(Of course, Bohemian Rhapsody performed by Jade and Eleez. Video cred: The author. )

A fun way to raise money for Vidyaloka Vidyalaya School!

This Friday Room To Read held our very first Karaoke Night in the library, which was a new and refreshing way to help out our partner school in constructing their library building. I believe that everyone worked tirelessly to make sure that this event was successful.

There was a great deal of planning and organising required in order to pull this karaoke event I had to communicate with teachers and technicians when confirming the practical parts of how the Karaoke Night will be carried out. Ms. Lockwood also did a lot of work to ensure that there was food and proper equipment at the night.

(Zak and Jed taking care of some decorations. Pic cred: The author.)

We were heavily reliant on teamwork within our service group, therefore, many service sessions preceding this event were spent allocating tasks for service members and ensuring that they were carried out well. I think that without this efficiency we wouldn’t have been able to pull off the Karaoke Night.

Of course, this is not to say that there weren’t challenges when preparing for the Karaoke Night – we had to reschedule the time and place. This was mainly due to other school activities going on at the same time and being unsure whether we could get this amount of work done in time.

(Some of the food at the Karaoke Night. Pic cred: The author.)

However, with everyone’s effort, we were able to successfully carry out the Karaoke Night – there was food, fun, and A LOT of singing. We were overjoyed to see that many people were excited to sing – and the diversity in songs ranged from CeeLo Green to Nirvana.

Eleez and I made sure to give a short introduction at the start of the Karaoke Night – talking briefly about RTR’s aim to help Vidyaloka Vidyalaya School and thanking the audience. The rest of the event was spent singing and dancing – and of course carrying out our duties as service leaders in making sure the event went smoothly; the two of us were in charge of lining up the songs, handing out mics, and making people join singing. I think this may have been the most fun fundraiser we’ve carried out so far – we also managed to make a large amount of money (about Rs. 74,340) which will be given to Vidyaloka Vidyalaya School.

(One of the songs sung. Video cred: The author.)

My favourite part was definitely rocking out to One Direction and some Olivia Newton-John with Jade (we totally went all out). Despite the challenges we may have come across, this event was very successful, and we may be planning to hold another Karaoke Night next semester!

Learning outcomes:

• LO2 – Challenge and skills
  • As aforementioned, we did come across some obstacles during the organisation process of this Karaoke Night – hence, why we had to reschedule from our initially planned date (4th November).
  • But, with the help of everyone in RTR, we managed to push through with the planning and organisation. This required everyone to carry out specific tasks to put together this event.
  • In the process of overcoming these challenges, I believe that I was able to gain the skills required to plan large events. Additionally, I was able to learn more about pacing my work and balancing my tasks in order to make sure this event was successful.

• LO3 – Initiative and planning
  • As discussed before – carrying out this event required A LOT of planning. All of the RTR members had to take initiative in some way in order to make sure that the Karaoke Night could be pulled off.
  • There were many deadlines that had to be met, and the tasks (such as designing and printing tickets, technical aspects, and publicity) had to be planned and done efficiently.

• LO4 – Working collaboratively with others
  • I would like to emphasise on the importance of teamwork during this event, without the help of everyone we would not have been able to do it.