Gold Award Presentation Ceremony 2009

The National Youth Achievement Award (Gold) Presentation Ceremony 2009 was held at the Temasek Polytechnic Convention Centre on 2 October 2009. This year, we congratulate 10 students from TP on receiving the award from His Excellency President S R Nathan.

The event was also graced by other distinguished guests and senior management from TP:
Mr Mah Bow Tan (Chairman, NYAA Advisory Board)
Mr Boo Kheng Hua (Principal, Temasek Polytechnic)
Mr Edmond Khoo (Deputy Principal, Temasek Polytechnic)
Mr Raymond Teo Choo Hwee (Director, SAA)

The 10 recipients this year are:

Applied Science

Dickson Goh Yaoming (Biotechnology)

Liong Ka Hang (Biomedical Science)

Business
Faezah Bte Abdul Samad (Leisure Resort Management)
Phua Jia Qiang Andy (Hospitality & Tourism Management)
Tan Hui Yu (Hospitality & Tourism Management)

Engineering

Chia Hui Shan (Facility Design & Management)

Low Wen Qiang (Computer Engineering

Informatics & IT

Josias Teo Yi Si (Cyber Digital Security)
Ong Qin-Yi Randall (Cyber Digital Security)
Soon Joon Foon Nicholas (Cyber Digital Security)

Among them was Dickson Goh Yaoming, President, TPNYAA Challenge AY08/09, . "I saw a very different world. The NYAA has brought me out of the comforts of home to places I never imagined I'd go to. It has provided me alot of opportunities to develop my character and gain different perspectives about life." said Dickson.


To fellow TP NYAA participants, let's work hard to stand on the stage next year!

Volunteering Opportunities

We have 2 new volunteering opportunities, which will enable you to fulfil your Service Component. More details have been sent to your email.


Opportunity 1: Community Service Club (CSC) Camp.
This will be from the 23 September (Wed) to 25 September (Fri). This camp will expose you to the different type of volunteering work.

If you are interested, you can sign up with Keith at thefirestillburns517@hotmail.com by 18 September.


Opportunity 2: Heartware Volunteers at 4th APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Meeting and APEC CEO summit 2009

This is actually to help out with event and it will give you a different kind of volunteering experience as compared to the ones in Opportunity 1.

If you are interesed or want to know more about the event, you can email to tpnyaa@hotmail.com and I will send you a PDF file regarding it. At the end of the day, if you are interested, you have to sign up with the organisation directly yourself.


Regards,
Yvonne ^_^

YO! Forum

Hi all!

Hope y'all have been having fun during the sems break!

I'm Shermaine and I'm just going to share about the YO! (Young and Old) Forum I attended=)

YO! Forum was held at Singapore Polytechnic on 5th September, jointly organised by NYAAGAHA (Gold Award Holders Alumni) and C3A(Council for 3rd Age), supported by NYAA. The even lasted a whole day from 8.30am-6pm. Though the 9.5hour seems long, the whole day passed in a flash! The events kept the participants intrigued and we learnt a lot from the excursions to the homes and schools and from the dailogue session with Minister Vivan Balakrishnan.

All the participants were assigned to a group, with participants from other schools and organisations. There were students as young as 14 and those above 40. The age range allowed us to communicate and share ideas and opinions regarding the issues of the Young and Old.

My group was to go on and excursion to the YAH! Community College. Unlike other colleges and institutions, YAH! (Young at Heart) Community College accepts students above 50 years of age. That is to say that even your grandmother can attend YAH! This special college aims to actively shape the life of seniors in their golden years. Many seniors were unable to complete their education when they were young due to various reasons. This college helps them fulfill their wish to study. YAH! even has a graduation ceremony for their students after the completion of the course!

[Our group facilitator and the principal of YAH!]

Before I went there, I had the impression that the seniors there would be subdued and grumpy, maybe even sickly. However, even before I entered the Community College at Jurong Point, I was greeted by the smiling faces of many seniors, all of them standing at the door, waving to us. I was pleasantly surprise. All thoughts of sad, brooding old people vanished. The videos that they showed us of how the elderly who have attended the school found new meaning in life were really very touching. It is vastly different from the elderly we have always seen at old folks' home, where we use to go for CIP in secondary school.

[The YAH! students teaching us their school song, with YAH! manager, Miss Wang on the right]

[Ice-breaker games led by the YAH! students (in orange) ]

The elderly at YAH! were more enthusiastic than the youths present in singing songs and playing games, so much so that you'd think,"Which is the younger generation here?" These elderly have inquisitive minds that have led them in pursuit of education, not just English lessons and pottery class, but even Magic classes! The Magic class is absolutely fascinating! It is conducted by one of the elderly who teaches tricks he has learnt from magicians to the other seniors. He shared with us that after he has taught the other seniors, they would go back and 'trick' their grandchildren. This bonding makes their grandchildren and themselves happy.

[The magician at YAH!]

I think all of us have this set mindset of the elderly, however the trip down to YAH! that day proved me wrong and I hope that if you do get a chance to head down to YAH! Community College during the holidays, you will think of the elderly in a different light too.

For NYAA Gold participants who have not found an organisation to volunteer at, why not volunteer at YAH! ? Visit the website : http://www.yah.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=86 to find out more!

If you guys are interested in going down to YAH!, you can leave us a comment at the tagboard or email me at tpnyaa.ezh@hotmail.com and if there're loads of y'all, we can all go down together!

Cheers
Shermaine

New Updates

Dear NYAA Participants,

I have sent a latest email regarding the latest update for the 2 events that was previously mention in both the blog & your email (Personal/ TP email).

There have been a change in the date for the Adventure Camp (AC) camp & it has been postpone to the December Vacation.

Please take note that for those who may changed their mind & have not completed your Residential Project, you may want to consider the Pulau Ubin Residential Project as the deadline has been extended to the 15 September (Tue). The Residential Project has been confirmed to be a 3 days 2 night one but there are also other commitment that is required from you.

** Do email me at tpnyaa@hotmail.com if you did not received the latest email that I have sent out.
** Also note that there are limited vacancies for the Residential Project.

Thank you. ^_^

Upcoming events

Dear NYAA Participants,

We have 2 upcoming events which we have informed you guys through email. Please check your emails and do email us if you have not received it.


Event 1: Adventurous Journey by TPAC (2 Oct - 5 Oct)

Event 2: Residential Project by SAA (5 Oct - 16 Oct)

** Please take note that you can ONLY CHOOSE 1 of the event to join as there is an overlapping of time.


Thank you.