Idea Can Do - the wonders of recycled waste

Naklua Lions Club presents scholarships to painting contest winners

Jesters thundering towards another spectacular Children’s Fair at Diana Driving Range

New school, new look

‘Thai Kids on the move’ as education officials continue to promote a healthy lifestyle to students

Idea Can Do - the wonders of recycled waste

Students create items of value from trash

In the never-ending desire to help children make the most of their spare time in a constructive manner, members of the Pattaya community from both the public and private sectors joined up and brainstormed ideas to come up with a unique and innovative idea for the children of the community. The idea was to come up with a project that would be of benefit not only to the children, but also to the community in general.

Chanyuth presents a prize to a representative of the Phothisampan-Pittayakarn School for ‘Table and Chair’.

Under the capable leadership of Chanyuth Hengtrakul, advisor to the minister of tourism and sports, Sophon Cable TV, the Nongprue Tambol Authority Organisation, the Market Pattaya, the Marriott Resort and Spa Pattaya and Pattaya Mail joined forces to implement a project called “Idea Can Do - the wonders of recycled waste”.

Students hold their breaths as the judges announce the winners.

Chanyuth said, “This project is a very effective and important undertaking. It teaches children to utilize their free time constructively and urges them to innovate new ideas in the development of their skills, which would be very important in their careers in the future.”

Chanyuth Hengtrakul presided at the final judging and prize presentations.

The idea is for children to gather garbage of different types and then using their resourcefulness, create articles or goods that are of value not only for practical uses, but also for decorative purposes.

On June 1, 2004 a competition was declared whereby children from all the schools in Pattaya were eligible to compete. The final day of judging and celebrations were held on July 27 at the Market Pattaya, which saw a total of 172 pieces of works of art entered in the competition.

The ‘Dressing Table’ built out of cardboard boxes.

After much deliberation, judges declared the following results: Pattaya School No. 2 won the Primary students category with their creation called ‘Amazing Diary’. Two young girls, Ploychompoo Sermsri and Phanthira Yodnaen created this piece using pieces of sponges.

In the Secondary School category, Miss Krisana Kongkakhet and Miss Thirarat Butrdee from Pattaya School No. 9 used plastic cups to create a beautiful work of art calling it ‘Kulab Lueng Amorn’ (Yellow roses of Eternity).

The Lower High School category was won by Phothisampan-Pittayakarn School whose students Jitrin Wanitpinyo, Chatree Silakand and Thawatchai Sornsuwan created a garbage can using bottle tops.

The Phothisampan-Pittayakarn School built a ‘Table and Chair’ using cardboard paper and won the higher High School and pre university level category. The creators were Miss Ampai Pomthong, Miss Naruemol Panphla and Mr. Ratchata Sup-prasert.

The last category for university students saw Nathida Boonritha, Pinya Raksaphan and Jitraporn Ngiewrai from Pattaya School No. 3 take the top prize with their exquisite ‘Dressing Table’ built out of cardboard boxes.

Many other complimentary prizes were handed out and students entertained the hundreds of visitors to the fair with songs and dances.

Naklua Lions Club presents scholarships to painting contest winners

Children’s art sends message to protect the environment

Decha Chalermyart

Many organizations and clubs today are involved in environmental conservation projects to raise awareness amongst young kids around the nation of the importance of environmental protection.

Recently, the Lions Club of Naklua played a key role. The club presented awards to local kids that won runners-up titles in a recent painting competition organized by the Lions Club of Bangkok. The slogan of the competition was: “Conserve our environment”.

The Lions Club of Naklua recently awarded prizes to local youthful artists who faired well in a recent environmental painting contest in Bangkok.

Children from Pattaya and Naklua sent in their water-colored pictures through the Lions Club of Naklua to compete with other kids in the Bangkok contest. The Lions Club of Naklua and Siang Singto, or Roars of the Lions, magazine mutually raised scholarships and distributed them to the eight winners. Each teenager received 4,000 baht.

Satawat Senaphan, the president of Lions Club of Naklua said after the presentation that kids need to be rewarded by adults for their achievements. “It is our duty to foster them to walk on the right track, do good deeds for the society, and help preserve our environment. These youngsters are brilliant painters and they should be encouraged to continue their art. We are here today to appreciate their successful efforts in managing their free time,” Satawat said.

Satawat added that the existing campaign would generate good thoughts and educate the kids about environmental conservation.

Jesters thundering towards another spectacular Children’s Fair at Diana Driving Range

Kevin Mitch

Come one, come all, to this year’s 2004 Jesters Children’s Fair and Family Day to be held Sunday, September 12 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Diana Garden Resort & Driving Range, North Pattaya.

It has always been an afternoon of fun-filled delight, while this year’s fair will be bigger and better than ever, showcasing more blockbuster entertainment and many new and exciting events for the whole family.

The Children’s Raffle will have loads of great prizes sponsored by Pattaya Sports Club and generous individuals.

The past five Jesters Children’s fairs were huge successes, held at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Amari Orchid Resort, Siam Bayshore Resort and for the past two years at Diana Driving Range. Once again, the Diana Group will generously host the fair by making available the entire Diana Driving Range facility to the many fairgoers who plan to participate in this action packed event.

The ever-popular bouncy castle will be there.

The Fair events include plenty of new and exciting games and prizes for the kids. Many challenging kids games will be introduced at this year’s fair and numerous schools will participate by providing children’s entertainment, including arts and crafts and face painting.

In addition, there will be live bands, famous well known entertainers, including Eckie the Clown, with other clowns distributing brightly colored balloons. The ever-popular bouncy castle will be there, rides with Horseshoe Point ponies and a superb variety of your favorite Thai, Eastern and Western foods.

The Fair will also have unique handicraft vendors from throughout Southeast Asia displaying and selling their wares. Bangkok Pattaya Hospital Ambulance unit will be on station all day to take care of any mishaps, and the duty nurse will be available for free blood pressure checks.

Let’s not forget about the Children’s Raffle with loads of great prizes sponsored by Pattaya Sports Club and generous individuals. Prizes this year include color TVs and DVD players, bicycles, home theatre sound system, Sony Walkman CD/MP3 player, VCD/MP3/tape/radio player, digital camera, remote-control racing cars, color printer/scanner, educational computer, a mobile phone and more.

The big ‘cuddly’ toy this year is a giant Panda, kindly sponsored by Pattaya Trader. After the Children’s Raffle Draw comes the action-packed showstopper: the special Kids Tug ‘O’ War. So, there are lots of reasons to be there.

All Children’s Fair proceeds go to the 2004 ‘Care for Kids’ charities helping under-privileged children in the area. This year, due to the year on year success of the Jesters Charity Drives, the established beneficiaries, Fountain of Life Center, Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind, and the Eastern Child Welfare and Protection Institute, Huay Pong, have had new charities added. Namely the VFC Mercy Children’s Center, Rayong Remand Center, Happiness Camps, and the ‘Next Step’ Program taking government school scholarship students from the Fountain of Life on to higher education.

For more details about the new beneficiaries for 2004 see last week’s Pattaya Mail (page 19) and watch out for the Pattaya Mail Plus TV interview with Lewis ‘Woody’ Underwood at the VFC Mercy Children’s Shelter caring for abandoned three year old Chen, pictured in the Pattaya Mail article.

If you do not have the ‘Care for Kids’ bumper sticker yet, get one soon and watch out – the Mystery Spotter is about with loads of prizes to give away.

Sunday September 12 is a Children’s day, a fun day, and a big day for all the Family to enjoy.

Don’t miss the biggest, and best yet, Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Children’s Fair.

Come along, and don’t forget to say hello to Jester Kevin, he will be the busy one!

New school, new look

Children and staff at Rayong English Programme School in Ban Chang really made their mark on their school this week.

The students at this new school were inspired to decorate their own environment following a trip to the Sattahip Turtle Conservation Centre.

K1 student Fluke and Lucy Howett

The bilingual school, which opened in May this year, provides a modern Thai and British education for children from K1 to P3. As part of a sea life project the children visited the turtle conservation centre and learnt how to help protect this endangered species. As part of the project they planned fundraising activities and they managed to donate over 6000THB to the centre.

On their return to school, art teachers Nico van Huyssteen and Pramoon Maolee encouraged the children to join in and plan stone mosaics for each corner of the school’s atrium building. The children chose typically Thai themes including elephants, the lotus flower and of course the inspiring turtle. The children all took it in turns to lay the white stones which will preserve their designs for years to come.

Head teacher Lucy Howett said, “We’ve been wanting to make our mark on this beautiful building since starting, and to see the children’s own idea come to life has been inspiring. All the staff have taken part and even the smallest K1 child knows where ‘their stone’ is.”

‘Thai Kids on the move’ as education officials continue to promote a healthy lifestyle to students

Seminar tells mentors to teach by example

Suchada Tupchai

The central government’s focus on a healthy lifestyle for the nation includes educational institutions. The ‘Thai Kids on the move’ began in 2003 and has now spread through the central, eastern and western region’s of Thailand in both government and private schools.

Poradar Surasit-Sukchai (center right), Assumption College director welcomed Wittaya Khunplome (center left), Chonburi council member and president of the Chonburi athletics association to the college with seminar lecturers Prof. Dr. Kalaya Kijboonchu (right), head of Mahidol University’s Nutritional research institute and Duangkamol Issornphan (left) senior manager for Coca Cola Thailand.

Recently at Assumption College in Sriracha, Poradar Surasit-Sukchai, college director welcomed to the college Wittaya Khunplome, Chonburi council member and president of the Chonburi Athletics Association. The visit coincided with a seminar for teachers on how to further instill the values of exercise within students.

Teachers in the three regions are receiving updated training on what the project requires in terms of equipment and teaching skills to achieve the required result. An added benefit is that the teachers also begin to take in the idea of healthy lifestyles, leading by example.

The seminar at Assumption was the first of such training sessions on the Eastern Seaboard and was supported by government and private organizations.