By Alena Siaw (24S030), Calyss Ng (24S01A), Iman Talia (24S03E), and Michelle Lee (24S01A)
Day 1
The sun rose over the RI campus skyline, heralding the dawn of a new chapter in the lives of RI’s newest additions: the batch of 2025. Amidst the palpable anticipation and nervous excitement, the J1s streamed into the hall, their eyes eagerly scanning the bustling crowd. Orientation Group Leaders (OGLs) raised their self-decorated signboards, creating a sea of colours — red for Moor-Tarbet, green for Buckle-Buckley, yellow for Bayley-Waddle, blue for Morrison-Richardson and purple for Hadley-Hullett — to welcome the newest members of the Raffles Junior College family.
Orientation’24 commenced with the five houses being introduced as tribes that lived on the Frostbite Isles – an eerie and dangerous archipelago. With chief Wayne’s arduous efforts to integrate the tribes, the mountains of the isles came crashing down, revealing the North Star – Polaris – which they decided to follow. However, Wayne went missing, and the tribes blamed each other for his demise. Each tribe set out to build the strongest ship, sabotaging each other in the process. Surely leaving the island and finding Wayne first would ensure the survival of their tribe, or so they thought…
The inauguration of Polaris 2024 was accompanied with a time-honoured, iconic OGL dance that infused the atmosphere with infectious energy and spirit: the sun dance! As the rhythmic beats of music filled the air, councillors and OGLs took it to the centre stage as their movements synchronised in a choreographed display of exuberance. Shortly after, the OGLs guided the OGLings to their designated venues for the myriad of orientation events that awaited them.
The councillors and OGLs kicked off Team Raffles Hour with a resounding roar of school cheers which the J1s quickly learned during the Cheering Session. The voices of the tribes could be heard all around the school and even felt within one’s bones. Little effort was needed for the OGLings to memorise the cheers: they laid the foundation for future powerful chants during match support and rousing shouts to end school events.
Concurrently, the tribes started their day by picking up a precious Ori souvenir: the Batch Dance. What started off as an awkward jumble of movements to the beat of Best Song Ever by One Direction and Shut Up and Dance by WALK THE MOON developed into a choreography that sparked fits of laughter and spirited shimmying.
Dance partners practised to execute pair movements in sync, but mistakes were never a reason for frustration. Every slip and fumble was heartily laughed off and bonds were made ever stronger through learning the movements together. OGLings could genuinely get their energy flowing during the Dance Practice session, preparing them for the most exhilarating segment of Polaris Day 1.
The Day the Mountains Crumbled
When disaster struck, the OGLings needed to navigate through the icy mountains in a bid to make peace with the factions on the other side. To escape the brittle ice beneath them, the Intra-OG games commenced. Nautical Navigations presented a formidable challenge, with its 8 by 8 grid and strict rule permitting only one OGLing on the maze at any given time. In two separate groups, OGs had to navigate through an icy mountain, woven with brittle pieces of ice that would crumble if stepped on.
It was a game of chance with only one correct path for each group, and the remaining OGLings had to memorise the route taken to safely get across the mountain as an entire OG. The goal was simple: to achieve the shortest time possible in completing this task to accumulate the highest house points which would (hopefully) contribute to their triumph as ultimate champions of Orientation.
Day 2
The second day of Orientation began with the return of the House Captains: Gan Kah Shuen (MT), Isabel Sze (BB), Judy Chua (HH), Lin Zheng Thing (MR) and Ryan Soon (BW) from their scouting missions—but without the Student Council president, Wayne. They revealed that Wayne went missing on their scouting mission, and started blaming each other for his demise. Amidst the thickening tensions, it was a clear race to the top: which tribe would be able to gather the most materials to build a ship and locate the missing president?
Shut up and Dance!
First up on their mission was dance practice: soon, one dance pair from each OG would be selected to represent their OG in the intra-tribe dance off. The OGlings worked hard to commit brand new dance moves to memory, while polishing the parts they had learnt the day before.
The whole hall came together in crowds of green, yellow, purple-black, blue and red! It was so heartwarming to see the OGLings dancing the batch dance really enthusiastically!
Carol Sheng, Dance Comm IC
Lost in the Labyrinth
Next, the year 5s explored the Leafy Labyrinth, an original escape room jointly organised by the Student Council and Raffles Archives and Museum (RAM) club. Classrooms were scattered with elaborate clues and puzzles centred around the school’s long history. Just some of the puzzles involved mathematical problems, a wordle-inspired number puzzle, and riddles, among others.
After their successful escape (or merciful release, with the help of the game staff guiding light of Polaris), the OGLings moved to the amphitheatre for their first War Game— Pirate Plunder! Finally, they were out of the dark, gloomy forests of the Frostbite Isles. In this segment, OGs of different tribes competed against one another by hitting balloons of their tribe colour into the other tribes’ zones.
Apart from the balloon team which defended the tribe zone from other balloons, the trivia and challenge teams worked hard to gain balloons of their tribe colour to use to attack other tribes. OGLings worked hard together against other tribes for tribe points and bragging rights! As only half the OG would play at each time, the amphitheatre was filled with enthusiastic cheers from each OG cheering their OG mates on with house cheers and original OG cheers.
May I Have This Dance?
As they neared the end of Day 2 of orientation, the seafarers headed to their respective House Hours for the anticipated intra tribe dance-off. Based on the dance-off, each tribe would select a pair to represent the tribe in the inter-tribe dance off during the finale, where the chosen pairs would show off their moves to the entire cohort. Each pair showcased their unique freestyle moves, and left us anticipating eagerly for the final dance off on the last day.
Before the day ended, all students gathered to witness their house standings for the day: coming in first was BW, followed by HH, MR, BB, and MT. Each house had begun its own journey in search for the president, and they knew not what lay in store for them in the harsh seas.
Day 3
Over the past two days, the OGLings had already forged strong bonds among each other through various activities, and it was now time for one of the most intense games: Maritime Mayhem.
The rules were simple: to build a ship that wouldn’t be brought down by the other teams, and to attack other ships.
This game brought out the most house spirit and I was very heartened to see the oglings working together to come up with new strategies.
Neha Raja Raman, 24A01D
At the same time, other OGs were tasked with completing several challenges, from recreating a movie scene to doing viral dances. OGlings eagerly volunteered to take the lead, hoping to get more House points to place their Houses at the top. There was even more enthusiasm when it came to House Hour, with every OG building mascots in the hope that they would be picked to represent their House at the inter-house mascot competition later.
Energy only got higher as the finale proceeded to the next segment – the final inter-house dance off. Dance has always been one of the biggest parts of Orientation, with OGlings practising several hours over the past two days to the tunes of Best Song Ever and Shut Up and Dance.
The nerves that they may have felt on Day 1 were gone as representatives from each House took the stage with their brightest smiles, replicating the choreography perfectly while also adding self-choreographed moves like handshakes with their partners.
A special video montage captured the many different moments of fun, joy, and laughter during the dance practices. Whether it was the OGLings learning a dance move, practising with their partners, or even performing with their OGLs, their mass dance became one of the hallmarks of their orientation experience. It was closed off with a surprise performance by the Student Council dance committee, which had many OGLings cheering loudly for the councillors who had taught them the mass dance over the past three days.
Inter-House Champions
After that, it was time for the most anticipated moment of the day: the revealing of House standings. The past two days had been a tense race for House points, with the rankings changing daily. Every House had a shot at first place, and only today’s challenges stood in their way to be House Champions.
For the fashion show, Morrison-Richardson came in first place, followed by Bayley-Waddle and Buckle-Buckley in second and third. In the dance segment, Bayley-Waddle’s dancers had taken the crown, with Buckle-Buckley and Morrison-Richarson tight on their heels. It was impossible to predict who would win.
When the winner was finally announced, the deafening cheers of Moor-Tarbet filled the hall. The past two days had been a rollercoaster for them, from getting 1st on Day 1 to dropping all the way to 5th. However, they had now emerged victorious as this year’s Orientation Champions. OGLings could be seen standing to hug each other in joy and pride for their house, and gave it their all as their captain led them in the Moor-Tarbet cheer.
And in a heartening show of sportsmanship, the other houses could be seen clapping for Moor-Tarbet, their spirits still high. After all, the key purpose of Orientation wasn’t just the inter-house competition, but to forge bonds in the new batch that would last them throughout their time at Raffles.
Before you are sorted into your classes, Ori gives you an opportunity to meet and bond with different people from different backgrounds, CCAS, intended subject combination and interests, and I think looking back, the friends I made during Ori are my biggest takeaway from the event!
Jisoo, MR01/25S03B
Goodbye, Polaris!
There was a bittersweet feeling in the air as the Student Council led the OGLings and OGLs in school cheers, and performed their Mass Dance and Sun Dance for the last time.
In their journey to search for Polaris, the Seafarers had learnt that every faction and tribe was incomplete without the other, and only through working together could all five Houses overcome the challenges that came their way.
While Orientation may have come to an end, their journey was only just beginning.
