As RVRC celebrates its 10th anniversary, this year’s symposium held on 24 February emphasized the college’s forward-looking mission of fostering sustainability education and workplace readiness. The theme “Living and Learning for a Shared Future: The RVRC Way” encapsulated the college’s adoption of experiential learning pedagogies and a belief in the world as a classroom. With esteemed guests from NUS Residential Colleges and RVRC’s internal and external partners such as Kayakasia, NParks, NTUC, NYC and more, this fulfilling event displayed the indomitable RVRC kampung spirit that has strongly developed through living and learning together as a College. As mentioned by A/P Sim Tick Ngee in his opening address, the RV10 Symposium highlighted how learning at the college transcends the confines of the classroom and the immediacy of the present, towards a contribution to the future of our society and the environment.
RVRC is proud to share the success of its first student led symposium, which integrated panel discussions, oral presentations, and poster sessions, among other interactive features, displaying the best of student and alumni achievements. The opening segments of the symposium highlighted the unique opportunities embedded in the RVRC living-learning experience that students have embraced in order to explore their interests, while cultivating curiosity and stewardship. Similar to previous RVRC Symposiums, the event was an avenue for students from RVRC as well as other NUS Residential Colleges, Faculties and IHLs to engage with one another and forge new ties. It also provided a platform for the 145 attendees - students, educators and community partners, to network, reflect and learn from one another on topics related to sustainability and workplace readiness.
For Jason Qiu, RVRC Senior and the Symposium Chair, it was “the insightful questions posed during presentations along with the meaningful tea break discussions” that showcased the value of the engagement for the RVRC community and “truly represented the living and learning spirit that the college embodies”. Symposium Co-Chair Khin Hnin Su added that planning the RV10 Symposium was “a truly rewarding experience despite the setbacks and challenges faced in curating a student-led and thematically novel programme for the event, vastly different from previous years. Seeing everyone engaging, networking, and learning from one another showed that the event was a success.”
The symposium began with an opening address by the Guest of Honour Dr. Adrian Loo. This was followed by the keynote address by RVRC Alumnus Mr. Victor Zhu who is the CEO and Founder of the social enterprise Hatch. Jeong Youngkyu, one of the student presenters, shared that “the most memorable part of the symposium was the keynote speech by our Alumnus, Victor, who adopted an impressive forward-thinking approach to his career that began during his college days and materialized into reality even before he graduated from RVRC.”
The unique highlight of the programme were the three concurrent Thematic Threads named “Edu-venture”, “Adventure” and “Venturing Beyond”, showcasing student achievements and learning. Alumni and current RVRC students presented deeply reflective and inspiring experiences that encouraged them to tackle complex sustainability issues by acquiring diverse capabilities, participating in meaningful growth opportunities, and driving the implementation of novel ideas during and beyond their time at the College. Encapsulated by the Symposium theme, ‘Living and Learning for a shared future’, students also discussed how the tight-knit and caring community of RVRC enabled them to cultivate the values of stewardship of our society and environmental issues.
Thread 1 - Edu-venture, encompassed two integrated projects named Gaia and Iris, aimed at discovering how RVRC fosters a learning ecosystem that scales impact on societal and environmental issues. With Project Gaia focusing on food sustainability and security at varying scales, and Project Iris tackling inequality within Singapore, students presented on how their projects enabled them to better achieve a demonstrable impact on identified issues in the real-world. Featuring six different projects selected from the RVRC academic curriculum, their respective out-of-classroom learning and work with external partners highlighted RVRC’s commitment to providing students with engagement opportunities to broaden horizons and diversify skills.
Thread 2- Adventure showcased the importance and impact of diverse co-curricular and student life activities at RVRC that enable students to boldly, yet, curiously, pursue their passion, explore new interests, and connect with like-minded members in the broader university community. The student panel explained how the college provides a customised platform for nurturing and fostering soft skills within the RVRC experience through organizing and participating in impactful sustainability and community-centric initiatives. From participation in signature college activities such as Kayak and Clean and Walk for Rice, student-led tree planting and marine debris cleanup, to student interest group community service and peer support initiatives, many have acquired and honed important soft skills such as leadership, teamwork, and empathy, among other skills.
Lastly, Thread 3 - Venturing Beyond, invited RVRC alumni Qi Herng Kong, Wan Qing Yeoh, Vania Xu, Wan Ting Chan, Pranav Kalra and Amira Rafi to share how their learning extended meaningfully beyond the college curriculum and their formal university education. The panel delved into what inspired them into initiating lasting environmental and societal change creatively and innovatively through diverse entrepreneurial, exemplifying the impact of the RVRC living-learning experience. Several attendees shared how they walked away from participating in this panel with their ‘inspiration banks full of ideas about how to pursue their own dreams’.
We would like to thank the RVRC Symposium 2024 student organizing committee: Khin Hnin Su, Jason Qiu, Lim Yi Kai, Zhang Xiangyu Oliver, Kenji Wijaya, and Chye Yi De for planning this event, supported by RVRC Fellows Ms. Sadaf Ansari, Mr. Lim Cheng Puay, Dr. Corrine Ong and Ms. Hafsah Begum. We look forward to seeing you at the RVRC Symposium 2025 next year!
