Building Each Other Up at UNIYte 2016

A total of 126 guests comprising University-YMCA NUS, NTU, SMU members, executive committee members, parents, school staff and YMCA staff came together for UNIYte 2016, University-YMCA’s Annual General Meeting on 16 January at the YMCA of Singapore. The Annual General Meeting is a time for members to come together to be aligned with the club’s direction for the new year as they move ahead, united in purpose and mission. Mr Chew Kwee San, President of YMCA of Singapore and Mr Teo Zi-Ming, Chairman of YMCA’s Youth and Volunteer Development Committee graced the occasion.

The theme for UNIYte and Uni-Y 2016 is “Building Each Other Up.”

Founded in 2005, University-YMCA (Uni-Y) Singapore is the university service club of YMCA of Singapore with the aim to develop and empower youth to be servant leaders who impact local and international communities. They fulfil their mission through community service and social enterprise programmes, and delivery of personal and leadership development programmes to holistically nurture its members and volunteers.

In his opening address, Mr Teo Zi-Ming who is also founder of the Uni-Y movement, shared that he was very pleased to see how far all three student chapters have come. He said, “Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that Uni-Y would one day become a movement with almost 300 new members every year in three universities, winning multiple awards at the university, national as well as the regional level.” He added, “But while we would never have foreseen how Uni-Y would be, back in 2005, what we understood was the potential of youth, if harnessed, could impact the world in positive ways. What we knew was that we wanted to groom servant leaders – not to promote just any brand of leadership that leadership gurus and top corporate management brass would espouse today, but leadership that embodies Compassion, Honesty, Accountability, Respect and Excellence.”

Ms Chen Siru, the outgoing Chairperson of Council of Uni-Y 2015 and President of Uni-Y SMU gave a testimony of her volunteering journey with Uni-Y. She was thankful for her peers who served alongside her in the executive committee and was proud to have “run a good race because of the support given by the Uni-Y family.” She added, “My call to action in 2015 was for everyone to be fearless and create an infinite impact. Today, I am extremely grateful that all of us have served fearlessly to the best of our abilities. My experience in Uni-Y has bettered me, and many others seated here, to be more ready facing future challenges. Being an executive committee member, seeds have been sown in you for greater things. May you continue to serve, be it in Uni-Y or elsewhere, and grow these seeds.”

All Uni-Y Executive Committee 2015 members were recognised for their contributions to the success of Uni-Y in the past year and received certificates of appreciation from Mr Chew Kwee San and Mr Teo Zi-Ming.

Another highlight of UNIYte included an award presentation to two Uni-Y NUS and four Uni-Y SMU members for completing the Uni-Y Community Champions Programme. The Programme is a year-long endeavour which sees participants embarking on a journey of advocating change through research and development and personal development, with both local and overseas exposure.

In addition, there was also a recital of the Uni-Y pledge led by Mr Tan Jing Qun, the incoming President of Uni-Y NUS, and Chairman of Council of Uni-Y 2016. The pledge signified the importance of the 2016 executive committee members and leaders of the clubs. Before the event concluded, the outgoing 2015 Presidents from all three chapters handed over the reins of each club to the incoming Presidents by passing on an encased plaque which represented the continuation Uni-Y’s work – to develop and empower youth to be servant leaders who impact local and international communities. In addition, the incoming Presidents also received their letters of appointment from Mr Teo.

Guests were each given a puzzle piece where they went on stage to form a Uni-Y collage, which also signified a commitment to build each other up in the year ahead.