Date: 13 July 2024
CLOSING SPEECH BY MR LEE MENG TAT, CHAIRMAN, SINGAPORE CANCER SOCIETY (SCS) FOR THE SCS’ INAUGURAL YOUTH SUMMIT, 13 JULY 2024
Mr Albert Ching, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Cancer Society
Mr Tay Kuan Ming, Director of Corporate Services for Singapore Cancer Society
Council members of Singapore Cancer Society
Distinguished Guests and Participants of Youth Summit 2024
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for joining us for the Awards Ceremony segment of SCS’ inaugural Youth Summit 2024. I am heartened to see the energy, creativity and dedication by our youths today. Your fresh ideas, and your willingness to enthusiastically participate in our inaugural youth summit gives me a sense of hope. Together we are making a significant impact and paving the way for a more robust cancer conversation, infused by the ideas and perspectives of the youth. Earlier today, we officially launched the SCS Next Gen Rising: Youth Against Cancer
movement initiated to inform, empower and collaborate with youths to allow the next generation to take charge in the fight against cancer.
Over the course of the day, the Youth Summit participants were split into two main events –the 8th Singapore Cancer Society Interschool Competition and our first ever Youth Conversations dialogue session. In this age of social media, youths possess a powerful tool to spread knowledge and positive messages. By raising awareness and advocating for healthier choices, you become ambassadors of change within your communities, and this will cause a positive ripple effect across society.
Participants enjoyed informative workshops by TheSmartLocal and SHINE Children and Youth Services at the Interschool Competition and Youth Conversations respectively. Through these workshops as well as the panel discussion during the Youth Conversations, participants in each event worked with their teams to raise cancer awareness and debunk misconceptions about cancer.
The finalists from the SCS Interschool Competition worked on creating storyboards to raise cancer awareness under the guidance and expertise of TheSmartLocal. The participants of Youth Conversations came up with insightful strategies to debunk misconceptions about cancer. You were innovative and your drive to contribute to the collective fight against cancer was clear today – thank you. I would also like to congratulate the winners of each event, who will be announced later this afternoon. Win or not, we believe that every storyboard and every strategy that has come out of the Youth Summit today is worth expanding on.
We hope that you can take home the knowledge, skills and ideas and use them to rally your friends and family members to join the cancer conversation. Keep in contact with the people you have met through the event today, maybe even work with them to put your ideas into actions. These connections may last you a long time as you collectively use your voice and experience to raise awareness about cancer.
Before I end, I would also like to thank our Smoke-Free Ambassadors – some who are here with us physically, and those who have logged on via Zoom. The Smoke-Free Ambassadors are students from different uniformed group – Brownies, Girl Guides and Red Cross Youth. They have worked to raise awareness amongst their peers at schools about the harmful effects of smoking and its relation to cancer. I am impressed with their young minds and their creativity in coming up with ways to present to their schoolmates and amplify the message on World No Tobacco Day. Thank you, Smoke-Free Ambassadors for all your hard work!
Today’s Awards Ceremony is not a closing ceremony. It is the end of you or learning phase and the start of your journey to make a difference. Share what you learnt through your social media accounts. Strike conversations with your friends and family members. Become an advocate against cancer so that we can strike out cancer.
On our end, the Singapore Cancer Society will continue to remain resolute in our commitment to empowering our youth to become agents of change in the cancer cause. Reach out to us with your ideas. Together, let us strive for a future where cancer is minimized, lives are maximized, and where our youths will lead the charge towards a cancer-free world.