Kenneth— En Yan — Zhi Yong
We wanted to share the amazing stories and motivations behind the alumni who gave to the #SUTD25KCHALLENGE.
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Kenneth:
Being in SUTD in her pioneering years were certainly no easy feat for the administration, nor for her students.
The administration’s greatest challenges in the early years were to ensure that the school got off to a great start, from matriculating the right students, to attracting the right staff and faculty to drive the school’s growth.
For her students, the responsibility of setting the school culture came onto them, for they were pioneers, and there were no seniors to look to for guidance, or traditions of which they could carry on. And on us, these responsibilities were.
Part of developing the culture was the establishing of 5th Rows / CCAs. Being the co-curricular driven individual that I was, I relished the opportunity SUTD gave: To take on multiple 5th Rows without the pressure of doing so in order to “get into hall”, or to “score points”. The lack of pressure brought out raw passion amongst me and my teammates, for 5th Rows were a place for us to pursue non-academic interests. 5th Rows were where I made the best friends, and where I learned to be my best self during my schooling days.
Being in committees of both Sports and Performing Arts 5th Rows, the yearly “pitching” exercises for money were always a huge challenge. It often felt like the school was unsupportive of the clubs, with long discussions held at length for the school to provide what was necessary to get a club off the ground. But the truth was that with the number and growth of 5th Rows over the years, it was getting next to impossible for the school to support them all, along with the other priorities they had to bear in the early years.
My purpose in donating the Alumni fund, is in hope that a seed fund could be created for the growth of the 5th Rows that have been my home in SUTD. We have been given the opportunity to ensure that the culture that we’ve worked so hard to grow continues to do so. I hope to call on your personal experiences as an alumni of the school, and to give the subsequent batches of students the ability to pursue their interests, in their own way.
En Yan:
Why did you give back to SUTD?
I gave back to SUTD cos I’m thankful to SUTD and I love my experience there haha.
Which part of your SUTD experience greatly shaped you?
More than a specific experience, I feel every group project and every presentation helped me become less shy and better able to express myself. Especially with HASS being compulsory, I even got to act in global Shakespeare, and learn about and explore less engineering topics such as culture and psychology. I feel these opportunities helped shape and upgrade my way of thinking haha.
What’s your favourite past time in SUTD?
I mostly enjoyed participating in fifth rows in SUTD. I thoroughly enjoyed growing spiritually in Christian Fellowship, exercising my body to music in Dance Derivativez, learning Korean in Korean Language Enrichment Club and singing in SUTD Bands.
Which part of the culture resonated with you and you hope will continue in future batches?
The genuine kindness, care and generosity people in SUTD all seem to have. I hope SUTD is always filled with such positivity haha.
I wish I went out for supper with friends more while I still had hostel. LOLOLOL.
uhhhh…
What kind of Alumni community do you hope to build?
One that keeps in touch with and looks out for one another. One that actively participates in SUTD events from time to time and stays up to date with the happenings in school
Zhi Yong:
Why did you give back to SUTD?
I was an underperforming student for the majority of my life, but I had a love for tinkering. Barely scraping through the A levels, not many Universities would entertain my application. I gave back to SUTD because I’m grateful that SUTD took a chance on me, and gave me the chance to develop my passion and honestly, it’s like a 1–1 deal!!
Which part of your SUTD experience greatly shaped you?
Getting a girlfriend. Cheh. But for real, GLP was an incredible experience for me. Building a boat taught me so many new things about fabrication and CAD, but more importantly it taught me the joy of working through late nights with friends and forming stronger bonds from that experience. Because of that experience, I have a love for project work that persists into my employment today.
Which part of the culture resonated with you and you hope will continue in future batches?
The maker spirit. It may sound like fluff, or words that have no meaning. But when you’re awake at 2am at night, looking for parts to help you finish your project, and a 2.7ohm resistor is just a WhatsApp text away, you know we have something special.
What kind of Alumni community do you hope to build?
I hope to see an alumni community that’s bonded by our past experiences that channels our strong maker spirit. I hope that we can be Singapore’s biggest maker community in a couple of years!
