Student overcomes self-doubt to perform in school's Speech Day
Kelly, a bespectacled Secondary 1 girl with a cheery smile, often gave others the impression of a positive girl. However, her participation in The Scaffold Programme (TSP) unveiled a different person.
During TSP groupwork sessions, Kelly often displayed behaviours that hinted at her low self confidence. She hesitated to voice her thoughts and opinions as well as doubted her own abilities to complete assigned tasks. Phrases like “Cher, I cannot” or “Cher, I’m so weird” were often on her lips. These phrases were commonly used when she did not feel up to completing tasks or when she needed to diffuse socially awkward situations.
An important component of TSP is individual engagements where the TSP team build rapport and learn more about students at an individual level. Through several such engagements, the team learnt about the setbacks Kelly experienced during her Primary school years and how these contributed to her low self-esteem. There was deeper appreciation of how Kelly is affected by what others think of her. All these led to her feeling uncomfortable with and doubting herself.
Learning about Kelly’s struggles spurred the team on to create a positive and safe environment for her in a dance groupwork - Beyond Limits and guitar engagement. These two activities were part of the TSP programme for her class. Hesitant at the beginning, Kelly eventually took part in them after much encouragement from the TSP team and knowing that the environment would be a safe and accepting one.
The positive support Kelly received from the TSP programme laid foundations for a new belief in herself: "despite struggles & doubts, I CAN achieve"
It was not an easy journey for Kelly. Her self-doubts over her own progress, when compared to others’ as well as her own expectations, continued throughout the engagements. It is with much effort and positive encouragement from her classmates, teachers, volunteers and staff of SHINE that Kelly overcame her self-doubts, completed the dance groupwork and capped it off with a performance during her school’s Speech Day. Boosted by the experience, Kelly became determined to complete her guitar programme.
Kelly’s journey to overcome her self-doubts and build her confidence is an ongoing one. The positive support she received and the experience in the TSP programme laid the foundations for a new belief in herself: that despite her struggles against self-doubts, she can achieve.
Significantly, she also began to value self-acceptance and with that, embrace who she is. Kelly’s journey in accepting and overcoming will continue. We believe that she will shine through her future challenges and be the best version of herself.
That story about Kelly hit me hard - not because her struggles are unusual, but because they are so painfully familiar to anyone who has ever felt like an imposter in their own skin. I remember freezing up in group settings, convinced my ideas were worthless, saying "I can't" before even trying, just to soften the blow of potential failure. What Kelly's experience proves is that confidence isn't something you find inside yourself - it's something built through external scaffolding, through people who refuse to let you give up on yourself. The dance performance wasn't just about choreography; it was about proving to her own brain that fear doesn't get the final vote. That same principle applies to learning anything…