Urban Escape 2018 : Rogue Redemption

On the 24th of February 2018, the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School organised its annual funding project - Urban Escape, similar to the previous years' Amazing Races. In this event, students from Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International) had to form teams of 3 to travel around the city using public transport, such as the LRT, to complete various tasks and challenges in order to obtain points. The winning team is determined by how many points the team collects, and how fast they finish the race. The event took place from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The theme for this year's Urban Escape was "Rogue Redemption", and involved a total of 132 teams consisting of 396 students.

The organising committee of this large-scale funding project was led by the Funding Director of the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School, Leo Alden Chia Xin Zheng, as the Organising Chairperson. He was assisted by two Assistant Organising Chairpersons, Leo Lim Jia Wen and Leo Lee Kai Jie, and the committee members, Leo Jesselyn Sin Jun Yi, Leo Teh Deng Shyang, and Leo Teng Yee Von. As soon the main idea of the gameplay and storyline had been agreed on and the proposal was approved by the Principal of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International), the organising committee immediately carried out early preparations for the event.

The main purpose of conducting the event was to raise funds for the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School in order to support the club's future community service projects and activities. In addition to that, the project also aimed to develop teamwork, problem-solving skills and observation skills among the participants.

The gameplay of the race was based on a simple and straightforward storyline. This year's Urban Escape had participants play as secret agents who were racing against the clock to save humanity from a virus which had been introduced into the world's major water filtration and distribution systems, which are all managed by Lambert & Co. Water Filtration Company. The virus had been deployed as an act of revenge by Mr. Ozil, who accused his father of being unfair when splitting shares of the company between him and his brother, Mr. Alvaro, after handing the company down to them. The participants were required to travel around Kuala Lumpur to play various games and complete different tasks to complete their missions.

A total of 9 different places around Kuala Lumpur were chosen as stations for the race which consisted of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International), Sultan Ismail, Masjid Jamek, Dang Wangi and Bukit Nanas interchange stations, Bukit Bintang, Merdeka and Plaza Rakyat interchange stations, and PWTC. Various official documents were sent out to the officials including the police department as well as the owners of the respective locations. Not only that, innumerable official documents were also sent out to request for sponsorships from the general public, as sponsorships played a pivotal role in alleviating the cost of the project. This year, we were extremely fortunate to secure a few sponsors who made substantial contributions to our event.

On the 27th of January 2018, a pre-run was conducted to identify any unforeseen complications and problems. A handful of ex-Leo members and the ex-faculty advisors, Ms. Leong Peck Lan and Ms. Low Fee Ngoo were invited to participate in the pre-run. A post mortem was held right after the pre-run, and the various difficulties that arose were discussed to find solutions. As a result, many changes were made to the positions of the game masters as well as the gameplay of the event.

After countless discussions and alterations, the day of the event finally arrived. On the 24th of February 2018, all the Leo members arrived in school at 6:15 a.m. and were given a final briefing to ensure the smooth operation of the event. The registration counter was set up prior to the final briefing and was opened at 7:10 a.m. for all participants. Meanwhile, the Leo members departed to their respective stations along with their teachers-in-charge. The participants were then ushered to the school hall at 7:50 a.m. where a welcoming speech was given by Leo Chia Xin Zheng Alden. This was followed by a safety briefing of the rules and regulations of the event, as well as a short video to illustrate and convey the storyline to the participants. At 8:25 a.m., the lower secondary participants were flagged off by Mr. Amaranathan, while the upper secondary students gathered for a group photo. They were then flagged off at 8:35 a.m.

In order to get to each station, all the participants had to travel on foot and by public transport, namely the Ampang line LRT system, Kelana Jaya LRT system, monorail train and the Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT Line. During the event, Leo members were positioned around various stations in the city of Kuala Lumpur, with the game masters in charge of games to facilitate the games, and traffic marshals to guide and direct the participants. Station masters were also appointed to handle their respective stations, while the committee members were assigned to patrol from station to station. Furthermore, 12 teachers, including our faculty advisors, were invited to help out in maintaining order at the stations.

The race ended at 1:30 p.m. as planned in the schedule. All the participants arrived in school safely and submitted their booklets containing their answers to the Leo members. The Leo members then cleaned up the school compound and took a group photo.

All in all, the event was a great success, and it was undoubtedly an invaluable experience to the juniors as their first major event. Everyone returned home feeling tired but with an immense sense of achievement. The entire process of planning this event was a long and complicated one, but this served as a great learning experience for all to always plan things ahead of time in order to leave sufficient time in case the original plan goes awry. All efforts and contributions from the Leo members are truly appreciated, as without them, this event would not have been a success.