Message from the SMOOvivors

SMU is willing to make everything entertaining yet informative for its students. I now trust my professors as well as my classmates to give me a great experience at SMU and I'm looking forward to it even more!

Even though it's a virtual event, how fun/boring/engaging the planned activities are is dependent on your my initiative and mindset on how i want to partake. I learnt to take initiative, have fun, mindset and attitude is important 🙂

I learnt more about the career services and community service programme. i now have a better idea of internships in retrospect to my course sequence. I hope that I can kickstart my career counselling & plan my course better!

I definitely had to think creatively for the games, and teamwork played a big part in our success as well. I am glad that I have teammates who are equally as enthusiastic as I am, which makes the whole experience that much more exciting! I think that surrounding myself with likeminded individuals, who have similar levels of enthusiasm and interest will make a lot of my work more enjoyable. 

I learnt to be fast in one’s responses and to not be afraid of giving wrong answers. There were many times where I sort of knew the answer, but was too afraid of giving the wrong one (and embarrassing myself and the group). So I’ve learned to be more bold in speaking up and try answering, even if I’m not 100% sure about the answers. after all, you’ll miss all the chances you don’t take. Similarly for class participation, students are not expected to know every single part of the content when doing so. the courage to speak up in the midst of 40 odd numbered people is commendable. 

I learnt more about what kind of facilities are offered in SMU and how I can use them while studying (places to study, voices@smu etc). I also gained a better understanding of the school’s layout, and where these facilities are. I think this will be helpful in the process of settling into school life and familiarizing myself with the area. It also acts as a good foundation of knowledge for how to carry out various school activities (academic research, administrative things, etc).

I learnt more about the facilities that the school is equipped with and the programmes that the school offers. I will be able to better navigate around the school and be more well prepared for my student life in SMU. The island tour helped me to better understand where specific SMU landmarks are 🥰. The programme was really fun and the programmes committee clearly put in a lot of effort into the games. They were really fun & the station masters were very clear in explaining the rules to the participants and were able to keep the atmosphere fun and hype 😋

SMU’s campus offers its students a holistic education and also offers facilities and events thag are aimed at enhancing a student’s school life. I can make use of these facilitates and activities to improve and develop myself.

I learnt more about the various channels and resources I could tap on to improve my school life as well as more about the requirements to clear before graduation. I am now more aware of how to get started on CSPs and about how to get in touch with my career counsellors for further queries.

I got closer to my team especially during Island Search, we were good at dividing and conquering. I think it’s good to apply the same principle to difficult tasks in school work, divide and conquer to better tackle it.

The games have taught me the importance of communication and teamwork. One that stood out was the bidding for items which we would need in order to build our ship. Communication and teamwork will definitely be required for group projects in school, ensuring peaceful discussions. As for bidding, it is extremely important to get the modules we want to learn in each semester.

I learnt the value and importance of teamwork and communication - when all of us work together to achieve a common goal. This spirit of inclusiveness and resilience can be very helpful during group projects and/or studying with friends.

I learned how to navigate around the school and some good places to eat like pasta express yum yum.

I learnt more about navigating SMU and the various facilities available to make the environment conducive for learning and socialising with fellow SMUggers. I can use these facilities for appropriate school activities and make the most out of my university life. 

There was a lot of emphasis on teamwork when it comes to fulfilling the activities we have done in Day 2 of Orientation. The games that we played such as “Staying Afloat” requires group effort in completing the mission. Hence, I learnt that it is important to build a strong rapport with one another to have a good teamwork. One can only do so much, but together we can do a lot more!
Teamwork is definitely important to apply to school life in SMU! Not only will it be applicable towards our group projects for various modules, but also for other co-curriculum activities where we will constantly meeting new people. Today’s experience has certainly helped me to think about going out of my comfort zone and not being afraid to take the first step in building rapport :)

[I learned about] the locations of school facilities and more knowledge about school of integrated studies. I am able to better navigate school grounds with the island tour! Along with many good study spots for exams.

[I learnt about] teamwork, communication and resilience (resilience because we kept losing during the team games but we didn't give up and still gave our best efforts for every game, when we finally won during the last game it was really an accomplishment). These values can be applied to group projects and the endless setbacks we will face during our life in SMU be it from class or CCA.

[I learnt that] it is important to communicate actively with your group members during the games to ensure everybody knows what is going on and what are the things that require attention. This is crucial is ensuring that everyone gets to play a part and accomplish the game together in the fastest time possible.

I’ve learnt about the importance of community service and internship requirements and it gives me a head start to start thinking of preparing soon!! Other than that, I’ve learnt about the range of essential things we can have as a survival kit on an island hehe. Lastly, most of the games were a group thing so it really thought me about group dynamics. At first I thought since my groupmates are really quiet, I don’t think we will really stand out. But the first game as a group proved me wrong and we were typing in the chat continuously and I felt connected to them instantly.

As cliche as it sounds, team work makes dream works hahah. The games today tested our group's ability to work together so as to complete the missions/games to earn points, which was really fun! Similarly, during project group works, in order to work well as a team, you would have to be able to coordinate well with your teammates. Such as actively participating in discussions, group work and many more. I think that in order to build up the team synergy, you would also have to be able to understand their point of view and respect their opinions as well. So all in all, being in a team not only allows you to learn how to manage a group but also improves your teamwork skills.