As part of JWP's Coporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, I accepted a gracious invitation by Commonwealth Secondary School to give a short photography/nature appreciation workshop for their Sec 1 students. 

Due to other teaching engagements, it has been a while since I conduct a workshop in a school environment.  Knowing the kids are energetic and breathing short of attention span, I'm thankful that they sat through the presentation without dozing off!

I always value such an opportunity because I believe that it provides the perfect platform to share my love of Nature with the future leaders of our planet.   "What a taboo subject!" some may lament, but taking care of our planet is actually a responsibility rather than an intiative.  I believe that nature appreciation should be cultivated from young, and especially in the forming years of teenhood, where logic and knowledge starts to creep into the fine young minds of our next generation.

So there I was, giving my trademark presentation and running all over the auditorium, eagerly grabbing my participants to answer questions.  There were probably 150 students or more, and it was really challenging to capture their attention and to keep them interested.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the session tremendously and I know some young souls walked away enriched by the knowledge they gained.  :)

I would like to take the opportunity to salute Commonwealth Secondary School for the wonderful work done promoting nature conservation.  It is never easy to believe in it, especially when we have an efficient government that "manufactures" quality life for its citizens that many do not see the need for such conservation.  Think about it - Drinking water is available at the turn of the tap; a flick of the switch and electricity flows seemlessly...Nature conservation seems like many moons away.

Well, so much said...I think in terms of photography, the young audience has benefitted much from it.  With the knowledge gained, I hope it will give them some insights coupled with doses of creativity when they worked on their photo-story project at Sungei Buloh. 

    

Happy clicking folks!

Signing off,
Julian W.