Spider-Man stars visit Commonwealth Secondary School

Spider-Man stars visit Commonwealth Secondary School

SINGAPORE - His 3.68 million Twitter followers all over the world now know of Commonwealth Secondary School in Singapore.

Hollywood star Jamie Foxx was so impressed with the students he met there yesterday morning that he raved about it five times consecutively on Twitter.

The Oscar-winning US actor was in town with fellow The Amazing Spider-Man 2 cast member Andrew Garfield for the Earth Hour 2014 event at the school in West Coast Road.

Foxx, 46, first jumped into the crowd of 1,300 teens and took candid selfies with them.

He and 30-year-old British actor Garfield, who plays the titular web-slinging superhero and his alter ego Peter Parker, also went on stage and spoke about how important it is to save the Earth.

The duo then planted trees with two student leaders from the school's Green Club.

Screams filled the hall when they first arrived, with the girls' high-pitched squeals overpowering the boys' cheers, the boys equally giddy with excitement.

After Spider-Man mania hit them, some lucky girls scored hugs from Garfield when he walked in the crowd.

IN LOVE

The event may have been over in less than an hour, but that was enough for Foxx to fall in love with what he saw and he posted many pictures of himself and the students, to the delight of his local Twitter followers.

Foxx, who plays new villain Electro in the sequel, which opens here on May 1, tweeted: "What these kids at Commonwealth Secondary School in Singapore are doing is INCREDIBLE!

"This is an Eco school and the students are building a sustainability program. Very impressive!

"These kids are definitely superheroes for the planet! Andrew and I got a chance to plant trees with them for Earth Hour.

"Not only got to plant trees with the Environment Club at Commonwealth Secondary School...but also got to learn about and congratulate the students on their sustainability program they're developing.

"Incredible experience. Thank you to all of the kids at Commonwealth in Singapore. Keep up the GREAT work."

The picture that he posted of him with the students garnered 3,800 likes in just one hour.

Some students of Commonwealth Secondary School tweeted their appreciation back and thanked Foxx for visiting them and making their day.

One of his followers, green with envy and presumably a local student, tweeted Foxx with: "Come to Greendale Secondary School?"

There is a Greendale Secondary School in Punggol.

Apart from putting one of our schools on the world's radar, Foxx also created awareness of his green cause.

American follower Nichole tweeted: "That's beautiful!! We need more programmes such as these (like the sustainability programme at Commonwealth Secondary School) in the United States!"

The two student leaders who planted trees with Foxx and Garfield, 16-year-olds Nicolas Ian Blackburn and Darryl Ang, were full of praise for the stars.

Nicolas, whose picture with Foxx was posted on Foxx's Twitter account, told The New Paper: "Very few of us knew that there were going to be special guests, so we were all asked to keep it a secret.

"The poster that was up in the school had Spider-Man on it, but no mention of its cast.

"When I met Jamie and Andrew, I found that they were so down-to-earth and friendly.

"We planted two trees - an apple tree and a lemon tree - to represent both sweet and sour."

Added Darryl: "I like Jamie and Andrew even more after I met them because they are just such nice people."

cchar@sph.com.sg


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