Yale-NUS students initiate social impact projects to benefit communities

At Yale-NUS College, students care deeply about creating social impact and seeking solutions to benefit the communities around them. To support these endeavours, the College’s Centre for International & Professional Experience (CIPE) provides guidance throughout students’ entrepreneurial journeys. Two such projects initiated by Yale-NUS students are Deko and GreenPins.

Deko is a project that utilises fun science comic workshops to educate and empower underprivileged Singaporean children aged from seven to eleven. It is founded by two Yale-NUS students, Richard Shim Jo (Class of 2022) and Huang Huanyan (Class of 2023). Topics covered revolve around the COVID-19 pandemic, with comics used as a tool to educate and encourage dialogue among children.

This outlines the creation process of Deko’s comics. Source: Deko website.

On what inspired the project, Huanyan cited their common passion for combining science and art to create something unique for the community. “Both Richard and I love art and comics and are passionate about science education and healthcare. The combination of these interests spurred our interest in science communication, and we were thus inspired to create a book about COVID-19. We are also interested in reaching out to children from underprivileged backgrounds and decided to create a workbook that could double up as workbooks used for workshops with the children,” she said.

In late 2021, Deko partnered with Children’s Wishing Well and the Brain Tumour Society Singapore to organise a series of workshops for underprivileged children, covering topics related to COVID-19. Currently, they are following up with the children to co-create a book that features their own stories during the pandemic. The book will be launched at an exhibition that Deko is organising in March, which will showcase the children’s works through the workshops.

Deko co-founders Richard (left) and Huanyan (right) at the Children’s Wishing Well, which they partnered with to organise workshops on COVID-19 for children. Image provided by Deko.

The choice of using comics as a medium is also an intentional one. The comic book includes information delivered by animal narrators, Dumble the axolotl and Neko the cat. Between each narration, there are empty boxes with prompts for the readers to include their own reflections as drawings or mini comics.

“These prompts and the flexible format through which we encourage reflections are designed to stimulate reflection, critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. In addition, one of our aims is to have individuals reflect upon their own experiences in the pandemic, and how they overcame some of the struggles – thereby identifying their own ‘seeds’ of resilience and knowing how they can develop it further in other contexts,” Huanyan said.

Richard (left) facilitating a workshop on COVID-19 at Children’s Wishing Well. Image provided by Deko.

Another impactful project initiated by Yale-NUS students is GreenPins. Founded by Yun Jeongjun, Lim Lecarl and Tan Shi Xuan Stanley (all from the Class of 2024), GreenPins aims to build a web-based search engine application for Food & Beverage (F&B) businesses with sustainable practices in Singapore. GreenPins has received funding from the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment’s SG Eco Fund after its proposal was accepted by the Global University Climate Forum 2020 organised by the Yale University’s Office of Sustainability. It was also subsequently featured in the International Sustainable Campus Network Climate Forum in 2021.

From left: Stanley Tan, Yun Jeongjun and Lim Lecarl, the founders of GreenPins. Image provided by GreenPins.

Reflecting on the experience of creating a start-up from scratch, Lecarl found it to be an eye-opening experience. “I felt the journey itself was quite enriching. I had a better appreciation for how difficult creating a start-up can be. We also learnt about the processes involved to apply for grants successfully, which is a very helpful skill to have in kick-starting an entrepreneurial project. In the process of researching and interacting with various stakeholders, we have also gained a lot of knowledge in the area of sustainability, and that’s great!” he said.

“We also learnt that sometimes it is not so much about the idea. Rather, the implementation is key. It’s important to activate the various pillars of support around you for a project to get off the ground. That is why we relied on many people’s support throughout the journey, such as our mentors, staff from CIPE, faculty members, seniors, start-up accelerators, as well as our personal connections,” he added.

Nurul Jihadah Hussain, Programme manager at CIPE, also shared about the vibrant entrepreneurial scene on campus. “The entrepreneurship environment on campus has been very lively and responsive to global challenges including COVID-19 and sustainability. CIPE has been happy to support both GreenPins and Deko throughout their journey through advising as well as programmes like our entrepreneurship workshops and bootcamps,” she said.