Hello! My name is ruiting , and I’m a student from Naval Base Secondary School. I was first introduced to Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre (HYC) due to the world of work programme offered by my school. I was selected along with my five other schoolmates to attend this programme at HYC. Initially, I was rather nervous and had a bunch of uncertainty as I didn’t really know what to expect working at HYC as I had never heard of it before till this programme. Not knowing what the work culture would be like, whether the team working here would be extremely strict or extremely intimidating however to my surprise, the team at HYC offered a tremendous amount of help and support towards every single one of us. They were quite open and willing to go the extra mile to help us out even if we did something wrong, there would always be someone there to help ensure that things are done smoothly. Thanks to the amazing culture and values fostered by the HYC team, my schoolmates and I became quite comfortable working in a new environment.
Being a student intern at HYC, it has given me plenty of opportunities to grow as a person and build up my confidence level as well as fostering a stronger friendship with my peers. It has also allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and helped me persevere through the difficult situations I faced on a daily basis. For example, I didn’t really know what to expect when I first heard that we were supposed to do pilates together as a team as I had never done it before and I’m not really that flexible. But with the enormous amount of motivation and support, I managed to step out of my comfort zone and eventually completed the whole session without giving up and was even one of the first few to be upside down.
One of my favourite moments interning at HYC was definitely the days where we had to come together as a team to create contents for HYC Instagram account. This experience allowed me to build up some new friendships, life skills and most importantly teamwork along the way. This was a much needed bonding experience. It was definitely a fun experience being a “part time content creator” as we got to come together to brainstorm, edit and create it together as a team. Beside creating content , we were involved in putting up specific items needed for the HYC event , moving furniture around and even facilitating the HYC challenge which was made by us.
Throughout the whole student internship experience, I got to know the HYC team better as well as my teammates. It was a fun and fulfilling experience even if we had to come back on the weekend to work. The team working at HYC were truly welcoming and open which influenced me to be more extroverted and open and most importantly be myself when I’m in front of others .
Last but definitely not least the food at HYC is amazing. Even though it’s meat free and vegetarian , the food doesn’t taste as bad as i thought. In fact , it’s even more delicious than the food outside of HYC. If I were to recommend a few foods to try, I would definitely choose the broccoli and mushroom pizza from the Real Food and the soft boiled eggs from Slow Bakes. It’s been an amazing experience being a student intern at HYC and my schoolmates and I hope to have more opportunities to come back even as volunteers to help out. Tolong ah.
This blog is by a student from Naval Base Secondary School in collaboration with the Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre for the World of Work Programme, which enables students to shadow professionals and acquire practical work experience.
Writer: Ruiting