BY
Everi Yeo
Editorial Admin Manager
Hype Issue #54

Published on

February 9, 2022

Looking back at her time in NP, Joey Ooi, 20, a final-year Early Childhood Development & Education student from the School of Humanities & Social Sciences, recalls having many sleepless nights and “a lot of coffee”.

She remembers in particular the time when she camped at a 24-hour Starbucks until 4am, trying to complete an assignment. It was an all-around stressful situation. The assignment carried a high weightage in Joey’s final grade for the module, and she only managed to start working on it the day before the deadline!

In the end however, she managed to submit on time, and her results were satisfactory.

Every NP student graduates from the school as a better, stronger version of who they were as freshmen. With graduation just around the corner, we spoke to four students from the graduating class of 2022 to hear what they’ll miss about NP, as well as the valuable lessons they’ve learnt here.

COVID-19 has had an undeniable impact on this graduating batch, who only had one “normal” year of school in NP.

Joey says that if she had known her school life was going to take such a “drastic turn” in 2020 because of the pandemic, she would’ve treasured every camp and in-person class more. Photo courtesy of Joey.

In the last semester before COVID-19 hit, Joey’s academics suffered a lot due to her involvement in a school camp.

“We were staying back every day and coming back on Saturdays for camp preparation, which can last all the way till 11pm when the security guard would come to chase us out,” recounts Joey (front row, first from left). Photo courtesy of Joey.

Soon after that, all camp activities were halted, and Joey was “essentially trapped at home” with her assignments.

“At the end of the first semester of my second year, I saw my results shoot up,” she shares. “It saddens me though, that I wasn’t able to meet some of my tutors in real life due to home-based learning.”

School camps also played a huge role for Claudia Tan, 19, a final-year Business Studies student from the School of Business & Accountancy, as it allowed her to cross paths with many people. “Everyone has their own story and is working super hard just to survive in school,” she says.

As an NP Ambassador, Claudia worked on RED Camp for about six months, making sure that everything was perfect. Photo courtesy of Claudia.

If she could turn back time, Claudia would tell her first-year self to study to learn, rather than focus on scoring As. “There were so many times when I had fun ideas I wanted to use, but I always kept to the safe route,” she shares. “In university, I’m not gonna care about my grade point average as much, and instead focus on the learning!”

For Noreen Shazreen, 19, a final-year Mass Communication (MCM) student from the School of Film & Media Studies, one of the things she’ll miss most is seeing her NP friends at least once a week.

“It’ll be hard to transition to never seeing them as often again. I know that I’ll still be able to reach out to them with platforms like Telegram and Instagram, but it won’t be the same,” she says.

Noreen (middle row, second from right) and her classmates from her first semester in MCM. “My class bonded so well that we would colour-coordinate our outfits every other week,” she recounts. “They were the first group of people that I made friends with in NP.” Photo courtesy of Noreen.

Some of Noreen’s (front row, second from right) favourite NP memories include staying back after school with her classmates to work on assignments and chit-chatting with them outside lecture halls over lunch. Photo courtesy of Noreen.

“I will truly miss my MCM friends because they’re the only ones who understand the struggles of being in the media industry,” Noreen says. “Also, we really went through a lot of hell together.”

Being a social butterfly, Noreen also has plenty of friends outside of MCM, many of whom she met when she was an NP Ambassador.

“Although I left NP Ambassadors at the end of my freshman year to focus on my academics and mental health, it remains that this is where I made friends with some of the best people I’ve ever met,” she shares. Photo courtesy of Noreen.

While she doesn’t really have any regrets about her NP journey, Noreen (centre) does wish that she had lived in the present more. “As a freshman, I was so stressed out about having to juggle RED Camp rehearsals and my part-time job that I forgot to enjoy myself and truly live out those moments,” she reflects. Photo courtesy of Noreen.

There’s another group of people that Noreen will miss dearly: her lecturers, who she credits for some of her fondest NP memories.

“I’ll definitely miss my favourite lecturers: Ms Sonia, Ms Tess, Mr Yoka and Ms Amalina, just to name a few,” she says. “Although some of them might have forgotten about me since I’m just one out of the thousands of students they’ve encountered, I hope they know just how grateful I am for everything they’ve taught me.”

If she could go back in time, Noreen (front row, right) would tell her first-year self to “cherish every moment” in NP, and that “it’s okay to not have it all figured out”. Photo courtesy of Noreen.

While in NP, Shiow Wan Ni, 21, a final-year Marine & Offshore Technology student from the School of Engineering, managed to tick off an item that’s on almost every NP student’s bucket list: being featured on the school’s Instagram page.

Wan Ni was featured in an NP video series that shows viewers what a day in the life of NP students from different courses looks like. Photo taken from Instagram.

Just by watching the video alone, you wouldn’t be able to guess that Wan Ni did not initially want to be a part of it. But after COVID-19 cancelled her overseas exchange trip, she started to cherish opportunities more and built up the courage to take on challenges that push her out of her comfort zone.

Her time in NP has taught her to “persevere to the end” as it was her efforts, and not her thoughts, that determined the outcome of every situation. “I have given up on opportunities before because of my incessant thinking. So to be able to learn this was very important to me,” shares Wan Ni. “I do not need to have regrets.”

Wan Ni has also learnt a lot about working with others, especially from the interdisciplinary (IS) modules she had to take. She remembers her first collaborative IS module to be a “horrible” experience. In fact, it’s what shaped her to become the first to step up in group projects and lead the discussion.

Upon graduation, Wan Ni plans to take a gap year to work overseas and continue building her portfolio. She’s currently eyeing the Naval Architecture degree programme in Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde. Photo taken from Instagram.

Knowing that their time in NP is coming to an end, these four students see the closing of this chapter as a bittersweet point in their lives. Without a doubt, the NP journey isn’t always a smooth-sailing one. But the friends gained and growth achieved along the way make it all worthwhile.

To every student in the graduating class of 2022, congratulations on making it this far! All the very best for your future endeavours. We’re sure that NP has prepared you to be more than ready for your next adventure!

Sunset over the NP campus. All endings are but new beginnings. Photo taken from Instagram.