NPCC Day 2016
We commemorated NPCC Day on the 17th of May in school. Below, our cadets reflect on their experiences during this special day.
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We were very enthusiastic for NPCC Day on 17 May 2016 as it is our first experience for NPCC Day; thus, we were really looking forward to wearing our half uniform. However, we had to wear our PT Kit instead; therefore, some of us were rather sad as we were looking forward to wearing our half uniform and most of us have even polished our boots before the last minute notice of the change in attire for NPCC Day. Before the whole school stands to sing the national anthem and say the pledge, there were many students and teachers looking at us and we stood as still as possible at the senang diri position, looking forward, straight and upwards as taught by CPL Winnie, to prevent dizziness when we stand for too long. We have also learnt to wriggle our toes in order to allow blood circulation within our body so that we would not feel faint. It was a little tiring and stiff to stand at the same position for a long time but it is worth it because it proves to others that we had the determination and perseverance to complete something that was meant to be completed. We were also very nervous because we had to stand on stage in front of approximately a thousand people and some of us had stage fright so we were panicking.
Eventually, we were able to remain calm and get on with NPCC Day. During the singing of the national anthem, we sang loudly but we believed that we could sing even louder then after much reflection from what CPL Winnie, CPL Vicki and CPL Hui Shan told us about our volume level. In addition, during the recitation of the Singapore pledge in Malay, we also knew that we could have said it with more pride and with a much louder volume. We also thought that we could raise up our hand, clench it into a fists with our thumbs behind even more swiftly because when we did it on stage, we did not do it sharp and swift enough as compared to our various seniors. Lastly, when we had to recite the NPCC Pledge, we were not as loud as what CPL Winnie, CPL Hui Shan and CPL Vicki hoped for. We also made quite a lot of mistakes during the recitation of the NPCC Pledge. One example, was when we had mistaken the pronunciation of the word Corps as we had read it as ‘corpse’ instead of ‘cor’. Another example was when we pronounced ‘law’ as ‘laws’. Through this mistakes, we have reflected and felt very apologetic as well as regretful for the mistakes we have made during the recitation of the NPCC Pledge because we were reminded by our CPLs two weeks before NPCC Day and even on the day itself to prepare for NPCC Day.
From our first NPCC Day experience, we will learn to work on our past mistakes and improve on them, we have also learnt to do what we were supposed to do by the deadline to prove our competency in NPCC. Moreover, we were not really coordinated when we did keluar baris and became a laughing stock among the UG CCAs. Some of us started with the wrong leg, with the wrong hand. Some of us were unsure of what to do or we did it very quickly or we could not align to each other. We felt really sorry about this but we will make improvements as we learn more, especially methods to align with each other; hence, we will carry out practices as a squad and squeeze in time before our fall-in time for each NPCC training session to practise our keluar baris in future. This is so that we can point out to each other their mistakes in order to learn from our exemplary squadmates. Not only will this allow us to learn more and faster, but we can also build stronger bonds and more interactions with one another as well as bond as a squad. We can also reflect on our respective behaviours and attitudes when we were in our PT Kit on NPCC Day. We were reminded by CPL Winnie that we have to be mindful of our bearings as our PT Kit’s shirt has the Singapore NPCC Crest on it so we are not only representing AHS NPCC but also Singapore’s NPCC. Hence, we put on our best behaviour on that day. Unexpectedly, some of us had PE Lessons, so it was not really that comfortable but it was worth it to represent NPCC and AHNP. Overall, our first experience of NPCC Day was a really memorable one and really great experience for us to know what we are the mistakes we have to improve on. I hope we will be able to perform better for our following NPCC Days to come in our next two years before we officially pass off to study for our O-level examinations.
- Secondary 1’s 2016
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I felt that NPCC Day was a symbolic day for me as it has taught me the importance of teamwork. I've learnt that it's very important to stay alert and not get distracted as it'll cause us to make very unnecessary mistakes which will make our CCA look bad. I felt that NPCC Day was very meaningful as it is only the day which allows the public to appreciate the day which only happens once a year. We have learnt that planning beforehand is crucial for the success of something through NPCC Day when we went through the rehearsals and the informal training. As a NPCC cadet, this has benefit me greatly as it serves as a yearly reminder for the fundamental roles of a NPCC cadet. NPCC Day has taught me the importance of teamwork among many other values like discipline. These will all add up to our values in the future and also allow NPCC to be seen as a CCA which instills these values. An instance is our drills, staying alert will give less room for mistakes. Likewise, always displaying good drill standards will make us seem disciplined as it comes with hard work, just as how NPCC will push us beyond our boundaries.
- LCP (NPCC) Gisele
