12th KL Company’s Inaugural Leadership Retreat

Report by Lance Corporal Tan Wen Jie, Michael of 12^th Kuala Lumpur. Photos courtesy of Corporal Jack Lim Kuan Wei

Day 1, Friday 1^st November 2013

The retreat began after school hours at around 3.30 in the afternoon. Part of the leadership committee was not present at the start of this camp due to various reasons. It began with a brief praise and worship session by Lance Corporal Brendan Eu. Soon after the captain, Mr. Nicholas Yeap, conducted a briefing about the expectations during and after the retreat. The members present during this briefing would afterwards pass the message to the others who are joining in at a later time.

Soon after, rest and shower time was quickly followed by dinner. Many campers joined the retreat at this time after returning from their school educational excursion. Another praise and worship was conducted before the first highlight of the camp - the SWOT Analysis. All camp participants had to identify their personal strengths and weaknesses, while finding opportunities to serve and discovering threats to the company. I would say it was time well spent.

Next on the activities list is “Outlook 2014”, where participants form groups of 2 with different ages, rank and strength before suggesting ideas and generating plans for the upcoming year. The various plans were presented to the other campers and officers before supper and vesper ended the day.

Day 2, Saturday 2^nd November 2013

It was rise and shine at 6 in the morning but many opted to wake earlier to polish their uniform parts. By 7 o’clock the participants were in Blue and ready to have a hearty breakfast followed by the preparation of the opening parade for the week’s meeting. Some members who did not participate in the camp came to attend this parade which included the usual Opening Parade, Praise and Worship, Announcements, The Word (Devotion), Badgework, Drill and Closing Parade.

The leadership retreat then continued with the facelift of the new Anchor Room. After an hour and a half of planning, discussing and putting our thoughts into action, the anchor room was refurnished and in a better condition than before. After that, Mr. Andrew Tan presented the 12^th Kuala Lumpur Standard Operation Procedure of year 2014. This SOP includes the procedures of the Praise and Worship, Awards and Badgework Application, Attendance and other important aspects in the smooth running of the company, all which would be implemented the following year. Soon, we attended a brief session to choose one of the departments, namely Praise & Worship, Sports & Games, Drill, Membership, Juniors, Media Team, Special Events, Christian Education and Awards that we are interested to serve in the following year. After that, it was time for the campers to freshen up before a mystery session, known to us as only “Mission Impossible”.

The leadership committee set out to the destination by cars after Mr. Nicholas Yeap gave us a briefing. When we were about to reach the destination, only then Recruit Sriram Ajith Nair, realised that his family had planned a secret open house together with Mr. Yeap to welcome us and celebrate Deepavali with them. It was a surprise indeed!

Ajith’s family greeted and welcomed us with open hearts. We sat down and had a chat with his family before some of us participated in the tradition of lighting up the lamps. Snacks and traditional delicacies such as roti canai and thosai were served soon after as we enjoyed an evening with his family. We were truly grateful and thankful for such an invitation. The committee then headed to RiverCity located along Jalan Ipoh to plan the events for year 2014 in the departments that we chose to serve in. We selected and proposed a nearby KFC restaurant as our place of discussion. Then, we departed for school before supper, vesper and a good night’s sleep. 

Day 3, Sunday 3^rd November 2013

The last day was all about the layout plan for the following year. After breakfast, a session of Praise and Worship was followed by Lieutenant Andrew’s devotion. The members grouped all they planned yesterday in their respective departments before sharing it to the rest of the leadership committee. Then, we did a black and white project containing what we had presented earlier. The  Boys soon packed up and cleaned the dorms and toilets, and later proceeded with lunch. The next session was by Mr. Sanjay Sasietharan, about the recently established 12^th Kuala Lumpur Company website. He mentioned about a few secret website pages, which is only reserved for the leadership committee.

For the final session, captain put every single plan and proposal of special events into the 12^th KL BB calendar for the year 2014. After making amendments due to public holidays or clashes with other events, the calendar was finally complete. We were to share our thoughts on the camp and what we have learnt throughout it. The usual group photo was added to our memorabilia, followed by the closing parade to put the denouement to the retreat.