Last weekend a team of students from Bangkok Patana School attended the 15th Annual Bangkok ServICE Conference. With over 160 students from 15 international schools across the city, the conference once again delivered on its mission to Inspire, Connect and Empower young people to take meaningful action on global issues.
This year’s theme, The Sky’s the Limit, challenged participants to think boldly and creatively about how they can use their voices and energy to tackle the challenges our world faces. The event included keynote talks, ICE (Inspire, Connect, Empower) experiences with action planning, hands-on workshops, and a vibrant ICE Fair showcasing student-led projects.
The Bangkok Patana delegation brought together students from Years 10 to 13 representing three of our Community Engagement Teams — WeHearU, Interact and You-TH — all of which are dedicated to raising awareness and tackling inequality in health and wealth within the wider Bangkok community.
A highlight of the weekend was the powerful keynote delivered by YiXuan Low (Year 13) and Jitkaew (Plearn) Charoenpiwatpong (Year 12): “Hear Me Out: Raising Awareness about Hearing Disabilities and the Stigma around Them.” Sharing their journey as leaders of WeHearU, they spoke about their project Silent Pathway at Setsatien School, which empowers deaf students by exploring career options while also raising funds to provide access to hearing aids and cochlear implants. Their talk illustrated how deeply personal connections can inspire advocacy, innovation, and long-term change.
Jynna Wongswan (Year 12) also made a big impact by leading a lively “How-To” workshop attended by 40 students. Her session, “Neuroplay: Building Slime Stress Balls”, linked SDG 12 to the issue of mental health, giving participants both insight into fidget toy research and practical stress-management tools to take away.
For many in the Bangkok Patana team, the weekend was as much about connection as it was about learning. “It was an eye-opening experience, and I connected with a lot of new people,” Jynna. “It was a very connecting experience, and I got to bond with new peers from different schools whilst deepening my knowledge of service,” added Amber (Year 13). Lila (Year 11) highlighted the chance to “socialise with people in other schools and make new friends,” while Venice (Year 13) reflected on the inspiring projects she had been introduced to “ServICE this year was very engaging as it introduced me to a lot of service causes such as the BCHF and Grin Green. I was about to learn about their aims, and how they are working to achieve these”.
When it comes to community engagement then, the sky truly is the limit.