ServICE- You are missing out!!

Trust me when I say you’re missing out.

One of the highlights of 2018 was the ServICE conference held at ASB from 16-18th November. The name itself may not sound intriguing or inviting, but this event is more than just any day spent doing service. It’s a beautiful student-led experience encouraging students from international schools all over Thailand to Inspire, Connect and Empower each other to improve our community.

Parts of the conference:

Simulations
Ice Breakers
“How-to” sessions
SPARK sessions
NGO/ community fairs
Keynote presentations
Unconferenced sessions
BYB trips

This year, students from grade 6, 9 and 10 who attended had the honor of missing a school day (best part), and mainly spending their weekend meeting some extremely talented and ambitious students. The BYB trips covered the service aspect, simulations introduced global issues by putting us in the shoes of those affected, Ice-breakers initiated friendships and the various sessions/ presentations opened opportunities for students from different schools to collaborate or even inspired them to start their own projects.

My experience and highlights: the quantity of students attending made my second conference just as nerve racking as the first one. But simply stepping out of your comfort zone and engaging with students from other schools makes it a very friendly environment in only 15 minutes! ServICE gave me the opportunity to meet up with old friends and create new ones who empowered me to step up and speak on stage. It’s not an easy job speaking in front of 200-300 people when half of them are your seniors… But at the end of the day- nothing beats the satisfaction of contributing to your society.

My inspiration: “There is always more fun in giving than there is in getting”

But don’t let the word “conference” scare you away…here are some fun moments of ServICE 2018!

More Student Experiences:

Karisha:

“The highlight of my weekend was the BYB trip as we actually took initiative and contributed to our society. Overall the event and my weekend was very inspirational and motivating as we were able to acquire ideas from other schools and bring it into our school.”

Idea & Kym:

This being their first year, Idea and Kym were extremely involved from not only engaging with students in higher grades but also getting up on stage and speaking! “Starting earlier is better so we can start up a greater project and instead of only listening, even share our ideas next time”.

Iq:

“We met people who want to make a change in the community which is the best part. These people are naturally friendly and caring which made the overall experience very chill and inspiring.”

Pat & Preah:

“For us the BY trips were the most fun part because we actually interacted with people in our community through those. ServICE is inspirational because you get to see the potential students our age have and what they do with it. Also lastly it is not formal!…It is inspiring but in a very casual and fun way.”