Student Achievements — Community Service the USP Way
Published: 13 February 2015
We are happy and proud of the following USP student groups and individuals who have been recognised at the recent NUS Student Achievement Awards (SAA) 2015 for their wonderful work done in 2014.
thINK Mentoring Programme receives SAA Bronze Award under Projects, Group (Community Service)
"It is a new mentoring concept because of the emphasis on imporating skills and knowledge which are beyond the boundaries of the secondary school curriculum. This is starkly different from the vast majority of academic mentoring programmes which concentrate on helping students "catch up" with the existing curriculum" - USP Student Leader Darrell Lian (History + USP Year 4) and faculty supporter A/P Albert Teo
A thINK mentoring session taking place at New Town Secondary School
thINK is a writing mentoring programme founded in 2012 by a group of USP students and USP alum Goh Huishan Aprilene, an English teacher at New Town Secondary School (NTSS). It was conceived as an academic “stretch” programme designed to impart writing and critical thinking skills to Secondary 3 Express students at NTSS, who would otherwise have little opportunity to develop them. USP students — having gone through and benefitted from the Writing and Critical Thinking curriculum in USP — hope to make a difference in the development of these younger students. On another level, these USP mentors also hope to set good examples for the younger students, to be positive in their educational aspirations, and character. thINK has already benefitted and impacted some 50 student mentees with the dedication of some 20 USP students. An anthology of students’ essays from this programme has since been published.
Connect Tuition receives SAA Bronze Award under Projects, Group (New Initiative)
Connect Tuition was showcased at NUS' 110th Anniversary Opening Event, which was held on 1 February 2015 in Taman Jurong Community Club
Kenneth Ler receives SAA Bronze Award for Leadership
Kenneth Ler (Economics + USP, Class of 2017) led the University Scholars Club’s Community Service Committee in AY2013/2014 with this aim: to invoke a spirit of volunteerism in the USP community. True to this aim, he started, planned and organised numerous projects, while getting himself involved in many others. SAA recognises him as a leader with these qualities: “Kenneth empowered his committee members by giving them the autonomy to drive their own events, playing the role of a facilitator and developing his members in the process. He also made a bold move to steer the committee away from being just event organisers to being advocates of ground-up initiatives.”
Just in December 2014, Kenneth successfully organised Camp REConnection, a four-day camp for 60 junior college students in December 2014. The objective of the camp was to expose the 60 young participants to the challenges of ageing and elder care, and it was done in partnership with Ren Ci Hospital. Kenneth will share his experience of organising Camp REConnection in a USP Highlights story soon.
Kenneth leading the way with his BIG heart
Separately, we are also elated that USP student, Timothy Fang (Political Science + USP, Year 4,) has emerged as the winner of this year's ASEAN University Network Young Speakers' Contest which was held in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia in January 2015. Another USP student, Cindy Lin (Southeast Asian Studies + USP, Year 4), contributed actively in the ASEAN University Network Educational Forum. Both of them have done NUS and USP proud, just like many USP seniors who had represented NUS at this event previously.