wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  Channel NewsAsia 11 Jul 07
Students to rough it out in outdoor Hillary Challenge

SINGAPORE: Close to 100 secondary school students will be roughing it out this weekend in an outdoor adventure competition organised by the Education Ministry.

Named after Sir Edmund Hillary who was the first person to scale Mount Everest, the Hillary Challenge has been running in New Zealand for the past seven years.

This is the first time the event has been taken out of the country.

Says Dr Grant Davidson, Chief Executive, Outdoor Pursuit Centre, New Zealand, "During the challenge here in Singapore, the students would be expected to cover tens of kilometres on foot, many kilometres on water, and they will also be posed with many intellectual challenges."

The Ministry is confident the challenge will do the students a lot of good.

Says Andrew Chew, Deputy Director, Co-curricular Activities, Education Ministry, "The challenge itself, with its range of activities, will stretch our kids both physically and mentally.

"It's our hope that students will be able to develop friendships, teamwork and more importantly, this ability to adapt on the ground and think on their own feet."

But what is keeping the students awake at night for now, is the fact that details of the challenge are being kept confidential until the final this weekend.

Says Mardhiyah Anwar, a student at Jurong West Secondary School, "Everyone in the team is very excited, very nervous, very afraid. [There is] also the element of surprise, because we are not sure what's going to come out and what we're supposed to do." - CNA/yy
links
Related articles on re-creation in our wild places
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com