Hwa Chongians take a breather on Outdoor Education Day 2025

Written by: Tsai Enn Nor Angelina 25S72 

Edited by: Gilbert Goh Jian Tian 25S6C

On 25 July, Hwa Chong held our biannual HOME@CT 2025, affectionately known by students as OE day (Outdoor Education Day). HOME is an acronym which stands for Heartland, Optimism, Meaning and Engagement. 

Organised by Outdoor Education Student Council (OESC) in collaboration with the PE department, OE day aims to encourage students to explore the great outdoors, but at a deeper level, aims to instill the value of servant leadership to students as well as the spirit of an autonomous learner. In line with SG60, OE day also brought out the tenacious youth spirit in all Hwa Chongians. For many students, OE day serves as a much-needed respite from the hectic school life, and promotes bonding within the classes. 

All college students were involved and split based on faculties to cover various natural locations in Singapore, including Mandai Boardwalk, Sentosa, Southern Islands and more. Athena was allocated to the South, Ares to the North, Artemis to the East and Apollo to the West. This delegation of areas allowed students to split up and work together to explore the whole of Singapore. In the early hours of the day, many classes engaged in nature walks followed by activities such as picnics and frisbee, which served as valuable bonding time between classmates.

 This was a rare opportunity for students to bond with one another as a whole class, and get to know each other better. Furthermore, some lucky classes were able to explore certain “off-road” locations such as the Southern Islands, which required the presence of an OESC member in the class due to safety concerns.

My class went to the Mandai boardwalk and blazed the 4km nature trail. Although the weather was hot, it felt nice taking a break from school and just heading out to have fun. A friend told me, “I’d rather be here than be in class, it feels so much better.” True to that, OE not only served its purpose to allow students to get closer to nature, but also acted as a form of relaxation from the hectic week.