Field Day 1 – The First of Many to Come!

Everyone was excited in meeting each other for the first day at SMK Taman Petaling PJ. There were 40 form 1 mentees, 16 youth mentors and 3 ARCCADE professionals. The focus of the day was getting to know each other, and how each of us affect other lives.
The first activity focused on what the girls could do well. The girls had fun discovering their special talents. Then came toe fun part: making frames and decorating them to take the pictures home for display.

In the second interactive activity, we got to play with balloons and understand how what we can say make either a positive or negative impact on others.

Finally, some guidelines for participation was agreed upon.

All in all, the day was successful in helping teens fit into a healthy new social group and learn skills in forming new friendships.

Cheers,
XJ, Usha and Dr. Brendan

SPCA event in the Press

Two newspapers reported on the SPCA talk organized by ARCCADE.

"Caring for Pets" in the Sunday Star's Education section: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2008/3/9/education/20535682

The Malay Mail also carried an article. We've included that on ARCCADE's website. Happy Reading!

Four more days and MM begins!

We're fast approaching Field Day 1 of Mentoring Malaysia.
Our 16 Mentors have been selected and commissioned!
And the Form 1 Mentees are all eager and excited :)

In Phase 3, Mentors & Mentees will be working with animals at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), as well as help out within meters of Wild animals at Zoo Negara.



As part of increasing public awareness on the plight of animals, SPCA was here at ARCCADE, HELP University College on 27 February 2008. Priscilla Hendricks who's the Education Officer at SPCA spoke passionately about animals' rights, namely
Freedom from hunger and thirst,
Freedom from discomfort; from pain and injury,
To have a normal environment, and
To be free from fear and distress.

She narrated several bone-chilling stories of animal cruelty. The fortunate ones which were rescued in time survived and recovered, but sadly many animals perished.

Pet owners are urged to be responsible and humane, through the simple act of neutering their pets.

Psst ! Listen to this...

At today's training for potential Mentors, we looked at Communication and Facilitation of teens in LARGE and small groups.




The symbol above is "ting" which means "listen" in Mandarin (Chinese).

Volunteers left the Training session with a 'tiiing-ing' in their ears.

A resolve to Listen carefully to teenagers with not just their Ears,
but Eyes and Heart as well !

:)
Patricia

Phase 3 Volunteers Training!

Training for potential Mentors began last week at ARCCADE !

In #01 Understanding Youth, Phase 3 volunteers went back to the time they were 13 and 14 years old, in order to put themselves into Mentee's shoes.

Today's adolescents face many challenges, risks, and potential negative peer influences. They seek protection and support from their parents, good friends, and positive role models in their lives.

Here are two models which depict several facets of a Youth today.

Group1: Adeline, Siew Ooi, Kai Rong, Mei Hwei

Group members & creators of the image below, please identify yourselves!

:)
Patricia

Samante's Birthday!

Hello everyone! Guess what day is today (well you probably guessed from the title)! Erm, actually her birthday was yesterday....Anyhoo, we celebrated it at ARCCADE today! Yay!







By the way, if you've kept up with the posts, yep, it is Yellow the Crown!

:)
Usha

Survey Administration

Hey there! Just thought I'd post some pictures of the research team - in this case, doing survey administration at schools.



:)
Usha