CCA Fair 2023

 On 6 January 2023, Southern Cross Scouts held its annual CCA Fair. This year, we were finally able to hold our CCA fair in the parade square after a 2 year hiatus due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

We started of our CCA Fair preparations during the December Holidays and held meetings amongst the Secondary 3 and 4 Scouts and discussed on what to build and showcase during our CCA fair that can intrigue the new Secondary 1 students. After much discussion, we decided that we would be building a simple gateway, flag pole and 3 camp gadgets, camp table, clothesline and garbage bag holder. Alongside with it, we also showcased Southern Cross's achievements such as the Frank Cooper Sands Award and National Patrol Camp Awards, as well as the different kind of scout scarves and badges from all around the world.

                                                     our badges, scarves and souvenirs booth 

However, on the day of the CCA Fair itself, we were released late from the Catholic Mass that the whole school had to attend and had only 30mins to prepare to prepare our booths, build flag pole and gateway as well as setting up the fire for the outdoor cooking station. Amidst these challenges, it did not stop us from working hard and preparing what we need for our CCA fair. We managed to set up all the booths except for the gateway and flagpole due to time constraint, we quickly improvised and built 2 tripods, both 3m away from each other to make it look like a gateway.

                                                                    our tripod structure 

When the Secondary 1 students came to our booth, they were surprisingly interested in what we do in scouts. I gave a short introduction of scouting and core scouting activities and soon after, questions from the Secondary 1 students started pouring in. The most frequently asked questions were what each of the proficiency badges were and how to attain it. We split the class into half, the first half of the class was to visit the booths, tent and camp gadgets while the second half of the class visited the outdoor cooking station. The outdoor cooking station was the highlight of the CCA fair as we cooked sausages and roasted marshmallows right in front of them. Seeing the Secondary 1 students enjoying themselves at this booth also put a smile on our faces.

Reyes posing with the fire

S1's at the outdoor cooking booth

A S3 scout introducing scouting to the S1's

All in all, this year's CCA Fair is definitely my most memorable one in my 4 years of scouting in Southern Cross as my batch mates and I were able to organise and execute the plan by ourselves without the help of our seniors. I would also like to thank all of my batch mates and secondary 3 juniors for coming to help out and even skipping their lunch due to time constraints and putting their utmost hard work in delivering their best for the CCA Fair.

An example for our CCA fair document