OSC celebrated UN Day on the 24th of October this year. Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals published by the UN, this

                               Photo courtesy of Gecko Net

year’s celebration was devoted to the 5th goal: Gender Equality. The day started with a school wide parade celebrating the representation of over 50 nations at OSC. Following the parade, students were divided into sectional classes that were lead by MUN and the the DP1 Geography and Economics classes where they participated in discussions centered around specific issues under gender equality. Depending on our audience, we addressed sub-topics under the umbrella of Gender Equality.

This year, I was heavily involved in UN day. For one thing, as a member of the DP 1 geography class, I conducted one of the classroom sessions and addressed issues surrounding equal pay. The group that Satwick, Kevin, and I were assigned to was made up of students from grades 8-10. With them, we watched a couple videos, showed them topic-specific statistics, and then finished with a poster activity. Looking back, I think the kids learned a lot about gender equality. Given that they engaged well during the discussions and the poster activity, I think they enjoyed gaining knowledge on this major issue.

                       Photo courtesy of Gecko Net

Aside for my lesson duties, I had the opportunity to MC and also perform during the closing assembly. After the sectional classes, students gathered in the canteen to share food from all over the world brought in by parents. Because of my involvement in the assembly I had to grab what I could in 5 minutes and then rush to the auditorium to run through last minute additions to the MC script and meet with Rashmi, the guitarist involved in the performance, to warm up.

Last minute changes made for some pretty laughable MC moments. Virath, the other MC, was recruited the day before the assembly. As expected, there were a couple slip-ups and awkward mistakes. Looking past Virath’s complete brain freeze from which I had to step in to deliver his lines, MCing was fun and I enjoyed contributing. It really tested my improvisational skills and we laugh about it looking back.

                            Photo courtesy of Ian Lockwood

In terms of our performance, Rashmi and I were happy with our acoustic rendition of ‘Warrior’ by Demi Lovato after having devoted countless morning and lunch breaks to practicing. Of course, however my onstage contributions went that day, I’m always happy to be on stage making music 🙂