42nd DIC

42^nd District Interact Conference

On the 3^rd of December 2010, 9 of our Interactors gathered in school and headed off towards Seremban at 8.45am for the 42^nd District Interact Conference. The conference was hosted by the Rotary Club of Seremban. Lasting over 3 days, from 3^rd December to 5^th December, the event attracted over 820 Interactors from all over the peninsular of Malaysia.

Yeoh Kai Yuan, Eric Soo, Chan Jun Shern, Brenda Yew, Samantha Ng, Yip Mun Keat, Chan Wee De, Sarah Francis and Kimberly Anne represented our Interact Club in the conference. Being first-timers at such a huge event, we were clueless and expected things to go extremely formally.

At around 9.45am, we reached Royale Bintang Resort of Seremban, where the entire conference was held. After registration, we started mingling with Interactors from other schools. As more and more Interactors arrived, the first floor was filled with Interactors to the brim. We made our way to our rooms before going for lunch. After lunch, the first session was held in the Grand Ballroom at the first floor. The whole conference consisted of 14 sessions, one-hour each, and were all held in the same ballroom. There were roughly 90 tables in the ballroom with around 10 Interactors per table. Imagine controlling the noise level of so many people!

The backdrop for the conference in the ballroom.

The conference had various talks on topics such as marine ecology, the Rotary International Youth Exchange, the Law of Attraction, perceptions of life, college education and using the social media beneficially. Many speakers drove all the down from KL to Seremban just to deliver their speeches.

The opening ceremony was conducted on the 2^nd day of the conference, with all Interactors donning the 42^nd District Conference shirt. District Governor Lim Kok Beng was invited to officiate the event. After that, there was a group photo for all 800 over Interactors in the ballroom.

All 800+ Interactors!

The highlight of the entire event was the formal night on the 2^nd day, which consisted of a buffet dinner and various performances put up by Interact Clubs from various schools. The night started off with Interactors happily stuffing themselves with the sumptuous buffet spread. The performances include a joint YMCA dance by several schools, a sketch on the environment by the Global Indian International School, a Nobody dance by the Wonderboys from Perak, a few singing performances by various duos and groups, some really cool hiphop dancing.

In conjunction with the 2^nd day of the event was also the 81^st anniversary of the formation of the Rotary Club of Seremban. There was a cake-cutting ceremony by President Chiang Sooi Yee and several other distinguished Rotarians and VIPs.

The cake-cutting ceremony for the 81^st Anniversary of Rotary Club of Seremban.

The night ended with the dancefloor being opened to everyone to strut their stuff. Almost everyone in the ballroom rushed towards the stage and danced and partied their hearts out, accompanied by a selection of songs by the DJ.

Our very own I.U. Director Chan Jun Shern garnered a big round of cheers and applause from the raving crowd when he put up some electrifying spins on the stage as everyone lined-up to wait for their turn in the limelight. His awesome moves attracted many compliments from Interactors who witnessed him.

After that, the Rotarians called-off the event and everyone gradually made their way back to the rooms. The Interactors from KL had a group photo.

Formal Night.

With fellow Interactors from around KL.

On the 3^rd day, we were given 3 more sessions before finally calling it a day. In the morning, we took all our luggage down to be stored in the Ampangan Room. All the Interactors were required to wear their respective uniforms for the closing ceremony at 11.30am. As part of the closing ceremony, there was a competition for choosing the best Interact Uniform. Each club was represented by one/two Interactors to go up on stage and present themselves to the judges. SMK Assunta emerged champions with their outstandingly classy uniform! Certificates were then presented to every Interactor. After lunch, we all made our journey home.

Our purple uniforms!

Int. Victor Chan and Int. Kimberly Anne going up as representatives of WMS Interact Club.

Us with our certificates.

In a nutshell, the conference was very informative and served as a platform for Interactors from all over our country to mingle and get to know each other. We certainly made many many new friends as well as sweet memories of the conference.

41st District Interact Conference

On the 10th of December 2009, 9 Interactors went to Nilai University College, Negeri Sembilan to attend the 41st District Interact Conference. The conference was hosted by the Rotary Club of Klang and over 700 Interactors from 111 schools attended the event.

Low Zhi-Yang, Lau Yen June, Esther Foo, Anisha Passcuran, Lim Qing Wei, Jonathan Lee, Giselle Soosay Nathan, Ong Kar Jin, San Peggy and Teoh Pei Ji all attended the conference. We weren't sure what to expect as we had never been to such a large-scale Interact Conference before.

After registration, the girls headed off to their dorms and the boys went to theirs. We got changed into our conference T-shirts and went downstairs to the Multi-Purpose Hall, where most of the talks would be taking place throughout the conference.

The conference featured many talks from several professionally-trained, distinguished speakers. We later learned that none of them were paid to speak at the event.

Us Wesleyans were really excited to see Mr A.R. Peter, our former principal. We went up to him and were glad to find that he is still as amicable as ever. As Past President of the Rotary Club of Klang, Mr Peter (or Master Peter as he was addressed by Rotarian Anthony Dass) laid down the house rules. Later on he gave one of his trademark speeches on 'Patriotism towards the Country'.

After dinner the Rotaractors of ATC conducted a session that highlighted our constitutional rights and the rights of the child. After that, Rotarian Gerard Lazarus, an accomplished lawyer, gave a hilarious speech on 'Crime-Related Problems in School'. After supper we went to bed and had a good night's rest for tomorrow.

On Day 2 the official opening ceremony was held, where all the Interactors had to wear their official Interact uniform. The Wesleyans stood out as one of the few groups that were not clad in black, but purple! After the opening ceremony we got a chance to properly mingle and get to know the other Interactors, which was one of my favourite parts of the event.

After the opening ceremony, more talks were held- however, the most inspiring talk was conducted by Datin Paduka (Dr) Hajjah Sharifah Mazlina. She talked about her journey all over the South Pole and the North Pole, all for the love of her country. In preparation for her trip to the South Pole, she underwent rigorous training to build up her strength and endurance. After becoming the fastest person to cross the South Pole, she injured both her kneecaps yet refused to undergo surgery, as advised by her doctors. Instead she trained even harder, became a sharp-shooter and went to conquer the North Pole. She became the first Muslim to cross the South Pole and the first Asian woman to conquer both. After completing her North Pole mission, she said, "This is for all of us Malaysians; Malaysia boleh!"

After that there was a talk on how Interactors could use social media to their club's advantage- a move which we will be taking in the future. After that was formal night, where everyone got dressed up to watch performances. Everyone was having fun, but due to strict time constraints, we had to return to our dorms.

Our president Zhi-Yang and vice president June.

Day 3 was full of talks, some less engaging than others. There was also a huge treasure hunt. The highlight of Day 3 was the Talentime competition, where unfortunately the judges were very strict on time.

The next day Past President Rotarian Dr. Siva Ananthan spoke on 'The Leader in You', which was amusing and thought-provoking at the same time. Then there was a workshop, where all the Interactors sat in their respective groups and discussed several topics with their Rotarian representatives. Issues such as the problems faced by our Interact Club, conference pros and cons, and Rotary participation were all dealt with, and later on we were given 1 minute to present whatever we had discussed. A question-and-answer session followed. Certificates were given out to the Interactors, and we returned to our dorms to get things sorted out before making the journey home.


Zhi-Yang receiving the certificates on behalf of the WMS Interactors.


All in all, it was an eye-opening conference and we certainly learned new things that could help us as Interactors in the future.

ILTS @ Sri Garden

On the 17th of January 2009, a little van trotted off the road and got lost on the way to Sri Garden.
After ending up outside Sekolah Aminuddin Baki, the little van reversed out of the lane and took approximately 5 minutes to end up outside..






























Well, not exactly there.
Outside the school gate really, which was just a brisk walk from the actual hall.

We began with some icebreaking: an infusion of Simon Says and adjectives on names.
Followed by scintillating speeches by:





New Generation Director Rotarian Hardeep Singh





















President of the Rotary Club Diraja Kuala Lumpur
Rotarian Francis Chan



















The talks were followed by a break for refreshments and then when we returned, we were split up into groups according to posts: Teacher Advisors, Presidents and Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, Treasurers and Funding Directors, I.U. Directors, Service Directors and Club Service Directors.


The session concluded with a presentation on what we learnt by two members of each group, followed by Prize Giving, where Sri Garden swept all.

Treasurer Jenani Segarajah and Funding Director Melvyn Leong passing on what they have learnt.




Rot. Francis Chan and Int. Terrence, President of Int. Club Sri Garden





















Then it was a speech from the President of the Rotaract Club, Rotaractor Kavita.






















We broke for lunch after and went out separate ways.


































All in all, the session was very informative. =)