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Reflections on Our Journey

Reflections on Our Journey

As LOF2025 comes to a close, teachers and students reflect on their journey of guidance, patience and creation.

Last updated 3 September 2025

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Gratitude as the Driving Force of LOF2025

Behind the Scenes - A Gallery of Unedited Moments

Explore the entries of Live On Festival

Art tells the story of the world. Because of this, the students actually take part in this competition, having this authentic learning process where they can give back to society.

— Mr Alan Huang, Art Teacher, St. Joseph's Institution

Gratitude as the Driving Force of LOF2025

Gratitude is a force that inspires meaningful actions, creating a rippling effect through society - one that not only saves lives in the present but creates a kinder future. In the 8th edition of the Live On Festival, participants were invited to reflect on this profound emotion surrounding organ donation. How can acts of gratitude transcend time, touch lives and spark change?

The Essay Competition challenged our writers to express Gratitude, through personal letters, persuasive arguments and empathetic narratives, exploring the human connection shaped by the act of organ donation. Some essays reached into the emotional depths of grief, healing and hope that organ donors, recipients and their families experience, others took on the mantle of advocacy, calling for greater awareness, education and community involvement. Together, these voices form a collective call to recognise the quiet heroism embedded in every donation and every life touched by it.

I really have good confidence in our students to see perspective, to be able to feel for other people, to be able to situate themselves across the different realms and reality that they get exposed to and that they are in.

— Mr Samuie B Tarjalia, HOD, English Language, Bukit Batok Secondary School

In the Design Competition, artists explored the concept of Gratitude through direct gestures – in gratitude in action – or through the indirect intricacies of a connected gratitude, illustrating how organ donation can unite people as a reciprocal act of sharing beyond a single act of giving. Across different medium and styles, participants gave visual form to the emotions, relationships, and legacies that define the organ donation journey.

My art teacher, Mdm Fara, helped me get started by encouraging me to use pen and ink, which I never knew was kind of my forte.

— Alden Ang Xiang Kai, Student, Hougang Secondary School

Through their creative expressions, our young artists and writers brought these questions to life. Spanning across five categories and eight topics, a total of 3,195 artworks and 3,533 essays were received for LOF2025.

Reflections on Our Journey

I believe that this has not only benefitted the students, it has benefitted the teachers who have year in and year out actually guided the students in their writing.

— Mrs Magdalene Goh, HOD, English Language & Literature Department, Chung Cheng High School (Yishun)

Also remembering our educators - a core pillar of our society - who mentored these young participants, we invited teachers as well as their students to share how they felt as they worked on their entries for LOF 2025 in the montage below.

As teachers, we don't have a lot of time to talk to our kids about the deeper things that happen in their lives. When I saw this essay where she wanted to write to her friend to comfort them, it felt like I got to know her a little deeper. It was so nice to see this very empathetic side of her.

— Ms Venotni D/O Retnam, English Teacher, Anderson Secondary School

I'm really very proud of our students that they have, through this essay writing competition, learnt to use their voice, to advocate, to raise awareness, and also to raise a much needed dialogue on organ transplant as we work together for a kinder and stronger Singapore.

— Mrs Shirley Lee, Principal, Bukit Batok Secondary School

The completed LOF Puzzle as seen in the Reflections on Our Journey video

We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to and participated in LOF whether as students, teachers or judges. Your creativity and conviction remind us that Gratitude, when expressed sincerely, has the power to build bridges, start conversations and change lives. As you look through the galleries filled with the earnest creations of Singapore’s younger generation, may each brushstroke and every written word be a quiet echo of this truth – in giving, we receive, and in saving lives, we honour our own.

LOF2025 may have ended, but the journey continues.

We look forward to welcoming schools and students to join us for LOF2026 - to create, reflect & inspire more conversations about organ donation. Together, let us keep the flame of gratitude alive.