Celebrate Earth Hour

Earth Hour 2009 will be observed tomorrow in Singapore from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Everybody is encouraged to turn off your lights just for one hour, and you can encourage your friends to do so as well. Even companies like Starbucks (my second home!) will be switching off a section of their lights in their cafes.

Earth Hour 2009 aims to reach more than 1 billion people in more than 1000 cities around the world, inviting communities, business and governments to switch off lights for 1 hour and send a powerful global message that we need to take action on climate change. So if you're reading this, it doesn't matter what country you are from, invite your friends and family to participate!

Here's the link to the Earth Hour homepage: http://www.earthhour.org/home/

There's also a blog on Earth Hour Singapore as well: http://earthhoursingapore.blogspot.com/

Choosing a university course

Here is my two-cents worth of advice for those of you who are still undecided in your choice of university courses.

1. Know what the available courses are and find out every thing you can about the courses that interest you. Check the university websites and read up their prospectuses. Attend the university open houses. Find out what their curriculum are like. Talk to friends or relatives and ask them to share their experiences.

2. If you have a career path in mind that you want to pursue, pick a course that can facilitate the achievement of your career aspirations. With that said, don't choose a career just because it "pays well". I always believe that you should put your interests first before money. Do something that you are passionate about.

3. One of my career counsellors told me in a seminar "you don't know what you don't know". Very few people actually know for certain, the exact career path they want to embark when they are 18 years old. I'll have to admit that that's what happened to me. There may be things in life that you might like, but you just don't know about it yet. Furthermore, your interests may change. You may change. The career that you once so passionately wanted to pursue may not seem so desirable after all. If you want to pursue highly specialised courses like medicine, veterinary sciences or architecture, make sure you are clear on what you want.

4. Don't choose engineering for the sake of choosing engineering! I know of friends who choose a particular course just because that is where most of their friends are going. They don't end up in engineering very long. Also, don't just apply for any random course for the sake of "going through the motion" and getting a certificate (I know this is Singapore). Choose a course that you like, and not one where you think you can sail through and graduate. 4 years of university education is a substantial amount of time (and money) to be wasted on something you find out you do not like.

5. Lastly, one professor of mine gave the class these profound words "university is supposed to liberate your thinking, not limit your opportunities". Don't be afraid to follow your heart and go with your passion. If your considering a degree in the arts, humanities or social sciences, go for it. The job that you choose to do does not have to be related to what you studied.

Enjoy your March holidays

Today is the first day of the one-week March holidays and I would like to encourage many of our primary school, secondary school and A level friends out there to enjoy the week and make the most out of it. A one-week holiday is a really short break and before you know it, you'll be back in school again (not counting the fact that some of you go back for holiday lessons!). So make sure you spend your week fruitfully.

For our A level friends in JC and MI, you can be forewarned that the one-week breaks in university are nothing like the one-week breaks you currently enjoy. Just ask friends/family from NUS, NTU or SMU and they can attest to that. If anything, recent happenings in NTU can also give you an indication of the stress levels in uni. Ok it sounds like I'm scaring you guys, it's actually not that bad! But anyway, make the best out of your one-week holiday too.

Meet up with friends, spend time with your family or go catch a movie. I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire, while the cinemas are still screening it. So far it is one of the best movies I've watched in 2009. 

And of course, while you're out enjoying yourself, don't neglect your studies. I'm sure holiday homework has been lined up for some of you. You can't possibly be out playing 9 days in a row after all.

A second suicide case in NTU

There has been a second case of suicide in NTU, just 5 days after the first stabbing incident. The deceased is a 24 year old Chinese national who is a member of staff. Coincidentally, he graduated from the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He was believed to have hung himself at the balcony of his on-campus apartment.

He graduated with Second Class Upper Honours in July last year. Although he found a job immediately upon graduation, he was laid off after two months. It was only on March 2 when he joined NTU as an infocomm project officer at the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

The atmosphere in school has seemed to be one of gloom lately. 

Here's the full story http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/413708/1/.html

University recess week

Just to provide a flavour of the hectic academic schedule of university students, I spent 80% of my time going back to school during the one-week recess break last week. Out of the 5 weekdays, I went back to school on 3 of them for project meetings. And on Friday, I had to go for a visit to the Singapore Aviation Academy for a full day of tours and seminars as part of a course requirement.

Also, this doesn't include the time spent doing homework, completing assignments and catching up on respective syllabus.

At least I had one day free. Some of my friends came back to school every day. Some still have ECA committments.

NTU stabbing incident

I was a little shocked when I heard about the NTU stabbing incident. I was surprised that such a violent act could have occurred in a university. Furthermore, it happened in my university, which I felt was too close for comfort.

For those of you who haven't heard, a final year electrical engineering student from NTU had stabbed his FYP professor, before slitting his wrist and jumping off five-stories from the engineering block. The professor received medical treatement and is in stable condition. However, it was sad that the life of one  fellow student would come to such a tragic end.

As a current undergraduate, academic life can be sometimes stressful, especially so in the final year, and it is important that we learn how to manage the stress that comes our way. The student was considered by his professor to be above-average but he had difficulty obtaining a pass grade. I feel sad for him and his family, that after four years of university life, things should turn out this way.

The matter is still being investigated and I would expect more details to be released in the days to come. You can watch the news broadcast and read the full story on channelnewsasia at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/412478/1/.html

For today, our prayers and condolences go out to all those involved and affected.

STABBING CUM SUICIDE AT NTU

Hi everyone... It has indeed been awhile since my last post. However, I guess it takes an event such as that which happened in school today to bring out our innermost reflections and thoughts from where we have kept them internalized and safe.
From an anonymous source, I first learnt of this incident at 11:30am. I recall my first thought being: This is not different from the high school/university shootings in the United States. Thank god for Singapore’s strict gun control laws in this respect—but we’ll talk about this another day. The fact is, given the deluded motivations of the perpetrators, whether in Columbine or the University of Virginia or in NTU, it remains that these were ordinary students, who took to arms to express themselves and who ultimately paid the price with the taking of their own lives. IT IS FORTUNATE THOUGH that all the student in Singapore had to use was a kitchen knife.
What I did consider was what could possibly motivate a final-year electrical engineering student in the midst of his Final Year Project, to engage in an all-or-nothing attack on his project supervisor. I am a in my 3rd year reading Aerospace engineering, and given the commonality of Final-year-project structures, I understand that the student must have been in the final stages of his project or might have submitted his draft to his prof. My guess is that the student was deeply traumatized and upset because his prof could have admonished him on his project or that his project was performed incorrectly or not in prof’s favor, and given that this is near the end of the project date already, he did not want to receive an unsatisfactory grade, or that he knew that such a grade would pull down his GPA or result in him not being able to graduate.
At this point in time though, it is too early to pass judgment as to the motivations/causes/triggers behind the attack in NTU this morning until more clues/information is available.
In any crisis, we shore up what we can and for now, what’s important is the unfortunate prof who was the victim. I do hope that the Prof is recovering well.