Oh the student life

About 16 years ago I was one of three NTU students invited to join the Annual Conference at Cameron Highlands organized by the NUS Varsity Christian Fellowship. It should normally had been a little weird since this was really an NUS event, but I was glad to catch up with my old ACS friends who were there (it was less fashionable to go to NTU in the early 90s).

There were full-time Christian workers attached to the event, and I remembered one particular joke that was cracked when we were in one of our small group discussions and talking about student life in University. The staff worker had long graduated, but she remarked that when she was studying in NUS herself, her plan was to play as much as possible and pass with minimal grades.

Truth to tell, I was uber low key in ACPS, ACS then ACJC. I was only in ‘sedate’ (a word I remember Pam once using to describe CCAs LOL) extra curricular activities: over my four years, I served as librarian in the Nagle Library and also as School Pianist.

Now, the reason why I was incognito was because I was a nervous boy. When I was admitted into NTU though, I resolved to do better. And what better way to conquer fears than to face them squarely in the face by going for exactly those very things you are afraid of?

So, on Day 1 in NTU, I made myself sign up the very activities I’d been terrified of. I always wanted to sing but was afraid of being on stage. So, I signed up for the hostel choir, and ended up being its conductor and composed songs for my choir to sing. I was interested in debating but was terrified of speaking in public. So, I joined debating and finished my three years as Captain of the NTU team in my last year. I enjoyed writing but had no clue where to start. I signed up on faith, and ended up as editor for a couple of publications on campus.

My under-grad grades took a massive hit from the time I was spending in JCRC, Student Union and the whole bunch of activities to accrue enough credit to retain hostel accommodation. In fact, few of my students in the last 12 years believe I was an underachieving C and D scorer in my under-grad days!

My academic performance only picked up a little in my final year as an under-grad, then improved dramatically in my first post-grad, which in turn opened the opportunity for the Ph.D.

It’s all funny to think of it now though, because the best time I had ever was as a student in NTU. No, not of the lectures, the slogging or the mugging. But those extra curricular activities as a student!

The first photo was taken in 1993 with Khee Leng who was reading Com Science, and the other photo in 1992 with my choir during a Christmas concert. I’ll blog about hostel life soon too.:)