40years of Catholic Junior College

40
years of
Catholic Junior College
1
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK
Dear Principals, Vice-Principals, teachers, staff and
students of CJC past and present,
As a relatively young institution of 40 years, Catholic
Junior College strives to achieve its vision: CJC: A Place of
Excellence in Learning and Living by upholding its motto: In
Veritate Et Caritate. For 40 years, the college has promoted
a community of care and service. This ethos is currently
preserved and articulated in the college mission: Building a
Generation in Truth and Love; Every CJCian to be a Thinker
with a Mission, Leader with a Heart.
As we look ahead to the next 40 years, we believe the
CJC ethos and the values of Truth and Love will continue
to anchor the college as it responds to the rapid pace of
change in our society and the world. The goal is to build
an enduring culture that takes the college to the rungs
of longer established institutions where rich traditions
and deep loyalties across an extensive alumni mark their
identity and prominence.
Based on this premise, this book not only commemorates
CJC’s 40th anniversary, it serves as a means of transmitting
the ideals and values of the college to future CJCians.
Inspiring stories and insights from different members of
the college community, who display leadership, resilience,
perseverance and determination by upholding Truth and
Love in all that they do, clearly demonstrate the Thinker
with a Mission, Leader with a Heart in action. The 40-odd
alumni who are featured in this book are just some of our
many alumni who exemplify how every CJCian can lead an
impactful life and serve the greater good.
We thank all the members of the CJC Alumni and CJC
community who participated in this endeavour for posterity.
We look forward to another 40 years of CJC’s growth as an
institution of excellence in learning and living.
In Veritate Et Caritate.
Christine Anne Kong
2
FROM THE DESK OF THE CHAIRMAN
OF THE CJC SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE
It is customary to celebrate the big “four-zero” with flourish.
Forty is a time to take stock, review, reflect and recommit.
For most people, middle age is when they take on new and
greater responsibilities. It is also a time when one becomes
more certain of one’s standing.
CJC’s last big anniversary celebration was 15 years ago when
it celebrated its silver jubilee. Many things have changed
since then. We now have an updated crest and college flag.
The Performing Arts Centre and the chapel, House of Prayer
are additions to the landscape. During this time, we have
our first lay Principal and the first alumnus to become the
Chairman of the School Management Committee (SMC).
Morning assemblies are no longer held in the quadrangle. On
the other hand, certain things have withstood the test of time,
like our values-centric approach to education.
A coffee table book allows us to take stock of the things that
have transpired as well as document our achievements,
especially those that are uniquely CJCian. The college motto
– In Veritate Et Caritate – has been our guiding principle.
More recently, a mission statement – Thinker with a Mission,
Leader with a Heart – was developed to make the motto more
actionable. In line with this development, the 40 or so people
who are featured in this coffee table book are some of our
past staff and students who personify this mission statement.
Since CJC’s founding in 1975, many other junior colleges
have come along (about one and a half dozen in total).
However, CJC is not just another junior college. Being
Catholic, it has to represent the very essence of God’s love
– how we reach out to each and every student as God’s gift
and how we go about preparing our students for the future.
Much has been done and much has yet to be done. One of
the objectives of this book is for it to be a good source of
reference and inspiration for future teachers and students.
More importantly, I hope that it will bring back many pleasant
memories of your time spent in CJC.
Let us thank God for his countless blessings on CJC.
Gerard Lee
3
Brother Patrick Loh (extreme left), Archbishop M.
Olcomendy (third from left), Mr E.W Barker and
wife (second and third from right), Dr Ee Peng
Liang (extreme right) at the CJC official opening
ceremony in 1976
STRUCTURE,
MANAGEMENT AND EVEN
IDENTITY OF CJC HAVE EVOLVED THROUGH
ALTHOUGH THE
IDENTITY OF CJC HAVE EVOLVED THROUGH
THE YEARS, THE COLLEGE STAYS TRUE TO ITS
MOTTO: IN VERITATE
4
ET CARITATE.
Dr Lee Chiaw Meng, Minister for Education, laying the foundation stone on 12 February
1974 with Dr Ee Peng Liang, Chairman of the School Management Committee.
ORIGINS
The idea of a Catholic junior college providing
consolidated Pre-University education for all Catholic
secondary schools was born in 1971. Working with
the Singapore government and supported by German
Bishops and local philanthropists, the Archdiocese
of Singapore brought the idea to fruition in July 1974
when the foundation stone was laid by then Minister
for Education, Dr Lee Chiaw Meng. The Archbishop
also became the college’s first President. Although the
college began accepting students in 1975, it was not
officially opened until June 1976 by Mr E W Barker, then
Minister of Law and the Environment. Many students
from the 1975 cohort were put in groups and scattered
to various affiliated schools across the island. They only
began taking lessons in the new college building when
it was partially ready in 1975.
Programme for the
official opening of
the college
Students gathering for the official opening ceremony
5
Clockwise from top left: Brother Patrick Loh, CJC’s first Principal (left) with first Archbishop
of Singapore Michel Olcomendy (right).
(From left to right) Sister Deirdre O’Loan, Brother Paul Rogers, Sister Maria Lau.
(Bottom left) CJC’s first School Management Committee (SMC) Chairman Dr Ee Peng Liang.
COMMUNITY CHEST
FOUNDER AND
PHILANTHROPIST
DR EE PENG LIANG
WAS THE FIRST
SMC CHAIRMAN
AND UNDER HIM,
THE SMC WAS
MADE UP LARGELY
OF RELIGIOUS
MEMBERS FROM
DIFFERENT
CATHOLIC ORDERS.
6
PRINCIPALS
(From left to right)
Brother Joseph
Kiely, Sister Deirdre
O’Loan, Brother
Patrick Loh and Mrs
Low Siew Nghee
(extreme right)
For its first 34 years, the college was led by
Catholic religious men and women. The first
Principal of CJC was Brother Patrick Loh, who
moved from St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) to head
the college. In 1979, he was succeeded by
Brother Joseph Kiely. He was then followed by
the first of the two Infant Jesus (IJ) Sisters to be
Principals, Sister Deirdre O’ Loan in 1988 who
was succeeded by Sister Maria Lau in 1995. In
2002, former SJI Principal Brother Paul Rogers
took on the role; he was also CJC’s last religious
Principal. In 2010, the college’s first lay Principal,
Mrs Christine Anne Kong, took up the mantle and
still helms the college today.
THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Mr Bernard Chen,
the second SMC
Chairman.
The School Management Committee (SMC) has
also evolved over the years. Community Chest
founder and philanthropist Dr Ee Peng Liang was
the first SMC Chairman and under him, the SMC
was made up largely of religious members from
different Catholic orders. The second Chairman
the late Bernard Chen was a former senior
politician and Chairman of the Archdiocesan
Commission on Catholic Schools. Under his
guidance, with the objectives of improving the
college’s influence and fundraising competence,
the SMC came to be made up of more influential
lay people from the private and the public sectors.
When current SMC Chairman Gerard Lee took
over, he thought there must be many alumni like
himself who would like to support the college.
So with the help of his Vice-Chairperson and
CJC alumna Pauline Goh, he began an initiative
engaging with and recruiting alumni into the SMC.
Today the SMC is made up entirely of alumni.
7
THE COLLEGE IDENTITY
The Mission Statement
In 2010, the SMC embarked on a review of the college’s goals to
plan for its future. Part of that process was the creation of a Mission
Statement to further refine the college’s objectives and ethos. The
new Mission Statement was released in 2011 to encapsulate the
CJC approach to education – Every CJCian to be a THINKER
WITH A MISSION, LEADER WITH A HEART.
THINKER
WITH A
MISSION,
The College Crest
The original crest had been based on a sketch by Brother Patrick
Loh, the first Principal. The flame which was first used as the
masthead for the Flame newsletter was adopted as a collar pin.
However in 2011, it was decided that the crest would benefit from
professional design input and the application of modern technology.
The SMC wanted it to reflect not only the college’s foundation and
history but aspirations for the college’s future as well.
The new crest was unveiled in July 2013. The dove representing the
spirit of God remains the central symbol of the logo in the refreshed
crest, although in a more artistic and stylised form, with Christ
represented by a cross that replaces the original stars. The College
Flame takes pride of place in the new design – a torch of the light of
God, of knowledge and wisdom above the initialism for the college:
CJC. All the elements including the College Motto, are arranged on
a golden shield. The shield reminds CJCians to guard themselves
from evil, and live in truth and love while the golden colour speaks
of the excellence CJCians should aspire to in learning and living.
The College Flag
In 2014, a new College Flag was unveiled featuring the new College
Crest against a background of the two shades of blue used in the
college uniform and blazer respectively. The Crest is placed at the
intersection of Y or gamma (the Greek letter for ‘c’) representing the
form of the Christian Cross. With its distinctive College Colours, the
Flag provides a powerful rallying point for students and the broader
college community at official and sports events.
8
1976 to 2010
LEADER
WITH A
HEART.
2011 to present
College pins from 1975 to present.
9
FACILITIES
When it opened, the college consisted of just four blocks
catering to 785 students but it has grown steadily since to
accommodate the increasing student population. Forty years
later, the college has an average annual enrolment of 1700
students with facilities to match: six lecture theatres, five special
seminar-style classrooms, campus-wide wireless access, the
English Studies Centre, the Training and Development Centre
with three multi-purpose rooms, the Learning Resource Centre,
the Performing Arts Centre, dedicated Visual and Performing
Arts rooms for drama, band, guzheng, guitar, and film, sound
and video (FSV) and a new chapel, House of Prayer.
The Performing Arts Centre is also next to the Piazza where
school assemblies are now held; the quadrangle where school
assemblies were held in the early years had become too small
to accommodate the entire student population. In addition, there
are multiple facilities such as a fitness centre and dedicated
co-curricular activities (CCA) training venues for fencing, judo
and shooting, an outdoor running track, an astro-turf field for allweather use and a rock climbing wall.
Now in the 21st century, the college is developing more
facilities to enhance an environment that will support the
college’s programmes to develop students with the necessary
competencies to rise to new challenges and seize opportunities
in a fast-changing world.
10
The new Piazza used for morning assembly
The old quadrangle that once served as an assembly yard
11
Sister
12
THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN
SISTER DEIRDRE O’LOAN
AND SISTER MARIA LAU
GOES WAY BACK TO WHEN
CJC WAS STILL
Maria & Sister
Deirdre
IN ITS INFANCY.
Sister Deirdre O’ Loan &
Sister Maria Lau
Principals of CJC
1988 to 1994 and 1995 to 2001
respectively
T
he friendship between Sister Deirdre O’Loan and Sister
Maria Lau goes way back to when CJC was still in its
infancy. Sister Deirdre began teaching at CJC when the
college was newly inaugurated in 1975 while Sister Maria Lau
joined CJC in 1977. They taught General Paper and English
Literature.
As Principal, Sister Maria believed that inclusiveness was
essential in building not only the college community but
also the community outside of the college. “In my time I
encouraged students to be exposed to the less privileged
through community service at least once in their two years in
CJC. Thereafter they could choose whether or not to continue;
the idea was to expose them to it. I found it very rewarding that
many students continued to reach out to the less privileged on
their own in a sustained, committed manner which was then
passed down to other students. Some of them continued with
this spirit even through their adulthood.”
Sister Deirdre recalls, “The first batch of students was admitted
when the building had yet to be completed. Yet they got on
with their studies in the dust and with the noise in half-finished
facilities without complaining of hardship or inconvenience.
There was a terrific pioneering spirit and a sense of adventure,
resilience and leadership.”
Over a decade later when the college was fully functional and
Sister Deirdre took over the reins as Principal, she continued
to have faith in her students’ pioneering spirit, leadership and
resilience. “Once, a very motivated group of boys came to
me with the intent of starting a Micromouse Club. At that time
CJC didn’t have such a thing and the boys needed some help
to get started such as a room, computers and a maze, which
we got for them. The boys responded by keeping the room in
good order, recruiting and engaging with their own teammates
and coming up with interesting inventions. They did so well
that we were the champion in the inter-college Micromouse
competition that year even though it was the first we had ever
entered.”
Sister Maria believes that having a deep faith values system
will enable students to have the critical power to choose and
choose wisely. “I’m not referring to religion per se, but faith
and spirituality. It’s essential that one has a good sense of
self-respect, self-esteem and self-knowledge that is rooted in
faith. It’s only when you know yourself that you can reach out
to others in service and with generosity. When you are sure of
who and what you are, you are freer to make choices and are
not dictated or swayed by what is currently in fashion.”
(Above) Sister Deirdre at a cooking demonstration with CJC students.
(Below) Sister Maria flanked by the late Bernard Chen on her right
and a student at the CJC 25th anniversary gala dinner.
13
“AS A RELIGIOUS
BROTHER, I
WAS TAUGHT
TO TOUCH THE
HEARTS OF
THOSE I WORK
WITH AND
TEACH.”
14
Brother Paul Rogers
Principal of CJC
2002 to 2009
B
rother Paul Rogers says he did not have to reinvent
the wheel when he assumed the position as Principal
in 2002. “CJC already had good staff, many intelligent
students and a strong history. What the college needed was
a catalyst to help it do things in a new and different way. I was
simply in the right place at the right time to effect whatever
changes that needed to happen.”
Brother Paul did not just want to reinforce the person-centric
education that has always been a part of the college’s tradition;
he also wanted a college the students could enjoy and feel
a sense of belonging to. He says, “This concept has always
been at the centre of my vision as a school leader over the 32
years that I have been a Principal at various schools. Students
must be in an environment that is safe, non-judgemental and
friendly; a place where you want to do your best because your
friends do too.”
He also placed a lot of importance on the way God is
acknowledged in the college community. “The Catholic
members of the school had to be able to celebrate who they
were without fear or favour, but they also had to recognise
and respect differences and learn to be inclusive of all others,
regardless of religion. And they did that very well. So race and
religion were never discriminatory concerns for us.”
In addition to reinforcing the software of the school, Brother
Paul was instrumental in updating the school facilities. He
says, “The facilities such as the lecture theatres and the library
were out-of-date and the hostel was run down and in need
of sprucing up. I was thankful that a building programme had
already been put in place and that my predecessor Sister
Maria Lau had left a pool of money that we could use to
renovate the college and prepare it for the 21st century without
having to demolish and replace buildings.”
The new chapel, which can seat 200 people, is the icing on the
cake for Brother Paul. “The growing Catholic population in the
college and the growing funds enabled us to build the chapel –
what a blessing for any Catholic school!”
He adds, “I was always energised by my God and by the
people around me at CJC and in the Hostel. I treasured those
days on which students from different religions to mine might
come forth and lead the community in prayer; we all believed
in the same God and yet simply expressed it differently.”
15
“WHAT WE HOPE IS TO AT LEAST PLANT
THE SEEDS AND LAY THE FOUNDATION
FOR THEM TO CONTINUE THEIR
GROWTH BEYOND CJC.”
Mrs Christine Anne Kong
Principal of CJC
2010 to Present
W
hen Mrs Christine Kong first heard that she had been
posted to CJC as Principal, she went to church to
pray and reflect on her decision. She recalls, “It was
no accident that the priest was then delivering a homily about
doing God’s work through service. It was loud and clear that I
must answer the calling!”
Mrs Kong also spearheaded the CJC Ignite Programme
for students who demonstrate the intellectual aptitude,
curiosity and passion for learning. Students on the integrated
programme will be exposed to a seminar-style pedagogy that
will stretch their intellectual horizons, and they will also be
given opportunities to develop their communication, leadership
and life skills. The ultimate aim of this programme is to develop
CJCians to be thinkers with a mission, leaders with a heart.
As Principal, she has updated and expanded on the
traditions of CJC, equipping students with leadership skills,
critical thinking, and life skills via new programmes such as
the CJC Ignite Programme, and expanding and updating
existing programmes such as the Overseas Service Learning
Programme (OSLP).
She recognises that it is a challenging and ambitious task to
run these programmes and expect to reap the benefits within
the two years while the students are in college. “What we hope
is to at least plant the seeds and lay the foundation for them
to continue their growth beyond CJC. I’m very encouraged
to hear from students who have graduated from our college
that these programmes have helped them make discerning
choices in life, and not just in academic studies.”
She says, “We will easily have 400 participating students who
go to developing countries under the OSLP each year, but not
just for the sake of doing community service. I challenge them
to ask themselves: are we really doing good and is our help
sustainable? And what led them to remain in this state?”
She asserts that her approach with CJC students is similar to
her own parenting style. “I’m a mother of two sons; in many
ways, I lead my students just like I parent my own sons, in that
although academic excellence is important, their self-worth
must not be defined by their grades alone.”
16
At CJC’s National Day celebrations in 1997
Mr Tan Jek Suan
Vice-Principal of CJC
2012 to Present
M
r Tan Jek Suan first discovered his passion for Student Development when
he was put in charge of the 21st Student Council as a young Math teacher.
The student-centric college philosophy and environment have sustained
his passion in the years that he was Head of Department for Mathematics and even
after he returned to the college in 2003 from pursuing a Masters in Math Education
in the United States. Upon his return it came as no surprise that he was given more
responsibility in Student Development; he eventually assumed the position of VicePrincipal in 2012.
Student Development covers the non-academic aspects of student life such as
Religion, Ethics, Student Council Leadership, Co-Curricular Activities (CCA),
Community Service and Pastoral Care, among others. Mr Tan also sits on the panel
reviewing pupil admissions.
He enthuses, “The Student Development Department gives me the opportunity to
reach out to many more students, and not just the classes that I teach. If I focused
purely on teaching I would only be able to reach out to three or four classes.”
Mr Tan believes that CJC’s Student Development Programmes complement academic
“WHAT REWARDS ME
MOST PERSONALLY IS
SEEING THE STUDENTS
GROW DURING THEIR
TIME AT CJC AND LEAVING
AS MORE THOUGHTFUL
AND BETTER ROUNDED
PEOPLE.”
work in that students need intellectual
ability, as well as skills such as
leadership and empathy to excel in
their careers. He elaborates, “College
is the best place to learn because it
gives you an environment where you
can make mistakes and consequences
are not harsh. However, the world
outside of the college may not be so
forgiving. If a student is not equipped
with the necessary skills, he or she is
likely to have a difficult time adjusting,
especially when support is not
accessible.”
17
THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PERPETUATE THE CJC
ETHOS OF IN VERITATE ET CARITATE
IN STUDENTS RESTS ON THE SHOULDERS OF
THE
STAFF AND TEACHERS.
Sister Mary Annunciation with her students in 1975
18
I
Math teacher, Sister Mary of
the Cross
Sister Annunciation, Home Tutor
for A12 in 1975
n 1975 CJC had a total staff strength of approximately
90, of which 85 were teachers. During the early
years the academic staff included the religious who
belonged to several orders and they not only taught
Religion and Ethics but academic subjects as well.
Three of CJC’s former Principals are De La Salle
Brothers; they are the late Brother Patrick Loh, CJC’s
first Principal, the late Brother Joseph Kiely and
Brother Paul Rogers. The first Head of the Mathematics
Department was Sister Mary Annunciation, who
belonged to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine
Motherhood (FMDM). Sister Mary of the Cross (FMDM)
and Brother Philibert, a Gabrielite brother, taught
Mathematics too. Sister Bernadette (FMDM) taught
General Paper (GP) and Geography. Sister Deirdre
O’ Loan from the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus
(IJ) was the first Head of the English Department.
She subsequently became CJC’s Vice-Principal and
eventually the Principal. Sister Maria Lau, another IJ
nun, joined CJC in 1977 as a GP teacher and later
succeeded Sister Deirdre as the college’s fourth
Principal. Canossian Sisters: Sister Christina Yeo, Sister
Elizabeth Tham and Sister Raffaela taught GP, while
Sister Josephine Sim was in the Commerce Department
and Sister Janet Wang taught Geography. Father
Liam Egan, who taught Ethics, and College Chaplains
Father Gerard Keane and Father Leslie Raj are all
Jesuit priests. CJC’s first College Chaplain, Father Jean
Charbonnier, belongs to the Paris Foreign Missions
Society. Today the only clergy and religious in CJC is
Sister Elizabeth Tham (second from left)
Father Leslie Raj, the College Chaplain. However, the
college continues to regularly invite clergy and religious
representatives to speak to the students on religious and
ethical matters.
The college has also had a number of Vice-Principals
since 1975. CJC’s first Vice-Principal was the late Mr Tan
Kiok Ngiap. He was succeeded by the late Mr Goh Yong
Hung, followed by Mr Thomas Ho, Sister Deirdre, Mrs
Low Siew Nghee and Ms Rosalind Khng. Mr Michael Lim
was the first Vice-Principal for Administration, followed
by Mr Kevin Leong. CJC now has three Vice-Principals,
namely, Mr Tan Jek Suan (Student Development), Mr
Eric Lee (Curriculum) and Mr Allan Gan (Administration).
Besides the teaching staff, the college has also had
executive and administrative staff (EAS) who have been
invaluable in their contributions to its organisational
performance. In 1975 there were four clerical officers,
two library officers and five laboratory staff.
Currently the college has 147 teachers and 21 EAS
officers. Of the pioneer staff who began working in CJC
circa 1975 to 1976, five still continue to work in the
college. The staff has grown over the years in numbers,
talent and diversity and includes alumni who have
chosen to return to their alma mater as teachers. What
has remained constant in the staff of CJC is the mission
to nurture young people with integrity in a community of
care and service.
19
Mrs Sng with her 2015 JC2 ELL students
Mrs Sng Mee Lian
Senior Teacher for English Language and
Linguistics (ELL)
1975 to 1980, 1982 to Present
“I had wanted to pursue post-graduate studies in Literature
and be a university lecturer, but engaging in research for
my Masters degree after graduation was a rather solitary
endeavour, hence I chose to train to be a teacher. Being a
former student of St Joseph’s Convent I preferred to work in
a mission school, so I applied to teach in CJC. Since 1975,
I have been teaching what I have always loved, Literature,
and from 2009 I have been teaching my new love, English
Language and Linguistics. Teaching is a hobby to me as it is
interesting, challenging and entertaining!”
20
Mdm Seetoh Yit Khuan
Senior Laboratory Technician
1975 to Present
Mdm Saminah Bte Jaspan
Laboratory Attendant
1976 to Present
“A big part of why I have remained at CJC after all these years
is that my colleagues, the teachers and the students work
together like a family. With their help and support, CJC has
successfully conducted and overseen 300 science practical
examinations over 40 years; what an achievement!”
“When I was accepted as an employee at CJC, I was staying
at Whitley Road Kampong which was near to CJC. However,
when the kampong was demolished, I moved to Clementi at
which time I applied to transfer to a school closer to home but
was not successful. I have never looked back since!”
Mdm Hapsah Bte Sirat
Laboratory Attendant
1976 to Present
“I have never regretted my decision to be employed at CJC
although at first I was looking for employment at a secondary
school and not a junior college. Of all the positive changes at
CJC, I enjoy the newly upgraded school facilities the most,
especially the science laboratories!”
Mdm Sa’diah Binti Imbek
Management Support Officer
1975 to Present
“I love my work as it keeps me on my feet and gives me
an opportunity to interact with people — whether they are
students, teachers or other staff in CJC.”
21
“YOU MUST CARE
FOR YOUR STUDENTS,
AND BELIEVE THAT
THEY CAN IN THEIR
OWN WAY EXCEL AND
FIND THOSE ABILITIES
THAT WILL HELP THEM
DO WELL IN LIFE.”
22
Mrs Low on her retirement day with CJC’s
uniformed groups, Brother Paul Rogers and
Ms Rosalind Khng.
Mrs Low Siew Nghee
Vice-Principal of CJC
1988 to 2005
F
or Mrs Low the most rewarding aspect of her role as VicePrincipal was connecting with her students, “Knowing or
even discovering that in some way, I had reached out to
and touched every student I encountered.”
As the college’s Vice-Principal Mrs Low had to deal with
students who faced financial, medical and even relationship
challenges with peers, teachers or their own families.
“When I was still a Vice-Principal, teachers would sometimes
ask me if I knew what was troubling student A or student B.
I would tell them that I had to respect the students and their
need for confidentiality, so I could not say anything but if they
were to take the time and be careful and caring enough, they
should be able to reach out to the student themselves.”
Today Mrs Low continues to reap the rewards of having
connected with so many former CJC students during her 30
years at CJC; 13 years teaching Geography and General
Paper and 17 as Vice-Principal from 1988 until her retirement
in 2005. Many of her former pupils still keep in touch with her
and visit her at her East Coast apartment.
Mrs Low’s parents were her initial role models when she
became an educator; her father was a school principal and her
mother was a teacher in a Chinese school in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. However it was the De La Salle Brothers and former
CJC Principals, such as Brother Patrick Loh and Brother
Joseph Kiely, who instilled in her the first principle of being a
good teacher: caring.
“You must care for your students, and believe that they can in
their own way excel and find those abilities that will help them
do well in life,” Mrs Low says. “There will always be students
who come to CJC with six points for their ‘O’ levels; they’re
expected to do well and are most likely to do well for their ‘A’
levels. But what about the others? Not scoring top grades does
not mean that you’ll not do well in life.”
She adds, “The family unit is important to me; everyone needs
the support of the family unit. It’s sad that not all students
have the benefit of a functional family unit to fall back on, and
many of them look to the school to find solace. I hope that
every student who goes to CJC, regardless of background,
finds some form of family in the college and leaves the college
having forged a connection.”
23
FORMER STUDENTS OF CJC HAVE
DECIDED TO RETURN AS TEACHERS TO CONTINUE
MANY
UPHOLDING THE COLLEGE TRADITION.
Mr Alvin New Say Leng
Subject Head of Physical Education
2005 to Present
“I feel blessed to return to my alma mater to
continue with its good work over the years.
I hope to nurture students who are caring,
giving and willing to contribute back to
society regardless of their backgrounds and
personalities.”
Mr Bernard Yeong
Head of Science (Chemistry)
2003 to Present
“I returned to CJC to continue with the
sense of connectedness and gratitude
that I have experienced as a student. I
hope to nurture students who make a
positive difference in the lives of others,
who care about doing the right thing
and have the courage to do it.”
24
Mr Mark Li
Subject Head of Pastoral Care
2007 to Present
“The college has been home to me in many ways; at
first as a student and now a teacher. As a teacher, I
hope to nurture students of integrity who do their best
in their chosen field to serve the community.”
Mr Peter Thia
Head of Mother
Tongue Department
1987 to Present
“When I completed the
Diploma in Education
in 1987 and returned to
CJC to teach, it was like
a homecoming to a place
that has supported me
in so many ways. The
appreciation shown by my
former students through
the years keeps me going.”
Mr Singarayar Perrin
Aruseelan, Senior
Teacher (General Paper,
Knowledge & Enquiry)
2011 to Present
“I’d like to be able to produce
students with not only the cognitive
skills but empathy and respect for
others as well; it is rewarding to
see my students grow from teens
into young adults. ”
25
Mr Kah Yi Seah, William
Teacher (Economics)
2009 to Present
“I returned for the opportunity to
interact with like-minded people who
share my views, give me space for
my own growth and to be a part of
something that will actually impact
the lives of others. ”
Mr Adrian Ho Wei Leong
Teacher
(Physical Education)
2001 to Present
“I spent my best years in CJC and
would like to repeat the experience
for my own students so that they too
can develop a passion for sports. ”
Mr Eugene Pancratius Yeow
Head of Science
(Biology and Physics)
2005 to Present
“The college gave me plenty as a
student. As a teacher I want to be
able to empower students to have the
courage to do what is right and make
the future a reality that we want and not
leave it to chance.”
26
Mr Aaron Rajoo
Head of Citizenship Education and
Leadership Development
2008 to Present
“CJC was where I spent the best two years of my life!
Only that as a teacher, I get to make it as special for
my students as it had been for me in 1999. ”
Mr Lester Low
Head of Humanities
1999 to Present
Mr Lim Meng Hui
Teacher (Economics)
2012 to Present
“I wanted to show appreciation to
my old teachers and to continue
with the good work of the college.
I hope to nurture students who are
curious, who seek to gain a deeper
understanding of the world and the
intricate relationship between man
and the environment.”
“CJC is my alma mater and
it gives me a good sense of
pride to be able to give back
to the college. And besides,
it helps that I get to teach the
subject that I love too!”
27
Mr Eric Lee
Ms Emily Lim
Ms Maryanne
Joseph
Mr Eric Lee, Vice-Principal
2012 to Present
“My hopes as a school leader are no different
from my hopes as a teacher. I wanted to teach
because I want to contribute to the larger
community by nurturing students well so that
these students can use their education wisely
and responsibly for the betterment of others.”
28
Ms Emily Lim Su Lin
Teacher
(Project Work and PE)
2007 to Present
Ms Maryanne Joseph
Abraham
Teacher (General Paper)
2013 to Present
“As a teacher and alumna, being
given the opportunity to give
back and celebrate any sort of
success with the CJC community
is rewarding to me.”
“Being a Roman Catholic, I want to
be able to touch young lives in an
environment anchored in Christian
values and founded upon God’s love. I
am blessed to be able to live this dream
of mine in CJC.”
Ms Melissa Olsen
Teacher (Project Work)
2008 to Present
“I was inspired to teach because of the teachers I encountered in
CJC. I will always be grateful for their confidence in my abilities
which made me realise the power of the impact that teachers can
have on their students and this makes me want to influence my own
students in a positive way.”
Mr Joey Kang Kaisheng
Teacher (General Paper)
2009 to Present
“I returned to CJC to continue upholding
the culture of the school; I have such good
colleagues and staff environment here.”
Miss Pauline Chua
Head of English
1992 to Present
“I hope to continue to uphold the mission of the college and
to contribute to the college’s growth. I hope my students will
enjoy learning about the world, appreciate the written word,
are critical yet compassionate and are grounded in sound
Christian values. ”
Mrs Lynette Kiara La’Brooy
Teacher (General Paper)
1999 to Present
“My journey at CJC has been most rewarding as I have
been given the privilege and an opportunity for the last 16
years to walk with and guide my students in their quest for
knowledge, continuing the legacy of my CJC teachers.”
29
MORAL AND
RELIGIOUS
EDUCATION HAS
HAS BEEN
BEEN AN
AN
INTEGRAL
INTEGRAL PART
PART OF
OF THE
THE HOLISTIC
HOLISTIC
EDUCATION
EDUCATION AT
AT CJC
CJC FROM
FROM ITS
ITS
FOUNDATION.
FOUNDATION.
30
Representatives from different religions at the InterReligious Dialogue held in 2011 in CJC
Members of the student-led Catholic Activities Council (CAC)
with Sister Elizabeth Tham, Friar George Boggs, Father Liam
Egan and Brother Patrick Loh (from left to right in the front row)
and Sister Deirdre O’ Loan and Father Gerard Keane in the back
row (extreme right).
PHILOSOPHY
T
he principle that moral education should be
emphasised on equal footing with academic
excellence was instituted by the Reverend
Jean-Marie Beurel MEP, the founder of the first
Catholic school in Singapore, St Joseph’s Institution
(SJI) in 1852.
Inclusiveness has also been an underlying policy
of all the Catholic schools in Singapore, including
CJC. Not only has CJC been open to students from
all races and religions right from its foundation, the
college also strives to instil in its students a respect
for all faiths.
31
College Chaplain Father Leslie Raj and students in the old
prayer room
As well as organising annual Catholic retreats for its
members, it was customary for the CAC to put up plays
and organise masses to commemorate important events
on the Catholic calendar such as Easter and Christmas.
In 2004, alongside the enhancement of the Student
Development structure and activities, the CAC was
subsumed to be one of the three wings of the Student
Council as the Catholic Activities Wing. This Wing takes
charge of organising activities that help in the spiritual
development of the college community.
Father Jean Charbonnier was CJC’s first College
Chaplain. He was succeeded by Father Gerard Keane
and later alumnus Father Leslie Raj, who is the
incumbent College Chaplain.
CATHOLIC GROUPS & FACILITIES IN CJC
The Catholic ethos of the college is governed by a
Catholic Ethos Committee, a board committee. On a
day-to-day basis, the spiritual matters of the college
are overseen by a Chaplaincy Team consisting of the
Chaplain and Catholic teachers. The Chaplain, who
is appointed by the Archbishop of Singapore, leads
the college in religious services as well as providing
pastoral care for students and teachers. Catholic groups
such as the Society of St Vincent De Paul (SVDP) and
the Legion of Mary (LOM) were also established in the
college’s initial years; they are still active and functioning
today.
The SVDP is a well-known global Catholic charity
which uses monthly collections from Sunday masses to
provide direct help to the poor and under-privileged of
all religions. The LOM is an international association for
Catholic lay people to dedicate their time and energy to
prayers and outreach.
The student-led Catholic Activities Council (CAC) was
formed in 1975. It organises daily morning prayers and
masses as well as activities to help CJC’s Catholic
student community grow spiritually and holistically.
32
The Prayer Room was established in 1976 when the
front area of the college building was completed. For
more than three decades, it was used by Catholic
students and teachers for personal reflection, prayer
and liturgical sessions until the new Chapel – which
was named the House of Prayer – was built in 2010.
Designed by architect and CJC alumnus Mark Chin,
the Chapel can seat 200 people. Students, staff,
parents and alumni attend morning mass in the House
of Prayer.
Mass at the House of Prayer
His Grace, Archbishop William Goh and College Chaplain
Father Leslie Raj at CJC’s 40th anniversary mass
33
THE MORAL EDUCATION PROGRAMME
At the time of CJC’s foundation in 1975,
the teaching of Ethics and Moral Education
during curriculum time in a junior college was
permitted by the Ministry of Education (MOE).
Catholic students were offered one period of
Religious Education a week taught mainly by
priests of the Dioceses of Singapore, as well
as some religious brothers and sisters. At the
same time, non-Christian students were offered
one period of Moral Education per week during
curriculum time. Later on, Catholic teachers
volunteered for the faith formation classes
of Catholic students. Faith formation classes
for Catholic students were held outside of
official curricular hours but are now part of the
Religion and Ethics Programme.
OSLP Vietnam group photo outside a primary school
Father Garcia’s talk on ethical issues in 2014
34
TODAY, THE COLLEGE
RUNS TWO PARALLEL
PROGRAMMES: THE RELIGION
PROGRAMME FOR CATHOLIC
STUDENTS AND THOSE
WHO ARE INTERESTED TO
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE
CATHOLIC FAITH AND THE
ETHICS PROGRAMME FOR
NON-CATHOLIC STUDENTS.
THE ETHICS PROGRAMME
COMPRISES SESSIONS WHERE
STUDENTS EXPLORE AND
THINK CRITICALLY ABOUT
PRESSING SOCIETAL AND
PERSONAL ISSUES SUCH AS
BIOETHICS AND EUTHANASIA.
Father Henry Siew
Class of 1978
F
ather Henry Siew’s time at CJC was a period
of transition for himself, CJC and Singapore’s
education system. He had attended Maris Stella
High School, then one of the Mandarin Spring Schools
teaching primarily in Mandarin and enrolled at CJC in the
Chinese science stream. However the education system
in the mid-1970s was transitioning to English as its
primary language. By the time Father Henry completed
his ‘A’ levels, Nanyang University, which was the only
Chinese university then, was already switching to an
English language curriculum, and by 1978 used only
English.
So CJC had to phase out the arts and science streams
it had offered in Chinese to cater to students from the
Catholic Mandarin Spring Schools when the college
opened. By 1977, the sciences were taught in English
even for the Chinese stream. So Father Henry did the
majority of his ‘A’ levels in English although he was still
technically in the Chinese science stream.
“The only subject that was taught to us in Mandarin was
General Paper. It was tough for us making the transition
from Mandarin to English but the teachers were very
supportive. My Home Tutor, Mrs Tan Lee Lee – who also
took us for Biology – spoke Mandarin and explained
some English science terms in Mandarin.” He adds, “The
‘A’ level examiners must have also made allowances
for Chinese Stream Students in those transition years.
Certainly whoever graded my ‘A’ level Biology paper was
kind to me because there were times when I couldn’t
remember the English word or spelling and wrote a
phrase or word in Mandarin. I was pleasantly surprised
when I scored a B.”
Despite the language issues, Father Henry’s strongest
memories of CJC are spiritual; in fact his spiritual
experiences at CJC played a part in him eventually
becoming the first CJC alumnus to be ordained a priest.
He recalls, “I valued taking turns with fellow student Paul
Chan leading the weekly Mandarin morning prayers as
well as the faith formation and fellowship with members
of the Catholic Activities Council (CAC).”
35
Father Adrian Danker
Society of Jesus
Principal of St Joseph’s Institution
Class of 1983
F
ather Adrian Danker, a member of the Society of Jesus
(Jesuits), first felt the pull of priesthood when as a
CJC student he met Brother George Boggs from the
Franciscan Order. Brother Boggs was then facilitating the
staging of Easter and Christmas plays with student members
of the Catholic Activities Council (CAC). He recalls, “At the
time, Brother Boggs was producing a play illustrating the
life of Saint Francis of Assisi, and I was attracted to how he
emanated the joy of his calling.”
Father Danker, who was also the President of CAC in his
time, asserts that not only was his time in CJC marked by
a process of discovery, learning and unlearning, CJC had a
failsafe environment where teachers helped students discover
their strengths without undermining them if they stumbled or
failed during the process.
36
“First and foremost, I made this risky switch to the arts
stream; I was formerly a science stream student from St
Joseph’s Institution (SJI). Although I did not get a good grade
for Literature in the JC2 Preliminary Exam, I loved the subject
enough to want to work harder to get a better grade. True
enough, I found I got good enough ‘A’ level grades for not one,
but two Public Service Commission (PSC) Scholarships.”
As a teacher in CJC, Father Danker headed a group of
students in planning the annual Pre-University Seminar in
1996. He recalls, “We were starting from scratch; we had no
template nor reference point. What I liked about it was the fact
that it was the students who led and planned the events.”
Today, as the new Principal of SJI, Father Danker wants to
nurture a failsafe environment in SJI so that his own students
can discover their strengths and calling. “As a society we have
been caught up by success that is defined by good grades.
While grades are important, students must be allowed to try,
fail and get up and try harder, or try something different; this
kind of resilience is something they will need when navigating
the real world.”
Brother Dominic Yeo
Class of 1976
B
rother Dominic Yeo was part of the first CJC
cohort in 1975 and he recalls it was quite
chaotic in the early days.
“We were all scattered to different schools for the
first few months. Even when we moved into the
college things were disorganised. There was no
lecture theatre, the canteen was not working properly,
building work was still ongoing and there was a lot
of mud when it rained. As everything and everyone
was new it took us a while to find our feet, learn our
way around and establish routines. Luckily for me
there were familiar faces; some of my schoolmates
and teachers from Montfort and we soon made new
friends.”
Although he came from a staunch Catholic family and
had come up through Montfort School, CJC opened
his eyes to a far broader Catholic community and
gave him the chance to meet consecrated religious
brothers and sisters from numerous orders.
“There seemed to be a great coming together
of Singapore’s Catholic community at CJC with
religious brothers and sisters from many different
orders and congregations. Our Principal was a De
La Salle Brother, there were Brothers of St Gabriel
and we even had Franciscan Friars who came to the
school to teach religion classes. Then there were
Canossian Sisters, Infant Jesus (IJ) Sisters and
even some Franciscan Missionaries of The Divine
Motherhood (FMDM) Sisters. My Math teacher, Sister
Mary Annunciation, was an FMDM nun. I was in
the technical stream then, so she was the only nun
teacher I had but several others certainly made an
impression on me. The redoubtable Sister Deirdre
O’Loan who was quite a strict Irish nun, for one. CJC
was like a great melting pot, we were very fortunate to
have them.”
37
COMMUNITY
THE CORE OF THE CJC
IS GOOD RELATIONS AT EVERY LEVEL, WITHIN AND
BEYOND THE SCHOOL STRUCTURE.
38
T
he student has always been the centre of the CJC community.
The Home Tutorial system and the House system are designed
to support CJCians’ growth in all aspects of student life, from the
academic to the psychological and emotional, as well as helping them
attain study-life balance.
Many students maintain this sense of community long after they have
left the college, such as alumni parents Ying Ying and Bernard Thio who
enrolled all their six children at CJC. Other alumni continue to serve the
college on committees or as members of support groups. Chairpersons
of CJC’s Parent Support Group (PSG): Catherine Khoo, Christina Lim
and Henry Lee are all alumni. Christina continues to support many PSG
programmes even though her daughter has graduated. The current SMC
is totally made up of alumni members.
Alumni also return to the college to address students during the CJC
Annual Think Career Fest to guide them in making informed career
choices, engage in conversations with CJC student leaders and facilitate
religious retreats.
39
Within the College
HOME TUTORIAL SYSTEM
The Home Tutorial (HT) system has been a central
and distinguishing feature of CJC since its foundation
in 1975. In this system, a Home Tutor is appointed
for every group of 20 or so students. Today, the
Home Tutors continue to be the core of every HT
group; assisting students with support not only in the
academic domain but the social, emotional, spiritual
and physical realms as well. Together with their Home
Tutor, the students in each HT group work to support
each other in their two–year journey in CJC and
develop a sense of belonging to the college.
Each HT group belongs to a House: either Albert,
Joseph, Michael or Patrick. The Houses complete the
student family structure within CJC.
The four Houses that
were introduced in
2012
Former Principal Sister
Deirdre O’Loan presenting
a plaque to the Captain of
Gregory House
THE FOUR HOUSES
Mr David Fahy with his Home Tutorial Group 2T02 and
Cluster Head, Ms Fan Kai Teng
40
The House system was originally an integral part
of the CJC student community structure when the
college was founded in 1975 but was later dropped for
a number of years. There were originally six houses
named after Catholic saints: Patrick, Joseph, Michael,
Albert, John and Gregory. After a long hiatus, the
House system was reintroduced in 2012 with four
houses taking on the colours of the college – Albert
(Yellow), Michael (Orange), Patrick (Red) and Joseph
(Green). In addition to further forging strong bonds
and community spirit among the students in their
houses, the House system gives the students another
source of peer support for one another. Students also
get a sense of camaraderie in the midst of friendly
competition between the houses.
Christina Lim, PSG Chairperson 2013, receiving
a token of appreciation
Catherine Khoo, founder of the PSG
THE PARENT SUPPORT GROUP
CJC teachers have always regularly met the parents
of their students to update them on their children’s
progress and to work together with the parents in the
holistic development of their children. The collaboration
between the college and parents has been further
strengthened with the creation of the Parent Support
Group (PSG), spearheaded by a group of volunteer
parents in March 2008 as a way of fostering closer
bonding between parents, students and teachers, as
well as facilitating opportunities for parents to support
the school financially.
Inspired by the benefits she experienced from a similar
group based in another junior college, Catherine Khoo,
a CJC alumna whose son was then studying in CJC,
approached then–Principal Brother Paul Rogers about
starting the PSG. Once she had recruited the support
of three other parent volunteers, Brother Paul issued
an official invitation seeking parents’ support for the
group. The PSG started with the formation of an interdenominational Parent Prayer Group in April 2008.
This Parent Prayer Group – comprising Catholics and
Protestants – met for prayer in warm fellowship and the
prayer session became a weekly event on Wednesday
mornings in the CJC prayer room and later in the
chapel when it was opened.
Students enjoying food
prepared by parents on
one of the study nights
Today, the PSG – which also stands for Prayers, Snacks
and God-centred – organises many activities including
the Snack Friends Programme and Teachers’ Day
Appreciation. The PSG group grew from strength to
strength; building from four to 80 in just over six months.
By 2014 the group had grown to 120 parents. Student
response grew hand in hand with parental support.
When the Snack Friends Programme was initiated,
the PSG was catering to only 50 students. Today, the
PSG caters to as many as 300 students each night.
The college now recognises the contributions of PSG
members through the presentation of an award, Friends
of CJC, during the Annual Awards Ceremony.
The growing involvement of parents in
college life is testimony to the strength
of the COMMUNITY ethos, which is a
fundamental part of the CJC identity.
41
Gerard with his two daughters, Amelia and
Eugenia Lee; they were all student
councillors at CJC in their time there.
42
“I had reached the stage in my life when I felt I was able to give
something back to the school. Pauline and I were established
in our careers and ready to use our experience, connections
and other resources for the school’s benefit. We were sure
there must be many other alumni at a similar stage in their
lives who are equally passionate about their alma mater, so we
began reaching out to them.”
One of their first steps was placing alumni matters under the
ambit of the committee. They then held a variety of events
such as reunion dinners, annual golf days and 50th birthday
gatherings to re-connect alumni with the school.
“Since then alumni have been actively involved in fundraising,
giving career talks and as speakers for the Ignite Programme.
The alumni initiated the Archbishop and Flame Scholarships,
raised funds to build the college chapel and are now
spearheading CJC’s 40th anniversary events. While I am
indebted to my non-alumni predecessors for their service on
the Committee, it is only natural that alumni have more vested
interest in and a greater passion for the school.”
Gerard Lee with an Ignite Programme student Bryan Joel Lim (left) at
the 2013 Leadership Conference dinner
Gerard Lee
Chairman of the CJC School
Management Committee
2009 to Present
CEO of Lion Global Investors
Class of 1977
G
erard Lee is the first alumnus to be Chairman of the
School Managment Committee. In fact he and the
current Vice-Chairperson Pauline Goh were the first
alumni to serve on the board.
Gerard believes the current change in focus of the education
system could be CJC’s opportunity to distinguish itself. For
many years the designers of Singapore’s education system
had a very narrow view of how its students could achieve
success in adult life; it focused solely on the pursuit of
academic excellence. However, after many years of chasing
paper qualifications, the authorities have in recent years
acknowledged that there is more than one pathway to success
and happiness.
Gerard elaborates, “Few would have believed 20 years
ago that the authorities would have introduced the English
Language Elective Programme and recognised the need for
a more broad-based, values-centric education system; an
approach which has always been the mainstay of a Catholic
school education.”
He continues, “This values-centric approach to education has
allowed CJC to produce students who have not only done very
well in their careers but also in many cases lived up to the
college’s mission statement: Thinker with a Mission, Leader
with a Heart. I am certain that CJC can continue to produce
such community and industry leaders for another 40 years.”
43
From left to right:
Bernard, Ying Ying,
Marie, Jonathan,
Joel, Justin,
Jerome, Michelle
and Marie
The Thio Family
Former Students and Student of CJC
1979 to Present
N
ot only were wife and husband Ying Ying and Bernard
Thio educated in CJC, they wanted all their six children
to be educated there, too.
Litigation lawyer Ying Ying explains how CJC had been a
spiritual starting point for her. “I was the only girl of three
siblings; one died young and the other is mentally challenged.
My parents who were free thinkers then, believed that luck
dictates the sort of life one would have. This belief, especially
when combined with the undercurrent of sadness in our family
life was something I could not buy into. I went to St. Anthony’s
Convent, a Catholic school, and I knew that I wanted to
become a Catholic.”
After being led by a CJC friend to attend Catechism classes for
a year, Ying Ying was baptised just after she graduated. In her
second year, she met her life partner Bernard Thio, who was
also in the science stream.
44
Photo of the family in their
CJC uniforms taken on
Bernard and Ying Ying’s
25th wedding anniversary
Now a doctor specialising in occupational medicine, Bernard
has been familiar with the close-knit Catholic environment
from his days in St Joseph’s Institution (SJI). “Ying Ying and I
benefited from the community spirit in CJC and we would like
our children to continue upholding this spirit even after they
have left school.”
They have six children, five of whom have completed their
junior college years in CJC while the sixth is due to graduate
in 2016.
Jonathan, Justin, Joel, Marie, Michelle and Jerome Thio had
all been educated in mission schools and were unanimous in
their decision to study in CJC as they wanted the continuity
of the community spirit of their previous schools.
Joelle Thio, a second year medical student, says of his
canoeing co-curricular activity (CCA), “At times training was
so rigorous that the girls were reduced to tears and the boys
were fighting with each other but at the end of it, everyone
pitched in for the greater good.”
Michelle Thio, a first-year law student, has fond memories of
preparing for the ‘A’ levels with her classmates. “In year two,
after organising orientation activities, a group of friends and
I would study together at this particular table in the canteen.
It’s times like these when we gathered to persevere through a
difficult time that I really felt that CJC spirit.”
The eldest, Jonathan Thio, a litigation lawyer, says, “I was in the
Student Council so I too had a chance to organise orientation
activities; many of the teachers were committed and supportive
of us and what we did for the school.”
Like his parents, Jonathan met his life partner in CJC, Maria
Lee; the Thio family had insisted that she joined them for this
photo shoot. Jonathan and Marie were together for nine years
before they tied the knot in July 2015. Perhaps they too might
send their children to CJC.
45
Christina Lim met husband Andy Lam while they were studying in CJC.
46
Christina Lim, Founder of Ocean
Health, a Health Supplements and
Skincare Company
Class of 1978
C
hristina Lim believes resilience, integrity and love of
family taught at CJC helped her become the successful
businesswoman she is today. Although she has
successfully grown her health supplements and skincare
company, Ocean Health, from just two staff members and one
product to a 50-man team with 90 products today, her journey
was not without challenges.
The SARS pandemic in 2003 marked the beginning of a trying
time for Ocean Health. Christina recalls, “Back then skincare
sales made up a large part of our income but for fear of SARS,
people were avoiding the clinics and hospitals where our
prescription-only skincare line was distributed. For the same
reason the demand for vitamin C supplements soared. Unlike
our competitors who took advantage of the crisis, I lowered our
vitamin C prices so that more people could afford to protect
themselves. As a result, Watsons’ pharmacies placed large
orders with us and we were voted their favourite brand of the
year.”
The SARS outbreak was not the only time Christina had to
draw on the resilience and integrity that CJC had helped
instil in her. Soon after, Pan Pharmaceuticals, which supplied
some of her supplements conducted a worldwide product
recall due to a documentation dispute with the Therapeutic
Goods Administration (TGA), the Australian regulatory
body overseeing the manufacturing and distribution of
supplements. “In a panic our retailers returned all our
products although only five were on the recall list. It almost
shut the business down. It was not until 2012 that TGA finally
reimbursed us and assured us that all along there was
nothing wrong with our products.”
Christina who headed the CJC Parent Support Group (PSG)
in 2013, adds, “My aunts and mother were the first exemplars
of Catholic values, especially a love for the common good
of all. Although they were orphaned from young and made
a humble living as tailors, they often invited their neighbours
and even beggars to eat with us”.
Today, Christina extends similar help to CJC students via the
PSG’s Snack Friends Programme where volunteer parents
personally prepare and distribute snacks to support students
studying on college premises for 50 nights leading up to the
‘A’ levels. Other than supporting the college in practical ways,
the PSG also aims to foster bonding between students,
parents and teachers in the college community.
These values appear to have a similar impact on Christina’s
daughter, Anabelle Lam, who graduated from CJC in 2014,
where she was the President of CJC’s Interact Club. The club
reaches out to the underprivileged in the community by way
of voluntary activities. She says, “I’m fortunate in that I was
able to extend this environment of support and family to a
wider community in my years at CJC.”
47
CJC HAS ALWAYS EMPHASISED
SERVICE AND
LEADERSHIP
AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF A
HOLISTIC EDUCATION.
48
IN CATHOLIC JUNIOR COLLEGE, STUDENTS ARE CALLED
TO BE THINKERS WITH A MISSION AND LEADERS WITH
A HEART. CJC STUDENTS LEARN THE VALUES OF
SERVANT LEADERSHIP AND ARE ENCOURAGED TO THINK
CRITICALLY ABOUT SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL
ISSUES WITH A MISSION TO ENACT POSITIVE CHANGE
AROUND THEM AND LEAD THIS CHANGE TO SERVE THE
WIDER COMMUNITY IN SINGAPORE AND BEYOND. THE
COLLEGE HAS NUMEROUS PROGRAMMES TO PROVIDE ALL
STUDENTS WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEADERSHIP.
49
THE COLLEGE HAS
OVERSEAS IMMERSION
PROGRAMMES THAT
ARE DESIGNED TO
EXPOSE STUDENTS
TO DIFFERENT
CULTURES AND
ENVIRONMENTS.
CJC 2013 Reach Cambridge participants reaching for the skies
50
CJCians developing ruggedness at an Overseas Outward Bound
School (OBS) trip
STUDENT LEADERSHIP
T
he first Student Council (SC) was elected in 1975
with the intent of giving students a voice in the
running of their own affairs and a say in the
college’s development. With no traditions or precedents
to follow, they had to set about defining the SC’s role
and setting an example for future generations to follow;
they did both well.
Organising the Council into seven departments:
Academic, Extra-Curricular Activities (ECA), Student
Welfare, College Functions, Finance, Secretaries, and
the Review Board, the SC initiated the recitation of the
pledge in Chinese during assemblies to help integrate
the Chinese and the English streams, printed the first
college T-shirts, offered services to students such
as the provision of lockers, and organised numerous
celebrations as well as sporting and social events.
Their exemplary performance defined the SC roles
and set the standards which have guided subsequent
generations of student councillors.
Since then, the Leadership Programme has expanded
over the years such that today, student leaders are
developed at various tiers in the college: the Student
Council, Home Tutorial Groups (Class Management
Committee), Co-Curricular Activities and the House
System.
51
SERVICE
In 1975 the college had students in the Legion of Mary and
the Society of St Vincent de Paul engaging in community
service, such as visiting poor families once a fortnight on
Sunday mornings, tutoring primary school children with
learning disabilities and helping out at various charitable
organisations. So service has always been an integral part of
the mission of CJC.
Preparing the land for
building a home in Batam
Over four decades the college has expanded and developed
a comprehensive Service Learning Programme that has
two components: the Local Service Learning Programme
and the Overseas Service Learning Programme (OSLP).
CJC students are also given the opportunity to learn from
the Overseas Outward Bound School experience (OBS). In
addition, the college has overseas immersion programmes
that are designed to expose students to different cultures and
environments, interact with various peoples and carry out a
service learning project.
In 2011 the college reviewed its approach to Service
Learning Projects (SLP) and made a significant change
to intensify the experience and impact on students. It was
decided that emphasis should be put on critical thinking
and project management skills. Using critical thinking,
students are encouraged to reflect on the global issues that
are demonstrated in different countries’ socio-economic
and geopolitical situations and conduct a needs analysis of
selected beneficiaries. They are then required to demonstrate
their project management skills by conceptualising
and executing the projects in a way that would impact
the beneficiaries. This process allows students greater
ownership, internalisation and understanding of the service
experience.
Today an average of 400 students go to countries such as
India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia each
year under the OSLP. Every Home Tutorial Group will initiate
and carry out a SLP in Singapore. The objective is to give
every student the opportunity to learn from serving those in
need and that all students will eventually become Thinkers
with a Mission and Leaders with a Heart.
52
CJC students’ dedication to community service
has been officially acknowledged in 2015. Bui Bich
Phuong (Jane), Jerome Thong and Lucian Wee
from 2T34 are the first students from CJC to receive
the South East Community Development Council
(CDC) Youth Community Leadership Awards 2015. It
was for their contributions in Project 4650, a project
serving the interim rental housing residents in
Bedok. Similarly, the Interact Club won its first Gold
Award for the Best Interact Club Project as part
of the Rotary Club’s District 3310 for their service
project in Cambodia.
These are excellent examples
of how CJCians are Thinkers
with a Mission, Leaders with a
Heart.
Today an average of 400
students go to countries such
as India, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Philippines and Indonesia each
year under the OSLP
53
54
“CJC IN PARTICULAR
STRESSES THE
IMPORTANCE OF
GIVING BACK TO
SOCIETY IN WHATEVER
WAY YOU CAN.”
He was active in several extra-curricular activities (ECA) at
CJC; he was a member of the Student Council, and a member
of the Catholic Activities Council (CAC).
“I remember the first CAC meeting very well; we were trying to
decide on the council structure and who should be President.
One of my friends who was of a more ‘esoteric nature’
proposed that God should be the President. I said that was a
fine idea in theory but I think God would rather have one of
us making the practical decision on the ground; the rest of the
council agreed with me.”
Damian puts a lot of his own sense of service and his many
years of charitable works down to the Catholic education he
received all the way from kindergarten to CJC.
“I think the Catholic school system in Singapore puts a lot
of emphasis on service and CJC in particular stresses the
importance of giving back to society in whatever way you can.”
Today, Damian is the Chairman of A Call To Share (ACTS)
which began as a one-off parish-based initiative but has since
grown into a year-round multi-parish programme involved in
projects which include providing clean water, food and medical
aid to thousands of children and poor families. However, ACTS’
main focus is education, especially educating children.
Damian (extreme right) embarking on a humanitarian relief trip in
Cambodia with Father Manoj, a Jesuit Priest from India.
Dr Damian Png
Urologist
Class of 1980
D
amian recalls deciding to go to CJC was the natural
decision for him as the majority of his classmates from
St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) would also be going there. “I
had always attended Catholic schools, even my kindergarten
had been a Catholic one so I wanted to continue my education
in the only Catholic junior college with all my friends from SJI.”
He says, “We soon realised that building medical clinics was
just a temporary band aid that patched up the immediate
problem but did not make lasting changes. Education on the
other hand could change people’s behaviour and give them
opportunities for self-improvement.” In 2014, ACTS finished
building the first Catholic secondary school in Phnom Penh,
the Don Bosco High School, Teuk Thla.
Damian’s seven children – two girls and five boys – ranging
in age from 11 to 24, have also caught the service bug. They
have accompanied him and his wife Gladys for several years
on the annual advent missions and have even turned down
alternative holiday destinations. He says, “This year I offered
them a skiing holiday instead of returning to Cambodia but
they turned it down. They have built up relationships with the
children they work with in Cambodia and wanted to return to
find out how they were doing.”
55
The couple in a recent ACTS activity in Cambodia
56
John and Priscilla’s commitment and passion for community
service deepened while they were medical students in the
National University of Singapore (NUS). Their involvements
were many and varied depending on the requirements of
the benefactors. The two took turns serving as Honorary
Secretary at the Catholic Medical Guild (CMG) before John
became President. He served as CMG President until 1999. As
physicians, they continued to contribute to the SVDP. Priscilla
Lee was teaching Natural Family Planning in churches and
volunteering medical support to residents of the Henderson
Senior Citizens’ Home.
Priscilla recalls, “Once, as medical students, we hosted a
dozen Vietnamese refugee children based at the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) refugee
camp at Hawkins Road. We were told by the priest ministering
them that the children had been cooped up at the camp for
a long time and it would do them some good if we could take
them out for an excursion.”
An old photo of John Lee from CJC’s archives
With the help of a few friends who owned cars, John and
Priscilla made some sandwiches and took the children on
outings to East Coast and Sentosa. John enthuses, “It was so
amazing to see the children running around and having a lot
of fun. The fact that it was such a simple affair but the children
were deeply moved by our gesture inspired us to organise
mission groups overseas.”
S
Advent Cambodia Trips (ACTS) was born in 2006 when
Priscilla and John and a handful of friends – some from
CJC – visited students of Don Bosco Phum Chreh School
in Cambodia for Christmas. Today, ACTS, which has been
renamed A Call To Share, sends an average of 500 volunteers
on missions to Phnom Penh and Battambang every year, with
many smaller missions branching out to Philippines, Vietnam
and Myanmar.
While Priscilla Lee had been long accustomed to leadership
roles as a prefect at CHIJ Kellock and student councillor
at CJC, John Lee was new to community service when
he was introduced to the Society of St Vincent De Paul
(SVDP) at CJC which was led by Sister Janet Wang. The
SVDP is an established Catholic charity that uses monthly
collections from churches to provide assistance to the poor
and underprivileged regardless of backgrounds and religions.
John’s interest in community service was kindled when he
visited a refugee camp at St John’s Island with the SVDP.
“MANY FIRST-TIMERS GO OUT ON
MISSION TRIPS WITH THE VISION
OF CHANGING THE WORLD BUT
THEY RETURN HUMBLED BY THEIR
EXPERIENCES, REALISING IT IS THEY
WHO HAVE CHANGED AND THAT THEY
HAVE RECEIVED MUCH MORE THAN THEY
HAVE GIVEN.”
Drs John & Priscilla Lee
Class of 1976
ervice has been the bond that continues to draw and
hold John and Priscilla Lee together for nearly 40 years.
They first met as schoolmates in CJC and today they are
married with eight children.
57
AS A PSC SCHOLAR,
FELICIA REQUESTED
TO TEACH ART TO
NORMAL TECHNICAL
STUDENTS, WHICH
WAS UNHEARD
OF AMONG PSC
SCHOLARS.
58
Felicia Low
Founding Director for Community
Cultural Development
Class of 1995
T
hrough community service activities, Felicia was
exposed to the marginalised and often neglected
communities in society while a student at CHIJ Toa
Payoh Secondary School and CJC. In CJC, as a member of
the Society of St Vincent De Paul (SVDP) led by Sister
Josephine Sim, she helped distribute groceries to the elderly
living in one-room flats.
Felicia attended London’s Goldsmiths College on a Public
Service Commission (PSC) Scholarship and graduated with a
degree in Fine Art. When she returned to Singapore to teach,
she chose the path less travelled. While the rest of her fellow
PSC recipients opted to teach Express students in the small
number of schools offering the Art Elective Programme (AEP),
she requested to teach Art to Normal Technical students
instead, which was unheard of in the PSC fraternity.
Felicia was the recipient of the Outstanding Youth in Education
Award in 2005 and was selected for the President’s Young
Talent Show in 2009 which was organised by the Singapore
Art Museum. Felicia is also the Founding Director for the
Community Cultural Development (Singapore), a non-profit
charity which aims to further critical discourse and quality arts
practices with various marginalised communities in Singapore
and the region.
Felicia Low on Speech Day 1995
Felicia recalls that as a secondary school student she was
not particularly academically inclined and had not at first
shown any exceptional artistic flair; but by the time she was
14 she had caught the bug and knew she wanted to pursue
Art seriously and so went on to do ‘O’ level Art. She says, “I
wanted to do ‘A’ level Art at CJC, but the college did not offer
the subject. So I spoke to then-Principal Sister Deirdre and my
‘O’ level Art teacher, Mr Allan Dunn, and soon I was granted
the permission to use the art facilities at CHIJ Toa Payoh and
pursue Art as an ‘A’ level subject. I was elated that I was given
the opportunity to pursue what I love.”
From 2002 to 2006, Felicia taught Art to CHIJ Katong Convent
Normal Technical students, during which time she volunteered
to teach Art to inmates in the Kaki Bukit Prison School.
“I felt like I was suddenly thrust into a world full of boys;
only the inmates were not boys, they were men. All of them
were over 20 and a few of them were in their forties. I felt
apprehensive as they probably had more life experience and
had suffered more than me. But they welcomed me and took to
what I had to offer well; I learnt so much from them.”
59
Associate Professor
Paulin Tay Straughan
Vice-Dean for International Relations
& Special Duties, Faculty of Arts &
Social Sciences, National University
of Singapore
Class of 1980
I
f there is one particular attribute of a CJC education that
Associate Professor Tay remembers, it is its inclusivity. The
former student of CHIJ Victoria Street recalls, “Perhaps
because most of us had come from Catholic secondary
schools, there was this sense that every student was treated
equally; every student was important and significant. I come
from a reasonably humble background with no connections –
my mother was a nurse and my father was a cab driver – but I
was never made to feel less special.”
She adds, “As a product of a CHIJ school, I don’t remember
feeling daunted by having to work or play with members of the
opposite sex in CJC. In fact the girls were empowered and not
afraid of pulling our own weight; it was always about achieving
a good outcome for everyone involved and never about gender
or social class. The absence of ‘elite groups’ in my time at CJC
certainly helped me believe that with hard work I could achieve
and succeed wherever my passion led me.”
Associate Professor Tay learnt about resilience and teamwork
as an active member of the Student Council and the school’s
volleyball team. She says, “As students, we were encouraged
to join whatever sports or societies that we liked even if we
were not particularly gifted or skilled in these activities; the
more important thing was to try your best and push forward! I
remember Michelle Pranger, our volleyball coach cheering our
team so loudly on the courtside during a game that she was
sanctioned off the court!”
Today, Associate Professor Tay holds a PhD in Sociology
from the University of Virginia in the United States and has
conducted extensive research on ageing and population, work
and family as well as health. She also chairs the Accreditation
Council of the Social Development Network at the Ministry of
Social and Family Development (MSF) and has been a member
of the Community Silver Trust, Ministry of Health (MOH) since
2013.
60
61
“IN CJC WE
CELEBRATED
EVERY SORT OF
ACHIEVEMENT;
NOT JUST THE
ACADEMIC.”
Sean La’Brooy
Head of Professional Liability and
Insurance Practice Group
Colin Ng & Partners
Class of 1992
A
s a graduate from St Patrick’s School (SPS), Sean
La’Brooy admits that it was not only the continuity of the
Catholic education that attracted him to CJC, but also an
opportunity at a balanced school life. He recalls, “I had been
a prefect in secondary school and I wanted to be a student
councillor involved in activities with the student body.”
He says, “My time in the Welfare Committee of the Student
Council underlined one of the main features of the Catholic
school education: every person is important. It was not just
the scholars and top scorers who were given opportunities
but others as well. In CJC we celebrated every sort of
achievement; not just the academic.”
In his time in CJC, Sean was awarded the Ee Peng Liang
62
Award and was honoured, humbled and inspired by it. The
citation for Sean’s award was written by then-Principal Sister
Deirdre O’Loan, and the award was named after the late
Dr Ee Peng Liang, a local philanthropist and businessman
who was also a founding member of the Singapore Council of
Social Service as well as the Community Chest. In his lifetime,
Dr Ee held key appointments in over 50 public organisations
ranging from Christian welfare agencies to women’s and
Malay-Muslim organisations. Receiving the award was
especially significant to Sean as he was the last CJCian to
receive it from Dr Ee himself before the latter passed away the
following year.
Today, Sean conducts his work and daily life with a personcentric spirit similar to that which he had experienced as a
CJC student. Sean is a litigation lawyer who balances work
commitments with pro bono activities. He helped to set up
the pro bono legal clinic at Moulmein Constituency, which
offers legal assistance to needy residents who cannot afford
to pay for legal services. He reflects, “The practice of law
is essentially to help people who face legal problems, find
solutions.” It is a vocation inspired much like the mission which
he experienced at CJC.
“FOR ME IT’S
ALL ABOUT
LEADING
WITH
HUMANITY.”
Ishak Ismail
Brigadier-General (NS)
Singapore Armed Forces
Class of 1981
I
shak Ismail recalls his CJC years as some of the happiest
of his youth. He recalls, “It was a big decision to go to CJC
because the year before I enrolled, Temasek Junior College
had opened on the East Coast so most of my classmates from
St Patrick’s School (SPS) were going there as it was much
closer to home. My parents and teachers warned me that my
commute to CJC would be three or four times longer and I
would not know anyone there but that actually reinforced my
decision. I had spent the last 10 years with the same boys at
St Stephen’s School (SSS) and then SPS so I felt I should
challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone.”
He elaborates why joining CJC had been a good decision, “I
think a lot of us felt empowered by our time at CJC. We were
given new opportunities and responsibilities and far from being
daunted it made us feel like we were ready for anything, like
we could take on the world.”
Ishak was determined to get everything he could from his CJC
years and took part in everything from playing hockey for the
school to being on the Student Council and President of the
Interact Club, which shaped his leadership style, both in the
military and subsequent careers.
“Making sure everyone understands an organisation’s
objectives and is personally focused on achieving them –
what we call mission orientation in the military – is important
for the success of the organisation and the individuals within
it. For me it’s all about leading with humanity,” he says.
As a member of the Student Council, he sat on the Functions
and Events Committee. Although accustomed to organising
school events then, he could never have guessed that in
later life he would be organising one of the biggest events
Singapore had ever seen. Ishak led the Singapore Armed
Forces (SAF) task force responsible for the spectacular
opening and closing ceremonies at the Singapore 2010 Youth
Olympic Games at The Float@Marina Bay.
63
“MR ISAAC LIM
TAUGHT ME
DISCIPLINE AND
DETERMINATION.
‘CANNOT, ALSO
MUST CAN,’ HE
WOULD ALWAYS
TELL US. ”
64
It was not surprising that he did poorly for his PSLE and found
himself in the Normal Technical stream at Beatty Secondary
School. His academic career might have ended before it had
even begun had he not been befriended by Christian students
from the science stream who tutored and encouraged him.
Inspired, David decided to turn his life around. With the
support of teachers, school friends and church mentors he
began to study hard. He aced the ‘N ‘levels and was given a
scholarship to do his ‘O’ levels, having to repeat Secondary
3 and 4 in the Express stream. When he found that he had
scored distinctions in four of his ‘O’ level subjects, he decided
to enrol in CJC and secured a place there.
He recalls, “At CJC, many students came from good schools
and were more affluent than me. Many were also more
eloquent, better read and more intelligent than me. It took me
a while to adjust but what kept me going was the desire to
give hope to other Normal stream students that they could
also achieve what I have achieved.”
He soon found his feet with the help and support of teachers
and new friends like those he met in the Outdoor Adventure
Club (ODAC).
“At CJC I was taught to balance work, rest and play. ODAC
was run by PE teacher Mr Isaac Lim whom I have the greatest
respect and love for. If it had not been for the sense of release
and the new horizons ODAC offered me I might have felt like I
was trapped, struggling in an endless educational marathon.”
David sandboarding on an overseas trip organised by Tembusu
College in NUS.
David Hoe
Class of 2008
D
avid Hoe had come from a disadvantaged background.
His divorcee mother was blinded when a cataract
operation went wrong when he was seven. To make
ends meet, she had to resort to selling tissue paper at a local
hawker centre with David assisting her from table to table. Life
became harder when soon after, one of her kidneys failed and
he had to take her for dialysis sessions several times a week.
Mr Lim worked the ODAC group hard. He insisted they came
to school early for a run before classes so that they were
usually the first CCA group to get to school and were also
often the last to leave.
He recalls, “Mr Lim taught me discipline and determination.
He would always tell us, ‘cannot, also must can!’ For me he
epitomises what a teacher should be in that he doesn’t just
make you work, he also teaches you values. Most importantly
he taught us always to be grateful.”
David is now completing his final Honours year in Economics
at Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore
(NUS).
65
“AS A STUDENT
IN CJC, I LEARNT
TO RESPECT
DIVERSITY.”
Charlene Chua
Urban Planner Turned Evangeliser
Class of 2001
which I excelled in, while in the CAC, I had the opportunity to
work with other members to organise camps.”
She says, “Ms Gail Ng was not only my Home Tutor; she was
also my CAC teacher and one of the key Geography teachers
at the time. She was passionate and genuinely interested in
reaching out to her students whether academically or through
CAC activities. I never had the impression that she did what
she did for the sake of just doing her job.” Charlene continues
to be in touch with her till this day.
Charlene went on to study Geography at the National
University of Singapore (NUS) and after graduation she joined
the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as an urban
planner. She then had a short stint at a start-up company
that develops townships overseas. After nearly a decade in
urban planning, she decided to focus on her faith. She joined
a missionary programme in New Zealand called the School
of Mission, which was founded by a lay Catholic community
called the Institute for World Evangelisation, also known as the
ICPE Mission. She explains, “This mission is led by fulltime
lay missionaries who are not from the clergy or priesthood or
similar; they are everyday people – singles, married couples,
families – who do this full time. So yes, I was spreading the
word of God to the New Zealanders in hope of reconnecting
them to their faith.”
She adds, “In CJC I was given opportunities not just
academically but as a leader as well. Not only was I fortunate
to be able to handpick my subject combination, I was also
given the opportunity to do a special paper in Geography
“Being in the CAC really honed me to be a better Catholic in
that I strive to treat people well everywhere; not just in church
but at work as well. As a student in CJC, I learnt to respect
diversity.”
T
here were two things in CJC that continue to influence
Charlene Chua today: Geography and the Catholic
Activities Council (CAC). Charlene attributes both her
striving to deepen her faith and her love of urban planning to
one teacher: Ms Gail Ng.
66
“I ALWAYS STROVE TO
CHAMPION WHAT I FELT
WAS THE LONG-TERM
GOOD FOR THE REGULAR
MAN OR WOMAN ON THE
STREET WHO DEPENDS
ON FINANCIAL SERVICES,
AND THE ECONOMY AS
A WHOLE; RATHER THAN
JUST WHAT WAS GOOD
FOR THE FINANCIAL
SECTOR.”
Teo Swee Lian, Former Special
Advisor in the Managing Director’s
Office, Monetary Authority of
Singapore
Class of 1977
A
lthough CJC is renowned for its strength in the arts, it
has its fair share of math and science whizzes. Teo
Swee Lian was one of the top CJC students for ‘A’ levels
who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with
First Class Honours and a Masters of Science in Applied
Statistics from Oxford University in the United Kingdom. She
spent most of her career at the Monetary Authority of
Singapore (MAS) and retired as Special Advisor in the
Managing Director’s Office in 2015. During her career she rose
to be in charge of financial supervision of all banks, insurance
companies and capital markets in Singapore.
The recipient of the Public Service Gold (Bar) Medal in 2012
says that the college’s motto – In Veritate Et Caritate – had
been her constant anchor while navigating the high-level
financial world and its many challenges and pitfalls. She
asserts, “Financial regulators must strive to do what is right for
the long-term good of the financial industry rather than what
is popular with powerful bankers. In my years as a financial
regulator and public servant, I always strove to champion what
I felt was the long-term good for the regular man or woman
on the street who depends on financial services, and the
economy as a whole; rather than just what was good for the
financial sector.”
What stood out for Swee Lian at CJC were the teachers,
nuns and priests who taught by example and were gentle and
compassionate rather than pushy in their imparting of values.
She recalls, “Mr Koh Kim Tian, my Math teacher, truly inspired
me to pursue my studies in Mathematics at university level. He
was only 10 years older than us and all of us bonded with him;
he would even, on occasion, beat the boys at table tennis!”
67
Simon Tan
Managing Director of
Attorneys Inc
Class of 1981
S
imon Tan has plans to be the first Singaporean in
outer space. He will be taking a trip on the XCOR
Lynx space shuttle as part of a collaboration
between watch brand Luminox and XCOR Space
Expeditions, which is developing the shuttle with the hope
of providing a commercially viable service for the general
public one day. His trip was originally intended to coincide
with Singapore’s 50th birthday celebrations in August 2015
but technical problems delayed it. However, Simon still
expects to make the trip some time in 2015.
Like many alumni, Simon had come up through the
Catholic mission school feeder system and was very
proud to make it into CJC. He recalls, “For many of my
St Patrick’s schoolmates, it seemed a natural progression
to move from a Catholic mission school to CJC because
of the sense of continuity. There is of course the added
bonus of finally getting to meet some of the convent
school girls we had admired from across the road for so
many years!”
At the time Simon attended CJC, there were still many
religious brothers and sisters teaching there including the
Principal and several department heads. He recalls they
gave the college a certain Anglo-Irish flavour.
“The brothers and sisters had a broader vision of the
role of education; to them it was about equipping us for
life. Of course, we were expected to learn but academic
achievement was not the only focus. We also learnt about
standards, ethics and values and acquired the grit and
determination to pick ourselves up and keep going in the
face of adversity or even failure. The brothers and sisters
wanted us to be better people, not just better students.”
He adds, “Too many schools and teachers today forget
that they are not there to cajole and force students; they
are there to inspire and motivate them. Once students are
properly motivated and believe in themselves, they can
achieve anything.”
68
Foo Chee Hock,
Judicial Commissioner
Dean of Singapore Judicial College
Class of 1978
“PRAYER HAS PLAYED
AN IMPORTANT PART
IN MY LIFE, HELPED ME
TO MAKE PERSONAL
DECISIONS, AND SHOWN
ME THE WAY,” says Judicial Commissioner
Foo Chee Hock. “After more than six years in the role of
Registrar, I was beginning to wonder if there was not a more
direct way I could serve God. I remember praying for guidance.
Later when the appointment of Judicial Commissioner came, I
took it as a sign that I was not done with the law yet.”
Chee Hock has devoted his entire career to the Legal Service
serving in both executive and judicial roles, including a
memorable stint as Registrar of the Supreme Court before
being appointed to his current role as Judicial Commissioner.
He is also Dean of the new Singapore Judicial College which
is dedicated to the training and development of judges.
Chee Hock’s memories of CJC are all happy ones. “CJC was
a fun time for me. I was involved in the Co-operative Society,
just as my son also would be during his time at CJC some
30 years later. Coming from St. Joseph’s Institution, an ‘allboys institution’, I had a culture shock when my class had an
overwhelming majority of girls. I had to quickly brush up on my
social skills!”
He says that his decision to be in public service was a clear
one. “I have always enjoyed the work. While I had considered
the private sector as an option, I consistently found deep
meaning where I was and decided that I would contribute in
the public service. One could say that I searched and was
shown the way.”
69
“I STILL
CONSIDER
MYSELF A
TEACHER
ALTHOUGH I
NO LONGER
TEACH
ACADEMIC
SUBJECTS.”
70
Marion sometimes felt a little awkward returning to the school
as a teacher just seven years after leaving it as a student; she
could never bring herself to call colleagues who had been
her former teachers by their first names. “Economics teacher
Mrs Kuah Siou Koon always remained Mrs Kuah even when
we became colleagues. She had always looked out for me
and advised me as a student and continued to do so when I
became a teacher.”
Her youth and the fact she had so recently been a student
at the college proved to be a plus when it came to relating to
her students. “I often had students who were younger siblings
of friends I had been at the school with. Just as Sister Maria
had intended, I think I was also something of a role model as
I was very into the spirit and ethos of the school and definitely
an advocate of the CJC approach to the greater mission of
education, which included life skills and values and not just
the academic subjects.”
Marion Neubronner (third from right) with the Ethics Committee
Marion Neubronner, Entrepreneur
Former Student (Class of 1990) and
Teacher of CJC (1996 to 1999)
M
arion Neubronner is a double alumna of CJC having
been both a student and a teacher at the college.
“When I left the National Institute of Education (NIE),
I was expecting to be posted to a secondary school, so I was
surprised to learn I was posted to CJC. I later found out that
then-Principal, Sister Maria Lau, had decided to handpick
alumni to return to CJC as teachers to build up the culture of
the school.”
As a teacher at CJC and later at St Joseph’s Institution (SJI)
she often found herself counselling students. Eventually she
took a counselling diploma and switched to providing social
work counselling to at-risk youth in small groups. However,
rather than the usual remediation work done by counsellors,
she preferred to do preventative work by teaching life skills;
she then decided to pursue a Masters Degree in Human
Development and Psychology at Harvard University in the
United States.
“I still consider myself a teacher although I no longer teach
academic subjects. Since I returned from Harvard, I’ve been
teaching my students life skills with a psychology perspective;
skills they need to understand themselves and other people
and to cope with life’s ups and downs. First with youths then
undergrad students, now I teach Psychology as a module; I
also teach it to corporate leaders as a tool for managing their
teams better as part of leadership development training.”
71
72
“CJC ALLOWED US
TO BE WHO WE WERE
BUT STILL EXPECTED
THE BEST OF
US. WE COULD HAVE
FUN BUT STILL
LEARNT TO DO WHAT
WE NEEDED TO DO.”
Jessica Tan
Managing Director of Operations
Microsoft Singapore
Class of 1984
A
n incident that stays deeply in Jessica’s memory and
continues to influence her was when a friend and she
did not complete their English Literature homework that
was assigned by Sister Deirdre O’Loan. “We saw her coming
across the quadrangle towards us and we thought she would
scold us when we told her. Instead, she said: ‘That’s all right
Jessica. I am sure you have a good reason and would not
have been late on purpose so just hand it in tomorrow.’”
Jessica was very surprised by that response as she had
expected to be reprimanded and was instead given trust.
According to Jessica, CJC teachers believed in the students
and gave them the freedom – and the accompanying
responsibility – to manage their time and activities. “That
made a huge impression on me and since then I make sure
that when I say I’ll do something, I actually do it.”
Another fond memory she has of her days at CJC is the
encouragement and support she received from so many
friends to run for the Student Council.
“My friends put in so much effort to help me with the election
campaign. They bought the material to make long banners,
painted them with slogans so that they could hang them from
the top floor around the quadrangle. Despite all the effort that
went into it, I remember there was no sense of rivalry among
the candidates and we all helped one another with whatever
we could.” While she was busy with the added responsibilities
once elected, she found the experience fun and rewarding.
To Jessica, being in CJC allowed her to concentrate on her
favourite subjects instead of being forced to do many subjects
that she did not like.
“At CJC I took the subjects I liked and wanted to do, apart
from Chinese which was compulsory then. Although I
managed to do all right in Chinese, it wasn’t easy for me. The
CJC culture encouraged us to have opinions and to think for
ourselves. Critical thinking is such an important skill. So I took
Literature, History, Economics and Math. However, I didn’t just
read novels – I also critiqued them; and I didn’t just memorise
dates and names – I tried to understand cause and effect
in historical events. I really enjoyed the ability to think. CJC
allowed us to be who we were but still expected the best of us.
We could have fun but still learnt to do what we needed to do.”
73
“HOW DOES A HEDGE
FUND MANAGER
OR A TRADER
CONTRIBUTE TO
SOCIETY? MAYBE
MY CONTRIBUTION
TO SOCIETY IS TO
USE WHAT I’VE MADE
FROM THE MARKETS
TO HELP THE LESS
FORTUNATE.”
74
unusual teaching style that I found interesting and enjoyable.
I was tempted to study Chemistry at university but in the end
picked Banking because it seemed to offer better odds of
financial success. Had I not chosen Banking, my life might be
very different today.”
Even today, Danny puts much of his personal success down
to chance.
“Even the job at JP Morgan that started my banking career
I got by chance. I was one of a thousand applicants and my
application had not made it through the first sorting phase for
interviews. However, a senior manager was looking through
the 900 forms in the reject pile while waiting for a call and he
recognised my photo from a brief internship and decided to
put my application into the interview shortlist.”
Danny (second from right) with the other Colours Award winners
Danny Yong
Co-Founder of Dymon Asia Capital
Class of 1990
D
anny Yong is one of Asia’s most successful hedge fund
managers and co-founder of Dymon Asia Capital but he
says it is a matter of chance that he went into Banking
and did not pursue Genetic Engineering as a career. In CJC,
he took S Papers in Chemistry and Physics and played
badminton; not only was he captain of the CJC badminton
team, he also played for the national badminton squad at only
17.
“I really enjoyed Chemistry and Physics at school. Mr Ong
Kian Beng was a really good teacher who helped me win the
book prize for Chemistry while Mr Kuah Liong Chuan had an
Believing that so much in life depends on whether or not one
gets the chance to succeed is one of the reasons Danny
has founded two foundations and co-founded a third. He has
established the Yong Hon Kong Foundation in memory of his
late father which, among other things, provides scholarships
for St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) students from single-parent
homes, and the Ray of Hope Foundation which aims to
help individuals and families who have suffered financially
or otherwise as a result of sudden crisis get back on their
feet. Together with Keith Tan, a schoolmate from Nanyang
Business School, he has also set up the Chong Pang GRC
Scholarship for less privileged Singaporean undergraduates.
Danny grew up in a single-parent family after his father died of
cancer when he was only 10 years old.
He reflects, “How does a hedge fund manager or a trader
contribute to society? I’m not an educator, I don’t save lives, I
don’t build buildings. What value do I add to society? Maybe
my contribution to society is to use what I’ve made from the
markets to help the less fortunate. To give someone else a
chance for happiness and success too.”
75
76
“ALTHOUGH
CJC’S PHYSICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
WAS NOT
CONVENIENT FOR
ME, THE HUMAN
INFRASTRUCTURE
ALLOWED ME TO
PROSPER.”
Chia Yong Yong
Former Nominated Member of
Parliament, President of the SPD
Class of 1980
B
orn with peroneal muscular dystrophy, Chia Yong
Yong’s school career was challenging from kindergarten
onward; although it was not until she was 15 that it was
diagnosed. Peroneal muscular dystrophy affects the peripheral
nervous system and causes a progressive weakening of the
muscles. Although she now uses a wheelchair, Yong Yong
could still walk with the aid of crutches when she took her
‘O’ levels at Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School and was
considering where to take her ‘A’ levels.
Anticipating that she would have problems getting to and
around any college, she was not keen on going to a junior
college and thought a pre-university centre might be a better
option. As a result Yong Yong had still not found a place to do
her ‘A’ levels when she received her ‘O’ level results.
Then a neighbour her age offered his assistance; he
had already been at CJC for three months. He offered to
accompany her to school every day by taxi and although he
assured her that many people would be willing to help, he said
he would help her get around the college if she needed it.
Sadly, Yong Yong lost touch with the neighbour after their
families moved out of the neighbourhood.
She recalls, “I remember he did not like to use his given name
and preferred to be called Quek, his family name. If I get the
opportunity, I would like to thank him because without his
kindness and assistance I would never have gone to CJC.
He epitomised the ethos of service and giving that CJC
embodies. He escorted me to school every day for months
until my father got his taxi license and was able to ferry me to
and from school in his taxi. As I was in a different stream from
Quek, we lost touch after that.”
Yong Yong had always had the impression that Catholic school
students were playful and not serious. “CJC opened my eyes
and broadened my views because I realised that students
could be fun-loving and still work hard and find time for others.
The college was not the easiest place to get around on
crutches but there was always someone to give me a hand;
whether it was carrying my books, helping me get up or down
the stairs or even helping me buy my lunch in the canteen.
Another lesson that has stayed with me and influenced my
approach to my work with SPD was that although CJC’s
physical infrastructure was not convenient for me, the human
infrastructure – the nurturing teachers and the willingness of
classmates to accept and care for someone who was different,
allowed me to prosper.”
In addition to her work in the SPD, Yong Yong is a wellrespected corporate lawyer in an intellectual property law firm,
Yusarn Audrey.
77
“SOME
TEACHERS
DARED TO BE
PROVOCATIVE,
THEY DARED TO
BE FUNNY, AND
THEY DARED TO
SAY THINGS THAT
– AT LEAST FOR
WHEN WE WERE
17 – SOUNDED
OUTRAGEOUS.”
78
had been completed and much of the college construction
was still underway.
“Our time at Montfort had been a bit chaotic with very little
structure; we did not even have uniforms until we were in CJC.
At CJC, the boys all had boring blue pants but there had been
no firm guidelines on girls’ skirts so there were all sorts of
imaginative designs: big A-line skirts and other odd shapes
and lengths.”
With her good ‘O’ level results Braema found herself in the
science stream but while she enjoyed Biology and found
Chemistry interesting, she found herself more drawn to
General Paper, and often wished that she had opted for the
arts stream.
Braema presenting at a MARUAH event
Braema Mathi
Founding Member of Singapore
Working Group for an ASEAN Human
Rights Mechanism (MARUAH)
Class of 1976
B
raema Mathi was one of the first CJC cohort in 1975
who were divided into small groups and scattered to
various schools while waiting for the college building to
be ready. Braema ended up at Montfort Secondary School.
“At that time Montfort was still surrounded by countryside and
farmland. None of my former classmates from Marymount
Convent were in my group because most of them lived closer
to town and were sent to the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus
(CHIJ) but I lived closer to Montfort,” she recalls.
After three months, the whole cohort was finally brought
together at the new CJC building, although only two blocks
“Mrs Catherine Lim taught us General Paper; she was
just superbly fascinating and I was not at all surprised she
became a famous author. She got us excited about things and
made us interested about the world. The teaching style was
very different from in secondary school; like Mrs Lim, some
teachers dared to be provocative, they dared to be funny, and
they dared to say things that – at least for when we were 17 –
sounded outrageous. I think that it made a good environment
for learning, and learning to think.”
In an early portent of her subsequent careers as a journalist
and activist she joined the Literary, Drama and Debating
Society (LDDS) and the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVDP).
“I joined SVDP because I had been raised at home and in
school to believe in helping those born into different situations
than us. I am happy about my CJC experience because it
taught me a lot of wonderful things; that was where I made
a lot of friends and connections. And the friendships and
connections go on.”
Braema was Founder–President of Transient Workers Count
Too, a former Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore,
a two-term former President of the Association of Women for
Action and Research (AWARE), and former Vice President
of Action for AIDS. Other than being a former member of
MARUAH, Braema is also the Regional President of the
International Council of Social Welfare for Southeast Asia and
Asia-Pacific.
79
“ALTHOUGH CJC IS
A MISSION SCHOOL,
I NEVER ONCE FELT
THAT BELIEFS WERE
FORCED UPON ME.
I FELT THAT MY
CHOICES WERE
RESPECTED.”
80
Dominic with his schoolmates on Sports Day
Dominic Lim, Group Head of
Strategic Management and Founder
of SPLAT!
Class of 2005
D
ominic Lim had never wanted to pursue his studies at a
junior college. When his parents succeeded in appealing
for a place for him at CJC without his knowledge, he was
bent on sabotaging his chances of admission by agitating then
-Principal Brother Paul Rogers during their first interview.
Somehow, not only did Brother Paul see beyond Dominic’s
arrogance and rebelliousness to offer him a place in the
college, he also gave him the much-needed space to make his
decisions, discover his strengths and find his calling.
Dominic recalls, “Once I told Brother Paul that I had opted out
of the annual Catholic retreat ‘because I wanted to sort out my
relationship with God’ and instead of punishing me, he said
to carry on. Although CJC is a mission school, I never once
felt that beliefs were forced upon me. In fact, critical thinking,
speaking up and constructive debates are encouraged; I felt
that my choices were respected.”
Although Dominic hailed from a high-ranking secondary
school on the east coast of Singapore and was accustomed
to a competitive academic-driven environment, he questioned
the pursuit of good grades for its own sake. “Students come
first at CJC; that appealed to me. Sure, grades are important
but more important is whether the students are growing and
striving to be the best that they can be whatever their pursuits,
whether it is in the arts, social work, sports or academic
studies.”
Dominic recalls that Brother Paul and several subject teachers
supported his class’ initiative to spearhead a community
project four months before the ‘A’ levels, when typically
students elsewhere would have been focused on preparing for
their examinations. “This was probably the first instance that I
knew that I wanted to help people but I didn’t then know how.”
In 2008, Dominic began his studies in Social Work in the
National University of Singapore (NUS), and has since
then held appointments in social policy, social planning and
community and social work practice in government and
non-government organisations. He is also the group head of
strategic management and founder of SPLAT!, a community
movement that inspires community action to reintegrate
youths-at-risk and former youth offenders. In addition to
numerous other awards for his dedication to the social service
sector, he led SPLAT! to clinch the President’s Award for
Volunteerism and the Youth Service-Learning Award within six
years and two years respectively of founding it.
81
82
Upon returning from his studies in Australia, the government
scholar fulfilled his first posting as a bonded civil servant at
the Ministry of Finance where he worked for a year until the
department was corporatised.
“I was told that I could choose to join the newly corporatised
entity, or be posted elsewhere to continue as a civil servant,”
Jason says.
“While weighing different options, I stumbled upon a
newspaper interview of the then-Director of the Prison Service
Tee Tua Ba, who said that the Prison Service was looking
for new recruits ‘with the zeal of a missionary’. Immediately
it clicked with me; it felt like my prayer in CJC had been
answered.”
Jason with friends at an Adventure Camp activity
Jason Wong
Former Senior Director of
Rehabilitation & Protection at
the Ministry of Social & Family
Development
Class of 1982
J
ason Wong chose the road less travelled although he
had been a straight A student all his life. He believes that
it was a series of spiritual nudges from his CJC days
that led him to choose the Prison Service over other more
popular civil service postings when he found himself at the first
crossroad of his career.
“IN YEAR TWO AT CJC, I JOINED A GROUP
OF FRIENDS TO LOOK AFTER THE CARNIVAL
TENTS OVERNIGHT. I REMEMBER ALL OF US
LYING DOWN ON THE GRASSY SLOPE FACING
THE EXPRESSWAY, GAZING INTO THE NIGHT
SKY AND RUMINATING ON THE FUTURE. I
REMEMBER PRAYING TO A GOD I DIDN’T THEN
KNOW, FOR HIM TO SHOW ME WHAT I’M PUT
ON EARTH TO DO,” HE SAYS.
Jason was 26 when he joined the Prison Service where he
remained for 17 years. He then transferred to the then Ministry
of Community Development, Youth and Sports or MCYS (now
the Ministry of Social and Family Development or MSF) where
he remained for six years.
“I thought I had seen the worst of it until I took on a new
portfolio dealing with family violence, child abuse, probation
service, homelessness, children’s homes, among others; I
was desperate for some practicable solution to these social
issues. Much of my research and conversations with the
experts pointed out the alleviation of these social issues if
fathers play a more active role in children’s lives.”
“Once again, I asked God for guidance, and somehow I came
to reflect upon Malachi 4:6 –- He will turn the hearts of the
parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their
parents.”
Jason explains, “The verse states that hearts of the parents
should be turned towards, not away and not against the
children. The opening line of the Lord’s Prayer – Our Father
who art in Heaven – also inspired me and reminded me that
fathers on earth must carry out the work of the Heavenly
Father.”
In 2009, Dads for Life, a national men’s movement promoting
active fatherhood was born. Today, Jason continues to
volunteer at two key non-profit organisations: Focus on the
Family and Centre for Fathering.
83
Pauline Goh
Vice-Chairperson of the CJC School
Management Committee
2009 to Present
CEO of CBRE Singapore & Southeast Asia
Class of 1976
P
auline Goh is one of CJC’s pioneer cohort and now the ViceChairperson of the School Management Committee. Pauline,
like many of the first cohort, has fond memories of the college’s
somewhat chaotic first year when students were grouped and sent off to
various schools while waiting for the school to be ready.
“I was in a group which had been sent to Montfort Secondary School,
a boys’ school. I remember taking some of our lessons in makeshift
classrooms made from containers and how the sudden influx of girls put a
strain on their bathroom facilities.”
Even when the cohort were brought together after three months at CJC,
not all the facilities had been completed, including the canteen. She
recalls, “I think I must have had ‘pao’ for lunch practically every other day
that year. That was all that was available in the canteen so it was either
‘pao’ or walk more than 1km to the hawker centre near the Toa Payoh
Flyover.”
Some of the teaching staff also made lasting impressions on her. “One of
my favourite teachers was the captivating and charismatic Mrs Catherine
Lim who later became a famous author. My one regret about my CJC
days is that I did not participate enough in the available extra curricular
activities (ECA), which were great for broadening one’s horizons and most
importantly making new friends who will probably remain with you for life.
Another person I will never forget was then-Principal Brother Patrick Loh.
He was quite the disciplinarian so most of us were usually a little nervous
around him.”
She enthuses, “There’s one memory of Brother Patrick that will stay with
me forever. He was running after a boy with red running shoes because he
had long hair; in those days long hair was related to the hippie and drug
culture which the government and the schools were trying to stamp out.
Brother Patrick – who wasn’t young by any stretch of the imagination –
was holding up his cassock in one hand, while the other was outstretched
in an attempt to catch the boy he was chasing across the courtyard! There
were even students on the upper levels cheering on the boy, shouting ‘go,
go, go’. It’s so funny it still makes me laugh now.”
84
“I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW
CARING THE TEACHERS
WERE AND HOW WILLING
THEY WERE TO HELP US
WITH STUDIES OR PERSONAL
PROBLEMS.”
John Yap
Co-Founder of Awfully Chocolate
Class of 1988
J
ohn Yap remembers that the teachers at CJC in his day
were very concerned with their students’ welfare, not just
their academic progress.
“I was surprised at how caring the teachers were and how
willing they were to help us with studies or personal problems.
A couple really stand out in my memory but none more so than
Mrs Low Siew Nghee, my Geography teacher and later VicePrincipal. She was and is a great cook and sometimes she
would cook lunch at her home and invite groups of students. I
am still very close to her and even though my wife and I now
run an international food and beverage business best known
for its cakes, she still occasionally drops by our offices with
homemade cakes or buns for us and the staff, and they’re
delicious.”
John is grateful to CJC and the teachers for the opportunities
to try new things such as rugby and windsurfing rather than
just focusing on school work.
“Mr Martin King was my Home Tutor; he was also our Rugby
coach. I think he had once played professionally for Halifax
in the United Kingdom. He taught his whole Home Class to
windsurf in his own time. He would take us all the way to the
East Coast Park after school and give us lessons on his own
boards. Afterwards we would sit around eating sandwiches and
reading and talking about poetry. He was quite a character and
there weren’t many poetry-loving rugby coaches around.”
85
86
“YOU CAN’T TEACH
COMPASSION AND
YOU CAN’T MAKE
VOLUNTARISM
COMPULSORY, BUT
YOU CAN LEARN
COMPASSION AND
VOLUNTARISM FROM
YOUR ENVIRONMENT.”
Louis Ng
Founder of ACRES, an Animal
Welfare Charity
Class of 1995
C
ritical thinking and speaking up – values that are not
only accepted but embraced in CJC – channelled Louis
Ng’s rebelliousness to become the driving force that
transformed his childhood passion for wildlife protection into
a lifetime’s calling. He attributes his General Paper teacher
Ms Matilda Pereira as being instrumental in his challenging
of social norms and fanning the fire of his activism. Three
years after graduation, while working at the Singapore Zoo,
Louis went on a campaign to end the practice of chimpanzee
photography there, after baby chimpanzee Ramba ran to him
to show him her lips to check if they were bleeding after being
punished for not sitting still during a photography session.
He recalls, “I wanted to ask every visitor who had signed up
for these sessions if I could take away his or her daughter for
two hours every day to take photos with complete strangers; I
didn’t think they would agree.”
“The most rewarding moment was when we released Ramba
into Suzie’s enclosure. As soon as the gate went up, Ramba
ran to Suzie – and she never ran to anyone except to her
mother – and they hugged and Suzie groomed her baby,
which was a good sign, considering that they had been
separated for three years when she was just one year old.”
When ACRES was established later that year, Louis was
intent on modelling its organisational culture after CJC’s
inclusive and supportive school environment.
“You can’t teach compassion and you can’t make voluntarism
compulsory, but you can learn compassion and voluntarism
from your environment. In St Gabriel’s primary and secondary
schools and CJC, there was no segregation and students
were always helping one another; in fact most of my friends in
CJC were not from the same stream as me. I want to continue
with the culture of togetherness and helping one another in
ACRES. Here, all of us sit together and none of us have our
own office, not even the group directors or myself. Whenever
we’re on a project, it’s not just one department’s task;
everyone pitches in, everyone’s involved.”
He thinks that an organic organisational structure is essential
in providing people with a conducive environment to speak up.
He asserts, “I don’t think respect should be a given; it has to
be earned. I don’t want to kill people’s creativity by imposing
this boss-subordinate relationship, resulting in people not
speaking up and suggesting new ideas and ways of doing
things.”
87
88
“CJC WAS FORMATIVE BECAUSE
IT ALLOWED STUDENTS TO
BE THEMSELVES. WE WERE
RESPECTED AS INDIVIDUALS
AND NOT FORCED INTO THE
SAME MOULD.”
In December 2000, Ricky showed just how much of an
individual he could be when he founded Action for Singapore
Dogs (ASD), a non-profit organisation (NPO) with the mission
to improve the welfare of stray and abandoned dogs in
Singapore. Previously, he had volunteered for several years
with another charity that worked with rescued dogs but it
closed its Singapore operation and moved to Malaysia in the
late nineties.
“When they moved, I felt I had to step up and do something
to help. Finally, after many years of thinking and planning the
necessary steps towards founding ASD, I took the plunge.
At first, we had no premises so we had to find volunteers to
temporarily foster dogs while we tried to find them permanent
homes. We saved one dog at a time and that became our
motto,” he says.
In time, he quit his successful career as a software engineer
and developer and opened the ARC, ASD’s Adoption and
Rescue Centre, which is home to about 150 dogs.
Ricky with a resident of ASD’s Adoption and Rescue Centre
Ricky Yeo, Founder of Action for
Singapore Dogs
Class of 1986
R
icky Yeo has fond memories of his CJC days but doubts
if those other than his closest friends would remember
him. “I was not a jock, a student councillor or anyone in
the spotlight. Still, the Catholic environment and philosophy
that I had been exposed to throughout my school life shaped
me and the way I think as an adult. CJC in particular was
formative because it allowed students to be themselves. We
were respected as individuals and not all forced into the same
mould.”
“Our work includes rescue patrols, heightening public
awareness of the stray dog problem, public education on the
responsibilities involved in pet ownership, and consultation
with various government bodies on ways to improve and
eventually eradicate the stray problem in Singapore,” he says.
They are currently running Singapore’s first Trap-NeuterRelease Trial Project on Jurong Island in collaboration with the
local authority and other NPOs.
“This is not like running a business, I don’t hope to keep
growing bigger and bigger. In fact we hope we put ourselves
out of business one day by educating the public and
persuading the government to introduce stricter licensing and
effective control measures for stray dogs.” All ASD and ARC
projects are funded by donations and run almost entirely by
volunteers; visit asdsingapore.com to learn how you can help.
89
“WHAT STOOD OUT FOR ME
WAS THAT TEACHERS AND BROTHER
PATRICK LOH, OUR PRINCIPAL THEN,
NEVER EMPHASISED ACADEMIC
EXCELLENCE TO THE EXCLUSION OF
FRIENDSHIP AND LEADERSHIP.”
90
people have to say, even if you disagree with them. Balancing
everyone’s interests – whether you’re a student, teacher or
principal – was essential when setting the standards as a
pioneer batch of the school.”
He adds, “Similarly, in humanitarian work, such as in the wake
of the earthquakes in Nepal, I have to deal with beneficiaries
and their needs, as well as partners and their interests and
idiosyncrasies, in trying and challenging circumstances, so
that aid can reach the most vulnerable.”
Benjamin joined the college when it had just been completed
and had not yet recruited the full complement of staff required
to run the school, so students and teachers often volunteered
to pitch in. Benjamin was a student of the technical stream
at a time when Singapore’s education system was shifting its
focus to mathematics and the sciences. Despite his heavy
schedule, he ran for the Student Council and subsequently
became in charge of the locker system and the issuance and
replacement of bus cards – duties normally undertaken by
administrative staff.
“Taking on these extra duties was never seen as a burden; we
did them willingly. In fact our class, 2 Tech 1, was often called
upon by PE teacher, Mr Louis Lim, to cut the grass in the
school.”
Benjamin William
CEO of the Red Cross
Class of 1977
I
n many ways, Benjamin William’s role as a CJC student
councillor in charge of student welfare honed essential skills
and shaped the work ethic which became the foundation of
his 30-year career in the Foreign Service and his role as CEO
of the Singapore Red Cross today.
“As a student councillor, I recognised that I was a good
mediator. As a mediator, you need to be able to listen to what
He quips, “What stood out for me was that teachers, and
Brother Patrick Loh, our Principal then, never emphasised
academic excellence to the exclusion of friendship and
leadership. They always recognised the effort that students put
into these extra duties.”
A former student from St Gabriel’s School (SGS), Benjamin
recalls that many of his peers from mission schools such as
St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) and the CHIJ schools who scored
good ‘O’ Level grades opted to go to CJC even though they
were offered places at Hwa Chong Junior College (HCJC)
or National Junior College (NJC). “As a result, much of the
sense of mission and friendship from these affiliated schools
continued on, even after the ‘A’ levels, through National Service
and university. And for many of us, the friendship continues till
this day.”
91
92
“ECONOMICS TAUGHT ME WAYS
TO UNDERSTAND THE FORCES
THAT SHAPE COUNTRIES
AND ECONOMIES AND HOW
SOCIETIES BEHAVE.”
Leo Yip
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Home Affairs
Class of 1981
L
eo Yip says that the idea of service, of living for more than
one’s self and contributing to the community was one that
he had grown up with attending St Michael’s and then St
Joseph’s Institution (SJI). However it was in CJC that Leo
studied the subjects which eventually shaped his career path
in public service: General Paper (GP) and Economics.
GP and Economics and more particularly how they were
taught at CJC opened his eyes to looking at and thinking about
the world in a new way; they also taught him how to appreciate
and understand different paradigms and perspectives.
He recalls, “Our GP teacher and Home Tutor Mr Lak Pati
Singh helped us broaden our minds, think about new topics
and make connections between them. He was a very inspiring
teacher who always encouraged us to delve into things we
had never considered before such as nuclear policy, cold
war politics, technology, the development of societies and
economies, population policy and more. Most importantly he
taught us to think critically about all these issues. I really think
critical thinking is one of the most important skills one can
learn.”
Leo also developed what became a lifelong passion for
Economics at CJC. He enthuses, “Economics taught me ways
to understand the forces that shape countries and economies
and how societies behave, although basically Economics is
about human behaviour and why and how they behave and
whether it is rational or irrational.”
It was not just his mind that was broadened at CJC but also
his social awareness and interaction with other groups. One of
the things Leo admired about CJC was its inclusivity. “When I
was there, we had students from every ethnicity, religion and
socioeconomic group in Singapore. It was an experience that
helped me relate more easily to other people in later life as a
policeman and later in various civil service roles.”
Leo and three friends from his class formed a band to
compete in the annual College Talentime and even made it
to the finals. After 12 years of Catholic school education it
took courage to stand on stage in front of his schoolmates
and sing Bee Gees songs. He recalls with a laugh, “For a
strait-laced Catholic boy like me singing in as high a falsetto
as I could manage in public was quite a risk. Today teenagers
probably would not think anything of it but for us it was quite a
challenge.”
93
Victor Lye
Chairman of the National Council
Against Drug Abuse and the PAP
Bedok Reservoir-Punggol Branch
Class of 1980
V
ictor Lye is not one to sit back and let others do the
work; he is a man of action, especially if he sees a
problem and thinks he can do something about it. This
attitude keeps him busy in a diverse range of volunteer roles
including Chairman of the National Council against Drug
Abuse (NCADA), sitting on the board of directors at the
Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Chairman of the PAP’s
Bedok Reservoir-Punggol branch. Grassroots leadership is
nothing new for him as his interest in politics dates back to his
college days when he was elected President of the Student
Council in 1979.
He took his role seriously, especially his connection to the
student body, “I believe in ground-up leadership; leaders need
to connect with the people they serve. Even back then as
94
President of the Student Council I felt it was important to get
the message across that we, the students, all had something
to contribute to the school. As student councillors, we were
working for all the students and had to be open to their needs
and encourage them to come forward with ideas.”
Victor recalls that he and his fellow councillors were not just
working for the present but also hoping to build for the future.
“At the time, CJC was still very new and there were other
junior colleges springing up, so we were always looking for
ways to distinguish ourselves from the others. We wanted to
build a sense of pride and belonging in our own cohort that
future generations of CJCians could build on.”
Victor believes one of the most important things he took
away from his time at CJC was a firm moral grounding that
guided his decision-making and actions in later life. “Today’s
students should look on their time at CJC as an opportunity to
try new things, to think about who and what they want to be,
so they can start to shape their futures. If they use the moral
grounding and resilience the college teaches them as their
guide, they should have bright futures and few regrets.”
Prof Tan Tai Yong, Executive Vice
President (Academic Affairs) at
Yale-NUS College, Singapore’s First
Purpose-Built Liberal Arts College
Class of 1982
P
rofessor Tan believes the Singapore education system
streams students too early and undervalues the
humanities by putting too much pressure on them to
excel in the sciences. This is why he is grateful he attended
CJC where he was allowed to follow his passion for History.
“I was in the science stream for ‘O’ levels but at CJC, I decided
to take History, English Literature and Economics. Many
people, even my peers, said this would cause me to ruin my
chances of a decent university place.”
In the National University of Singapore (NUS), he studied
Political Science, History and Economics. “People thought I
was crazy when I dropped Economics after a year, and when
I dropped Political Science to focus on History when offered to
do an extra Honours degree year,” he says.
When Professor Tan was offered a PhD scholarship to
Cambridge University, he decided to study Indian History.
Everyone was puzzled. He recalls, “They asked me, how can I,
a Chinese man who speaks no Indian languages, study Indian
History?”
“All through my studies and early academic career people kept
telling me I was making bad choices, but looking back, instead
of making many bad choices, I made one good one: I decided
to follow my passion and it has led to a wonderfully fulfilling
career. Today I advise all my students to follow their passion;
they can’t go wrong.”
Professor Tan believes a liberal arts education is more
likely to equip students to be the kind of out-of-the-box
thinkers that will be in demand in tomorrow’s fast-changing
economic landscape. “Students will need to be equipped
with a spectrum of qualities and to take on roles such as
entrepreneurs, technopreneurs, socialpreneurs, problem
solvers and risk-takers. In short, the kind of people who can
accept failure but have the resilience to start over again.”
He also believes that education should be about more than
simply academic grades. “Singapore’s schools do very well
at producing students who score well academically but
often they are not as strong in other areas that are equally
necessary for a successful career and a happy life. I try to
equip our students with the same qualities and skills CJC has
traditionally tried to inculcate in its students by emphasising
a more balanced and holistic approach to education; one that
places equal value on academic results and qualities such as
diligence, resilience and compassion to produce students with
a willingness to work hard, be part of a team and give as well
as receive.”
95
96
“BACK IN CJC,
I’D BE STACKING
CHAIRS, SWEEPING
THE GROUNDS AND
RECEIVING VISITING
GUESTS ALONGSIDE
MY FELLOW
SCHOOLMATES.”
“As a student leader in CJC, I had a lot of support, not only
from my peers and teachers, but also our senior councillors.
Many of our senior councillors who had graduated and joined
university or had been drafted into National Service often
returned to CJC to guide the younger councillors, particularly
leading up to large events such as the carnival and orientation.
There had always been a sense of continuity, community and
caring,” she recalls.
Getting her hands dirty and leading by example are among
many things that she learnt as a student leader in CJC which
she continues to practise as managing director of her family
business today. “Back in CJC, I’d be stacking chairs, sweeping
the grounds and receiving visiting guests alongside my fellow
schoolmates; there was no pecking order and everyone
pitched in. Today I lead 100 employees; many of them are in
their forties and fifties and would not take instructions from me
if I didn’t demonstrate that I’m aware of and understand what’s
happening on the ground. So it’s essential that I work from the
ground up rather than top down.”
Nichol (fourth from left) with Executive Committee (EXCO) members
of the 21st Student Council.
Nichol Ng
Managing Director of FoodXervices
Inc, a Food Service Distributor
Founder of The Food Bank Singapore
Class of 1997
A
s a student, Nichol Ng assumed many leadership roles;
she had been a Head Prefect in primary and secondary
school, the President of the 21st Student Council in
CJC and Vice President of the Students’ Union in the National
University of Singapore (NUS). She asserts that leadership is
not a one-woman show.
Caring for the less privileged has also been a part of her
values system since her student days. Five years ago when
food prices were going up, Nichol started receiving increasing
numbers of requests from charities for food donations.
FoodXervices Inc has been involved in food-related corporate
social responsibility (CSR) initiatives for many years but it was
the food price hike that made her realise that not only was
there a gap in the food market, it was widening every day.
She explains, “Food prices are going up although salaries
have remained stagnant which means that more low-income
people become food-insecure and do so more often.”
“A lot of food is incinerated sometimes even six months before
the expiry date; food that could have been given away to those
in need. So we started a charity organisation, The Food Bank
Singapore (TFBS), to convince our peers in the food industry
not to throw away unsold food and to give them away to those
in need.” Currently, TFBS is servicing 100,000 food-insecure
individuals through 150 charity organisations in Singapore.
97
“A LEADER’S ROLE
IS NOT TO FORCE OR
BULLY PEOPLE INTO
DOING EVERYTHING
YOUR WAY BUT
RATHER TO MAKE
SURE EVERYONE
UNDERSTANDS AND
BELIEVES IN THE
END GOAL.”
98
Janet Ang
Managing Director of IBM Singapore
Class of 1977
J
anet Ang was in the second cohort at CJC when it was
one of only three junior colleges in Singapore, and the
only Catholic one, so it attracted the best and brightest
from all the Catholic schools.
She recalls, “Most of us came from Catholic schools; we
probably had students from every Catholic secondary school
in Singapore. And it was not just the cream of Catholic school
students who went there; CJC had the pick of the very best
of the teachers who had been teaching Pre-University in the
Catholic secondary schools.”
Janet had admiration for all the teaching staff at CJC but
several made an impression and one became a lifelong friend.
She recalls, “We had wonderful teachers. You could see it was
a calling for all of them, just that some did not wear habits or
cassocks. Although Sister Elizabeth Tham, my Homeroom
Teacher (before they were called Home Tutors) was a nun,
we are still the best of friends. And without my long-suffering
Biology teacher Mr Chua Hung Seng pushing me along, I
might have failed Biology. As a student, he told me: ‘you might
not like Biology, you might not like my teaching but don’t
squander this opportunity because you’ll regret it.’ That was a
wakeup call.”
Janet declares that her time at CJC also played an important
part in her spiritual development. “Being a Catholic school
we prayed together and had faith support groups. I became
more spiritual at CJC and being involved in Catholic activities
deepened my faith; I was in the Legion of Mary and was the
first chairperson of the Catholic Activities Council. It was an
experience which shaped my later management style.”
She adds, “I learnt that leadership is really about team work.
One person can’t do everything so you need a team. A leader’s
role is not to force or bully people into doing everything your
way but rather to make sure everyone understands and
believes in the end goal so that the team can work together to
achieve it.”
As Managing Director of IBM Singapore, Janet is often on
the lookout for team players. She explains, “Because in any
field today – whether it’s medicine, engineering or computer
technology – there are so many sub-disciplines that have to
be brought together. A leader needs to value diversity, not
downplay anyone’s opinion but still have the moral courage
and strength of character to make the final decision and carry
the responsibility.”
Janet (second row on the extreme right) with the Legion of Mary
99
CJC IS STILL RECOGNISED FOR THE VALUES OF
TRUTH AND LOVE IT WAS FOUNDED ON 40 YEARS
AGO AND CONTINUES TO FOCUS ON A HOLISTIC
EDUCATION MODEL THAT GIVES EQUAL WEIGHT
ACADEMIC
TO DEVELOPING
EXCELLENCE AND A STRONG MORAL AND SOCIAL
CHARACTER.
100
ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES
W
SINCE THE FOUNDING OF THE COLLEGE,
CJC’S TEACHERS HAVE ENDEAVOURED
TO INSTIL THE HABIT OF INQUIRY AND
THE DISCIPLINE OF CRITICAL THINKING
IN THEIR STUDENTS TO EMPOWER THEM
TO SUCCEED IN WHATEVER FIELD THEY
SUBSEQUENTLY CHOOSE. THE COLLEGE
IS NOW MOVING EVEN MORE TOWARDS
PEDAGOGIES THAT WILL FURTHER
DEVELOP STUDENTS TO BE ARTICULATE
AND CRITICAL THINKERS AND SELFDIRECTED LEARNERS.
THE LATEST INNOVATION FOR THE
CJC INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMME IS
THE IGNITE PROGRAMME THAT WAS
IMPLEMENTED IN 2012. THE INTEGRATED
IGNITE PROGRAMME CURRICULUM
DEVELOPS STUDENTS TO EMBODY THE
COLLEGE MISSION STATEMENT: Every
THINKER
WITH A MISSION,
LEADER WITH A
HEART.
hen CJC was first established, it offered
academic programmes in English and Mandarin.
However during the late 1970s, Mandarin was
phased out as a medium of instruction and in 1978, CJC
ceased to offer programmes in Mandarin.
The college originally had three streams: Science,
Technical and Arts with Commerce being added in 1976.
With the advent of the ‘Thinking Schools, Learning
Nations’ policy in the late 1990s the stream system was
phased out. Today there are no longer specific streams;
instead, the college offers a wide variety of subject
combinations.
One of the most significant milestones in CJC’s
academic journey is the selection of CJC by the Ministry
of Education (MOE) in 2009 to be one of three Centres
for the English Language Elective Programme (ELEP).
Students who are accepted into this programme are
eligible for the English Language Elective Scholarship
(ELES) awarded by MOE. Since 2009, CJC has
consistently had a good number of ELES Scholars and
its English Language and Linguistics (ELL) students
garner prestigious scholarships, such as the MOE
Overseas or Local Teaching Scholarship and the
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Scholarship.
CJCian to be a
Mrs Sng sharing an ELL lesson
with teachers from the United
Kingdom in the English Studies
Centre in CJC in 2012
101
Joshua Goh (third from left) with his sister, Jessica, and
his teachers, Ms Violet Teo and Mr Lim Chye Fook
SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS
For 40 years, CJC students and teachers have been
recipients of prestigious scholarships, awards and
prizes.
CJCians have attained prestigious scholarships from
the Singapore government, statutory boards and
corporations. The most notable scholarship is the
President’s Scholarship, widely regarded as Singapore’s
most prestigious undergraduate scholarship.
Three CJC alumni have been President’s Scholars.
All three are products of the Catholic school system.
All three had their pick of junior colleges but made
conscious decisions to attend CJC to continue their
education in a Catholic environment. CJC’s President’s
Scholars are Euan Murugasu (1981), Bernard Tan Kok
Kiang (1985) and Joshua Goh Koon Leong (2010).
102
The college is also very proud of its students who have
shown tremendous resilience, indomitable spirit and
courage in overcoming considerable challenges in their
school life to achieve academic success, as well as
success in their endeavours after completing their ‘A’
levels.
One notable example of these alumni is Chia Yong Yong.
Yong Yong (1980) has been undaunted by the condition
of peroneal muscular dystrophy and has become an
accomplished corporate lawyer and the President of
SPD since 2008. She was also a Nominated Member
of Parliament from 2014 to 2015. In recognition of
her dedication and continued efforts in the public and
social services sectors, Yong Yong was awarded the
President’s Social Service Award (Individual Category)
in 2011, and the Public Service Medal in 2013 by the
President of Singapore, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam.
Other examples of CJC’s resilient and courageous
alumni are Yeo Quan You (2006), David Hoe (2008) and
most recently, Caleb Tay Jin Howe (2014). Quan You
studied Medicine in the National University of Singapore
(NUS) and is now a doctor serving in the Singapore
Armed Forces (SAF). David faced many challenges
in his life and is now a teacher and youth leader. He
has won the MOE Teaching Scholarship and has also
pioneered many mentoring programmes for youths
including the I Am Talented programme. In addition, he
has served as Deputy Director for the United Nations
Association of Singapore (Youth Council). He was
recently reappointed by Minister Masagos Zulkilfli to
represent the Youths of Singapore in the Task Force for
Youths and Drugs. Caleb never gave in to obstacles.
Through sheer hard work and determination and with
the constant support of his teachers and his peers,
he obtained excellent results in the 2014 GCE ‘A’ level
examinations and is currently an undergraduate in
the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore
Management University (SMU). These students
exemplify personal qualities that CJC has always aimed
to develop in all students. Consequently, the college has
formally recognised the achievements of such students
since 2003 by presenting the Principal’s Commendation
Award to them at the Annual Awards Presentation
Ceremony.
EE PENG LIANG AWARD
This award named after CJC’s first School Management
Committee (SMC) Chairman, Dr Ee Peng Liang, is
the highest honour awarded by the college to a JC2
student. It is presented annually to an outstanding
student, who has achieved academic excellence, a
distinguished record in co-curricular activities and
community service, and who also exemplifies the
college values of Truth and Love. Euan Murugasu was
one of the earliest recipients of this award in 1980. This
year Wayne Wee Woon, the Captain of Joseph House,
received the award.
Sean La’Brooy was the last CJCian to receive the
Ee Peng Liang Award from Dr Ee himself.
Caleb receiving the Principal’s Commendation Award from
Associate Professor Patrick Tseng
103
ANGUS ROSS PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
Since 1987, the prestigious Angus Ross Prize has been
awarded by Cambridge International Examinations to
recognise outstanding performance in the Cambridge
International ‘A’ level Literature in English examinations
by students from outside the UK. A winner and a runnerup are selected each year from around 12,000 entries
worldwide.
Over the years, CJC has built a reputation as a centre
of excellence for the study of English and English
Literature and has produced two winners for the Angus
Ross Prize: Chia Kee Leng (1989) and Kwok Su Lian
(1996) and runner-up Lim Choi Ming (1990).
THE SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
BOOK PRIZE
Top: Chia Kee Leng receiving the Angus Ross Prize
from Sister Deirdre O’Loan Bottom: Kwok Su Lian
104
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) gives out
the annual SPF Book Prize to deserving JC1 or
Year 5 students in recognition of their excellent
academic as well as co-curricular activities
(CCA) achievements. The award is intended to
encourage students to continue to do well and be
a role model in school. Most recently, Wayne Wee
Woon received the Singapore Police Force Book
Prize in 2014. Earlier recipients include Joshua
Goh (2009), Sheryl Ann Tan Yi Shi (2012) and
Marcus Neo (2013).
Wayne Wee Woon at the SPF Book Prize Award Ceremony
105
Ms Laureen Toh with her Ignite students
NATIONAL TEACHING AWARDS
CJC TEACHERS HAVE
ALSO WON NATIONAL
AWARDS FOR INSPIRING
THEIR STUDENTS IN THEIR
SPECIFIC DISCIPLINES AND
FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEIR
CLASSROOM PEDAGOGIES.
106
Mr Marc Kenji Lim
with his students
Ms Nur Adhana with her History students
THE INSPIRING TEACHER OF ENGLISH AWARD
Presented by the National Heritage Board’s (NHB)
Speak Good English Movement, this award honours
outstanding teachers of English Language, English
Literature and General Paper who have been effective
in helping their students speak and write better in
innovative and engaging ways. Three CJC teachers have
won this award: Mrs Sng Mee Lian (Senior Teacher,
English Language and Linguistics) in 2010, Ms Laureen
Toh (Senior Teacher, General Paper) in 2013 and Mr
Marc Kenji Lim (Head of Corporate Communications) in
2015. They have all shown passion and innovativeness
in the teaching of the English language, inspiring a love
for the language in their students.
THE INSPIRING CHINESE LANGUAGE
TEACHER AWARD
The Inspiring Chinese Language Teacher Award is
organised by Lianhe Zaobao, the premier Singapore
Chinese daily and co-organised by the Singapore
Chinese Middle School Teachers’ Association (SCMSTA)
and the Singapore Chinese Teachers’ Union (SCTU)
with strong endorsement from MOE and sponsored by
the Lee Foundation. This award gives due recognition to
deserving Chinese Language teachers who have shown
exemplary efforts towards the teaching of Chinese
language and culture. Dr Wang Zhiwei won the award in
2011.
THE OUTSTANDING HISTORY TEACHER AWARD
The Outstanding History Teacher Award is presented
by the History Association of Singapore (HAS). It is
conferred to an outstanding secondary or junior college
teacher who has demonstrated excellence in and made
exemplary contribution to the teaching and learning of
History. In 2013, Ms Nur Adhana won the Outstanding
History Teacher Award for the passion and commitment
she brings to teaching a subject which many students
expect to be dry, dull and irrelevant.
THESE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS WHO ARE
OUTSTANDING FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO
THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE AND, MORE
IMPORTANTLY, WHO EXEMPLIFY THE VALUES
THAT THE COLLEGE HOLDS DEAR ARE PART
OF A LARGER COMMUNITY THAT STRIVES
ALWAYS TO DEVELOP STUDENTS HOLISTICALLY.
CJC IS MOTIVATED BY THE BROAD CATHOLIC
PRINCIPLES OF TRUTH AND LOVE TO CREATE
A VALUES-CENTRED ENVIRONMENT THAT
BALANCES ACADEMIC, CHARACTER AND
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.
107
Professor Tan Cheng Han
Senior Counsel, Chairman of Centre for
Law & Business, Former Dean of the
Faculty of Law (National University of
Singapore)
Class of 1982
F
or Professor Tan, CJC’s emphasis on values, character and
the overall person as opposed to a purely intellectual
approach to education was comfortably familiar and
reinforced the ethos of his Catholic primary and secondary schools.
He asserts, “There was much more questioning, much more
dissecting and working out for one’s self where the truth lay.
Although I think this happened in most subjects there are two
teachers who I particularly recall laid the foundations for me to
move on to university studies where the approach to learning is
much more self-directed, independent and critical in nature.”
“In secondary school, History had been more about remembering
events, times and places and setting it out with some degree of
accuracy. At CJC, in Mr Hong Kok Thim’s class, I was introduced
to a lot more critical thinking about historical events and their
significance and consequences. It’s a different kind of learning
process which requires the deeper thinking that is required for
greater maturation.”
“My Literature teacher, Mrs Susan Tan left an impression because
she had a very fresh perspective on Literature that made the texts
come alive. She taught us to examine the characters’ personalities
and motivations and to look for the subtext in a story,” he adds.
Professor Tan hopes CJC continues to develop students who are
not self-absorbed or self-centred but have empathy and a heart for
other people. “CJC educates young men and women in terms of
values and character development to understand the concept of a
life well-lived. An important aspect of a life well-lived is being able to
be of service to other people.”
He attributes his decision to study law to this concept of a life welllived. ”Understanding what governs society and what determines
rights and wrongs can be a powerful tool to try and effect the social
changes one might think desirable.”
108
“SHARING ADVENTURES
AND HARDSHIP WHILE
WORKING TOGETHER
AND HAVING TO TRUST
AND RELY ON THE
PEOPLE AROUND YOU
REALLY BROUGHT US
TOGETHER.”
Associate Professor Patrick Tseng
Chief Dental Officer
Ministry of Health
Class of 1978
A
ssociate Professor Patrick Tseng says it was a natural
progression for him to attend CJC as he had gone to St
Michael’s School as a primary school student and then
on to St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) for his secondary education.
He says, “For myself and many of my classmates, CJC was
the obvious choice as it was the only Catholic junior college
then and it offered us some sort of continuity.”
While there was some reassuring continuity, Patrick did note
two major differences between SJI and CJC. Firstly, at CJC
students were required to be more disciplined and self-reliant
in their studies. Secondly CJC was a co-ed school. He recalls,
“I had been to all-boys’ schools since primary school and my
only previous contact with the fairer sex had been via the Boy
Scouts, so the girls at CJC made a big impression on me.”
Patrick has strong and fond memories of his days at CJC. He
was a member of the soccer team and played for the college
both years he was there. In his time, his team had won the
national inter-college championship. He enthuses, “The bonds
between the team members were strong and we still stay in
touch. In fact I still meet up with several friends from the team
to play soccer. We have been given the use of the CJC soccer
pitch on Sundays; many alumni from the other years come by
to play too.”
Apart from soccer he also took part in the Adventure Camps
both years he was at the college. In his second year he and
some of his soccer teammates were trained to be instructors
at the Adventure Camp.
“The whole process of sharing adventures and hardship while
working together and having to trust and rely on the people
around you really brought us together. I have remained in
touch with four or five friends from Adventure Camp and we
are still getting together every few months for lunch or dinner,
37 years later.”
109
Associate Professor
Narayanan Ganapathy
Department of Sociology, National
University of Singapore
Class of 1987
A
ssociate Professor Narayanan Ganapathy has one of
the most unusual reasons of any alumni for applying to
go to CJC. Because it had been his childhood dream to
be a policeman, he chose to go to CJC because it overlooked
the Police Academy which he thought would help him focus on
fulfilling his ambition one day.
As it turned out Associate Professor Ganapathy never did get
into the Police Academy, at least not as a cadet. After CJC
he did his National Service in the army and then completed
a degree in Sociology at the National University of Singapore
(NUS). Then he seized the opportunity to go to the United
Kingdom to do a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice. As soon
as he returned to Singapore, he applied to join the Police Force
but was told that with a Master’s degree, he was over-qualified.
He was very disappointed by that, especially as his dissertation
had been on Chinese criminal secret societies in Singapore and
their transformations over time.
His CJC experience has also influenced the way he now
teaches his own students. He elaborates, “At CJC, we learnt
empathy as a value. It has become part of my own teaching
philosophy to try and impart empathetic knowledge. I’m often
asked how I can interact so easily with the ex-offenders I
work with and I always tell them: empathy; if we want to help
these people, we have to humanise and not dehumanise
them.”
The learning and critical thinking skills he was taught at CJC
have also stayed with him and influenced his own pedagogy.
He says, “If we are honest, we should acknowledge that
most arts and humanities students will have forgotten 80
percent of their course material within a year of graduation
but if we have taught them learning and critical thinking
skills well, they will retain and apply them and succeed in
whatever careers they subsequently choose.”
He finally had the opportunity to lecture cadets and serving
officers at the Singapore Police Force after a stint working
in counterintelligence for the Ministry of Defence and then
completing a PhD in Criminology at NUS.
Although joining CJC did not directly further his policeman
ambitions, the college was where he picked up the necessary
tools to excel in his career.
He reflects, “CJC had a near-perfect balance between
emphasising academic success and social, emotional and
personal development. CJC helped me develop qualities and life
skills such as empathy, resilience and perseverance which have
stayed with me throughout my life; I might not have gone on to
academic success without them.”
110
Associate Professor Ganapathy (standing, fourth from left) with
his soccer teammates after a match.
“AT CJC,
WE LEARNT
EMPATHY AS
A VALUE. IT
HAS BECOME
PART OF
MY OWN
TEACHING
PHILOSOPHY
TO TRY AND
IMPART
EMPATHETIC
KNOWLEDGE.”
111
“I USED TO WONDER
HOW TALKING ABOUT
VALUES, SELF-ANALYSIS,
CRITICAL THINKING, AND
RESILIENCE WOULD
HELP ME PASS MY
EXAMS. YEARS LATER
WHEN I FOUND MYSELF
MENTORING AND IN
SENIOR MANAGEMENT
POSITIONS I REALISED
A LOT FROM THOSE
LESSONS HAD STAYED
WITH ME AND SHAPED THE
WAY I THINK AND LOOK AT
THE WORLD TODAY.”
112
Professor Choo explains the new Novena healthcare hub.
Now the CEO of the National Healthcare Group (NHG) with
30 years of experience in public healthcare, Professor Philip
Choo has found that values and character are things he and
his team consider when looking at candidates to promote to
leadership positions within NHG.
He says, “At this level, a certain level of IQ and technical
knowledge is a given, so we now look at other factors. As
well as IQ, we also want EQ and AQ. EQ or Emotional
Quotient is a measure of one’s ethics, values and the
ability to empathise; if candidates don’t have that, we don’t
engage with them however smart they are. Next is the AQ or
Adversity Quotient. In my day at CJC, we called it resilience;
it is the ability to deal with adversities and recover from
setbacks.”
Professor Philip Choo
CEO of the National Healthcare Group
Class of 1976
A
t CJC, Professor Philip Choo did not always appreciate
the lessons the teachers and religious faculty were
trying to teach him.
He says, “I used to wonder how talking about values, selfanalysis, critical thinking, and resilience would help me pass my
exams. Years later when I found myself mentoring and in senior
management positions I realised a lot from those lessons had
stayed with me and shaped the way I think and look at the world
today.”
His experience has led him to believe many of Singapore’s
– and the world’s – educational institutes and systems are
out-of-date. These systems were established when it was
possible to equip students with a body of knowledge that
would serve them for most of their careers. But today there
is no knowledge that stays the same for long. Science,
technology and medicine are all advancing so quickly that
we now have to discard and relearn things throughout our
careers. He believes what and how students are taught need
to change.
He says, “What we need to be teaching in schools is how to
think, how to find answers and solutions, how to research
information and how to put it into context so that they can
adapt and apply it to new situations. But above all, those
things we need to teach are values and ethics, just as CJC
and the Catholic feeder schools have always done. We are
starting to see now that most of the top business, law and
medical schools are including ethics in their core curricula.”
113
114
Professor Chong Siow Ann
Vice Chairman of Medical Board
(Research)
The Institute of Mental Health
Class of 1977
P
rofessor Chong Siow Ann confesses that he had
always been a conscientious student right up to and
through his ‘O’ levels but not leading up to the ‘A’ levels.
He laughs, “Somehow at CJC I was not always on my best
behaviour; perhaps it was just teenage rebelliousness or the
attraction of everything except school work.” Professor Chong
completed his ‘O’ levels in St Patrick’s School (SPS).
Professor Chong was a voracious reader while at CJC and
would devour books on numerous subjects although not
always the textbooks he was supposed to be reading.
He recalls, “I really enjoyed General Paper (GP) and
Economics because they opened our minds to so many new
ideas and ways of looking at the world and its predicaments. I
would be fascinated by an idea or topic that came up in a GP
or Economics class and would end up doing far more reading
on the topics than required.”
In fact he enjoyed GP so much that he bagged the book prize
for GP in his time in CJC. However, he was not always as
engaged with his other ‘A’ level subjects.
He recalls, “I once scored zero in a Math test because our
teacher deducted points for wrong answers in addition to
giving points for correct answers, so my wrong answers
cancelled out the correct ones. At least it made me realise I
needed to start studying hard for the ‘A’ levels.”
Either Professor Chong is modest about his academic abilities
or he must have studied very hard because he made the cut
to study Medicine in the National University of Singapore
(NUS). He admits that it was not until he received his ‘A’
level results that he thought about studying Medicine. “Even
when I applied I was not a hundred percent sure I wanted to
do Medicine. Unlike other applicants to the NUS Faculty of
Medicine who put Dentistry as their second choice, I opted for
Philosophy, Politics and Economics in the Faculty of Arts and
Social Sciences.”
After graduating with his Bachelor of Medicine (MBBS) he
went on to earn a Master’s degree in Psychiatry. He says, “I
was attracted to Psychiatry because it is the most human and
most humane of all the medical disciplines.”
“ONE HAS TO
CULTIVATE
A SENSE OF
GRATITUDE.”
115
“SEVERAL OF
MY CLASSMATES
WENT ON
TO BECOME
DOCTORS. I’M
STILL IN TOUCH
WITH MANY OF
THEM.”
116
Photo courtesy of the National
University of Singapore
“CJC did not have its own SJAB at that time but a group of
boys that had come from St. Joseph’s Institution (SJI) had
been quite active in SJAB and wanted to carry on in the
organisation. When we were given permission to carry on
in CJC, we did the usual things such as drilling, first aid,
manning the first aid stations at events and so on but we
also did quite a bit of camping. I can’t remember why; it’s not
something one would immediately associate with SJAB but
the camping trips were always very popular and great fun; for
most of us it was more about the camaraderie than first aid.”
In fact he cannot recall ever having to actually administer first
aid while in the brigade. “We used to attend lots of sporting
events, rugby matches and so on and once we covered the
horse racing at the old Turf Club. That was quite exciting as
we sat in the safety vehicle that followed the horses round the
race track and it was driving on a very bumpy track that ran
parallel to the course. We were probably lucky there were no
accidents that day and we were not called on to treat anyone
as the types of serious injuries that could occur at those
speeds would have been beyond our abilities to treat.”
Professor Tan Chorh Chuan
President of the National University
of Singapore
Class of 1977
L
ike many alumni, one of the things Professor Tan
Chorh Chuan liked best about CJC was the balance of
academic work, values and extracurricular activities.
He was in the Student Council, enjoyed playing many sports
and entered numerous competitions in everything from first
aid to science but his fondest memories are of the St John’s
Ambulance Brigade (SJAB).
Some deployments with SJAB were even more unusual. He
recalls, “Probably the strangest deployment we were ever sent
on was to the opening night of the horror movie The Exorcist.
At that time it was billed as the most frightening movie ever
made and we were supposedly there in case anyone fainted
but I think the cinema manager had probably just asked for us
as a publicity gimmick. We weren’t needed to treat anyone and
did not get to see the movie either.”
Like most alumni Professor Tan has maintained close
connections with many of his cohort. “Several of my
classmates from Science 11 and SJAB schoolmates went
on to become doctors. I’m still in touch with many of them
such as Dr Christopher Chen who is a neurologist at National
University Health System, Dr Terrance Chua a cardiologist at
the NUS Heart Centre, anaesthesiologist Dr Philip Tseng and
a few others.”
117
“VALUES ARE KEY
BECAUSE THEY
INFORM HOW YOU
ACHIEVE THINGS. THEY
ARE ESSENTIAL IN
GUIDING STUDENTS’
ACTIONS IN
LATER LIFE.”
118
Despite having worked hard and earned a President’s
Scholarship, he still found time to help others less fortunate
than himself.
Euan is also fluent in Chinese; he is pictured here (extreme right)
having won an inter-college Chinese oratorical contest.
Dr Euan Murugasu
Head & Senior Consultant
Ear Nose Throat (ENT) - Head and
Neck Surgery, Jurong Health
Class of 1980
Dr Gillian Koh
Senior Research Fellow
Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)
and President of the CJC Alumni
Association
Class of 1984
E
uan Murugasu was in the science stream but had an
arts teacher, Mrs Sng Mee Lian, as his Home Tutor; Mrs
Sng taught him his only non-science subject: General
Paper.
He recalls, “Mrs Sng was always challenging us to ask
questions, to look for motives and connections, the causes
and effects of events and who they benefited and so on. She
must have taught us well because our class excelled in the
subject and I won the General Paper prize that year.”
“We had a lot of studying to do but we always seemed to have
time for other activities and we were always encouraged and
supported if we wanted to do other things. During my time in
CJC, the Vietnamese boat people crisis was ongoing; many
were being rescued and held in a refugee camp on Hawkins
Road. Some friends and I were talking about it one day and
wondering what we could do to help. A teacher, Miss Helen
Choo, encouraged us to act so we formed a student-led
society and called it Society for Human Action, Reflection and
Education (SHARE). Miss Choo became the teacher in charge
but she left it to us to organise and just prodded us to get
things done.”
He adds, “Unlike today’s school-mandated Community
Involvement Programmes (CIP) it was spontaneous and
inspired, led and run by students which was very much in
keeping with the CJC ethos of In Veritate Et Caritate. We
recruited volunteers, collected food, clothing and toys and
started making regular trips to the camp to distribute them. We
kept it up for the two years we were at CJC and subsequent
cohorts kept it going for the duration of the crisis.”
Gillian Koh believes it is not just what you do but how and why
you do it that define you as a person.
“At CJC there has traditionally been more emphasis on values
rather than just achievement for its own sake. Students are
taught to question things such as: what are we doing and why
are we doing it? Why do we do it this way? And how does
it serve the greater mission? Values are key because they
inform how you achieve things. Values are essential in guiding
students’ actions in later life.”
The values Gillian learnt at CJC and at CHIJ before that have
certainly influenced her choice of career.
She says, “I don’t think I could do a job just for the salary; I
would want my job to have meaning and impact. So I am lucky
to invest time and passion in development studies looking at
how best governments can deliver what their people need and
turn that into a career at the Institute of Policy Studies.”
119
“CJC’S DIVERSE
STUDENT
POPULATION IS
TESTAMENT TO
THE COLLEGE’S
INCLUSIVE
APPROACH.”
120
From left to right: Mrs Low Siew Nghee, Jennifer Lewis, Bernard Tan and Brother Paul Rogers
Bernard Tan
Vice-President of the Football
Association of Singapore
Former Brigadier-General of the
Singapore Armed Forces
Class of 1984
B
ernard Tan took part in many extra-curricular activities
(ECA) at CJC, doing more than he had originally
planned on the sporting front and with student bodies.
In his time, he played hockey for his school, football for his
house and enjoyed several other sports, especially canoeing.
He recalls that he had no intention of joining any student body
until he was ‘volunteered’ by Mrs Sng Mee Lian. “One day Mrs
Sng told the class she needed someone to be Vice-President
of the Careers Club and gave me a pointed look. So I thought I
had better volunteer.”
Bernard was a bright student and quick learner but like
many intelligent youngsters he could get bored easily if the
lessons were not challenging. Having attended St Michael’s
Primary School (SMPS) and St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) for
his secondary school education, Bernard opted to enrol in
CJC even though his grades could have got him a place in
any junior college he wanted. It came as no surprise that he
became a President’s Scholar.
“I have a loyal streak and was very attached to the Catholic
school system so CJC was a natural choice for me, even
though only four others from my 40-strong SJI class chose
CJC. I suspect I had more fun at CJC than my SJI classmates
who picked other schools. At CJC, I had certainly met and
made friends with people from diverse backgrounds. That
diversity also showed in the different directions their lives had
taken after they graduated.”
At the CJC 25th anniversary gathering, Bernard caught up
with many of his old schoolmates; he had kept in regular
touch with some of them and had lost touch with others when
careers or family had taken them abroad. He was struck by the
variety of paths to happiness that people had found.
“CJC produces successful people in many walks of life. At
that gathering we had many doctors and lawyers but there
were also people who were very senior in big local companies
or major multinational corporations (MNCs) based either in
Singapore or overseas. There were people from the arts and
entrepreneurs who had started companies here or in other
countries. That diversity is a testament to CJC’s inclusive
approach of giving deserving students a chance to grow
through its broad-based approach to education.”
121
STUDENTS IN CATHOLIC JUNIOR COLLEGE
HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GIVEN OPPORTUNITIES
TO PURSUE THEIR TALENTS AND INTERESTS
IN A WIDE RANGE OF THE PERFORMING
ARTS SPORTS
AND
AND
122
Members of the alumni soccer group
S
tudents are encouraged to pursue their passion
to the limits of their personal abilities. That could
mean just enjoying their chosen co-curricular
activity (CCA) or dedicating themselves to mastering
their chosen sport or art form and representing their
house, college or even Singapore in competition.
In the early years soccer had its heyday in CJC when
the soccer team won the National Schools PostSecondary Soccer Championship in 1975. Alumni
Leong Kok Fann and Goh Tat Chuan went on to become
national soccer players. In the 1980s, air rifle, judo,
rugby and tennis did well at the national level. In the
1990s, hockey, canoeing, sailing and badminton took
the spotlight; in 1992 Chin Sai Keong was the Konica
Schools National Badminton Champion and the Hockey
Girls’ Team was the National Schools Champion for
both 7-a-side and 11-a-side. Air rifle, bowling, canoeing,
gymnastics, judo and track and field did well in the
2000s. Fencing was introduced as a CCA in CJC in the
2000s and Anthony Tsang (class of 2003) represented
Singapore in the World Fencing Championship in Turkey
in 2002. He later won a bronze medal for the Foil event
in the 2007 South East Asian (SEA) Games.
Chin Sai Keong (extreme
left) lifting the Badminton
Championship Trophy
The CJC Soccer Team went on to win the National Schools
Post-Secondary Soccer Championship in1975
123
CJC’s most outstanding
athlete so far is Teo
Shun Xie who won the
2014 Commonwealth
Games gold medal for
the Women’s 10 metre Air
Pistol event. Shun Xie
won the gold medal for
the same event in
the 2015 SEA Games.
124
Indoor shooting range
CARVING A NICHE
Old air rifle range
Today CJC has carved a niche in shooting. CJC
shooters have been consistent in their outstanding
performance in national and international competitions,
even though many of them started as novices. In
2008, Eunice Chong and Christopher Chia won the
silver medal in the Individual Air Pistol event in the
Commonwealth Youth Games. In 2014, Chua Shin
Yoong was awarded the Singapore Olympic Foundation
(SOF)-Peter Lim Scholarship, High Performance
Category for her achievements in the 10 metre Air Pistol
event in regional and international competitions.
125
(Top) Sisters Liane and Cheryl Wong and
(Bottom) Anthony Tsang, CJC’s fencing
champions
126
Besides shooting, fencing has done well since it
was introduced in CJC in 2002. CJC fencers have
won medals at national, regional and international
competitions. Sisters Cheryl and Liane Wong in
particular have shone on the international stage.
They started training in fencing at the tender age of
nine for Cheryl and six for Liane and have continued
their success in fencing after graduating from CJC,
culminating in their gold medal performance in the
2015 SEA Games as members of the Women’s Foil
Team. Cheryl, a recipient of the Sports Excellence
Scholarship (SPEX) is now training full time, aiming
to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games. She won an
Individual bronze medal for the Women’s Individual
Foil event in the 2014 Commonwealth Fencing
Championships.
CJC athletes in track and field have had significant
success as well over the years. In 2006 Priscilla Ann
Vincent broke the 18-year-old record for the shot put in
the National ‘A’ Division Track and Field Championships
while the victorious Girls 4x400 Relay Team smashed a
17-year-old record. CJC athletes have continued to excel
on the track, winning medals in this year’s National
‘A’ Division Track and Field Championships. Alumnus
Kenneth Khoo, a 400 metre sprinter, took up the sport
when he was in CJC, and he was the captain of the
Singapore Track and Field contingent for the 2015 SEA
Games, as well as a member of the Men’s 4x400 Relay
Team.
Currently, there are CJC students training with the
Singapore national teams for gymnastics and fencing.
127
THE PERFORMING ARTS
CJC focuses on developing a rigorous co-curricular
programme for the visual and performing arts as
CJCians have traditionally been extremely talented
in this area. The college has progressed significantly
in drama, dance, choir, symphonic band, guitar and
guzheng. The Drama Society was formed in 1997;
it had previously been part of the English Literary,
Drama and Debating Society (ELDDS). CJC actors
and actresses won their first Singapore Youth Festival
(SYF) Gold Award in 2006 and have continued to excel
in the SYF, clinching a Certificate of Distinction in 2014
for their rendition of Poop!, a play by local playwright
Chong Tze Chien. The Dance Club and the Symphonic
Band attained their first SYF Gold in 2005. In 2009 the
Symphonic Band and the Choir were awarded the SYF
Gold Prize with Honours. The year 2015 saw the highest
number of SYF distinctions attained so far in the history
of CJC with the Band, the Guitar Ensemble, the Choir
and Dance garnering the Certificate of Distinction Prize
in the SYF.
128
CJC orators and debaters have also done well in
national competitions over the years. In 1975, Kenneth
Tan, the first President of the Student Council, won
the 2nd Prize in the Inter-School National Oratorical
Competition. The CJC debating team was the runnerup in the finals of the Singapore Broadcasting
Corporation’s (SBC) Inter-School Debate Competition
in 1983. CJC orators have done well in the YMCA Plain
English Speaking Awards (PESA). In 1999 Jeannine
Tang won the second prize in the Junior College
category and Dell Marie Butler was the Champion in the
Open Category in 2005. Other orators, such as Pierre
Lee in 2011, Denzel Low in 2012 and Samantha Reeve
in 2014, have continued to win PESA awards.
Such is the talent of the CJC alumni in the performing
arts that some of them have become household names
as actors, directors and producers on stage and screen,
musicians and recording artistes.
CJCIANS HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN
EXTREMELY TALENTED IN THE VISUAL
AND PERFORMING ARTS.
SCHOLARSHIPS
In recognition of the importance of CCA participation in the holistic development of young
people, the college now offers two types of scholarships – the Archbishop’s Scholarship
and the Flame Scholarship – to students with a strong academic record and/or who share a
passion for CJC’s niche sports and performing arts. The Flame Scholarship in particular is
awarded to students with talents in the college’s niche areas in the performing arts and sports.
These scholarships reflect the college’s mission to provide students a balanced education
through co-curricular programmes that support and encourage them to pursue their passion
for a sport or an art form.
129
Photo by Tan Ngiap Heng
“WHEN WORKING
WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, I
MAKE IT A POINT TO LISTEN
RATHER THAN BELITTLE
OR DISMISS THEM AND
THEIR PREDICAMENTS.”
130
Alvin Tan, Founder and Artistic
Director of The Necessary Stage and
2014 Cultural Medallion Recipient
Class of 1982
A
lvin Tan’s passion for theatre was ignited at CJC where
he saw a production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear
and was impressed by the scene in which Gloucester’s
eyes were gouged out. He began dabbling in theatre while
reading English Literature at the National University of
Singapore (NUS) where he soon discovered he enjoyed
experimenting with different ways to stage a scene.
Today, the Fulbright Scholar has directed more than 70 plays
which have been staged locally and at international festivals.
In 2014 he was conferred the Cultural Medallion for artistic
excellence as well as his contribution and commitment to
the arts; the Cultural Medallion being the highest recognition
conferred to arts practitioners in Singapore. More recently, he
has been invited to be on the Syllabus Development Committee
for the Arts Education Branch of the Ministry of Education
(MOE) to design a drama syllabus for ‘O’ level students which
will be implemented in schools in 2017 onwards. Abroad, he
has served as a member of the curatorial panel for TransLab,
an initiative created by the Australian Council for the Arts to
promote intercultural theatre and performance, and was also
conferred the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French
Ministry of Culture in recognition of his contribution to the arts.
A science student in secondary school, CJC teachers were
instrumental in developing and sustaining Alvin’s love for the
arts; a crucial factor when he decided to switch to the arts
stream for the ‘A’ levels. “Teachers were genuine; they were not
poseurs and not on power trips. Miss Sandra Davie, who taught
me General Paper and is now a journalist with the Straits
Times, is an example of a teacher who took her students
seriously; she conversed with us rather than talked at us. In fact
the grades I scored for my ‘A’ levels far surpassed any grade I
achieved at other levels of my education; even at NUS.”
The mutual respect he experienced among staff, teachers
and students in CJC continues to enrich Alvin’s work as a
theatre director. “When working with young people, I make
it a point to listen rather than belittle or dismiss them and
their predicaments. I facilitate my teammates’ coming to grips
with challenges rather than sweep them under the carpet.
Observing the nuances of human behaviour when faced with
challenges feeds back into my directing; I always come away
richer.”
131
Teo Shun Xie
Class of 2006
R
eigning Commonwealth Games Air Pistol champion and
SEA Games Air Pistol gold medallist Teo Shun Xie had
attended a non-Catholic school before she enrolled in
CJC in 2005, but she says she felt the welcoming inclusiveness
of the CJC environment almost immediately upon joining. She
partly attributes her recent success at the SEA Games to the
CJC environment that encourages students to keep improving
themselves and not be daunted by setbacks.
Shun Xie claims that she is not a natural marksman. She
recalls, “I had failed my marksmanship test in the National
Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) when I was in Secondary 3 and
did not think that I would be taking up shooting again until I had
to choose a co-curricular activity (CCA) in CJC.”
It was only when the science student discovered that she had
not made the cut for tennis that she reconsidered taking up air
rifle as a CCA. However the queue to sign up for air rifle was
long and she did not want to wait. It was then that she decided
to join the shorter air pistol queue; she passed the trials and
made the cut. She recalls, “Practice was twice a week and it
was a lot of fun although we were using the hand-cranked air
pistols and not the compressed air pistols that are the standard
in national and international competitions such as the SEA
Games. In CJC, we only switched to the compressed air pistols
when I was in my second year, to the chagrin of my seniors.”
Shun Xie, who scored a distinction for Math for her ‘A’ level
examinations, says that at CJC, she was often reminded to
have study-life balance. It is not surprising that the shooting
range was an opportunity for her to take a break from studying.
“I truly learnt time management while I was in CJC, particularly
when I was studying for the ‘A’ levels at the same time that I
was preparing for the inter-college championships. When I
got called up to attend the training camps and made it to the
national squad, I was elated but I did not rest on my laurels. It
just meant more practice. And practice makes perfect.”
Shun Xie hopes to represent Singapore for the Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.
132
“I TRULY LEARNT
TIME MANAGEMENT
WHILE I WAS IN CJC,
PARTICULARLY WHEN
I WAS STUDYING FOR
THE ‘A’ LEVELS AT
THE SAME TIME THAT I
WAS PREPARING FOR
THE INTER-COLLEGE
CHAMPIONSHIP.”
133
134
Audrey Wong, Educator at Faculty for
the Creative Industries, LASALLE
Class of 1986
T
he two years that Audrey Wong, former Nominated
Member of Parliament (NMP) spent at CJC were
instrumental in her choosing the arts as a career. It
was also partly CJC’s affinity for reaching out to the larger
community through service which later stoked the SPH
Scholar’s interest in using art to engage with society when she
was The Substation’s artistic co-director.
“DURING MY 14
YEARS AT THE
SUBSTATION I WAS
EXPOSED TO ALL
SORTS OF ART, BUT
WHAT APPEALED
TO ME THE MOST
WAS USING ART
TO ENGAGE WITH
SOCIETY AND AS A
WAY TO PROMOTE
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND
TO DEVELOP A CIVIL
SOCIETY.”
“For me it has always been about making the world a better
place in whatever ways: big or small. During my 14 years at The
Substation I was exposed to all sorts of art, but what appealed
to me the most was using art to engage with society and as a
way to promote social justice and develop a civil society.”
She adds, “Part of using art to engage with society is creating
a fair and pleasant environment where people can pursue
causes and projects they are interested in. In many ways
that is similar to CJC’s emphasis on providing students an
environment conducive for identifying and pursuing their
interests, whatever they may be.”
Although she was known as an academic achiever at CJC,
she recognised that at CJC, students are not defined only
by their academic achievements. The college’s values and
person-centric education have subsequently influenced her
decision-making process at work in that she has never been
purely motivated by the bottom line. “When I make a decision
that affects colleagues, students or staff, it is never solely about
achieving that performance bonus or promotion. I always look
at the bigger picture in terms of how else an initiative can
benefit the people involved and knowing when to step up into a
leadership role when there’s an opportunity.”
Audrey had not planned on being the NMP for the Arts in
2009; she was part of the organising committee and in her
mind, there were other people more experienced than her to
be the next Arts MP, but somehow for one reason or another
all of them felt that it was not meant for them at that time.
She recalls, “As no one else seemed to be available to take
on the role, I volunteered because I felt strongly that it was
important to have a voice in Parliament to champion the Arts in
Singapore.”
135
The CJC School Management Committee would like to
acknowledge the following members of the CJC family
for making this coffee table book a reality:1. Alumni and staff members who agreed to be featured
2. Past Principals and Vice Principals for providing a sense of continuity when we
stumbled upon gaps in our memory
3. Principal and staff for providing guidance and connecting us with our interviewees
4. Alumni who helped out with old photographs and memorabilia of their time
spent in CJC
5. Parent Support Group (PSG) for providing information and photographs; and
most importantly,
6. The Working Committee, spearheaded by Mrs Sng Mee Lian, Senior Teacher of
ELL, and assisted by Ms Gopi Mirchandani, Board Member and Alumna, Mrs
Christina Lim, Head of PSG 2013 and Alumna, and Mr Bernard Yeong, Head of
Science (Chemistry) and Alumnus.