Theme: Intentions

Student speakers will address the central idea of 'Intentions' in their speeches. Some have chosen a Theory of Knowledge context, some have science and culture as their context, and others the creativity of the Arts - music, dance and literature. Our guest speaker is a Singaporean writer of poetry and short stories who employs setting and characterisation particular to Singapore in her work. The event is held in the school Black Box Theatre which can seat 130. The event is therefore open to the Overseas Family School students, their parents, staff members and their guests.

Overseas Family School
81 Pasir Ris Heights
Singapore, North East, 519292
Singapore

Adithi Rajesh

The Intention of Movement

Adithi Rajesh was born in India and has grown up in different parts of India, Malaysia, and Singapore. She has been an avid reader, enthusiastic artist, and problem solver but most importantly a committed Bharathanatyam dancer. She is also interested in pursuing a future in STEM and has received multiple awards from Olympiads such as UKMT, SKMC, and ASSET. Her involvement and leadership across many school clubs such as Red Cross, Peer Tutoring, and Dance have given her community certifications for leadership. She has extended her dance journey and completed her Bharathanatyam Arangetram certification in 2022. She hopes to continue dancing and share awareness of the importance of dance in leading a balanced and successful life.

Ann Ang Su Lee

Listening to Fire: My Story as a Writer

As a writer, Ann Ang is best known for Bang My Car (2012), a Singlish-English collection of short stories and her first collection of poetry, Burning Walls for Paper Spirits (2021). Ann is also an editor of literary anthologies, including Food Republic (2020) and Here was Once the Sea: An Anthology of Southeast Asian Eco-Writing (2023), and is one of the founding editors of the Journal of Practice, Research & Tangential Activities (PR&TA), a journal of creative praxis in Southeast Asia. She is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.

Charvi Pitambare

Intentions vs Actions: Dictator of Morality

Charvi Pitambare was born in the USA in 2008 and moved to Singapore in 2011. Despite this internationalism, Charvi has kept close to her Indian heritage and culture. Since she was young, she has loved to perform on stage, and still loves to go on stage to this day. The first time she spoke on a proper stage, she was a young 1st grader, making a speech in Mandarin for an inter-school competition. The ability to speak in a different language on stage really boosted her stage confidence, and led her to make speeches alongside those much older than herself. Recently, a lot of her speeches have come in the form of MUN conferences, and she is a proud supporter of the MUNOFS program. It is because of MUN that she's begun to find wonder in global issues, and gain wider perspectives through discussing these issues with her peers as they all represent different nations.

Jaanya Garg

The Impact of Robotics in Everyday Life

Jaanya Garg was born in India and has spent the majority of her life there. She is 15 years old and has been in Singapore for 5 years. Her parents have an enormous positive influence on her and always support her in all her decisions. They taught her the value of hard work and the skill to believe in oneself. She has been interested in sports ever since she was little; however, tennis is the one she gets excited about the most. She is either running, playing tennis or listening to music when she isn’t studying. She is also extroverted and loves going out with all her friends. She hasn’t always been comfortable being on platforms to express herself nevertheless she takes any opportunity to challenge herself and improve on this skill. Jaanya’s relatives love doing charity work and so she has also been involved in different types of social work. She is extremely passionate about economics, especially the logistics and reasoning behind inequality.

Siya Saraf

Is it All True In Altruism?

Siya Saraf is from India, but was born and raised in Singapore. She is 17 years old and has always been in the spotlight, in front of an audience because she has a strong interest in theater, dancing, and the performing arts in general. She has taken part in a number of school productions and has always been active in the theater community. She has a strong love for global issues and giving others a voice. Examples of her volunteer work include women's shelters, ODA in Cambodia, and the Riding For the Disabled Association in Singapore. Because of all the volunteer work she has done, she has been forced to think critically about the value of altruism and the consequences of her actions. This has led her to engage in TEDx and ask the question, "Is it all true in altruism?"

Smita Menon

How Music in Movies Changes You

Smita Menon was born in India and was raised there until she moved to Singapore at age 7. She has been singing for as long as she can remember and loves to perform when given the opportunity. Having actively participated in the school choir, musical productions, and orchestra since elementary school, one look at her will tell you that she loves the stage. But she also loves the work of the set and prop designers, being an artist herself. She hopes to pursue a career in creative advertising and marketing to ensure that her creative spirit finds a place in today's world. Smita appreciates all forms of art and understands the level of effort put into putting on productions, planning to perform, and even enjoys photography and editing her own videos. The arts play a key role in who Smita Menon is, and she hopes that audiences everywhere are able to share her love for creativity in her speech, "The Impact of Music."

Tanisha Madan Prabhu

In-tension

Tanisha is from India and has grown up primarily in Singapore. She speaks five languages, loves to travel, dabbles in filmmaking and is an avid cricket fan- although not a player. As the film stock of “high school” runs out, Tanisha is one of the many students beginning to feel stressed about what is to come in the sequel to school life. However, she believes that no matter how many googlies the world bowls at her, she can score runs in her own way, and at her own pace. In this talk she invites anybody “in-tension” to rethink their intentions.

Yilang Yan

Why you should learn your Ethnolect

Yilang was born in China and spent 15 years living in the south-eastern coastal city of Xiamen before relocating to his current residence in Singapore. He is enthusiastic about bass playing, having formed a Rock Band with his peers and delivered an outstanding performance at the OFS Battle of the Bands 2023 where he received the award for the most outstanding bass guitarist. He also actively serves the school community as one of the house captains. When he moved from China to Singapore two years ago, the linguistic diversity of Singapore made him realize the importance of language preservation and its close link to cultural diversity, which inspired him to undertake the learning of his dialect, Hokkien, and he’s trying to persuade others to do so too.