“We are extremely pleased with the support from alumni for Homecoming. It will strengthen our tradition of alumni contributing to and maintaining strong connections to the USP.”
- USP Director A/P Kang Hway Chuan

The University Scholars Programme (USP) held its inaugural Homecoming on Saturday, 13 August, in conjunction with the NUS Kent Ridge Alumni Day. Being our very first Homecoming, we were heartened to welcome over 100 USP alumni, across 14 graduated batches for the event. There were those from our pioneer batches that graduated in 2003 from the Talent Development Programme, the predecessor of USP, to those who just graduated this past July.

At the event were USP Director A/P Kang Hway Chuan, USP Rector Ms Euleen Goh, and the President of the USP Alumni Society Mr Thong Yu Jin (Psychology + USP, Class of 2008). The afternoon started with nice little hellos and speeches by them.

Over lunch, the alumni engaged in a special ChatterboxPro session coordinated by the USP Alumni Society. The topic of discussion was “USP Graduates: Students or Future Worker”. The main speakers, Jeanne Tai (History + USP, Class of 2010) and Justin Pereira (Sociology + USP, Class of 2015), led the discussion with questions for each other and then, opened up the session to the other alumni. As this segment drew to an end, the alumni got together in small groups to discuss and leave some words of advice for the current USP students. Each group penned down its own version of “Things I wish I knew as a USP student before entering the workforce”. These will be subsequently displayed at USP.

The next segment saw the alumni celebrating the 5th and 10th anniversary for the Class of 2011 and 2006 respectively with a cake-cutting ceremony. Mr Bernard Toh, Director of the NUS Office of Alumni Relations, also graced the event, to show his support for USP and our very special Homecoming. The alumni spent the next hour mingling over cake and eclairs – USP students’ all-time favourite.

The last part of the USP Homecoming was something many alumni were very excited about – reminiscing their good old days as a USP student by attending USP classes. We were delighted to have A/P Barbara Ryan, A/P Don Favareau and A/P Peter Pang conduct a class each, respectively titled “Art is trying to sell you yourself”, “Biosemiotics: Signs in Nature” and “Mathematics: Art or Science?”.

Overall, it was a great afternoon of intriguing and intense discussions, reminiscence and reconnecting.  A successful first Homecoming which, hopefully, will be followed by many more.  

Please enjoy photos of the joyous event below.