Ang Mo Kio Secondary School celebrated its 30th birthday building sandcastles. Yeo Hui Min Stefanie reports.

What a better way to celebrate a birthday than at the beach?

So to mark Ang Mo Kio Secondary School's 30th anniversary on March 14, 1,600 students, teachers and members of the alumni flocked to the beach and let their creativity flow as they worked on a giant sandcastle.

Spanning 35m by 40m across East Coast Park beach, the sculptures were truly a spectacular sight. To illustrate the theme - Moving Dreams, Riding Waves, Soaring Heights, the school contracted the services of Mr Alvin Lee, owner of Beautiful Minds, a sandcastle-building company.

Mr Lee designed the main structure, while the students created smaller ones.

Since early February, student leaders have practised at the beach for hours, learning how to build three dimensional buildings based on drawings done at the draft stage.

On the actual day, these leaders led their schoolmates, under the direction of Mr Lee, to build the sandcastles.

"I didn't realise you needed a lot of patience and teamwork to complete the sandcastle. But it was a lot of fun," said Luo Zhi, 13, from Secondary 1.

Other events held that day included beach volleyball, fitness challenges, stage games and performances and skipping competitions.

Yeo Hui Min Stefanie, 13, is a Secondary 1 student at Ang Mo Kio Secondary School

(The above article had appeared in the IN section of The Straits Times on Monday, 20th April 2009)