251011 – Civet Diet Talk at Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary)
Nearly 3 months ago, at the same time when my talk at Raffles Institution was fixed, I was invited to give a talk at my Alma Mata Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) on their Research Showcase Day 25 Oct 2011. This was not like the other 4 talks that I have given because I was specifically requested to share more of my research experience such as the challenges that I faced and how I overcame them. The objective would be to enthuse the girls and make them interested in research which they will be given an opportunity to explore as they proceed to upper secondary.
Time flew past and as I returned from my trip to Indonesia, I began to prepare myself mentally as it would be my first time speaking to a large audience in an assembly hall. Also, I reorganised my slides with some advice from Siva and added in photos of my project which I thought may interest the 14 and 15 year old girls. Weiting has kindly lent me her slides which I used to introduce the common palm civet and her research work to the students while Marcus has kindly sent me some photos which I used to introduce other zoological explorations in Singapore.
This is the kind of talk that will make you excited but at the same time, lose sleep over (I really did not sleep much the night before).
On the actual day, I travelled to RGS armed with two honours posters, Weiting’s and mine. It felt great to be back and Ms Tan Beng Chiak was really kind to set up the remote control upon my request. Soon it was my turn to speak and I spoke! The girls responded to the little tip that Ron gave me after our civet recce the night before and the talk went well! I was really happy when I heard all the exclaims and discussions after the girls saw the different forms and colours that a civet poop may be.
Giving my talk to an audience of 800 RGS girls!
Common palm civet – the last wild native urban carnivore
Its research showcase day + house t shirt wearing day!
It was really an honour to be invited back to give this talk. I had a really great time and hope that the girls had learnt something new and maybe a few of them would go into mammal research and biodiversity conservation in future! A few girls came to talk to me after my talk! =)
Thank you Mr Joseph Toh and Ms Tan Beng Chiak for the kind hospitality and it was nice meeting Mr Lim Cheng Puay!
