Project Happy Feet Director of Communications and Outreach Terence Quek was invited to be the Guest-of-Honour for Clementi Town Secondary School‘s 32nd Annual Speech and Prize Giving Day on 13 April 2012.
Terence received hospitality befitting a royalty – he was welcomed with a dance item put up by students, and was invited to inspect a parade formed up by student uniform groups, before he made his speech to address a hall full of parents, teachers, officials from Ministry of Education, and students of Clementi Town past and present. He was also invited to give out special awards to outstanding students.
Welcome dance by students greet Terence upon his arrival at the school
“It was a tremendous honour for me personally,” said Terence, as he reflected on the day’s proceedings. “I’m really thankful to Mrs Grace Chua, the Principal, and her staff for inviting me. I could see there was a lot of effort put into the entire event,which was very well organised.”
Terence inspects the Guard of Honour he has formed up as part of the parade
The parade march pass
Terence giving his speech
Terence presenting awards to outstanding students
The school also presented Terence with a special hand-made gift – a framed picture of folded paper aeroplanes, symbolising the theme of the world at home, and dreams taking flight. The picture is now hanging at Project Happy Feet’s office.
Terence presented with a framed picture of folded aeroplanes
“When I receive the gift, I receive it on behalf of all the volunteers and supporters of Project Happy Feet,” said Terence. “I want the picture to be a reminder of where we started from – a humble beginning – and how far we have come as a non-profit, but never forgetting why we are doing what we do.”
Project Happy Feet would like to thank Mrs Grace Chua, Principal, Ms Joyce Quek, Ms Teresa Teng, Ms Yehidaah Beevi Shaik A, and all staff members and students of Clementi Town Secondary School for giving Project Happy Feet this wonderful opportunity to share its vision with a great audience.
SPEECH FOR CLEMENTI TOWN SECONDARY SCHOOL SPEECH AND PRIZE GIVING DAY 2012 ON 13 APRIL 2012
BY TERENCE QUEK
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION AND OUTREACH, PROJECT HAPPY FEET
Good afternoon, Cluster Superintendent, Mrs Rathi, Vice-Chairman of the School Advisory Committee, Mr Lee Tuan See, Principal, Mrs Grace Chua, Distinguished Guests, Teachers and Students.
Thank you for inviting me to your school’s 32nd Speech and Prize Giving Day. I may have facilitated various meetings and discussions, or presented to auditoriums full of students and staff, but this is my very first time making a speech at a school’s Speech and Prize Giving Day. This is one significant moment I would add to my birthday list.
You see, every birthday, I would take some time to reflect on the year that had passed, and recount every moment that I felt meant something special to me. I’ll then compile a selection of moments corresponding with my age that year, into a list. With each passing year, I extend and add one more moment to my list. On my 34th birthday, I recount 34 moments as highlights of the year. On my 35th birthday, 35 moments, and so on.
Few months ago, I celebrated my 37th birthday, so I made a list of 37 moments I considered meaningful and memorable. For now, I won’t read out all the 37 moments I compiled for this year’s birthday, but to give you an idea, some of the moments I recounted include:
1. Being appointed District Councillor of South West Community Development Council and Chairing its Community Outreach and Service Functional Committee
2. Being appointed Chairman of SAFRA Youth Network
3. Being selected by Asia Europe Foundation to be a trainer for its 10th Asia-Europe Young Volunteer Exchange held in Bangalore, India
4. Being part of the Project Happy Feet team to head to Hanoi, Vietnam and Siem Reap, Cambodia
5. Climbing to the top of Machu Picchu in Peru
6. Receiving a scholarship to pursue a Masters of Science in Communication Management at Singapore Management University
7. Emceed with my mother for Chinese New Year Charity Luncheon for 1,000 senior citizens
8. Successfully merging my company with another and becoming Chief Executive Officer of Emergenetics Caelan & Sage
When I look through my list of 37 moments, I noted that 14 of the moments were related to my non-profit work either for the grassroots or community in Singapore, or for the international community; the rest of the moments were split between work – which I enjoy very much, personal development, and family.
I also note that behind each moment that was realized, there were a lot of resources that were committed in order to realize each of them. These resources include time, effort, energy, sometimes money, and most times, people.
For instance, the successful organization of the Project Happy Feet Slipper Race last year was recounted as one moment on my list, but in reality, it took a team of more than 30 people almost 6 months of work to bring it to fruition. The same goes to my being appointed as District Councillor of South West CDC. I had volunteered with the CDC since 2006, helping out in its events, before I got more and more involved in community development work. Likewise for obtaining my scholarship to study. I had to go through weeks of applications and rounds of interviews before that one moment came to be.
So what do I learn from all these?
Firstly, nothing comes without hardwork and dedication. I come from an ordinary Singaporean family and thanks to my hardworking parents, I have a comfortable start in life. But for everything else extra, I have to work as hard as everybody else to get them. When I want to achieve something, I set my mind to do it, then put in all my effort, giving it my 100% best and nothing less. I believe that no one owes me a living – not even my parents. If I want something, I have to go get it. I may not always get what I want, but I don’t give up. That’s how dedicated I am to my dreams and goals.
Secondly, I believe in Think Big, Start Small. I believe that the human mind is so powerful, that when it pictures what success looks like, it can figure a way to get there. I just need to believe in myself. So I dream big, very big. But I start slow and steady, to lay the foundation. To me, it’s ok to start small. For example, the business I started with my partners five years ago, started so humbly. We didn’t even own an office space for fear that we can’t pay rental. So Starbucks, Pacific Coffee and Coffee Bean were our offices. Today, our company has just successfully merged with another company, and we have 10 employees. We had grown from a zero dollar company to a two-million dollar business. So if you aspire to be a entrepreneur, do not think you need thousands of dollars as investment to start. It’s hard work making money, so learn to save first. Build your business up over time. Think big, start small. I don’t rush mindlessly. I work speedily, and mindfully.
Thirdly, it’s all about teamwork. If one person is powerful and dynamic and has the ability to achieve so much, think about what happens when you pull a group of people together, and form a team. In my days as a Naval Officer, I’ve learnt the importance of teamwork. We trained hard as a team, sailed through bad weather as a team, and fought together as a team. Today, whether it’s in business or my non-profit work, I build strong teams that are aligned to a common vision. I learn to appreciate and work with people from different backgrounds and beliefs, ages, and cultures. Through brain-based research, the science of Emergenetics has revealed that people do prefer to think and behave differently, and that there are strategies for everyone to work with each other as a team. Once I learnt to appreciate and tap on the brilliance of people, each with their own preferred way of thinking and behaving, I can form great functioning teams without the pressure of needing anyone to change themselves just to fit in. And that’s what I do now in my office, and in my non-profit work. I learnt to harness the potential of the people around me, and channel everyone’s energy towards our goals. I celebrate the diversity of the people in my team, and appreciate very much the different perspective each person brings. That’s how I was able to have so many moments to recount. I am who I am today because of my teams.
I am a busy individual, and I seek to live a useful and meaningful life. So despite the schedule, I remain active and involved in my community, volunteering in the community club a few blocks from my home, and as a Councillor in my district. I take a keen interest in what is happening in Singapore, and while some prefer to complain about things, I prefer to join various organisations to make my voice heard, and play my part in making social change. Making change is not only restricted to home. I love travelling and when I travel, I also open my eyes to see how people are living, what challenges they face, and I think about what I can to support their efforts in making life better. That’s why I volunteer with Asia-Europe Foundation which promotes people-to-people exchange and cross-cultural understanding. That’s also why I am so involved in Project Happy Feet, which empowers lives through education and training. Making a change is not always about giving money, and you don’t need to wait till you are rich and successful to make a difference. I started making social changes when I was in Secondary school, where I volunteered at an old folks home. Today, I spend close to 50% of my waking hours in non-profit work.
I am happy when I live a useful life because I know my efforts make a positive difference to someone else. Whether it’s organising a grassroots event so that a senior citizen can befriend another resident; or fund-raising to provide a scholarship to a student whose parents suddenly passed away so she can complete her final year in school, I know that the change is real, and important to someone out there. This feeling of accomplishment cannot be described, you’ve got to experience it to know it.
A few years ago, after I left the Navy and before starting out my company, I went on a long trip to Tibet in search of the sacred source of the Mekong River. I called this trip “Journey to Source”. Turned out that the journey became a journey to my inner source instead. The journey was rather dangerous, because I was travelling in Spring, where the icy rivers were beginning to melt into rapids. Anyway, needless to say, there were moments when I thought the four-wheeler I was riding in would slip through the cracks on the icy surface of the rivers, or roll over the edge of the mountains. In those moments, I thought about my 30-odd years of life, and what I could possibly glean from it. And then I thought of all the things I had accomplished, and what I could share with the youths I was mentoring back home. I realized that when I sieved through it all, four words were really the foundation of my beliefs and actions. Incidentally, the initials of these four words spell the word RICE.
R-I-C-E.
So I call it my Staple of Success. Some day I’ll write a book about it. But today, I’ll simply share them with you.
R is for Respect – I respect all beings, things, thoughts, and the environment around me, and myself. In giving respect, I also earn the respect from others around. I also would not do anything foolish that I would live to regret.
I is for Integrity – Integrity is being honest with myself and others. It’s about keeping my word. It’s about saying what I mean, and meaning what I say. It’s about walking the straight and narrow, and not taking short cuts, or cheating my way through. We all prefer dealing with someone with integrity.
C is for Courage – I’m not talking about bravery, but more of moral courage. It’s having the guts to do what I think is right, like owning up to my mistakes, even though I know I will get embarrassed. It’s saying “sorry” when I messed up, and meaning it when I say it.
E is for Excellence – Excellence is not perfection. Excellence is a journey of doing better. It’s a continuous pathway to improving, innovating and giving the best.
So if you don’t remember anything else from what I shared today, remember RICE.
I would like to share with you a story I love very much. There are several versions to this story, but I’ll share the version I remember:
Once there was a king who summoned all his advisers to meet him before he went into battle. He had fought and won many battles, and had wanted his advisers to give him something that would encourage him when he loses, and at the same time, keep his head level when he wins so he will not be complacent. The advisers came back with several items, but they were all rejected by the king. Fearful for their lives, the advisers climbed a very tall mountain to meet with a wise old sage who lives there. The sage gave them specific instructions and they went down the mountain to carry them out. The next day, the advisers met with the King, who by then was already quite impatient, and presented him with a ring they made. When the King saw the ring, and four words that were inscribed on it, he smiled.
The four words were:
“This, too, shall pass”
Just as they did for the King, these four words remind me that every moment will pass. So in a moment of extreme happiness, I would remind myself not to be complacent, keep a level head, and not be too full of myself – for this, too, shall pass. In a moment of extreme sadness, I would remind myself not to be devastated, or be in fall into depression, for this, too, shall pass.
I hope these words inspire you to create for yourself many moments that would make you and the people around you proud, not because you have to, but because you simply can.
Thank you.
