By Tristan Lim (20S03E), Vice-Chairperson, Jayden Kim (20S03N), Treasurer, and John Wong (20S03E), Special Projects

Success in life doesn’t come without blood, sweat, and tears. Here at the Raffles Society of Biological Sciences (BioSoc), we give you just that! Blood from animal dissections, sweat from exciting field trips, and tears of joy from all the fun and games!

BioSoc caters to the diverse interests of budding biologists, ranging from zoology and botany to medical biology. We are an interest-based club looking to uncover more about biology beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Your journey, if you choose to join us, kicks off with a CCA camp to welcome new members into the BioSoc family. You will enjoy the company of a close-knit group of biology enthusiasts, all while being immersed in biology-related bonding activities and nature walks.

Want to take a break from mundane school life and immerse yourself in nature? We conduct field trips to the many green spaces sprawled across our Garden City, such as the Botanic Gardens, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, MacRitchie Reservoir, and even Chek Jawa. If the outdoors are not for you, we also conduct field trips to museums, including the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. Besides getting a chance to relax and bond with your friends after a long day, you can also pick up some fun facts about our native flora and fauna along the way.

Do you miss learning about plant and animal systems? (Yes, these are no longer covered in the A-level Biology syllabus.) We engage in hands-on activities that are sure to revitalise your interest in the natural world. You can look forward to animal dissections, insect catching, fruit tasting, and gardening. For aspiring doctors, we offer you opportunities to learn more about human anatomy at the NUS Anatomy Museum and hone your practical skills through animal dissections.

CCA sessions are not like Bio lectures where you will (most certainly) be bored to sleep. Instead, we promise a fun experience enriched with Kahoot quizzes, team game shows, and even a pub quiz! While biology knowledge and practical skills are the pragmatic benefits you will get out of BioSoc, what indubitably makes BioSoc worthwhile are the deep friendships forged with other like-minded peers!

There may, of course, be some of you who want to take your passion for life sciences beyond JC, but don’t know how to proceed. To help you out, we organise sharing sessions where we invite seniors, doctors, and other biology-related professionals to expose you to potential career paths. Not to mention our beloved teachers-in-charge, who have have unique experiences with nature: Mrs Khoo is a walking plant encyclopaedia, while Mr Prab spent the early years of his career catching stray animals. Their expertise in animals and plants are sure to make for interesting life stories! This will hopefully help to guide any future aspirations in biology you may have.

Always eager to try new things, we are constantly in search of opportunities to make BioSoc more interesting for our members. Recently, we collaborated with Alchemy Club to organise our very own Team Raffles Games, which saw houses going head-to-head in an attempt to outwit their opponents in a bio-chem quiz. Additionally, we organise unique VIA opportunities such as weeding at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for members to give back to the community.

If all these still do not interest you, fret not! As a student-planned and student-run CCA, sessions are tailored to the interests of each batch. You will get the chance to vote on the topics to be covered over the course of the year. In fact, you could even  volunteer to conduct a session and expose other members to your niche areas of interest.

Unlike most other CCAs, sessions are held just once a week on Thursdays from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. This frees you up to pursue other interests whilst delving into the fascinating world of biology. Regardless of subject combination, we welcome everyone with open arms; we even have Physics and Further Maths students in our midst! Being an interest-based club, no prerequisites are required, except for an open mind and a passion for the life sciences.

If our varied programmes and tailored content have piqued your interest, BioSoc is the perfect place for you. We look forward to welcoming you into our BioSoc family!