The MOOvement is a part of the ACSians In Action (AIA) overseas service project programme. Led by team leaders Jason Pan and Spencer Loh, the MOOvement will work with beneficiaries at the Bina Putra orphanage in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The team will travel to Yogyakarta from 26 November to 1 December to conduct activities such as English lessons and games, with the donation of two cows to the orphanage from funds raised prior to departure.

 

The AIA programme is platform that provides the opportunity for students to take up an overseas service project for an international beneficiary. Piloting in 2018, AIA is one of the ways our school, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), is expanding their community engagement programmes in a way that uniquely allows students “a greater voice and ownership”.

 

By nature a largely student-initiated project, the goals of the AIA are dual-pronged. First, it aims to nurture students in accordance with the school’s purpose to be “catalysts for change, for God and humanity” through the transformative nature of service to all involved. Second, as part of the Creativity, Action, and Service (CAS) requirements of each IB student, the AIA is designed to inculcate within each student the developmental aims of CAS.

 

CAS is one of three core components of the IBDP, which enables students to counterbalance the academic pressures as well as to achieve intra and interpersonal development. CAS aims to:

 

     1. Increase student awareness of their strengths and areas for growth:

Students learn to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, and plan how they can develop their strengths and improve on areas for growth.

 

     2. Undertake new challenges:

In the course of preparing for and during the trip, students learn from undertaking new challenges when opportunities arise.

 

     3. Plan and initiate activities:

Students learn to plan and initiate activities for the fund-raising projects and service component of the trip.

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     4. Work collaboratively with others:

Students learn to collaborate with fellow students when planning and carrying out the activities before and during the trip.

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     5. Learn perseverance and commitment:

Students build resilience as they manage problems that arise in the course of their activities.

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     6. Engage with issues of global importance:

Students engage with issues of global importance as they carry out their service activities during the trip.

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     7. Consider the ethical implications of actions:

Students give due consideration to their actions in the projects embarked on.

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     8. Develop new skills:

Students learn new skills or develop their expertise as they undertake the new challenges.

 

(Source: School’s AIA Letter to Parents, 15 May 2018)

 

In this way, the AIA achieves one of the key objectives of the IBDP, to “develop international-minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.” (Source: IB Learner Profile Booklet, March 2006).