Assessment Course for Air Scouts Wing Class I and II
On 17 September 2020, 30 Scout members from St Joseph’s Private School’s 56th Group of Kuching District participated in the Air Scout assessment course held in Sarawak for the Air Scouts Wing Class I and II. They were the first-ever batch of Air Scout members in Sarawak to sit for the assessment. The excitement of everyone could be felt in the atmosphere as they looked forward to the knowledge and skills that they would be gaining that day.
The first session began at 8:30 am in the school’s lecture room while complying with the school’s SOP with Mr Jerome Lim giving a presentation on basic knowledge of types of aircraft, the parts of an aeroplane and its functions and the main layout of an airport. Most of the information that was presented to the members were new to them and everyone paid full attention to be able to absorb the knowledge given to them.
After Mr Jerome’s presentation, Mr Tay Wei Wei (Air Scouts Headquarter Commissioner of Sarawak) gave a briefing on the importance of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) before giving every participant an assessment by asking them to draw out a labelled diagram of the parts of an aeroplane, the groundwork of an airport with its main necessities, and the types of clouds that form in the sky. All of this was to gauge how much the participants understood the course and to make sure that they would not easily forget the knowledge that was given to them. The highest score for the assessment was a grand total of 96%.
The Scouts were also given a lecture from Captain Zainuddin (Chief State Scouts Commissioner of Sarawak) on the importance of the structure of an aeroplane and how to understand Morse code as it is the main code that is used when a pilot flies an aircraft. He then gave them a small test to translate some Morse code to see if the participants could understand basic Morse. Suffice to say, some Scouts have a talent for Morse coding as some of them managed to fully translate all the words that were given to them without fail. Captain Zainuddin also shared his personal experiences as a pilot with the members and encouraged them to further their interest to be a pilot and work in the aviation industries in the future.
At the end of the day, all the participants successfully passed the assessment and earned their Air Scout Wing Class II and I. Mr Jerome Lim (Group Scout Leader) had also successfully passed the Air Scouts Assessment as Assessor for the Air Scouts Wing Class I and II. They were all happy that they had passed the assessment and that they could tell others that they were part of the first batch of candidates to sit for the Air Scouts Wing Class I and II assessment. All the participants gathered at the stairs in front of the school chapel for a group photo at the end of the day for the sake of long-lasting memories.
An award ceremony will be held on a different date by Captain Zainuddin, the Chief State Scouts Commissioner of Sarawak, the Headquarter Commissioner, the Principal of SJPS, and the Group Scout Leader.
Deanna Lee
