Ngee Ann Butterfly Garden
How it all started
WHAT
Butterfly Garden
WHERE
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
WHEN
12/05/2017 (Year 1)
Butterfly Gardens Youtube and Instagram
It all started with an email to my lectures in charge of a Horticulture Club, being a person who always wanted to do more and contribute more, and being raised and brought up with my whole family being Nparks Conservation volunteers, and spending time with my dad in his butterfly garden in National Institute of Education (NIE) I was naturally interested in nature and biodiversity. When I joined the Horticulture Club I saw the potential and opportunity to create something to benefit the environment and at the same time deepen my understanding of Landscape Design and Horticulture through creating a Butterfly Garden. It was going to be a journey and a process that took 3 years, hard hours put in after and before my classes, and I am very proud of my work and what the garden has achieved. The garden has not only attracted butterflies but also eagles, civet cats, and squirrels. I posted the progress of the garden and the animals and the different animals that were spotted in the garden. My dad would occasionally come on weekends to take photographs of the animals spotted, hence the watermark, ZOCPhotos, or Zaki's Old Camera Photos. The butterfly garden did not only attract butterflies but also attracts other larger animals, restoring the ecosystem of the area.
Me sitting at my dad's butterfly garden
My watering my own butterfly garden
Blue Pansy Butterfly
Pink-necked Green-pigeon fledgling
Common Palm Civet droppings
(confirmed by a Nparks Conservation Officer)
Oriental Honey Buzzard
The early days of the Butterfly Garden started with trying to improve the soil conditions. The existing soil in the garden at that time was too sandy and compacted to plant anything. Anything that I planted would not survive. Being a self-funded project, I had to put in a lot of effort to get
View more posts on my Instagram and YouTube here!
all the items necessary. I could not purchase all the plants, fertilizer, or compost with my own student pocket money all the time. I had to look at resources that were readily available around me instead and after much reading on soil conditions and reforestation, I realized I could enrich the soil through several ways such as Cardboard Mulching, using old cardboard that people throw out to cover the top surface layer of the soil so water would be retained on the soil below and since cardboard can decompose, it also adds nutritional value to the soil and serves as food for the decomposing organisms. Another thing I did was to set up a coffee grind and fruit waste collection system with the canteens and Starbucks in and around the polytechnic. I would provide them with reusable plastic containers in the morning and they would dump the used coffee grinds and fruit peels into throughout the day and I would collect them at the end of the day on my way home. They would contribute to my compost for the garden in order to bring life back into the soil as shown in the video. I also did bark mulching where I had to collect fallen bark from trees to protect and enrich the soil.
As for plants, I had to spend hours after school propagating plants. I also emailed The Singapore Zoo, National Parks Board Botanical Gardens UNESCO World Heritage Site, and many more asking if they had any plants that they can contribute to this project.
As I started to venture into more possibilities for organizations and people I could work with for the garden, it brought me to the National Parks Board Community In Bloom Manager Ms. Jacqueline Chua. We discussed with my lecturers in charge how we could benefit the garden and educate the students on how to design our gardens to attract pollinators and wildlife. She did a talk for all the students in our course in order to educate us on how we can include wildlife in our designs sustainably.
Thank you to Botanical Gardens for contributing to the garden!
'Wira Kita' (Our Heroes)
05/11/2018
In my second year of Polytechnic, a television series called 'Wira Kita' or Our Heroes in Malay wanted to feature me and my family about my butterfly garden and our work in conservation on Suria. Although it was a new experience for me and I didn't know what to expect, I decided to do it as it is a good way to spread awareness about what we can do to preserve and protect nature and the environment.
Filming in the school's shade house
Filming with friends that helped me with the garden
Filming took around three weeks because I had to go to Australia in the middle of the filming to represent Malaysia in a paintball tournament. We had a filming session in my butterfly garden to explain how the garden attracts butterflies and how the butterflies attract other larger animals, bringing back the ecosystem. We also filmed another session at my house to interview my family.
Berita Harian Newspaper article
11/02/2019
The title of the article is 'Vermicomposting food waste to increase soil health' translated from the Malay language. Throughout the 3 years in school, I started composting food scraps and used coffee grinds from canteens in and around the school. I would provide the canteens and coffee outlets with plastic reusable containers in the morning on the way to school for them to give me their used fruit peels and used coffee grinds and collect them after school on my way home. The collected food waste would be added to two different composting systems in my school, one being a vermicomposter and the other a compost tumbler. Both of these composters involve oxidizing organic wastes into nutrient-rich soil and oxygen to decompose organic wastes faster. The differences between the compost tumbler and the vermicomposter are, the compost tumbler requires a significant amount of heat that is generated by bacteria in the tumbler and depends on the size of the compost pile. There needs to be a good proportion of green (food waste) and brown ingredients (dried leaves, shredded paper/newspaper), oxygen, and moisture is essential. The tumbler only allows food waste to be added in layers at one time and doesn’t allow for the addition of more materials, whereas
Vermicomposting uses earthworms to breakdown food waste. Vermicomposting allows for the addition of food waste constantly. The ratio of ingredients is not as vital in vermicomposting as it is in compost tumblers which require a strict ratio of green and brown materials. Although both systems are different, they are efficient in turning food waste into compost that is important for the health of the soil. When I was approached for the interview I took it as an opportunity to be able to educate and inform others on how we can be smarter with our waste, instead of throwing our old used paper and fruit peels, we can use them to enrich the soil and our plants.
Sports Accomplishments
NATIONAL XBALL LEAGUE (NXL) AMSTERDAM 2019
View more posts on my Instagram and YouTube here!
South African friends
On the 17th of April, I received the news that I had been selected to represent Malaysia in the semi-professional division in the biggest, global Paintball series in tournament paintball, the National Xball League (NXL). Raskal Sports, Planet Eclipse, and Virtue would sponsor the playing expenses, all we had to do was play our hardest. The National Xball League is the only functioning professional/amateur series in the U.S. and in Europe, having several divisions players can play according to the level of proficiency and accomplishments they have in the sport being Professional, Semi-Professional (Division1), Division 2, Division 3, and Division 4 for the 5-men divisions (5 VS 5) followed by 10-men (10 VS 10), 3-men (3 VS 3) and 7-men (7 VS 7). I would be playing under the team 'Raskal Sports' from Malaysia that consists of players from Malaysia, I am the only Singaporean on the team and also the youngest. We would be competing in the 5-men semi-professional division. Each Leg has an estimate of 500 teams across all divisions. When I got the offer I knew it would be a challenge because we would be facing against the best teams from all across the world, but I knew it was an experience and learning opportunity I could not turn down. The trip would last 9 days, I would spend two days in Malaysia to fly with the team and 7 days in Amsterdam. The tournament would last 3 days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with only teams that made it to the quarter-finals playing on Sunday. Being the first team from Malaysia to compete in the league, we were not thought of highly by other teams and had to prove ourselves by working together and working hard. We had a roster of 12 players, with the 5 men on the field being subbed among the 12 players. After playing against the top teams from Spain (S.L. Benfica, a team owned by a famous soccer club), the Bulldogs from England, Camp-Pendleton Raiders from the US and Russian Roulette from Russia, we ended up winning one match against The Bulldogs in an amazing 3 point deficit comeback and lost against the other 3 teams, putting us out of the tournament Nonetheless the team had done our best and I had learned many lessons on how I can improve my skills, teamwork, and character. I also made many new friends from many other countries while I was there and had a fun time sight-seeing on the free days.
Scoreboard of our first semi-professional win
NATIONAL XBALL LEAGUE (NXL) AUSTRALIA 2018
View more posts on my Instagram and YouTube here!
Similar to NXL Amsterdam, I received the offer to represent Malaysia under the team Raskal Sports in Australia in the Semi-Professional division 2018. The competition would last 2 days and we would end up receiving 2nd runner up. We played against the top teams in Australia and with a roster of only 5 men we did our best to clinch a podium finish. Having only 5 men on the roster meant nobody could take any breaks in between the sets making it tougher for all of us. After the first day, I even found myself unable to stand and had to be carried out the field by a teammate, but nonetheless the team worked together and hard to pull off the podium finish. In both competitions Amsterdam and Australia we wrote our names in the Asian paintball history books for being among the first few to win and to represent Asia. I also had a blast traveling and sightseeing with the team again building character and gaining new learning experiences again.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2018 ECLIPSE PAINTBALL LEAGUE
interview after receiving the award
photo with my teammates at the award ceremony
On September 8th, 2018 I won the Paintball Player of the Year. The award is given to players who display hard work, dedication, and teamwork. I was humbled by the award. I could only receive this award thanks to all my coaches on the team and my parents, without whom this would not be possible. The award motivated me to continue training to be an even better player for the team.
EAST VS WEST MOST VALUABLE PLAYER (MVP)
Almost every year there is a Singapore East VS West Paintball Challenge that takes place, where the top 15 of each side is selected and voted by the paintball community to represent the East side and the West side of the island. I have been voted two times consecutively in 2017 and 2018, however, I only participated in 2017's challenge. We won the challenge and I was voted as Most Valuable Player by the team. I felt honored and very grateful to receive the award. The team played very well and we worked hard to play together as a team and win over the West.
KIXTURE SPONSORED ATHLETE
On 11th December 2017, I was selected as the first KIXTURE Athlete to represent the paintball brand in all my training. The brand wanted to support my passion and dedication in the sport and saw my potential to improve in my game and character. KIXTURE provides me with the essential training gear I need to improve my game in each training session.
ORB SPONSORED ATHLETE
Orb is another brand that has sponsored me and my team. Orb provides us with high-quality jerseys and gear for our tournaments, allowing us to focus solely on playing and securing the championship. They have sponsored us since 2018, and ever since then their gears and service have served us flawlessly in tournaments.
MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS AND PODIUM FINISHES
2015
14.1.2015-Champion - SPS Rookie Challenge Event 1 (Red Dynasty Paintball Park)
7.2.2015- 3rd Runner Up - SPPL Open Division (SOP)
​
2016
5.3.2016 - 3rd Runner Up - SPS Leg 1 (RD)
6.3.2016 - 3rd Runner Up - SPPL Open Division Leg 1 (RD)
17.1.2016 - MTZ cup - Champion (MTZ Shah Alam)
​
2017
1.10.2017 - Singapore Paintball Series, East Vs West - MVP (RD)
11/12.11.2017 2nd Runner Up - Malaysian Super 7 (Sri Awana Bangi)
12.3.2017- 3rd Runner Up - SPS Mechanical Division Event #2 (RD)
2.4.2017 - 3rd Runner Up - SPS Division 3 Event #3 (RD)
5/6.5.2017 - Champion - EPS Leg 2, Open Division (HOVID CHEMOR, IPOH)
14.10.2017- 3rd runner up EPS Asian cup, division 2(PADANG MERBOK, KL)
​
2018
27/28.1.2018 R500 Leg 1/ 2nd place. (SRI AWANA BANGI)
11/12.2.2018 - Champion - MPL Leg 1 (PUTRAJAYA, SELANGOR)
2.4.2018 - Champion- MPL LEG 2 (SRI AWANA BANGI)
EPS - overall champion
10.3.2018 EPS leg 1 - Champion (SRI AWANA BANGI)
MVP of the Year - EPS paintball Series
13/14.10.2018 - 2nd Runner Up - NXL Australia (COLDSTREAM VICTORIA, MELBOURNE)
​
2019
31/03/2019 - Eclipse Paintball Series Champion (EPS) Kuala Lumpur
14/05/2019 - Eclipse Paintball Series Champion (EPS) Penang
27/09/2019 - National Xball League (NXL) Amsterdam
​
2020
​
08/03/ 2020 - Singapore Paintball Series Division 3, 3rd runner up
25/02/2020 - Singapore Paintball Series Open Division, 3rd runner up
​
​
SECONDARY SCHOOL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
