Excellent in service.

This morning I read the wise words of King Solomon in Proverbs 22 and 23. It was very coincidental that today’s reading reminded me so much what happened these past two weeks of very intense renovation and upgrading works in the school .

He who has a generous eye will be blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor.

When I read this, I thought of Suntrack Development Sdn Bhd. This company has generously contributed more than RM 30K this year to SMK Convent Sentul through fully sponsoring the newly built drains, awnings, repairs of the cement floors in 6 classes and many other sundry repairs in our school. They definitely have a generous eye towards our school and while we are not able to financially bless them yet, God has blessed this company. How so??
.

Yesterday in the Star Metro, I saw Suntrack Development Sdn Bhd being highlighted for their five-star award during the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2011 in association with Bloomberg Television. Their award was in the category of Best Development – Multiple units in Malaysia for their current project on Summerglades at Perdana Lakeview West, Cyberjaya. The award was presented at a high profile gala to

at a presentation dinner at the Longemont Hotel, Shanghai on May 31st 2011

The handsome young man in the picture receiving the award in Shanghai is none other than Mr. James Tan, the Project Director of Suntrack, whom I had mentioned in earlier blogs. He has sweated much as he walked about Convent Sentul countless times to evaluate and plan about what could be done to improve the school. Shortly after he returned from Shanghai, he again came to the school to personally check on the progress of the work and the quality of the upgrading.

Similarly I am very impressed by the same commitment of excellence and leadership seen in the chairman of our board of Governors,Mr Lee Geok Ai. Often, unbeknown to me and others in the school, this quiet gentleman would come to the school to check on what needs to be done and how he can improve the school.

Last Tuesday in the late evening, Mr Lee dropped in to check on the progress of the upgrading works. He checked the paintings and then follow-up with coordinating with the both internal and external paint contractors to ensure the quality of the paint jobs. His comment led the painters to use this interesting gadget- the protimeter.

It has two little electrodes. We placed the two electrodes in the newly painted white base coat of the school walls to check on the moisture content. The little green light indicates moisture content at the value of 8 in the green zone. The green zone indicates the moisture content is low enough and good to begin painting the next coat. I had a bit of fun when the painter planted the electrodes into his bare skin and immediately the reading shot up to the red zone because our body has very high moisture content.

Mr. Lee checked the drains, the ceilings, the awnings etc. He saw things I didn’t see – the plumbing that needed to be done. On Friday evening, he sent two plumbers to the school and they immediately replaced a faulty sink at the canteen. Can you see the price tag on the newly purchased sink still sticking out from the hose? The two plumbers also promptly repaired the double sinks at the back of the KH workshop as well as the leaking storage tanks above the toilets.

How blessed we are to have Mr. Lee Geok Ai’s faithful and quiet service, his generosity and his sure leadership in the Board of Governors in SMK Convent Sentul

When I see both James and Mr Lee’s commitment and excellence to their work both professionally and also in charitable causes like our school, another verse in Proverbs 22 comes to mind.

Do you see a man who excels in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before unknown men.

Teachers and students, the main reason why I write this is to inspire and to remind you to grow up to become five star ***** men and women of quality, of commitment and excellence to tackle whatsoever jobs you are assigned to do. Your work for men and for God should commensurate with the level of five-stars awards. It really doesn’t matter if the job has payment like, for your salary or whether it is for charity. You should NOT do one any less professionally as the other. If you want to stand before kings, let your work be five stars quality.

This one thing I know with great surety.

God is a very good accountant and a very good paymaster! He owes no man anything!!

I have so often experienced how God has paid me very well for service and love I rendered, way beyond whatever I have ever put in. So ..... be excellent in your service!!! Aim for five-stars awards *****

In the midst of changes

Coming to school each day of this holidays has been quite exciting! Why? I never quite know what changes to expect after one night's lapse.

There are now 5 teams of guys at work in the school simultaneously The drains team, the awning team, the internal painting team, the ceiling team and lastly the external painting team.

The drains team have almost finished their work. The heavy downpour yesterday was a good test to the drainage system. There are still some issues to be addressed but overall the flooding problem looks resolved.

The awnings team is in the midst of fixing the metal frames. The transparent rain shelters near the canteen walkway is up and looks good.

We debated for a while whether to do up the ceilings fo the ERT and GK room. The ceilings were made up of small wooden panels. Each time someone walked upstairs, a layer of dust would seep through the small holes in the joints betwee the wooden panels and descend on the students and teachers below. If we were to postpone this, we would have to wait till next year to do anything here because it would be difficult to find willing workers during the Raya hols. After that during the next hols, the SPM would be on during the year end examinations and we needed the school to be quiet during the exam period. So we decided we would do it immediately.

However we are really glad we made that decision. The ceiling team for the ERT and the GK's rooms were the most impressive! They came and took measurements. Then with a team of 3 workers and supervisor, they worked all day till 9+ pm one night and transformed the ceilings above. My office staff were really impressed at the transformation once the ceilings were in place. It look very neat and it was done very quickly.






After the ceiling team were done with the rooms, the internal painting team came and changed the colour from green to paint.

On the next post, we will report the progress of the painting of the external facade.

Change in the midst of changes.

Men at work while you holiday

On regular school days, SMK Convent Sentul is usually filled with female sounds and sightings except for our 4 gentlemen teachers and En Najib, En Maran and our guards. This holiday, the scenario is quite reversed.

Here we have Agus and his team - 2 guys and 2 ladies working on the drains. The entire team looks very fit physically and would do any gym instructor proud for their work is their work out area. Each morning, they start work quite early and work very quietly and independently.

We were surprised by the mountain load of things that preceded the arrival of the workers. Bricks, sand, cement, drains, pipes etc. We females have little inkling of the labour and the materials required in building new drain outlets.

The pipes and the drain covers.







First the digging. They enlarged the drain pool near the toilets and dug the passage for the new drain all the way to the main culvert.

Was this neccasary? Very much. I have taken plenty of photos and videos during rainstorms personally. I know this area floods very quickly when it rains heavily and for the safety of the students and the school, this is very neccasary.

Thank you Suntrack Development Sdn Bhd. Thank you, James Tan who visited Convent Sentul many times and sweated as he walked through all the areas where we have problems. James studied the actual locations and thought through how to solve the problems faced by the school. James and his team, Shawn and Drain Ah Soh and gang and now Agus and gang made sure the new drains became a reality for the safety of the students.

For the information of the students, parents and teachers and other interested parties, Suntrack sponsored fully every part of the drain project as well as the awning project and the repairs on the cement floor of the classrooms. Thank you Suntrack. May God's blessings rain richly on you James and on Suntrack Development Sdn Bhd.

The enlarged drain pool and the drain bottom covers.

Agus and team had good ideas - this must been prompted by Shawn, their supervisor. They filled the low lying field next to the KH block with the sand from the dug outs. This low lying field often resembles a swimming pool during heavy rain - it literally fills up with water since the water flow used to be not as efficient as it should be.















Laying the drain covers in.

Patching the cement floors in the classrooms. Can you see the size of the holes? Can you imagine how many times people must have stumbled over these holes?
Thank God they are now being filled.

Another team of 6 painters superivised by Mr Yai worked on the interior of the classrooms. They painted first the ceiling and then the walls changed from a dull green to a cheery pink.

See the transformation!

The yellow noticeboards and doors will be painted brown.

This major painting project of 22 rooms ( 18 classrooms plus the interior of our main entry to the office and the bilik GK and the Home Science Room) is made possible by the efforts of Mr Lee Geok Ai, the Chairman of the Board of Govenors of SMK Convent Sentul.
 Mr Lee initiated and made sure that the project of beautifying the interior of the classrooms was carried out so that students could have a conducive environment to study in. Mr Lee took the project all the way from the first step of suggesting it to making sure it will be completed in time before the new school term begins.  Mr. Lee also enlisted the contribution of a very kind donor Dato' Ng Hook of Engtex Group for sponsoring all paints needed for the 22 rooms from Jotun. Mr Lee also motivated several parents of Form 1 and Form 2 students to help pay for some part of  the labour charges whilst he covered the balance of all remaining cost of this project. He also helped the school coordinate the work through Mr Yai that all this would happen during the 2 weeks holiday in May. Thank you Mr Lee, Dato' Ng Hook and parents for your contributions.

This 2 week holiday period is very crucial to us in school. The next holiday will be in September during the Raya break where it will be hard to find workers to work and after that, the next holiday will be the year-end holiday and renovation works of any sort will disturb the concentration of the SPM students. So both James Tan and Mr Lee made it their priority to get materials and workers to work on the school during this crucial window period.
See the transformation-before and after.






















.We trust that students and teachers will know how to treasure all the upgrading efforts paid for by our generous sponsors.

The latticed door - nicely painted

Students and teachers, just as the school is being upgraded at considerable efforts and cost, we must respond by upgrading ourselves in skills, competency and in our integrity so that the beauty of our souls can match the beauty of our classrooms. Just as James and Mr Lee made it their priority to do the projects according to the school holiday, we must also learn to reschedule our lives and its activities according to the right timing. When we respond correctly, God will know how to add more blessings into our lives.

We will post the more of the school's transformation on the next post.

Exciting things are coming up for the school!

Teachers' Day Celebration Gift Galore.

The teachers were feted with many gifts - edible and non edible. See this yummy cupcake but it's too beautiful for us to destroy it by eating.

We had special beautiful printed note books from the prefects and files from the PRS .

En Subramaniam generously gave each teacher a pink cap and he also gave each student a white cap. We will give the white caps to the students during Sports Day.

Many of the gifts were hand made by the students apart from the cupcake. They baked muffins. We also had pillow cases and the Kelab Guru gave us a very creative sewing kit. PIBG was also very generous in sponsoring gifts for every teacher.

This lovely card inspire me to go on working for the school and reminds of the impact we as teachers have in the hearts of our students.

The prefects gave us yellow carnations and red and yellow roses were given also by the students. The flowers are still very fresh a day after the celebrations. Their lingering perfume reminds me of how much you have honored and loved the teachers. Thank you

Teachers' Day Celebration in SMK Convent Sentul

The prefects and many other girls had worked on the decorations the night before under the superb leadership of Pn Mastura and the Prefectorial Board. They worked till 10.45 pm . Such dedication! Such love. Thank you.

The result of their hard work? Very very beautiful twin strands of yellow gold and brown balloons which looked like it was set up by paid professionals but ahem ... I am very proud to report what I found most professional was that this beautiful decor showed the inner beauty of the hearts of the students - their beautiful attitudes of the students in wanting to honor their teachers.

Can I say a few words about

Pn Mastura here? Her dedication and love for the school is awesome! Pn Mastura has been serving in Convent Sentul for the past 22 years! She is the head discipline teacher and she knows how to be firm while being gentle. She is also an excellent BM teacher. The students and teachers totally respect her which is why they willingly worked till 10.45 pm to make sure all was complete and set up for Teachers' Day celebration.

What a glorious day! Even the heavy downpour at 8.20 am did not dampen the mood of the students. Although the students sitting arrangement had to be rearranged, the students were creatively displaced from their usual sitting area.

Now they filled the upper balconies from the lab all around the assembly area to the Form 4 block.

Each student had a bird eye view of the celebration. The rain has forced us to re-think again and given us fresh new ideas . We may use this arrangement next time even when there is no rain because simply more students get a better view.











Apart from the impressive twin balloons strands, the prefects set up a beautiful balloon arch complete with bridal veil. As the MC announced the arrival of each teacher, the prefect escorted the teacher like a pengantin (bride) under the beautiful balloon arch with its bridal veil down the stairs lit with candles to their seat. The choir sang out the reason for the glowing candles. "Guru anda pelita hidup ku."

Such honor! Such pomp.The teachers giggled and laughed and said that even the teachers who were not married yet had now experienced what a bride would experienced on her wedding day. We also had a colour theme as in most Malay weddings. All the teachers wore yellow gold and brown.

Smiling under the balloon bridal arch with 5A girls.

I said this during my speech and I want to say this again.

In my 31 years of teaching and celebrating Teachers' Day, I have not seen such a lavish display of affection, love and honor for teachers! SMK Convent Sentul - You are the BEST! Other schools - don't be jealous, ok?



The performance started with the beautiful Malay dance.

Oh the very energetic Indian dance was not to be missed. You have to be there to catch the energy and their vibrancy. Alternatively, view the video to catch the girls' very flexible hip swaying movements.

The beautiful Chinese ribbon dance. Even though the wet ground made it somewhat difficult for the dancers to move their wet ribbons, these young Chinese dancers were still very pretty to watch.

While the performance was going on in the assembly area, there was a lot of side action - like this one where the students gathered arround their teachers En Lim and Cik Fauziah and had lots of fun photography.

The afternoon teachers performed song and dance with the song " Oh Carol, I am but a fool" We really enjoyed their number.




Of course, the morning teachers were not to be outdone! Ms Ainil led the morning teachers to perform a modern Malay dance. The morning teachers look absolutely stylish in their dark sun glasses and very upbeat dance movements ! Betul betul bergaya.

The play which had En Mazwan and our coy Cik Fauziah enacting a dating scene had us in stitches .


The Form Five students came and performed the beautiful Java dance.

I say this prophetically! With the great pool of creative feminine talents here in SMK Convent Sentul. I think many of our girls will marry very well in the future and become Datin and Datin Seri eventually. Datin Cheam who was an ex Convent Sentul girl and has now returned to serve her alma mater is a fine example of this.

The last item. Our young prefects dressed beautifully in colourful Indian costumes complete with scarves gave us a lovely dance.

The teachers were feted with many gifts. I think I will post the gifts galore on a next blog post. There are just too many photos to post on one single blog.

What touched my heart was a giant Teacher's Day card created by by Ilayavashini Subramaniam from 1C dedicated to all the teachers of SMK Convent Sentul.

Pn Siti Syaheedah proudly shows off the front panel of this card. Ilaya painstakingly pasted shiny white pearls on to flower petals to make this giant heart on the beautiful card.






When we turned the pages, we found more pages decorated with poems and many words to encourage to go on as teachers.

I think the celebration has been a most wonderful event. I am sure, Pn Rose Saidah the YDP PIBG and En Tarmiezi the NYDP PIBG who both graciously attended the event enjoyed it as much as we did.

On behalf of the teachers in SMK Convent Sentul, I would like to say a big thank you to all the students. Thank you girls, thank you prefects for organizing the event, thank you Pn Mastura for your leadership in supervising the girls, thank you parents for your support. Thank you PIBG for your presence and your financial support.

Sounds of happy laughter in SMK Convent Sentul.

Today if you had been in SMK Convent Sentul, you would have heard sounds of happy laughter and whoops and cheers! The sounds of happy laughter is really therapeutic! The reason behind the laughter? Oh we had 1M1S - 1 Murid 1 Sukan games after the Mid year exam for Form 1,2,3 and 4.

Kepik Kacang game. See the happy faces behind as they see their member successfully pick the bean using a pair of chopsticks and drop the bean ( kacang) after carrying it from table 1 to table 2 and then dropping it into the cup.The Form 5 heard the fun but couldn't joined in as the Bahasa Tamil and Bahasa Cina papers were on for a few students but some Form 5 who were not involved in the exam helped out as games coordinators.

You may think it is easy to pick up the bean but I was mobbed by this group of Indian girls who couldn't pick up the bean using the chop sticks. They asked me to demonstrate how to hold the chopsticks - of course it was more or less second nature to a Chinese but this game is good for RIMUP. ( Rancangan Integrasi Murid Untuk Perpaduan or ala 1Malaysia style games)

I can pick up the bean now! No problem! Next time I can eat Chinese food using chopsticks! See this happy Indian girl smile confidently as she showed off how esaily she holds the bean with the pair of chopsticks!

We used every nook and corner to play the games. Indoor and outdoor games were held. See the girls enjoying hockey and rushing for the ball with their hockey sticks.

Nearby other groups played volleyball. Some students confessed it was the first time they held a volleyball.

What drew a lot of laughter was the Sukaneka - telematch games. The guard told me he laughed till he was sakit perut. ( stomach pain)

Jumping the hurdles! Watch me lift and take off!

From jumping hurdles to bursting balloons. The students and teachers who planned this sukaneka track were definitely very creative! Bravo!

Hey! Why can't I burst this balloon? Oh come balloon! I am sitting on you but you are not bursting still!

Shrieks of laughter elapse each time the balloon burst.

This is so funny! I can't stop laughing! Haha!

Watch me bowl in style! Guess what my ten pins are? Bottles filled with sand!

When you are hot and thirsty - head for the Gatorade stall. They give free drinks . Thanks Gatorade!

Your drink is delicious and healthy and best of all it's free!

Happy cheerleaders! Come on , come up keep running!

Inside the classroom - dart players concentrate and throw their darts. The whole class would cheer when one of the darts reached the target! Bull's eye! This happened very now and then. That's what I meant by the sounds of happy laughter!










Another part of the Sukaneka race. throwing the ball into the laundry basket! Bingo! Haha! My ball went in!

So many games were played. From the senamrobics to volleyball to hockey to futsal and netball cum bola baling to modified bowling and darts and kepik kacang and sukaneka!

Wow! I am very sure the many smiles and sounds of happy laughter, the healthy flushed faces were the just rewards for all the Koko (Co curriculum) teachers and students helpers headed by Datin Cheam and aided by Pn Rubiah!

They really worked very hard - from the creative and technical planning to executing all the logistics. Their hard work has made this first time 1M1S event a great success for SMK Convent Sentul! Thank you, students helpers, teachers, Datin Cheam and Pn Rubiah.
And thank you God. Today the weather was perfect - not one drop of rain. Keep smiling!