THE END of the conference.
The service project was canceled, expected, to be frank. Every one was so exhausted after the Prom. And I'm not particularly disappointed, and was really greatful that I finally get to spend some quality time with my host Sorina.
We shared common views on certain world issues which I shall not bore you with the details, more important, we both study Japanese and love Jap culture. Hence we decide to head off to the Jap stall one station away from Harvard.
The Japanese collection in the stall is even more than those in Singapore. I was very happy and ended up buying more than expected. We bought some Japanese snacks and decided to have a girls' movie night before I fly off.
On the way back to Harvard Square, we met up with Xiang, a usp senior and a phd to be grad student @ MIT. Like some of the USP seniors I've talked to, he seemed to be especially cynical about the world and life in general, and he called it "critical". I am not surprised, thinking that I might end up like them one day in the near future.
After the final dinner we had the closing ceremony. It was not very pleasant to know that every one remember HCAP harvard leg to be a party conference, which sadly, might be the only truth of this conference.
I enjoyed the cultural performance and couldn't wait to fly back to Singapore, to catch up with all the work I have and go back to the sunny happy island. YEAH.
Friday, February 12, 2010
HCAP Day 5
I love the microfinance lecture delivered by the Keynote Speaker today.
Her work area is very provocative in a sense that she manages to measure how effective is Micro-finance. This is exactly what we are looking for when talking about the social impact index, ways to measure the social change. I'm definitely inspired by the research methodology. Except for a few common imperfections that the survey inherent, for example, the willingness of the surveyees, language barrier and cultural differences when talking about business and happiness level. In retrospect, I felt that the speaker has been pessimistic towards micro-credit concept. I am not sure if she had any pre-conclusion before conducting the survey that might lead to biased setting of survey questions, I still felt quite reluctant to accept that micro-credit did not help the people in terms of improving their education and medication.
I also find the Charter School presentation a memorable event. As I had some little disagreement with one of my group members on the mission statement of the school. She told me at last minute that she disagrees with the entire group effort. I was quite shocked at her claim and thought that every one came to consensus yesterday when discussing about the mission and general direction of the school. It was an awkward moment for both of us and I just wanted to get it done and over with. The presentation went well in the end, I'm glad that the group delivered the work well. Yung Hei's group won the final prize, not surprising and I still see alot of resemblance of Singapore education policies in his group's school model. What else can I say? I guess we are blessed to have a great education system, with good intention, on paper.
The Prom went well, I had fun dressing up with my dearest host Sorina. We were freezing to death in the cold, but having great fun.
Her work area is very provocative in a sense that she manages to measure how effective is Micro-finance. This is exactly what we are looking for when talking about the social impact index, ways to measure the social change. I'm definitely inspired by the research methodology. Except for a few common imperfections that the survey inherent, for example, the willingness of the surveyees, language barrier and cultural differences when talking about business and happiness level. In retrospect, I felt that the speaker has been pessimistic towards micro-credit concept. I am not sure if she had any pre-conclusion before conducting the survey that might lead to biased setting of survey questions, I still felt quite reluctant to accept that micro-credit did not help the people in terms of improving their education and medication.
I also find the Charter School presentation a memorable event. As I had some little disagreement with one of my group members on the mission statement of the school. She told me at last minute that she disagrees with the entire group effort. I was quite shocked at her claim and thought that every one came to consensus yesterday when discussing about the mission and general direction of the school. It was an awkward moment for both of us and I just wanted to get it done and over with. The presentation went well in the end, I'm glad that the group delivered the work well. Yung Hei's group won the final prize, not surprising and I still see alot of resemblance of Singapore education policies in his group's school model. What else can I say? I guess we are blessed to have a great education system, with good intention, on paper.
The Prom went well, I had fun dressing up with my dearest host Sorina. We were freezing to death in the cold, but having great fun.
HCAP Day 4
Wee... The ice-skating was absolute fun. I did not like the shoes but still manage to pull it off. Heh, we took a lot of photos, on ice. Yung Hei manage to make me fall, without pushing me >"<. The conference is already into the conclusion mood when every one starts to shop for Harvard souvenirs.
Every one was very lethargic as we go back to the auditorium for public speaking workshop. I did not quite follow the speakers to be very frank. But really enjoyed the session when each one of us make a 2 min speech in front of the Singapore delegation. I talked about my passion for photography :) but for once I was nervous and quite contemplative talking about something that's so provoking and spontaneous for me >"<
The dinner goes concurrent with the Pluralism Project. I don't find it particular relevant to the conference theme. Besides, Singapore education system does an excellent job in promoting racial harmony even though I only joined them in Secondary 3, I find it not that interesting.
The final pitch office hours was fun. Every one is way behind schedule and I'm amused how every one can still pull it off within the last one hour. Our ideal education system is way too similar to what we have currently, not very creative but really justified with good intentions.
It's a great pity that I did not go for the Mr HCAP competition. Heard it was really "juicy".
Every one was very lethargic as we go back to the auditorium for public speaking workshop. I did not quite follow the speakers to be very frank. But really enjoyed the session when each one of us make a 2 min speech in front of the Singapore delegation. I talked about my passion for photography :) but for once I was nervous and quite contemplative talking about something that's so provoking and spontaneous for me >"<
The dinner goes concurrent with the Pluralism Project. I don't find it particular relevant to the conference theme. Besides, Singapore education system does an excellent job in promoting racial harmony even though I only joined them in Secondary 3, I find it not that interesting.
The final pitch office hours was fun. Every one is way behind schedule and I'm amused how every one can still pull it off within the last one hour. Our ideal education system is way too similar to what we have currently, not very creative but really justified with good intentions.
It's a great pity that I did not go for the Mr HCAP competition. Heard it was really "juicy".
Thursday, February 11, 2010
HCAP Day 3
The day starts with the “Negotiation” workshop. The conductors are very experienced and the most valuable points taken back include following:
-Sometimes we can increase the pie by making both parties better off
-“Smoke when I pray? Vs Pray when I smoke” analogy, how we present the condition
-Cooperative strategy, recognize possibilities for mutual gain.
-Always ask more questions and understand the buyer’s needs before giving a deal
Then Yung Hei, Veera, Tremay and I head off to the MIT campus for a tour. It was snowing outside, and the scenery was really really beautiful. We manage to find the funny building in MIT and took patriotic pictures of USP logos on snow ground in MIT :) I still don’t understand why I become the popular target of snow balls >”<. MIT campus is radically different from Harvard campus despite their close tie. I guess that’s because of the nature of the institution itself as well as the students’ culture. I always hear how Harvard students describe MIT, “Their school is named by numbers and when they run out of number, they name it ‘the random hall’” or “When we have combine lecture in MIT, those kids look like they have just rolled out of bed!”. There are many more fun anecdotes and I always enjoying how the street-smart Harvard students and literary smart MIT students see each other. The world is more fun with diversity.
The delegate cook off is a big success. I did not get to cook with the fellow Singaporean delegates but it was really fun to taste the different cuisines. It’s absolutely amazing how the delegates can come up with such delicious food with limited resources on hand.
-Sometimes we can increase the pie by making both parties better off
-“Smoke when I pray? Vs Pray when I smoke” analogy, how we present the condition
-Cooperative strategy, recognize possibilities for mutual gain.
-Always ask more questions and understand the buyer’s needs before giving a deal
Then Yung Hei, Veera, Tremay and I head off to the MIT campus for a tour. It was snowing outside, and the scenery was really really beautiful. We manage to find the funny building in MIT and took patriotic pictures of USP logos on snow ground in MIT :) I still don’t understand why I become the popular target of snow balls >”<. MIT campus is radically different from Harvard campus despite their close tie. I guess that’s because of the nature of the institution itself as well as the students’ culture. I always hear how Harvard students describe MIT, “Their school is named by numbers and when they run out of number, they name it ‘the random hall’” or “When we have combine lecture in MIT, those kids look like they have just rolled out of bed!”. There are many more fun anecdotes and I always enjoying how the street-smart Harvard students and literary smart MIT students see each other. The world is more fun with diversity.
The delegate cook off is a big success. I did not get to cook with the fellow Singaporean delegates but it was really fun to taste the different cuisines. It’s absolutely amazing how the delegates can come up with such delicious food with limited resources on hand.
HCAP Day 2
Again, the day starts by an insightful lecture delivered from Mr Matthew Lee. Today the topic is on constructing theory of change. As I've mentioned that the SE concept in States focus more on the social impact, it's not surprising to me that they're willing to spend time on constructing the theory of change, believing that it'll be the key to empower individuals.
The talk teaches me how the organization's activities leads to intended impact, grounded in a set of beliefs about how world works with limited resource most efficiently allocated. The intended impact, often specific, aspirational and measurable, in my opinion, is the most important guideline for the planning stage of a SE. Having derived intended impact from mission and vision statement, the organization will be driven to achieve the social mission they have in mind. I think it is very crucial for an organization to be very clear about its motive.
Then there’s the panel discussion from Grad school of government. The students shared their projects, although most of them are still mainly surviving on donors, (which in my old definitions I won’t even categorize them into SEs, but i’m starting to accept the importance of social innovation gradually), their stories are truly inspirational as well. I think the best part about these projects is that, the initiators start with a clear motive and that’s really the core of the project and keep them driven and motivated of accomplishing the mission. The strong institutional culture is guided by the clear mission, and with a heart of believing in what they do, that’s the secret recipe of having a strong team :)
Then we were introduced about the Charter School policy and the Pitch competition project. I don’t quite agree on the idea of Charter School being SE, thus find it hard to relate the project to the topic of the conference. But it was fun to talk to the delegates from different cultural and educational system backgrounds.
THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL is really magnificent, great campus and passionate minds.
The talk teaches me how the organization's activities leads to intended impact, grounded in a set of beliefs about how world works with limited resource most efficiently allocated. The intended impact, often specific, aspirational and measurable, in my opinion, is the most important guideline for the planning stage of a SE. Having derived intended impact from mission and vision statement, the organization will be driven to achieve the social mission they have in mind. I think it is very crucial for an organization to be very clear about its motive.
Then there’s the panel discussion from Grad school of government. The students shared their projects, although most of them are still mainly surviving on donors, (which in my old definitions I won’t even categorize them into SEs, but i’m starting to accept the importance of social innovation gradually), their stories are truly inspirational as well. I think the best part about these projects is that, the initiators start with a clear motive and that’s really the core of the project and keep them driven and motivated of accomplishing the mission. The strong institutional culture is guided by the clear mission, and with a heart of believing in what they do, that’s the secret recipe of having a strong team :)
Then we were introduced about the Charter School policy and the Pitch competition project. I don’t quite agree on the idea of Charter School being SE, thus find it hard to relate the project to the topic of the conference. But it was fun to talk to the delegates from different cultural and educational system backgrounds.
THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL is really magnificent, great campus and passionate minds.
HCAP Day 1
This is an exciting day.
First, we had an absolutely inspiring Keynote speaker Mr Matthew Lee. He's a great speaker. The opening speech on Social Entrepreneurship starts with an interesting definition, "purposeful individuals create new models that powerful institutions & actors choose to adopt (achieving the goal of social change). As compared to the model that we have in mind after the Prof Teo's sharing, the important three components comprising of 1. social mission 2. innovation 3. market orientation, I think that the one US follows definitely focuses more on the social change while we tend to give more attention to the component market orientation.
The examples given during the sharing is especially relevant too. From how big companies borrow the idea from 100 dollar notebook for kid project and created social impact, to how Sesame Street inspired the global TV network to develop TV programme for education purpose. The ideas are definitely very very refreshing for me, as I’ve never really considered the impact of Social Enterprise in terms of attracting big institutions to come in and support the related industries. In this way, the gap between haves and have-nots can be filled up in the capitalism way as the big players are convinced by the SEs there’s certain market value of a particular industry. There are so many more that I want to share based on the talk, glad that I’m doing the report on this opening speech as well so that more insights will be presented on that.
The next event is the panel discussion led by prof Ager. The panelists are students from Harvard Graduate School embarking on their own projects of making a social impact in one way or another. Some of the interesting points include, how culture becomes relevant when a developed country stepped into a 3rd world country and would like to start a project of addressing certain social problems. These are extremely relevant because the roots of the problems might be the governance, their social values or even certain religion practice that’s embedded in the culture, these are invisible hindrance that might cause complete failure of the project if they are not taken into considerations.
Lunch is at Quincy Market and then we started the Scavenger Hunt in Boston. The weather is lovely and we took tons of great shots as a group.
The State House visit was really educational. I did not know that the state plays such a big role in everyday life of the Americans. That’s the main difference in terms of the constituency of both Singapore and China as compared to States I guess.
The dinner @ Chinatown was hilarious. We sat with 3 Japanese delegates and start to talk to each other about our own culture. That was great fun.
First, we had an absolutely inspiring Keynote speaker Mr Matthew Lee. He's a great speaker. The opening speech on Social Entrepreneurship starts with an interesting definition, "purposeful individuals create new models that powerful institutions & actors choose to adopt (achieving the goal of social change). As compared to the model that we have in mind after the Prof Teo's sharing, the important three components comprising of 1. social mission 2. innovation 3. market orientation, I think that the one US follows definitely focuses more on the social change while we tend to give more attention to the component market orientation.
The examples given during the sharing is especially relevant too. From how big companies borrow the idea from 100 dollar notebook for kid project and created social impact, to how Sesame Street inspired the global TV network to develop TV programme for education purpose. The ideas are definitely very very refreshing for me, as I’ve never really considered the impact of Social Enterprise in terms of attracting big institutions to come in and support the related industries. In this way, the gap between haves and have-nots can be filled up in the capitalism way as the big players are convinced by the SEs there’s certain market value of a particular industry. There are so many more that I want to share based on the talk, glad that I’m doing the report on this opening speech as well so that more insights will be presented on that.
The next event is the panel discussion led by prof Ager. The panelists are students from Harvard Graduate School embarking on their own projects of making a social impact in one way or another. Some of the interesting points include, how culture becomes relevant when a developed country stepped into a 3rd world country and would like to start a project of addressing certain social problems. These are extremely relevant because the roots of the problems might be the governance, their social values or even certain religion practice that’s embedded in the culture, these are invisible hindrance that might cause complete failure of the project if they are not taken into considerations.
Lunch is at Quincy Market and then we started the Scavenger Hunt in Boston. The weather is lovely and we took tons of great shots as a group.
The State House visit was really educational. I did not know that the state plays such a big role in everyday life of the Americans. That’s the main difference in terms of the constituency of both Singapore and China as compared to States I guess.
The dinner @ Chinatown was hilarious. We sat with 3 Japanese delegates and start to talk to each other about our own culture. That was great fun.
HCAP day 0
The academic events today started with the Opening Ceremonies. Each delegation group took turns to introduce themselves after the organizing committee gave an overview of HCAP.
I was quite surprised that most of the organizing team has gone to Singapore and maybe that's due to the convenience of language :)
The ceremony is followed by lunch and ice breaker game. We played mafia game and some naming game. I only managed to remember half of the delegates' names because of my hopeless short-term memories, and of course the exotic names are always hard to memorize. Remarkably, appointed as mafia killer, I got to kill Masaki before being "executed" by the rest.
Then there's the Campus tour by the student. A tour around Harvard in the freezing cold weather is not exactly very fun, but some of the interesting stories told are really worth mentioning *blink*. The three must-dos before graduating :) and the shiny right foot of John Harvard.
Anyway, the day was short and every time when greeted by “How are you?” we answered “Cold~~~”. We are all Jet-lagged and tired but anticipated at the same time for the amazing 7 days ahead.
I was quite surprised that most of the organizing team has gone to Singapore and maybe that's due to the convenience of language :)
The ceremony is followed by lunch and ice breaker game. We played mafia game and some naming game. I only managed to remember half of the delegates' names because of my hopeless short-term memories, and of course the exotic names are always hard to memorize. Remarkably, appointed as mafia killer, I got to kill Masaki before being "executed" by the rest.
Then there's the Campus tour by the student. A tour around Harvard in the freezing cold weather is not exactly very fun, but some of the interesting stories told are really worth mentioning *blink*. The three must-dos before graduating :) and the shiny right foot of John Harvard.
Anyway, the day was short and every time when greeted by “How are you?” we answered “Cold~~~”. We are all Jet-lagged and tired but anticipated at the same time for the amazing 7 days ahead.
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