“Back when I was still in junior college, my grades weren’t all that great. My life as a student wasn’t that smooth-sailing and I was emotionally down, but my uncle was there to help act as my mentor. He was a great listening ear and often shared his personal life stories, and the emotional support he provided helped change the way I viewed things.

I guess that experience sparked my interest in youth and community work. I wanted to be a mentor and help other people too, so I decided to join Youth Corps Singapore (YCS) over two years ago. I was part of the Leadership Programme and learnt a lot, from fundraising and marketing to liaising with beneficiaries and dealing with stakeholders.

An experience which impacted me the most was mentoring a junior team of youths who were also part of the Leadership Programme. They chose to do a community project for the intellectually-disabled in Singapore, and even though I was giving them advice, I thought they were too ambitious and wondered if they would actually succeed.

They ended up exceeding my expectations and raised more money than they had hoped for. What I learnt as a mentor at that moment was to never underestimate what an individual youth can do. If they had no qualms about doing a project, I should support them too.” – Kenneth, 23

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