Nanyang Technological University

Kelvin has been an active volunteer since his time in polytechnic.

Kelvin first started volunteering at the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) Singapore, where he was involved in the organisation and support functions of both internal and external events. His dedication to the cause was evident during the ‘Hair for Hope’ event organised by CCF in 2009, during which he shaved his head in solidarity with cancer patients, to show his support for the children and their families.

During his time in NTU in 2012, Kelvin joined the Rotaract Club of NTU, an international service organisation by Rotary International, dedicated to bringing peace and international understanding to the World. During his freshman year, Kelvin took up the role of Business & Finance Director. He led a team of 20 members, responsible for fundraising and sponsorship from external bodies, to facilitate the smooth running of various community projects. Some of the more notable projects the club organised were the ‘Metta School Workshop’ for children with mild autism, the ‘Ah Gong Ah Ma Project’ for the elderly in Thye Hua Guan Charities and ‘Project Pyaw’, an international community service project for orphanages in Yangon, Myanmar etc.

In his sophomore year, Kelvin was elected President of Rotaract Club of NTU. During his term, he oversaw the volunteer activities of the club, ensuring that the welfare of both club members, as well as their beneficiaries, was well taken care of. Under his leadership, Kelvin saw a 30% increase in club membership and the number community projects organised. Beyond this, Kelvin has also actively participated in Rotary activities at the District level, including multiple leadership training programmes, organised to groom the next generation of humanitarian leaders.

His passion for volunteering extends to global projects, evidenced by his participation in the Overseas Community Involvement Project. This was organised by his school and Mercy Relief, and held at a rural village in Hamparan Perak, Medan Indonesia. Kelvin and his team helped in building basic infrastructure and amenities such as a bridge, library and toilets for the local community.  More notably, Kelvin also embarked on a 6-week international project to Ukraine, where he worked with AIESEC International and volunteers from different parts of the world, to help underprivileged children in local orphanages. Kelvin stayed on-site at the local orphanages, where he spent time with the children providing free lessons on Basic English, Financial Saving and the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. He formed strong bonds with the youth, many of whom look up to him as a role model. Today, Kelvin still maintains contact with the students.

His devotion to helping people sparked a curiosity in the higher-level operations and management of non-profit organisations. This inspired him to work in the social sector, as part of his professional attachment requirement in NTU. For his 15-week internship, Kelvin worked at SG Enable, a non-profit agency dedicated to enable persons with disabilities. Here, Kelvin was engaged in the corporate arm of non-profit work, such as conceptualising partnership proposals and marketing pitches to various corporate sponsors. A highly noteworthy achievement would be his assistance in securing a sponsorship of 1.13 million from SingTel, for setting up an integrated community space and training centre for persons with disabilities. From this internship, Kelvin has gained new knowledge of the strategic, operational and managerial aspects of non-profit work, in addition to the hands-on experience.

Kelvin is constantly seeking meaningful projects that can benefit the community. His involvement in and knowledge of the various aspects of humanitarian work, have built a strong foundation in understanding what it takes to truly make a difference. With this, Kelvin hopes to establish his own foundation one day to help the underprivileged children in the world.

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Being exposed to Community Involvement Projects (CIP) since secondary school, Sherina realised how fortunate she was and discovered a passion for volunteering. Having participated in various programs such as flag days, newspaper collections and elderly home visits, Sherina aspires to offer more help to those in need. She believes that one could make a significant difference to another person’s life even with a simple action or words.

Assuming a role in the NTU Welfare Services Club – Volunteer Management since 2013 opens up more opportunities for Sherina to reach out to various beneficiaries such as underprivileged children, elderly, psoriasis patients, dyslexic children and dementia patients. Working with a diverse range of beneficiaries enabled Sherina to learn more about their different needs and better relate to them.

Furthermore, being a part of Volunteer Management allowed Sherina to interact with beneficiaries and be involved from the start of the planning phase of events to eventually putting a smile on beneficiaries’ faces when the events end. Together with her team, Sherina organized both Kids’ World 2013 and 2014 as a programmer, which is a 3 day camp for underprivileged children. The beneficiaries’ grateful expressions further motivates Sherina to continue pursuing voluntary work.

During her two years in Volunteer Management, Sherina was also involved in the organizing of events such as Golden Generation 2014, The Amazing Race @ Bugis, Swami Home and Bright Vision Hospital Visit as well as events conducted by other WSC portfolios.

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Jared has been an active volunteer since 2007. As a student councillor in Hwa Chong Institution, Jared was part of the organising committee for a Halloween charity event called SCREAM, which raised about $10,000 in donations for the Association for Persons with Special Needs. Jared was also involved in the NBS 2012 Sichuan Teaching Project. He assisted in organising the Overseas Community Involvement Programme, in which the team taught English to the students of Shuang Dong Nanyang Primary School for a period of 3 weeks.

Jared’s desire to contribute to the social sector on a more strategic level led him to become a Project Leader at Conjunct Consulting, a consulting firm which provides pro bono consulting services to non-profit organisations and social enterprises. He completed two project cycles between 2012 and 2015 with clients in the education and disability sector and achieved high client satisfaction ratings for both projects.

Jared is also passionate about the empowerment of the handicapped in our society. After learning that finding employment as a visually handicapped individual is extremely challenging, Jared decided to venture into social entrepreneurship to address this problem. Jared co-founded Glow in the Dark, a premier enrichment workshop company, in 2015. The workshops are conducted by the visually handicapped (VH) with an objective of equipping students with critical skill sets such as empathy and managing adversity. Glow in the Dark aims to provide meaningful employment for the VH and to raise awareness of the strengths and capabilities of the VH. Being a business student, Jared leveraged on his knowledge and skills gained from NBS to direct a team to focus on sales & marketing; training & development and the legal & financial matters of the business. In Oct 2015, Jared successfully secured $25,000 startup funding for Glow in the Dark by emerging champions in the Accenture Gives: Skills to Succeed competition. With the capital injection, Jared is confident that Glow in the Dark will be sustainable and successful.

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Hui Xian was an active member of the Interact club during her Junior College days where she spent every Saturday having different activities with the elderly. Since then, she has discovered her passion and love for volunteering and contributing back to the society.

In university, she stepped out of her comfort zone by not only volunteering locally but also overseas. Under the umbrella of NTU Welfare Services Club (WSC), she was a Business Manager in Camp OutReach which aims to empower the local hearing-impaired community. Camp OutReach 2013 was the first year that has the element of overseas community involvement program (OCIP). As a business manager, she has spearheaded various canvassing events to raise funds for the overseas community trip. This trip was exceptionally meaningful to her as not only has she helped the less fortunate overseas but also empowered the hearing-impaired by helping them to step out of their comfort zone and lend a helping hand to others. The friendships forged were the greatest takeaway for her as she has realised that communication is not a barrier to friendships. The effort of the team was also recognised and was awarded the Nanyang Humanitarian Award.

Subsequently, she was elected as the Vice Chairperson of Camp OutReach 2015. She continued to spread her enthusiasm for volunteering and led a team of 44 to an OCIP at Nepal, including 20 hearing-impaired. To help the first-timers hearing-impaired participants, she has initiated to work with Deaf school in Nepal where they will better relate to and feel more comfortable as a first step to helping others. The success of this initiative has inspired future teams to continue to include this element and further improvise it.

She was recently involved in a project under the Young Changemakers (YCM) Grant which involved a team of NTU students and ITE College students. The project aims to look after the well-being of caregivers by improving their relationships with beneficiaries from Bizlink, and creating opportunities for caregivers to network with one another. One of the key programmes is to invite caregivers of the beneficiaries from Bizlink's Day Activity Centre to participate in the loom-band making workshop, where caregivers get to bond with beneficiaries as well as other caregivers. Her actions have helped to form stronger bonds between families that are faced with challenges and also show caregivers how their children can achieve despite their conditions.

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