As the junior membership arm of NTUC, the nEbO youth movement recently held its Spirit of Youth Awards 2013 on 13 April 2013 at the Red Dot Museum to honour 12 teams and individuals who have made significant contributions to society.
Guest-of-Honour NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say noted that the nEbO community was a community with a good head and good heart; a good head to do well for the society and a good heart to do good for the society. He also praised the movement for successfully engaging its members meaningfully, nurturing and supporting active, responsible youths who contribute to society.
Winning the Initiatives of Extraordinaire Team Award was a group of 11 nEbO champions from different schools called Living On the Very Edge (L.O.V.E.) led by chairperson Kelly Cheng. Their aim is to encourage youths and the public to spare a thought for the less fortunate.
Kelly shared that the reason she and her collaborators started the movement was because they wanted to do their part as youths to help the less fortunate. “We don’t have the financial means, so through this movement we actually hope to help people like us to help the less fortunate,” said Kelly.
L.O.V.E. is currently in the midst of raising funds for the Singapore Red Cross Society and Family Life Centre by selling about 60,000 orange wristbands inscribed with the tagline ‘Living On the Very Edge’. The movement started in August 2012 with a three-day camp which allowed participants an experience of how the less fortunate live their lives and also activities that encourage teamwork and life skills.
One of the three winners of the Excel individual award, Yvonne Yap currently pursues a degree in the National University of Singapore (NUS). The determined and driven youth joined nEbO in 2011 due to her interest in entrepreneurship. She became the Programmes Head for the Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium in 2012 where she had the opportunity to gather millionaires from all over Singapore to dialogue and speak with youths in Singapore.
Her eloquence also earned her a chance to be selected to be one of three speakers at the inaugural Labour Movement Youth Community National Day Observance Ceremony 2012. “It was really a great honour to be selected. But the greater honour was even being part of it, where you could hear the other two speakers who are my seniors talk about their experiences which is very varied,” shared Yvonne. She shared that her win came as a surprise, “because there are many, many great youth out there who have done a lot and I feel very honoured to be selected out of all of them.”
NTUC Alignment Director (nEbO) Lim Eng Lee shared that as a community for the youth, members play an important part in the success of nEbO. “Hence, the awards serve to acknowledge the efforts of our youths, motivate those who have done well and create role models to encourage others,” said Mr Lim. He added: “As they continue to grow with us and serve the community, we want to develop their potential and successfully groom future leaders who contribute back to society.”
