As promise, i'm back to blog about all the outdated happenings.
(1) Pre-University Seminar 2008
Last year, during my stay at SRJC (pae) was the first time i came across the word Pre-University Seminar. Never in my life i've heard of such an event. It sounds interesting but i know it's just another JC event and i wouldn't be able to participate in (didn't plan to study in a JC since secondary 3). Okay, time to fast forward a little.. the suprise came when the course manager nominated me, i accepted it, spend hours doing the essay for the interview which was out of topic (no worries though, most of them went out of topic too because the question wasn't specific enough), went for the interview, got selected, got warned that out of 30 person from tp selected; only 25 could go, went for weekly meeting during holiday and Tada! .. the event came one week before the mid-sem test ! (:
What is it about: It is actually a platform set up since 1970 for pre-university students to cultivate awareness of the current issues faced by singapore. Basically, it's opened mainly to JCs and recently IP, IB and Polytechnics (poly since last year).
The groupings: Students from each representing institution will be seperated till the seminar group has only one student per institution. Presentation and Pannel Discussions, Firmfest has two or three sessions running concurrently.
Okay, so the 25 of us assembed in school on that particular monday with our super big bags, luggages, blazers etc feeling energetic and execited. The bus came and we got onto it but it took us a couple of minutes to realise that the bus happen to come along with this bad-tempered uncle. Yes, we ignored him throughout the journey to NTU. None of us want to start the week feeling irritated. We arrived early that day and we proceeded to our destinated check-in counters. There, our room keys, two set of polo tee, our meal voucher and our identity tags were handled out.
Next, it was time for me to start seaching for the right room and while doing so i was praying for it to be air-conditioned ! However, it wasn't. Those air-conditioned rooms were given to the student facilitators. Anyway, there's like two beds, tables, cabinet and a ceiling fan in a room. Two common toilet at each floor.
Well, i was early so i got no idea who my roommate was but i had the privilege to choose which side of the room i wanted. Hehe. After the team bonding games.. this guy from my seminar group entered to the same room and i found out that he is from VJC and his mum teaches in my secondary school after a mini self-introductory session. Dinner was good as we get to choose what we want. (meal vouchers for any stall in the canteen). Furthermore, supper was only two hours away and what they serve was similar to most camps: bread or cakes and burgers for the last night. Second helping was also welcomed as there were some who would skip their. =P
Along the way, i got to know a lot of interesting people within my seminar group. Everyone has a story to tell. From how it was like studying in an IB/IP school to being a A-Star scholar doing pet projects, from being a 6 pointer yet at YJC instead of RJ to being a foreign national studying locally. That's not all actually.. we spoke about our cca in school.. the challenges we faced etc etc. Yes, it's interesting.. especially when some of us have the mentality that well we're all "stuck" here for the next five days, so why not enjoy ourselves to the fullest and get to know new friends.
Next, the opening ceremony which comes along with a conversation with the minister (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan) was rather insighful and (not to forget, it sounds politically correct like usual to me) as some question raise by the students touches our concern being a Singaporean. Oh, and before i get back to serious stuff again.. we had five to six meals daily! Totally awesome! I would say it's like a tea camp/seminar. LOL. You get to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat again. Tea and lunch was the best, buffet style.. different food each time round and the pastries are yummy! Okay, i sound greedy but i have to confess i didn't had much. I didn't like walking around too much; one got to cut through the tonnes of people. (;
Two other standard activities which i guess each pre-uni seminar has was the parallel presentations and the panel discusion. Parallel presentations was held on three consecutive days. Basically, it is a 20 minutes presentation by each representing institution follow by an exciting and firey Q&A which spices things up and this what most people would be looking forward for. There bound to be some kind of "commotion" during each session and some wasn't being polite at all ! As for the panel discussion, the first one was really insightful and enriching.. the guest speakers were sincere, daring and each of them had a unique perspective on the topic which is: "Vibrant Singapore, Home of choice". Btw, the speakers were: Mr. Ong (Chairman, Infocomm Investment Pte Ltd), Professor Edison Liu (Executive Director, Genome Institute of Singapore) and Mr Jonathan Yuen (Partner & General Counsel, Global Resoultions). The second panel discussion: "who wants to be a social entrepreneur", was only average because of a few reasons. Planelists were: Ms Penny Low (Member of Parliament, Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC), Mr Seow (Executive Director, TOUCH Community Services Ltd) and Ms Elim Chew (Founder/MD of 77th street (s) Pte Ltd).
Okay, other then the closing ceremony the other activities organised for us was the special programs. Firstly, Digital Chase which was a fusion of Cluedo and The Amazing Race. The clues used to solve a murder mystery were embedded in 2-D barcodes hidden all over the NTU campus. Secondly, the Asian FirmFest brings together some of the best films of the region to showcase talents in Asia and to highlight issues close to the heart of Asian. I managed to watch Joni's Promise and we had a short discussion after which with an Assoc Prof in sociology from NUS if i'm not wrong. Lastly, the sandcastle challenge. LOL. Yes, we had to build sandcastle at ecp organized a local corporate training company.
On the extras late night activities includes: brining my textbooks and lecture notes to study but in the end i didn't touch at all, playing of cards, surfing the internet, watching television at the common room, role-playing, truth or dare, shoot-shack-or-marry, indian poker, bridge etc etc.
Overall, it's a once in a life time opportunity. Thinking about it now, it's worth going despite being so close to my papers. I hope the poly forum in september would be as good. *keeping my finger crossed. Hehe. (:
ps: I found some BDSians!
ps ps: we took the same bus which came along with the same uncle again at the end of the fifth day! LOL. =S
