YOUNG ANIMATORS SHOW GRATITUDE FOR PIONEERS

You might have been to Aljunied MRT station or Boon Keng MRT station, but did you know that these are named after pioneers who helped to make Singapore what it is today?

Thanks to an animation clip produced by a group of four students from Singapore Chinese Girls' School (SCGS), more Singaporeans will know more about them.

Their one-minute clip titled The Pioneer Connection tells the story of, among other pioneers, Mr Lim Boon Keng, the philanthropist who founded SCGS to provide education for girls.

The video was one of the top 10 clips showcased at the N.E.mation! Downtown Picnic held on 17 Jan at the National Library.

The public screening marked the start of voting for the animation competition organised by Nexus, the central coordinating agency for National Education.

Team member Sarah Mok, 13, said her team, the Chunky Monkeys, wanted to pay tribute to the pioneer generation through their video.

"We hope the younger generations can understand the importance of these pioneers, like our school founder, Mr Lim Boon Keng, to the development of early Singapore," she said.

The theme of gratitude and appreciation dominates this year's N.E.mation. Nine of 10 teams injected these elements into their clips.

For team E-lemonators! from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School, they wanted to spread the message that youngsters can contribute just like what the pioneer generation had done.

Their video A Nation in Sync shows how four girls - representing each of them - do acts of kindness such as giving up seats for the needy or buying food for the poor.

The soundtrack of their video is a mix of four National Day Songs: Will You; Song for Singapore, Stand up for Singapore and Home.

The team hoped the lyrics, such as "Believe in yourself, you've got something to share" would challenge youngsters to continue the work of the pioneers.

"The pioneer generation, such as the Samsui women, had done a lot. But (today), many of us don't know how we can contribute to Singapore," said team member Sabrina Low, 14.

"Through the video, we want to spread the message that the younger generations can start by paying it forward, through simple acts of kindness."

Another team from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School chose to show their appreciation to the men and women in uniform.

To produce the animation titled Thank You SAF, the team Millennium Dragons made a huge 3D pop-up book measuring 1.5m by 1m. With every flip of a page, a model of a different military asset would pop up.

Team member Siow An Qi, 14, said their inspiration came from a daily gratitude writing exercise done in school.

She explained: "We have to write a gratitude note each day in school to show appreciation for people around us. So we thought of doing the same to show gratitude of the people who protects our country."

She added: "It is timely since this year is the 50th anniversary of the founding of SAF (Singapore Armed Forces).

Visit https://nemation.sg/ to watch the clips and cast your votes. Voting closes on 9 Feb.