Student Success Stories

It was an unbelievable dream that came true for Rayden Chia Yong Xiang in March this year. The School of Information Technology (SIT) graduate made history at NYP to receive offers from four top American universities - Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon University and New York University.
 

Graduating from NYP with a perfect grade point average of 4.0 in 2014, the former Lee Kuan Yew award recipient eventually accepted MIT’s offer and the University’s scholarship that will cover his tuition fees. He hopes to study computer science and engineering and do information technology research at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
 

Rayden shared that his three years in NYP had intensified his passion for IT and he took on two Final Year Projects to stretch himself further. He also demonstrated his technical mastery and competency, garnering multiple well-recognised professional certifications from Red Hat, Microsoft and Oracle, and was appointed an Ambassador of Microsoft.
 

In addition, Rayden was part of the Championship winning team in the Innovation Category of the Microsoft Imagine Cup. His team won the judges over with its advanced facial recognition system that allows businesses to capture the emotions, age and gender of customers, so as to foster a better understanding with them.
 

The only child of a housewife and an engineer recalled that his interest in computing started at age nine, when he meddled with an old computer. He quipped, “I remembering taking my computer apart, just to see how the hardware worked. Obviously my parents were not happy!”
 

“Before NYP, IT was merely my interest. But now, I can spot industry trends, have business skills, and possess knowledge that I can apply to the industry. The formative years spent at NYP were valuable and I am very appreciative of the zealous support my lecturers have given me".
 

To read more on Rayden, check out this article in The Straits Times.
 

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