Media Room

Grace Chan was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was in Primary two, and has trouble with reading and writing accurately and fluently, often jumbling up numbers and words.

To relieve stress and take her mind off studies, Grace embraced sports, especially swimming, netball and gymnastics. With her passion, she chose to enrol into NYP’s Diploma in Sport & Wellness Management through the Polytechnic Foundation Programme or PFP.

This is a one-year course open to students who do well for their N Levels. They are given direct entry to the course of their choice. Students will first spend a foundational year at the poly. During this time, PFP students are groomed for success in their diplomas through classes like presentation strategies, and are given lessons in topics relevant to their course of study.

“I chose the Diploma in Sport & Wellness Management because sports is something I love. If you do something you like, you tend to do better.”

Grace will graduate later this year and has done very well.  Not only has she held various positions including Captain of NYP’s Life Saving Team and Secretary of our Water Sports Club, she also won Gold in the 2017 National Open/Still Water Competition – all this while making into the Director’s list.

However, she admits that not all this came easy.

“As I am not an academic person, I do have to work extra hard and put in twice as much effort.”

As reading and writing can be difficult, Grace records all her lectures and listens to them on her own so that she can better understand the topics.  She also approaches her lecturers to get them to explain topics.

Grace currently trains four times a week for her CCA Life Saving, and works as a part-time Life Guard. “For Life Saving, I was actually at the bottom but I worked until I started to win medals.”

She also volunteers her time to introduce sport to friends and juniors, never failing to encourage and help friends in need.

This year, Grace won the Gold Award (Individual) for NYP’s Star Awards in the Sports & Adventure category. The Star Awards recognise student talent and contribution.

Grace’ strong belief in herself that has helped her to achieve her goals, and we are extremely proud of this tenacious and kind-hearted individual. 

Since joining NYP’s Guitar Club, Chester Choo has become proficient in playing the electric, acoustic and classical guitar, and as the President of the club, he want his juniors into become both better guitarists and human beings.

When mentoring weaker members, he says: “The Guitar Club is for everyone and we view everyone as family members. We need to make sure everyone is ‘OK’ before we move on.”

His inclusive spirit, empathy, and musical ability has garnered him a Gold Award (Individual) in NYP’s Star Awards in the Arts & Culture category.

He learnt the importance of patience and empathy when he studied the violin, ten years prior to joining NYP. He was a slow learner, but his violin teacher was patient, and it left a deep impression on him.

When Chester graduated from Evergreen Secondary, he enrolled in NYP’s Diploma in Food & Beverage Business via the Polytechnic Foundation Programme, and joined the Guitar Club via Club Crawl – our annual CCA showcase.

Unlike the violin, he took to the guitar quickly, and he helped his peers who were struggling during beginner classes.

Despite his obvious aptitude for the instrument, he lacked the confidence to audition for the Advance class. Without his knowledge, his senior ‘volunteered’ him, and the rest is history.

Chester is grateful to both his seniors, and NYP for giving him many opportunities for personal growth. He has participated in leadership training programmes such as the Outward Bound Singapore leadership training programme, D’Camp, Leaders Forum and SBM FMO Mentorship Programme Camp.

He was also selected as the Chairperson of Spectrum 2017 – NYP’s annual arts festival.

As a final year student handing over the reins of leadership, he hopes his successors will continue to inculcate an inclusive spirit within the club.

He says: “​I want our members to have a strong sense of character. There is no point just having talent and skills. We need people to be caring for one another and to ensure that we resolve conflicts and issues together.”

Anggun Qistina tried out gardening for the first time in her life and it was with great difficulty. Reason? She was actually blindfolded while planting her seeds. 

Titled EmpathEYES, this activity was organised by the Ambassadorial Club, which aims to promote awareness about people with visual impairments and to encourage inclusiveness within the community.  Known as  A-Team – an affectionate term for the Ambassadorial Club, the members have been organising several meaningful events, which won them the group Gold award in the Community and Leadership group category at annual NYP STAR awards. 

Anggun is also involved in the annual Purple Parade, which is Singapore’s largest movement in support of the special needs community. Together with her fellow ambassadors, Anggun reaches out to the NYP community to heighten the awareness on the special needs community by conducting workshops.

Akram Ramadan Misrawi is a Team Singapore athlete. But he has never walked a day in his life. You see, Akram was born with skeletal dysplasia, a genetic condition which affected the development of his legs and his hands. It does not stop him from returning volleys and saving smashes from his wheelchair though.

“From an early age, I was zooming around in my wheelchair, and doing many activities – thanks to my parents who encouraged me. Badminton was just one of those activities,” explains Akram.

The first-year student from NYP’s Diploma in Multimedia & Infocomm Technology often trains with his able-bodied friends, but they do not make any concessions for him. While able-bodied players move around the court at will, Akram relies on his left arm to manoeuvre his wheelchair with speed and agility. His right arm delivers the power shots.

“They don’t give chance! We are very competitive,” says Akram of his friends (and opponents).

He recently competed in the 2017 Asian Youth Para Games held in Dubai in December and is currently training for the 2019 ASEAN Para Games. His ultimate goal though? To participate in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics for wheelchair badminton.

For Akram, coming to NYP was amazing because of the supportive environment he found himself in. His personal mentor in NYP, Ms Joelle Kong, notes that apart from his sporting excellence, Akram is also maintaining his game in his studies. He was part of the team that clinched prizes for their project work. She observes: “His positive and can-do attitude is an inspiration and motivation for his friends and lecturers around him.”

As for Akram, he says he’s really glad he’s doing what he loves, in a place where he has the support he needs to excel.

Akram received a Special Achievement award at NYP’s Student Talent & Achievement Recognition (STAR) Awards ceremony in March.