Going to Ngee Ann Poly

Hi

How is everyone? Good I hope. Happy Easter to one and all.

Well, when we received our GCE o Level results in 1980. I knew I only had 2 choices in life, to study in Ngee Ann Poly or do my A Levels privately. Because I did commerce as one of my O level subjects I guess gave me an advantage of doing Business Studies in Poly. Also the biggest draw is that I do not have to do Mandarin again for life. You see I scored a F9 for my Chinese.

Well, I still remember the day when we received our results in the SJI school Hall. All my classmates were just pushing each other to to be in front of the line to receive the results from our form teacher - the late Mr Lee. He seemed very pleased of our results - or from our thoughts that morning was we just passed and he had to teach us goondus again.

Before the months before the results after the O Levels, we just hung around together usually about 10 - 15 of us. Always asking each other what we'll do after the results and what we'll become years later. After receiving our results a I managed to get good enough results to enter Poly. Did well for maths, commerce, Lit, and english. I remember a few of my friends just cried their eyes out in the tuck shop. They did rather badly, some of them had to stay back, but not in SJI. (Secret, one of them is Fr Richards Ambrose). But looking back - with their rich parents those who stayed back went to study in the States and now are Bankers or Lawyers.

My class alone had 8 lawyers and one of them is now the Dean of the Law Faculty in NUS. We always say we were a bunch of guys who really knew how to talk-cock like they say. We were also a bunch of buay-yahs as you can imagine we had "love letters" with IJ girls and always had functions with girls. Such fun those days. So poor were we that we could not afford mobile discos like the youth today, but had to borrow the classmates' best sound system, and use torchlights to simulate disco lights. Ah those were really the days. The youth today must say we were so lame.

Well, I went to Ngee Ann Poly to do the Diploma In Business Studies. The first experience of studying with girls and with our raging buay-yahs, sometimes it was hard to concentrate. But I never had any girlfriends while studying in Poly. The work suited me as I was always very independent, and work was always depended on yourself. Some of my friends just left Poly after 3 month as they preferred the School - spoon fed system. I remember us schedulling our classes that we only had to come to school from Mon - Thu. Fridays was going out day - beaches, cinemas or playing squash or soccer.

One biggest incident was when one of my friends who was a "Babok - gay", dressed up as a girl and pretended to be one till graduation. He/She was even in the Poly's debating team in my first year, and the uproar from the SJI classmates when he/she was shown on TV, He even won the best speaker award - even though we did not win overall. He did this for three years and boy did he had an adventure as he went to the girls toilet and saw everything the girls did. even some of the girl class mates did not know he was a guy till we received our Diplomas in 1984.

There was even once a guy who wanted to date him. He was really a attractive gay/girl. But we out him to his senses when we told hime after he went out with him a few times. He was so shocked that he refused to talk to he/she again.

Poly was always fun as we had so much fun and time. But time can also be your biggest obstacle and you really needed to time managed or you'll just wate all the time and soon there will be no time to study.

I did many things that I was proud of in Ngee Ann Poly. One was to set up the Catholic society that it had to be registered as a Society in Singapore. You see, the menegement in Ngee Ann was very strcit in religious societies in Poly then and we had to be independent so that we will be more structured and organised. But throught he 3 years I was a bit disillusion, as I wanted to have more prayers for my members but the YCS had other objectives. I slacked off in the final year and the society only lasted for 5 years. Just one my proud and saddest achievements.

This was also the time I took up photography seriously. I was the official photographer for many events in poly - but the most challenging was with the educational Tour to the USA for 25 days. I was appointed the official photographer then and had to produce a slide show for the Travel agency and produced for the Poly after the tour. Boy those days we had to take slides negatives then and convert it with a machine as big as your photocopier now. Now we just do it with a windows programme. Till today I am still crazy over photography.

I miss my friends as we don't seem to keep in touch so much as my SJI friends. Guess it is our work and families, but we always remember the good times and friendship fostered.

I will always miss the freedom of being a student and the carefree life we had. I miss being a student and know the best time of our lives is being a students and the stories we can tell.

Till then ..........