By Yap Ming Cheng (18S06H), Chairperson
Have you ever been wrong and right at the same time? Welcome to the Economics and Current Affairs Society.
Jokingly referred to as the only field in which two people can get a Nobel Prize for saying exactly the opposite thing, Economics has constantly seen this phenomenon, such as the 2013 Nobel Prize for Economics, which was jointly awarded to Robert J. Shiller and Eugene F. Fama, along with a third economist Lars Peter Hansens. Shiller and Fama are proponents of diametrically opposing theories about the rationality of financial markets, while Hansens’ views lie somewhere in-between.
But fret not if you have not been following Economics, we also cater to your GP needs interests in world happenings…
Every week, members get into groups to share more about a topic with anything from presentations, to interesting clips, to jeopardy-style quizzes and games, and even field trips. We serve as a ‘mug’ club collective of individuals that are interested in both world issues and economic phenomena.
If you have a fear of presenting in front of large crowds, fear not because RECAS is a close-knit community with strong camaraderie between its members.
Our CCA also aims to nurture a keen interest in economics and current affairs beyond our CCA and to the larger Raffles population. If you are bursting with opinions about some of the happenings in the world today, we offer a platform through our weekly Instagram posts (@underthemacroscope) for you to share them.
In addition, we also have weekly posts on our website (Check it out at https://recasutm.wordpress.com!) that covers major topics for GP such as Science and Technology (you’ll be free to choose the topics and presentation format) amongst others as well as interesting economic happenings and their implications on us as global citizens!
RECAS goes beyond the purview of intra-school events. We as a CCA have arrived on the national stage having taken part in various competitions, including the Economics Society of Singapore Essay Competition (2nd Prize), the NUS Chancellor’s Challenge Shield (Champion), the NTU Current Affairs Competition (3rd place) and the NUS National Economics and Finance Management Quiz. Being a member of RECAS provides you with the opportunity to represent the CCA (and the school) in many competitions, allowing you to further hone your passion for world affairs and develop an inquisitive mind, and meet like-minded peers from other schools as well!
For those of you with a big heart, we also have service initiatives, most notably, the Human Library, where we seek to open conversations about marginalized groups within the greater society.
Last but not least, for school enthusiasts, we are also frequently organising events for the larger school community, ranging from Open Sessions, to even an entire week dedicated to making Economics and Current Affairs more accessible and interesting to the entire school. (as well as welfare initiatives include a post-competition celebratory CCA sessions, and our annual club camp – featuring amazing races, war simulations (think behavioural economics) among many other exciting activities.
Being a student-directed CCA, all of our sessions and activities are planned and executed by our own members and this would give you, should you join RECAS, the opportunity to develop and structure your own curriculum and the flexibility to freely explore what you are interested in.
Lastly, for the nitty-gritty details: CCA sessions are held weekly on Wednesdays starting from 2.15 pm until about 3.30 pm depending on how long the presentations and discussions are.
With that, we eagerly anticipate you joining us, and hope you Realise this Enormous Chance to Achieve Success!
