My Journey as a Patrol Leader

 About 9 months ago, I was announced as the Patrol Leader of Catfish patrol as well as the chairman of the unit. As soon as I saw the message that stated that I was the chairman, my mind was filled with many thoughts and emotions. I was happy but nervous. I was happy because I managed to become a Patrol Leader, which was something I wanted since I was a young scout because I was inspired by my seniors. At the same time, I felt very nervous as being elected as the chairman, I had to carry more responsibilities than my peers.

As a Patrol Leader, I had to look out for my patrol often, ensuring that they are all doing fine and I did this by checking in with them once in a while and also hosting some games such as skribbl.io with them. In addition, as the troop's chairman, I was the bridge of communication between the teachers, adult leaders, and the PLC. Not only did I have to oversee the entire unit in terms of progress, but I must also ensure that we were punctual in terms of submitting our training plans for our weekly training and must also ensure that my PLC is doing well.

With that,  came the first of many problems I faced as a chairman. The first problem that I realized that my PLC had was the lack of teamwork. When we had our first PLC session, only 4 out of the 10 of us showed up and this really gave me a shock and demoralized me. Due to the lack of teamwork, we were not able to think of an engaging activity to do for our online training. As such, I had the help of my Rover and Sir as they gave me advice on how to deal with this kind of problem. After a conversation I had with them, I realized that I needed to really connect with my other PLC members and change my way of getting things done so that they could be motivated to come for these sessions.

 From July to September, things started to get more difficult for me as I had to constantly think of newer things to do for our weekly online meetings while being able to concentrate and cope with the increasing number of assignments and tests coming from all teachers. Not only that, I had to stay back in school till 5pm for a whole week due to NDP. There were times where my workload became so much to the point where I would doubt myself of being a chairman. I would imagine what things would be like if I was not given this role. However, with the encouragement given by my Sec 4 ventures and the support I had from my PLC in the form of them taking more initiative to suggest more ideas, I persisted and managed to go through the rest of the year with my PLC. 

Looking back, if there is one word that I could use to describe my journey as a Patrol Leader, it would be fulfilling. Although there was an insane amount of challenges that I went through with my fellow Patrol Leaders, I managed to learn many things from these failures and successes. Today, as I slowly step into venturing I can safely say that I would not forget all the skills I have learned as a Patrol Leader and a chairman. With that said, I would like to thank my fellow Patrol Leaders, Asvind, Gabriel, Sherwin, and Lian Ying for always being there during tough times and I would like to thank my senior Ventures, Rovers, and Adult Leaders for guiding me during uncertain times.

People I'm grateful for