Over a hundred local secondary school students have spent the last ten days at the Military Summer Camp for Macau Young Students held in Zhuhai at the military base of the PLA Macau Garrison.
The annual training camp, which has been organized for the past 11 years, concluded yesterday in Zhuhai, in a closing ceremony attended by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, and the region’s former CE, Edmund Ho.
During his opening address, the secretary noted that the government has been encouraging more local young people to take part in “love the country and love Macau” activities to learn more about the achievements China has made since its reform and “the internal relationship between the region’s development and the nation’s prosperity.”
All of the 105 youths, hailing from different senior high schools, received their course completion certificates from the officials before they posed for a group photo to mark the end of the camp.
Christine Lei and Karen Ho, both 17-year-old female trainees, told the Times that the summer camp has deep –
ened their understanding of the nation’s security forces, who the pair perceived as “good-humored,” in contrast to their solemn persona. They also admired the army’s professionalism.
“What we were exposed to in our training was something simple and basic, yet the exercises are actually energy-consuming and involve much strength-training. We already feel so exhausted from the camp’s activities, it probably would take us a long time to reach their level,” said Lei.
The two teenagers also said that they learnt how to be more encouraging and to persevere as they recalled the most memorable training session where the group was asked to finish a strenuous 10km mountain hike.
Another trainee Kyrie Kwok, a fresh graduate aged 19, said that he became “more resolute after the camp.” He also plans to join the region’s security forces in the future. Staff reporter
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