CCA Fair 2018

CCA Fair took place on 3rd January this year. Members of NYNP Batch 49, 50 and 51 introduced our CCA to juniors and allowed them to have a better understanding of what we did. Batches 50 and 51 also put up 2 rounds of rifle choreography performances.

Below are reflections written by Batch 50.
“Hi! We are from Nanyang NPCC, are you— ”
“Sorry I’m not interested.”
“Would you like a flyer?” 
“No thank you, I’m already in a CCA.”
“Hey! We are from Nanyang NPCC, would you like to visit—”
“Sorry! I’m in a rush for time!”
“Do you have a CCA? No? Then… would you like to visit our booth?
“I kind of plan on joining something else…”
“Hi! We are from Nanyang NPCC, are you inter—?”
“Sorry, no—”
“—In that case, could I have one?”
“Sure!” and, thank you, 52… 

For many of us, the CCA Fair for the Secondary Ones each year can be interesting, yet also, in some ways, a sort of, dampening affair. The fact is, it is not easy for us to promote our CCA to the Sec 1s. Many of them tend to lean towards the more, per say, popular CCAs. Not that we can blame them, however, as many of us were once like them, yet allocated into a CCA we had little to no knowledge of.
But throughout our two — almost three — years in NPCC, we have grown to realise how many misconceptions we had going into this CCA. Many people start with the idea that all Uniformed Groups only know how to “march”…well yes, that is one aspect of Uniformed Groups. Though the term is not even used correctly, the concept is there. Drills are one of the only things outsiders see, and it has become what is associated with the Uniformed Groups. In reality, it really is not as simple as “marching”, but the idea of building your endurance, and resilience through various drills, from foot to arm drills, and of course, slowly gaining that Vitamin D which many tend to lack. Admittedly, the last one is ridiculous. Regardless, it still stands true.
Outside of drills, we have campcraft and shooting, which you only discover as you remain in the CCA longer. These two aspects of NP have taught us a lot as well, with all of us going for Campcraft Competitions this year, and most likely to be going for the Secondary 3 Classification Shoot this year as well. The blisters and muscle aches through our trainings, all boil down to that feeling, as you stand in front of our school flag flying high. The recent Campcraft competitions have become quite close to our hearts, as we’ve become closer to our teammates and have pulled through so much together. In the face of adversity, we held on, just like our seniors have taught us to. When our moods were low, the sheer enthusiasm of our juniors gave us courage to spring right back up. Perhaps, we may not even get into finals, but we’ve all done our best, and we are so proud, of each and every one of us for making it this far.
But what NP has created for us, is the feeling of squadmates. No, perhaps we don’t always like to be standing underneath the blazing sun for hours at one go, or having to crawl in the muddy pitch with blisters at every peg. But that feeling of being accepted for who you are, can be shared with the people who have been right next to you as you push on through every single obstacle, knowing that you can lean on them when you’re tired, and knowing that in 20 years, that feeling, will never change. 
Because of all of this, it has become so hard for us to tell others just why we love NP so much. With time, we just grow to love it. It’s just something that you can’t place the right words on, no matter how eloquent you may be. As seen in the small excerpt of a conversation written above, the rejections do hurt us, but we persevere in spite of that, hoping for any little spark of interest in our CCA. 
The idea of NPCC is one that you can’t really feel elsewhere, the various aspects of it that all culminate to that place in our hearts in which we hold so dear. The feeling of being close to an irreplaceable group of people whom you can always count on, that moment of euphoria over seeing your ma’ams as a junior and the strange satisfaction, of our coordinated footsteps. All of this has become part of our identity as NPCC cadets, and we would never trade it for the world.