bzse bee's reflections.

Check out what other people say about the trip!

Live to impact and inspire.
- Derek Lee



Open your eyes to see the world, open your heart to see the people.
- Steffi Lee


The only thing constant in this world is change. We need to be flexible, adapting to changes to keep up with the world and not stay stagnant and be left behind.
- Michelle Koh

If you think your life isn't good enough, you haven't seen the world yet.
- Jefred Shi



Opportunities not to be taken for granted of.
- Calise Choo


People tend to forget about what they need after having what they want.
- Nan Han Siang


The ability of us taking things for granted is great.
- Joy Chiang


True happiness is something which comes from our hearts. It is not measured by the number of things which we own but by how we live out our lives. Treasure what you have because someone else out there is suffering from something which you have been taking for granted.
- Ong Hui Peng


** Check out another post i've done in the Red Camp Blog. Click HERE!

bzse trip: Bacolod City

After sharing about my Pre jitters and Post trip thoughts in the previous post, let me share with you what I did in Philippines.

The objective, of this trip is to actually visit Gawad Kalinga (GK) villages, and to know more about what GK's work, mission, business framework as a Social Ente

rprise. Apart from that, we're conducting a research project, for two of our modules -

Introduction to Statistics and Research, and Introduction to Social & Environmental Studies.

Together with 4 lectures and 38 of my classmates, we embarked on a 6 days journey to Philippines, not exactly knowing what to expect. We spent the first 3 days in Bacolod City, Philippines. Bacolod City is the capital of the province of Negros Occidental in Philippines.

We arrived at the village on a sunny afternoon. We were greeted and warmly welcomed by the villagers and the kids in GK ERH Village. We rested for a short while after traveling almost the whole night before that and we were given a short introduction of the village. We also toured the GK ERH Village.

We were given 3 empowerment talks each day in Bacolod, with topics on "Hope, Honour and

Hero". The talks were given by different people who are working with GK, in different managerial roles such as the caretakers, the founder, the volunteers. It helped us in getting to know more about the organisation and even know the different perspectives of people from different managerial roles.

Not only that, we also went to another GK village, GK Paraiso, to interact with the children there, and help build houses. We went on a tour around the village and I honestly was appalled by the state of the village.

On the 3rd day, we had a Christmas party organised by the BZSE students whereby we performed magic, song performance, dance and traditional costume parading. Students and residents of the village also performed a few items for us.

The 3 days ended so quickly that the impact of everything only occur to us after we leave Bacolod. 3 days in Bacolod have already impacted us so much. We left for Manila the next morning.

The next post will summarize what we have done in Manila. Do check it out! :)

pre trip jitters and post trip thoughts

When told that we are going to go to Philippines for a service learning trip, I was pretty excited and I was already looking forward to the trip. Hearing so much from the year 2s about their experiences, the things they did and the lessons learnt there, I was already anticipating for the trip.

Prior to the trip, my (and my family's) biggest concern was safety in Philippines. Typhoons, landslides, crime rates are issues regarding the safety of Philippines. My parents didn't allow me to go for the trip and it took a lot of effort to convince them. However, while doing some research work on the Philippines, i did realised that the crime rates are pretty high in the Philippines. It got me worried for awhile because i knew that through out the 6 days we will be staying in a village and i was quite worried.

Another concern will definitely be the cultural difference. One most important difference was language barrier. Although i know that most, if not all, filippinos speak english, they usually still speak in Tagalog. Bearing in mind our research project -- survey, that has to be conducted, i cannot really imagine myself carrying out the survey to 60 families and not knowing what to say because i don't know the language.

I think that now that i've come back from the trip, i realised that Philippines is not as bad was what i thought it would be. After visiting numerous Gawad Kalinga (GK) villages, i feel that safety isn't much of a problem in the villages. In fact, it is quite safe. A group of my friend actually went to survey families in 2 of the GK villages we visited and found out that there are almost no, or little crimes in the villages and if there are crimes, it is usually outside of GK villages. Yes, it might be true that Philippines has a high crime rate but since we're staying in the villages with the villagers, I feel safe throughout the whole trip.

Not only that, language isn't really a big problem. Most of the villagers are able to communicate in simple English and thus communicating with them wasn't a big headache. One of our intention is to conduct a research there in the GK villagers, and my group prepared surveys for the villagers to fill it up. We prepared it with Tagalog translation and there were also translator who helped us along.

I was also worried about the toilets. Who can survive without it? I expected the toilets to be very dirty and honestly, problematic. I was also worried initially about not having clean waters to bathe in. However, i realised that the villages have proper toilet, although not as good as those in Singapore, but at least there is a proper toilet. There were also water, although not as clean as what i wanted it to be, for us to bathe in. The water we bathed in was had a rust smell, and I feel that i'm cleaner when i didn't bathe. However, after asking the villagers, we found out that the water is actually clean, except that the water pipes are rusty, which resulted in the clean yet rusty water.

After one or two days to the trip, i found my pre trip jitters fading away. I think it is a good experience and i'm glad the villages are so much better than what i expected it to be.

back on a hiatus

it's been a long time since i've last blogged here. you O level peoples have finished your examinations, congratulations for that!

well for me, i'm into my second semester in BZSE right now. assignments are still piling up like crazy. that pretty much explains why i'm on a hiatus. besides assignments and common tests, the last major event that i've been involved in is the Ngee Ann Poly's RED Camp 6 that was held in November 2009.

RED Camp always holds a special place in my heart. It was when i attended RED Camp 5 last year that I knew of this course. The seniors told me so much about what the whole course is about, and what they do and it got me interested. I'm still glad i'm here.

Well, if you don't know one awesome fact about Ngee Ann Poly, i'm going to share it with you. If you know this fact and doubts it, i'm going to tell you how true it is. yes, one amazing thing that NP has to offer all, and i really mean ALL, students one chance (well if you're lucky you get more than one!) to go overseas. NP subsidises every NP student one overseas trip, be it study trip, overseas immersion programme, leadership/adventure trips or even service learning trips.

Why tell you this fact? Well, i've just been on a BZSE philippines study trip just a few days ago. I'm so going to share this with all of you in the next few days.

Meanwhile, its the Christmas season so enjoy your holidays people! Be blessed!

Till then!

xoxo,
Nianting

One thing I like about BZSE.

" Its dedicated and colourful team of lecturers. Business with a heart. "

- Matthew Han, BZSE Year 2

" The course is an eye opener for me to the different aspects of life, like I've never thought of setting foot into a slum but because of BZSE, i felt the need to be there. "

- Chin Juo Wi, BZSE Year 2

" Wide spectrum of things we get to learn, not just restricted to one area. "

- Shaun Teh, BZSE Year 2

" I wanted Business, I wanted to help people. I wanted something that can have a combination of both. BZSE offers me that. "

- Joy Chiang, BZSE Year 1

" Meaningful purpose behind this course "

- Ronny Lim, BZSE Year 2

" Not just any humanities course. Our social entrepreneur project for example, has benefitted all of us, and it spurs me on to become a social entrepreneur like Miss Melissa Kwee. "

- Raihanah, BZSE Year 1

" I like the way of teaching of lecturers, and way of learning for us as students. "

- Kevinn Bok, BZSE Year 1

" Though in quantity, this course is small. But in quality, this course is sure mighty! "

- Ong Hui Peng, BZSE Year 1

BZSE - Another's perspective.

Check out other blogs/facebook groups for a different perspective of BZSE.
Listen to other's opinion, See how they feel, because that's what really matters, isn't it?

Blogs.

Huipeng's: http://businesssocialenterprise.blogspot.com
Joy's: http://b-z-bzse.blogspot.com
Adam's: http://bzseadam.xanga.com
Chrysan's: http://bzse-journey.blogspot.com
Stella's: http://oneheartonebzse.blogspot.com

Facebook Groups

Nicholas's: http://www.facebook.com/s.php?q=groups&init=quick#/group.php?gid=127607413409

Jefred's: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000122180317&ref=share

Kevinn's: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117151531573&ref=share

Out of classroom learning #1

Can't visualize? Dozing off? Tired of sitting in a class for 2 hours listening to boring lectures?
Can't seem to understand what's being thought because you haven't experience what you're being taught? Desperate for a new way in learning?

No matter what you do, so long as you have to sit in class listening to your tutor, you feel bored?


Let me tell you, you're never alone in this scenario. But hey, BZSE offers a solution to that!

One good thing in BZSE is that we focus on experiential learning approach. What does it mean? It means, that we do not just sit down in class trying to absorb what the tutor is trying to teach. Instead, we go out to the real world to see what is really happening and we learn from there.

One such example is the social entrepreneur project. We choose the social enterprises that we want to work with, form groups and get ready to interview them. For my group, the awesome four, we chose City Harvest Education Center (CHEC) for our project.

The social entrepreneur for CHEC is Mr Kenny Low, founder and principal of CHEC. We went to interview him at CHEC to find out more about how and why he set up CHEC and the problem he faced. I think that this is a really good learning experience, very different from secondary schools and we really get to learn about the real problems that were faced. This is really useful for us, budding social entrepreneurs so that in the future, when we set up our own social enterprises, we can take note of these problems and avoid them.

It is also a good experience for me especially, because we get to meet great and inspiring social entrepreneur that is willing to teach us. This experience is invaluable because it's not everyday we get to meet successful social entrepreneur.

Business & Social Enterprise?

Business & Social Enterprise (BZSE) is one of 6 courses in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School of Humanities.

In my own opinion, BZSE is a course where we learn how to set up a enterprise, and while sustaining the enterprise, part or most of the profits/revenue will be generated to provide help and support to the needy. Not only that, we learnt how to identify the social needs of the general public and do our best to effectively solve the problem.

In BZSE, we also focus on hands-on and experiential learning. We go on short walks around neighbourhoods, visit social enterprises and interviewing social entrepreneurs to get first hand informations. The experiential learning enhances our learning and we are able to understand better and that we get to see what is really happening in the market.

After months of sweat, sleepless (and foodless) nights..

This is a reflection video done by my group, the Awesome Four after months of sweat and sleepless night prior to the interview with Mr Kenny Low in City Harvest Education Center (CHEC).

This is a video done by my group, the Awesome Four after the interview with Mr Kenny Low and his staff, Ms Dawn Fung. This video is showing what CHEC does.

Nianting's two cents worth.

My two cents worth of how i feel about bzse after one semester.

Initially, BZSE wasn't even my top choices. Getting a L1R4 of 11, i had not much of choices. I wanted business studies but that was eventually out because of the low grades that i have. media was out too because of my english results. engineering and infocomm technology wasn't my cup of tea, and thus, what eventually was left, was humanities. i got to admit that i was interested in most of the humanities courses, such as psychology, early childhood, child psychology. but business & social enterprise? no way. i had to put it in my choices because i didn't have much choice and i thought i won't be given a place in that course.

However, on the release of results, i got a shock when i saw "Dear student, you have been given a place in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Business & Social Enterprise (N79). Congratulations."

Congratulations? on getting into something that i didn't want?

Reluctantly, i went to school on 20th april. The first lecture was on Economics and my tutor showed the class a video on social entrepreneurship, and i was already touched by the things a social entrepreneur can do to help the needy. however, i was not convinced that i will enjoy this course. the next few days was fast and i was basically given more information on BZSE and by now, i must admit that i am liking the course!!

Now, after almost a semester in BZSE, i must say that despite the tremendous workload, sleepless and foodless night, staying in school till late, i really enjoy the things we do in BZSE.

Wonderful classmates and awesome lecturers, meaningful purpose, what more can i ask for?

#1

Hello people!

Just a short basic introduction on myself.

I'm Cheong Nian Ting, currently a student of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School of Humanities (HMS), pursuing a Diploma in Business & Social Enterprise (BZSE).

I have set up this blog to share my experiences on BZSE and what I've learnt in BZSE so far as a Year 1 student. I hope that these reflections, and experiences would be able to attract YOU, as a graduating student in your respective secondary schools to think thrice (or more!) about BZSE, and put BZSE as one of your 12 JAE choices.

Please, however, take note that this is NOT, i repeat, this is NOT an official website for BZSE. Here is a space for me to update on my feelings and whats not, it's not an official BZSE blog or website.

Till then, and I'll try my best to keep this space updated regularly.

Here's a big shout out to graduating students, Sec 4 Express, 5 Normal, ITE soon to be graduates students, ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR EXAMINATIONS! :)