Rocking Fun at LKCNHM Carnival

The rainy weather two weeks ago got us on the edge of our seats all week long, as the Fun Rocks @ LKCNHM carnival was to be held over the weekend.

Thankfully, the skies cleared up on the day of the carnival! Our Guest of Honour for the carnival was Minister of Education (Higher Education and Skills), Mr Ong Ye Kung.

Minister Ong’s visit began with a gallery tour by the Head of the Museum, Prof Peter Ng. The short guided tour featured exhibits such as our sauropod dinosaur ‘family’ of three, as well as the Jubilee Sperm Whale. He also had a look around our ‘Out of the Water’ exhibit, and watched a video documenting the arduous salvage operation of the sperm whale.

Minister Ong then proceeded for lunch with NUS senior management, donors, distinguished guests, and Mr See Toh Sheng Jie. Sheng Jie is the designer of the famous dinosaur motif pouch that was carried by Ms Ho Ching. He presented to Minister Ong a Diplodocus dinosaur clay model personally crafted by him.

After lunch, Minister Ong dropped by a ‘Documenting Nature’ workshop and interacted with the children from Bartley Community Centre, who were learning how to do Gyotaku printing. Gyotaku (literally ‘fish rubbing’ in Japanese) is a traditional Japanese art form that involves the process of rubbing (or pressing) to produce imprints of fish (and other animals). The children were really excited to meet Minister Ong, and eagerly gave him a gift — a tote bag featuring the print technique that they had just learnt!

Minister Ong then walked around the carnival grounds, greeting the people at each booth. He also stopped by the stage for a performance specially prepared for him by BioEnsemble.

After which, Minister Ong showcased his artistic side by drawing on a pillar decorated with artwork by LKCNHM Specialist Associate, Mr Muhammad Dzaki Bin Safaruan. Everyone around was silent in awe while they watched Minister Ong contribute to the pillar art.

Fun Rocks was organised by the NUS Faculty of Science and LKCNHM in support of the NUS Science Merit Scholarship. Through leadership development, mentorship and community service programmes, the NUS Science Merit Scholarship aims to help students to realise their potential while nurturing the value of giving back to society. Through the event, a total of S$715,745 was raised for the NUS Science Merit Scholarship.

It was an honour to have Minister Ong grace our event, and we would like to extend our thanks to everyone who played a part in making the event a success.