‘If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.’ - Vincent van Gogh
As a group of nature lovers in Hwa Chong, we set out to discover the legacy of beauty in the greenery of our garden campus. Beyond just biodiversity, we were amazed by the amount of devotion behind the landscape of Hwa Chong - some plants were special cultivars dedicated to our school by devoted alumni, while others had been carefully selected by teachers for plant anatomy demonstration in class - we were astonished by the meticulous thoughts that went into the landscaping.
Indeed, the excitement of identifying species and learning about the intriguing characteristics of each of them drove us to become more curious and observant each time we wander around in school. Every time we pause and marvel at the elegant blue plumbago blossom or the sprawling tembusu canopy, we become more determined to inspire our friends to appreciate the beauty around us - the beauty of nature that no words or photographs can capture as vividly as an experience in person. With our website and mobile app that present selected flora and fauna on campus, we therefore hope that you would also start to take some time to wander, pause, and pay attention to the hidden treasures on our garden campus.
Background
To commemorate Hwa Chong’s 100th anniversary, HC Garden was launched in 2019 by a group of nature lovers in the SSRC senior batch. They wanted to do something special, something out of the norm that will do justice to the school and her rich history. They set out to discover the legacy of beauty in the greenery of our garden campus. They worked tirelessly on identifying the plethora of flora and fauna found in abundance in our campus, and mapped out their distribution across the entire compound.
On Hwa Chong’s 100th anniversary, they presented a specially curated list of flora and fauna, accompanied by a beautiful compendium of photos in an easy-to-access application and a convenient website, to enhance knowledge.
This year, seeing the amazing work that our senior batch had done, we felt challenged but inspired to build on what they had completed. We hope that with these resources, painstakingly developed by fellow Hwachongians (current and former), you will spare some time and allow yourself to be enthralled by the beauty of our school, our second home.