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The Adventures of the Pet Rangers

Authors :

Teacher Mentor :

Lim Jia Qian

Mr Tan Yee Kee

Lee Jia Yi

Tan Tian Le

David

Erika

Lew Jun Wei

Stephanie Lee

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Contents

Prologue…………………………………………………………….. 3

Starting from the Start…………………………………………4

Ups and Downs……………………………………………………5

Our Revival………………………………………………………...6

The Pet Rangers are on the case……………………………..7

After Work…………………………………………………………..8

Spread the Love…………………………………………………….9

Acknowledgements………………………………………………..10

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Prologue

A group of students were selected for this all rounded program and

also to join this Design For Change competition. It all started with a

pamphlet. 7 of us were told by our teacher mentor, Mr Tan Yee Kee that

we were selected to take part in this project. We had our first

workshop which was conducted by our teacher mentor, in our school

library on a Saturday morning. During this briefing, we were

introduced to this project known as Design For Change, a project

whereby we needed to think of what really bothered us in the

environment and work towards changing it. After much discussion, we

decided to take on the problem of water saving.

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Chapter 1 – Starting from the Start

Although water conservation efforts in Singapore was widespread and

effective , all of us felt that we still needed to step up efforts to

save water. Water saving is crucial as we can‟t live without water and

we also need to conserve our already limited water resources for

future generations because they, too, need water to survive.

After the first briefing and our first discussion, we started our

research on this topic and the brainstorming ideas to solve and

possibly change Singapore‟s „dry‟ fate.

After a few weeks, we attended a second workshop at Raffles

Institution, conducted by experienced trainers. During that workshop,

we met most of the other teams from other schools and were pleased to

be working hand in hand with such enthusiastic and brilliant minds to

change Singapore and eventually the world. After listening to the talk

conducted by the trainers, we were given time to discuss our chosen

topic.

As we were discussing, one of the trainers came over to advise us on

what we were planning to do. After listening to our brief summary of

the discussion, she advised us not to do this topic as this problem

had been taken up by other team and it would be very hard to come out

with creative and feasible ideas. Also, it was unfortunately a

difficult problem for us to change. After much discussion, we came up

with a second topic which was to stop animal abuse. This problem was

indeed a much easier problem and solutions were easier to achieve. As

expected, ideas flowed freely and thus the pet rangers were born!

As members of The Ministry of Pet Abuse aka M.O.P.A. ,

„We, the Pet Rangers pledge to commit ourselves to making a change for

the pets in Singapore and all over the world!.‟

It might not be in our lifetime but I know one day, the world will

be pet abuse free. Pets are not there for their owners to lash their

anger at. They are not there to be cute. Like all living things, pets

deserve to be loved until the day they die.

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Chapter 2-Ups and Downs

Apprehensive, the pet rangers held their first official meeting and

finalised the plan for their first mission. Pet ranger, Lim Jia Qian

had already drafted the plan as discussed. Each ranger was assigned a

task. The pet rangers either contacted our mother organisation, the

SPCA for their cooperation or collaboration and to find out what we

could do in this mission or did proposals, powerpoint slides, videos

or posters and a „pledge‟ board to make new allies against the

despised pet abusers. As we glance at our given tasks, I know our

minds have started to imagine our adventures as the pet rangers!

As expected, we received all the support we could ever need. We

received flyers, badges , certificates and posters to help us in our

quest for justice and a pet-friendly world -or at least a

neighbourhood. Although there were a few delays and a few pet rangers

still in „holiday‟ mode, our first stepping stone was to begin at a

nearby primary school. We were to share our experiences and passion

for pets there. I could just imagine us giving out leaflets and

laughing along with the cute primary school students as they scribbled

their pledges on colourful heart shape stickers. I could almost

picture the 7 of us hopping into the mini van to visit our parent

organisation as well as represent the SPCA to give badges to the

future pet rangers.

However, it was not meant to be. It was not smooth sailing ahead.

Instead, so as to not affect the primary school students‟ at a crucial

time of preparation before their PSLE and preliminary examinations or

examinations, we let our dreams fade but not to dust.

„ We can fail, but we must never fail to try!‟

Somehow,we knew we could get through. We worked hard to reach to where

we are now, so we just can‟t give up now. We won‟t give up

because ,somewhere, there might be a pet waiting to be rescued…

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Chapter 3 – Our Revival

Just a few days before our implementation week, we managed to come

out with a second backup plan which was to work in our own school,

Unity Secondary School. We were facing a severe shortage of time, but

we still managed to plan our time well and made do with whatever we

had to make this exhibition booth a success.

We decided to use the posters and pledge boards that we had done

previously. For the pledge boards, we decided to use some post-it

notes as well as stickers for the Unitians to write down their pledges

and stick them on the pledge boards. Secondly, we decided to display

our PowerPoint presentation on automatic mode in the booth as we did

not have any available time slots to do our presentation talk. One of

our team mates also agreed to design a donation box and bring it on

the actual day.

After the materials needed for the exhibition booth were settled, we

started to prepare the logistics. We decided to have the exhibition

booth at our school foyer after school. This venue and timing was

selected because this way, those going out for lunch or going home

would pass by the foyer and visit our booth out of curiosity. We also

borrowed 3 display boards to hold 2 posters and 1 pledge board. We

also used the tables at the foyer to display our boards as well as set

up the booth. Lastly, we asked one of our friends from the multimedia

club in our school to help us videotape and also take pictures as we

manned our booth.

We also invited our fellow Unitians to come and support us. One of our

team mates even went on stage during the morning assembly to introduce

our project to the school. Besides these efforts to publicize our

cause, we also went around the school to put up posters about abused

animals. We sincerely hope our fellow Unitians would come to our booth

to know more about the abused animals and how they can prevent it as

well as rediscover their love for pets.

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Chapter 4 –The Pet Rangers are on the Case

The week we had been waiting for had finally arrived – our

implementation week. As planned, we would be only doing the exhibition

booth for 2 days due to the time constraint. Minutes before the

official opening of the booth, we started setting up the booth. The

posters and pledge board were brought out and placed beside our tables.

The PowerPoint slides were done and placed on the table on automatic

for everyone to view. The donation box was made in a haste as one of

our team mates did not manage to find a suitable one. Small tokens

from the SPCA were also placed on the table. Each person is entitled

to 1 token after they donated as a token of appreciation. Brochures

and pamphlets were placed on the table for people to take and

understand more about animal abuse and what we can do to help them.

During the booth, Unitians, from secondary 1 to secondary 4 & 5,

even the teachers, came to support us. We receive great response

during our time at the booth and a lot people came to write down our

pledges. Most of our Unitians were generous enough to donate money to

the SPCA to allow them to buy better facilities for the animals in

SPCA. One of our Unitians even donated $50 to us.

For the both days of our booth, we received great support from each

and every Unitians and also the teachers. There is always a reason to

whatever had happened. We would not be so successful on the both days

without what happened on the first day of our booth…

On the first day of our booth, a stray cat was found on the roof

above our school library. People had the thoughts that everything was

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being set up for a show but it was not. Members of the SPCA were there

to help rescue the cat from the roof but the stray cat refused to be

rescued. Crowds of Unitians were there to witness what had happened

and after this incident, more people went to our booth and write down

their pledges and even donated money to help the SPCA.

Chapter 5 – After Work

After two long days of working at our booth, we finally managed to

take a break. We counted the number of pledges and donations collected

and raised during the campaign. We were satisfied with the results and

responses we received from our school. Even though we did not have an

assembly talk to explain more about our campaign, the school still

participated actively in helping us to reach our goals.

Initially, we targeted 200 pledges from our fellow Unitians and

teachers. Surprisingly, we collected around 250 pledges which were

beyond our target. That may not seem like a very large number; however

each of the pledges shows the care, feelings and awareness towards the

abused animals that the school has. We feel that no matter how many

pledges we have collected from the two-day campaign, be it little or

many, this is an experience and opportunity to let our fellow Unitians

and teachers to think and reflect thoroughly on what they feel and how

they can be part of it.

While selecting the best 3 pledges from the students and best 2

pledges from the teachers, we came across different pledges which

express different thoughts towards animal abuse. We are delighted to

see some of them who were actually committed to help by stopping

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animal abuse when they see it happening. Number of words written in

the pledge doesn‟t matter, is the thought which counts. A simple two

word “Protect them” portrays how the person felt at that time. Perhaps

animals do mean a lot to him, or maybe animals aren‟t as happy as they

were before, they fear of how humans abuse them, till the state where

we have to protect them. Isn‟t it scary?

After that, we counted the amount of money raised in the donation

drive during the campaign. We raised a total amount $215.55 and we

appreciate the support given by the school. As we have said before,

the amount donated does not matter as it is the thought which counts.

We did not expect to collect a huge sum and even a small amount makes

a difference. As little as $50, could actually provide a cat a full

day meal on canned food for probably 1 to 2 days.

Chapter 6 – Spread the Love

Although we have reached the end of our journey, but the care and love

for the animals continues. Our love for the animals does not just end

here. It continues and would never ever stop.

After this whole campaign, we had learnt a lot of things and also

gained some experience of public speaking and also a lot more. We all

felt that it could be done better if we had more time and if we could

co operate better. This project had allowed us to work better

together as a team and managed our time better. We learnt the sprit of

teamwork and knew that we would only succeed when we work together as

one.

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Acknowledgements

Firstly, we would like to thank our teacher mentor, Mr Tan Yee Kee,

for his unconditional guidance, encouragements and advices for us. His

positive thinking has greatly motivated us to finish this project

successfully even with our busy schedules. We are really grateful to

have Mr Tan as our teacher mentor, guiding us through this project and

overcoming the obstacles with us.

Secondly, we would like to thank our school, Unity Secondary School,

for giving us this rare opportunity to participate in this design for

change competition, thus allowing us to make a change in the

environment. Our school has given us this chance to let us strive our

best for this competition and make the school proud. Besides that, our

teachers have supported us throughout this competition during the

exhibition booth and believed that we are able to help the abused

animals.

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Finally, we would like to thank our dear families and friends for

their optimistic thinking and continuous support for us. Some were

there to help us lighten our burden when we are stressed with our work.

We really appreciate their support and compassion for us. Without the

aid of the above mentioned, we would not have finished this project

successfully. We sincerely thank them for their guidance and support

towards us.