SHINE Youth Festival Bash

On the 27th of July, I was invited to attend the SHINE Youth Festival held at Universal Studios Singapore.

SHINE Youth Festival: http://shine.nyc.sg/ 

In case you needed some refresher , the COSMO Youth parade and Cosplay ambassadors were organised by SHINE which is part of the National Youth Council. 

And for the last 8 years, every July is a month dedicated to the youths in Singapore.

With a multitude of Youth centric events, campaigns and movements organised in the entire month to inspire youths to make a positive impact and spur on Youth-for-youth action. To encourage youths to step out and lead projects that showcase their contribution to the wider community.

Isn’t that an awesome ?

Below was the line up of the day.

The event was graced by Guest of Honour, Mr Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Chairman of the National Youth Council.

I’ve been to the Universal Studios Singapore twice in the past 2 month but this was the first time I managed to catch the fireworks!

Was also the first time I managed to take a photo with the USS Characters xD Don’t mind my dorky face here lol. I also managed to take a photo with Marilyn Monroe!

The event stage takes place at the New York Street area. See that stage there that is a mock up of an American Library? Doesn’t that makes you want to cosplay FullMetal Alchemist there >.<?????? 

The event begun with an inspiring speech by the guest of honour who shared his visions and plans for Singapore Youths moving forward. And then, in line with the theme of the festival, he urged everyone to light up ourselves to be beacons for others and suddenly, the wrist bangle each of us were given as proof of admission started to LIGHT UP!

“When your powers combine, I am CAPTAIN PLANET!”  LOL

Then the event kick started with a line of performances by the Rockafellas and Show Choir Academy.

Betty Boop even joined us at the audience seats for a while xD

The event wraps up the entire campaign with the SHINE Award. The nominees are youths from all across the spectrum that have lived an encouraging and positive life .

What the Shine Youth Festival and being a Star of SHINE means.

To be honest, I've never really understood the purpose of these youth events. I only know that every year, in the month of July, the National Youth Council would organise a COSMO Youth Parade. They invite popular foreign cosplayers to interact with the community here and gives Cosplayers a chance to showcase their craft. To me, it was just another event.

I guess I kinda just never bothered myself with understanding it. What do you mean by #FreeYourYou ? What do you mean to encourage youths? encourage them to act on their passion? Isn’t that so….abstract?

Isn’t that a little unrealistic and even a  little hypocritical to say amidst competitive Singapore?

The whole concept just didn’t come to me until I was back home with my goodies bag. I started to flip through the booklets and understood what this initiative and effort was all about.

As dumb as I’m going to sound, this is indeed an initiative to encourage youths to pursue their passion, to step out, lead and make a positive impact to the wider community.

Above are some pictures of a few of the STARS OF SHINE nominees. For the full list of inspiring role models, click here.

I only realise this when I flipped through this booklet and got to know more about the nominees. Each and everyone of them with an inspiring story of perseverance and selflessness to share.

You know, we live in a cruel world that is hauntingly beautiful, fragile yet strong. While I don’t think I’m qualified enough to talk about misfortunes, I would be pretty upset if anyone labels me oblivious to that. With every bad experience I encounter, I learn to treasure the good things I experience and the good people I meet. When I was young, I envisioned everyone to be full of good spirits, but as I grew up, I learnt that people are different and not everyone is as selfless and helpful as we want them to be. Most people have an agenda, be it good or bad.

Henceforth, it was very heart warming to see a group of Singaporean youths opting to take on the role of leading by example to start positive influence on their community. It also made me understood more about myself and proved to me that it is never wrong to be ‘good’ regardless of what some people might say. 

Some times I think our society and the media has morphed the definition of what is ‘good’ and ‘right’, making it even harder to be righteous and chivalrous in our generation. But I guess ‘hard’ shouldn’t be an excuse =)

Do you feel inspired to make a positive difference yet? While making a big difference like the SHINE Nominees are definitely not easy, let’s all start small. By giving your neighbour a friendly smile the next time you meet at the corridor, waiting patiently in line for your turn, giving up your seats to others who need it more and spread a bit of encouragement to whoever that needs it.