympism” program to the Form 1 students next year. 

 They are mentoring eight aboriginal students in the school; introducing them to sports and other curricular activities like music and helping them in their studies as well as improving their English language.  Each one of the Olympism Ambassadors excel differently in MGSKL; Jean Hwee, captain of the school band and School Exemplary Student 2011, Arissa, a long distance runner who participates in various local and international competitions held in Malaysia while Xenia represents the state of Kuala Lumpur in Artistic Gymnastics. 

Two of them will eventually be selected to represent MGSKL to the 9th International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (CIPC) Youth Session in Oslo, Norway next year.  This will be the second time MGSKL will be participating in the CIPC Youth Session as an observer school.  

*To find our more about activities organized by Methodist Girls’ School Kuala Lumpur, visit www.mgskl.edu.my and their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Senior-Methodist-Girls-School-KL.