S1 Charity Battle

Clarice Wang and Kee Fay Chen-June (S1S)

As the coronavirus brings us into unprecedented territories, many events have been cancelled or altered. SIS has cancelled Sports Day, modified End-of-Year Exams, and applied a full make-over to the timetable. Probably one of the only events to remain unscathed is the annual S1 Charity Batte.

During home-based learning, we each created a presentation to advertise a chosen charity and presented it in front of the class (or rather in front of our Zoom-enabled computers). We would then vote on the most persuasive presentation to represent our class in the grade-level finals. The craftsmanship on display was stunning – from immaculate hand-drawn posters to highly-edited videos; it was a tough choice, and I am sure that we would have all advanced more than two advertisements per class if allowed. At least a week of hard work was put in for the final battle, whether it be the teachers preparing the final presentation slides, or the students endlessly rehearsing their scripts.

In the last week of school, we sat in the gymnasium, waiting with hushed voices in anticipation of what splendid presentations the other classes had concocted. We were all very open to the variety of charities being presented and were receptive of the idea that we were not voting for our friends, but the best-represented charity.

After an hour of talk, and ten minutes of quiet contemplation, the Clean Air Network charity prevailed, garnering a whopping 35% of votes. With everybody donating ten dollars to Clean Air Network, we managed to raise nearly 2000 dollars. It is immensely gratifying that even during this uncertain coronavirus period, we can still provide a little bit of stability to Clean Air Network, the air quality in Hong Kong, and, by extension, the wider community.