Exploring Leadership Excellence at the Hwa Chong Student Leaders Summit 2025

Written by: Ng Qian Yi, Assistant Organising Secretary, 4i2

On behalf of the Organising Team of HCSLS

The Hwa Chong Student Leaders’ Summit (HCSLS) was a three-day event held from 20 to 22 May 2025, organised by Hwa Chong Institution and co-facilitated by Nanyang Girls’ High School. This summit succeeds the distinguished and longstanding traditions of the Student Leaders’ Convention (SLC) and the Hwa Chong Model ASEAN Summit (HCMAS), combining their strengths into a holistic, impactful leadership experience for student leaders from Singapore and around the world.

The theme of this year’s summit, “Empathy: Appreciating Perspectives,” reflected the need for understanding amidst evolving geopolitical dynamics and increased stakeholder tensions. Delegates were challenged to reflect, adapt, and respond with collective resolve. Through collaborative discussions across five domains — equitable education, youth empowerment, climate action, culture, and technology — our student leaders engaged in meaningful collaboration on global issues to explore how they could positively influence and impact these critical topics. The summit empowered delegates to leverage their unique viewpoints, collaborate across differences, and cultivate empathy.

This year, we welcomed 209 participants into our HCSLS family from Singapore, Australia, India, China, Hong Kong SAR, New Zealand, and Indonesia, representing 28 distinguished schools — 10 international and 18 local institutions. The Summit was coordinated by a dedicated Organising Team of 35 Hwa Chong students, supported by 50 facilitators from both Hwa Chong Institution and Nanyang Girls’ High School.

We were very honoured to have Mr Choi Shing Kwok, Director and CEO of the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies (ISEAS), serve as our Guest of Honour to grace the summit. At HCSLS, we believe that positive change is driven by proactive engagement and effective advocacy by youths, for youths. By nurturing a spirit of collaboration, we remain steadfast in our commitment to Inspire, Innovate and Impact, in alignment with our core values. On behalf of the 1st HCSLS Organising Team, we look forward to witnessing future iterations of HCSLS soaring to even greater heights, where challenges will be transformed into opportunities through the synthesis of global perspectives and the pursuit of innovation.

We hope that prospective delegates will embrace this spirit of championing impactful and sustainable change.