The 5th of May, the big day that I’ve been looking forward to since 2014, has finally arrived. The day of when I finally donned on the graduation rope, stepped into Ngee Ann Polytechnic for the final time as its student and mingle with the majority of my coursemates and friends for the last time in school.
3 years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears culminated in the Diploma that I’ve always wanted. Life might have not gone the way I wanted it to be, but at least, at the end of the day, I managed to enrol into my dream course and graduate from it.
I spent the past few months gearing up for this day. Going to the gym, going on diet and planning my #ootd, just to make sure that I looked my best – the best I have ever look since birth.
On that momentous day, I woke up just before dawn, feeling rather excited and looking forward towards the day full of activities. I’ve enthusiastically invited most of my friends down – because I want to share my proudest moment with them. Although it’s merely a graduation with a Diploma certification, yet I’ve never felt so accomplished in my life. From hell to heaven, back to hell and bouncing back again, I realised I really have experienced the most depressing downs, downs and ups in the past 21 years of my life.
Of course, as sentimental as I am, I decided to put on the SR collar pin on my collar. I admit it did look a little out of place but that’s my last tribute to Serangoon JC – the JC that I’ve gone to, failed and realised that there might be another life path for me to consider. In the light of the recent MOE merger exercise, SR was one of the unfortunate scapegoats schools, due to low birth rate and dwindling enrollment, that ends up in the fate of mergers. I had quite some explaining to do whatever people asked me about the badge. Oops.
It took me a good two hours to get prepared – from washing up to hair styling (although doesn’t look much of a difference) to putting on minimal makeup to re-ironing my shirt. I made it look as if I was about to get married instead of graduating.
‘Grab’-ed down with my parents to school on an electric car. That’s really rather coincidental and made the ‘last journey down from Ang Mo Kio to NP’ a more momentous one.
We had breakfast before my anxiety problem acted up. I locked myself in the toilet for a good 15 minutes while Sijie whatsapp-ed me where I was. I thought I was late until I saw Iphi still at Munch with her mum as I came out of the toilet. I directed my parents towards the Convention Centre – the venue of the ceremony – before proceeding to my reporting venue at LT68.
Met up with Nicole along the way – to let her deposit her makeup case into my bag. HAHAHA.
For the last time, I get to see everyone from my course, seated down at the Lecture Theatre. It kinds of reminded me of the very first time when all of us met each other. It was awkward and everyone was adjusting to the new environment. Some were more vocal than the others, while some were sitting all be themselves quietly. 3 years on, friendships are forged – some of which are strongly because of common interest and also, because we literally eat, sleep and struggled together.
People who do not matter to you 3 years ago, becomes a core part of your Poly life. Sometimes, I am just amazed by the uncertainty and the unexpected in life. You don’t know who will be there for you at a certain point in life. You don’t know who will continue to be there with you at the end of every journey.
Taking a last look at all of them, I know I have no regrets. They are the best coursemates I could’ve ever ask for.
We waited for quite a while because it’s finally our turn to be on the stage. I was waiting eagerly for Nic’s appearance on the stage to receive her cert from the Director but I was ushered out from my seat to get ready for my 5-seconds of glory.
Credits to Papa See (Nic’s dad) for the footage!
I was telling Ying Xuan a week back that I was planning on some antics on stage before receiving my cert from the Director. Yet, I backed out on the plan to do so because firstly, I can’t think of a creative antic (despite graduating from a creative course) and secondly, doing antics on high heels will probably put my already injured ankles in danger.
Okay, thirdly and the most important reason, I pussy.
So I ended up walking like a celebrity on a red carpet.
You could hear Dr. Kang shouting “CMC 古天樂” at the background towards the end of the clip. Quite fit the atmosphere. They used to say I am like Louis Koo – maybe because I am quite tanned, that’s it. HAHAHA.
Apart from that, you could also hear that sharp scream from the audience. Thanks Nic!
We went back to our seats after receiving our cert and the graduation gifts from the school. Colin and Rebecca (not Minzhen but the other Rebecca, but Minzhen was awarded a Diploma with Merit, it’s a credible achievement as well!) were our top 2 students – and they really deserved the honour bestowed upon them. To be able to stay consistent through the 6 semesters, one requires to be very dedicated to every single assignment, regardless modules it is.
One thing about being in mass communications is that you get to study a variety of things. And being in a Chinese-language based mass comm course that broke away from Chinese Studies means that there are modules that involve the cultural and language aspect of it. It is not easy for students to be that consistent in the various aspects. For people like me, I can be very strong in some modules, yet scoring Bs and Cs for the others. I struggled with those examinable modules like ‘Introduction to Mass Comms”, “Chinese Literature” and “Media Ethics, Law & Policies” (in which I was expecting myself to ace in it), etc but scoring relatively up to expectations for “Video Production”, “Web Design & Applications” and “News Reporting & Feature Writing”, etc. I really marvel at the kind of consistency they’ve portrayed and the discipline that they exercised. It could be because of talent, but talent wouldn’t be visible without working hard and working smart.
Our recognition of them was evident. Once their names were announced, we were shouting and screaming because we know – they are the pride of CMC and we are proud of them. 🙂
To those of you who’ve achieved honourable mentions, you guys really deserved it. I will be more motivated – but hopefully, this motivation will linger on when I returned from NS two years later. HAHAHA
The entire ceremony lasted about slightly over an hour before it we strolled out of the Convention Centre – most of us for the last time. As I walked down the stairs, I looked back and noticed one thing: Three years ago, I walked up the stairs alone, not knowing anyone else (okay, except for you Nic). Three years later, I walked down the stairs, bringing away with me the memories, knowledge and friendships. Most of us came here alone, but when we leave, we leave together.
Made my way out of the Convention Centre as quickly as I could before the entire crowd of people started flowing out of the place. The last thing I want on my last day is to be suffocated to death.
The first group of people I met up with immediately after I came out of the CC is my peeps from Pedoro! We graduated together 4 years back and since went on different paths. Yet, we make sure that we continue to stay in contact and hang out whenever we could.
Throughout the years, you peeps have been really supportive of me. Pedoro is the clique that I’ve stuck to for the longest period of time, and that being said, y’all have seen me through my darkest time and also, my best times. Although most of our members graduated from JC, yet never had I felt out of place before – just because I decided to drop out of my previous school to focus on my dreams. As I put on my graduation gown that day and received such a beautiful bouquet from all of you, I teared a little inside. I admit that for a guy, I teared a little too easily, but I was really touched. It was the first ever bouquet that I’ve received in my life.
Without the mental supports, there wouldn’t be the Eddy today.
This is the bouquet of flowers that Pedoro got for me!
My kids from A Bunch of Morons were also present (okay, although Kaihao wasn’t really considered my ‘kids’ HAHAHA). Kaihao and Auds were there very early and were helping me to take photos with my Pedoro buds. All of these were happening while Trish was still on the way rushing from home. HAHAHA
A Bunch of Morons will always be a bunch of morons. Thank you guys and kiddos for the antics every time we meet up and all the stupid jokes we crack. Back then, some of us were merely batchmates, some of us were just in that junior-senior kind of relationship, I didn’t expect our friendships to blossom and last so far. You guys never fail to cheer me up every time and always lifted my spirits – especially when we do retarded stuffs.
Must also thank Kaihao’s mum for this very beautifully assembled bouquet!
Very pretty right?
JCFC were also there to share the moment – together with Nic and I. They are my best takeaway from SRJC. It is hard to imagine that a guy like me can be accepted by a group of girls eventually. Even though I was in SR for just 10 months, I didn’t get the A’ Level cert but what O got are friendships like this that I treasure a lot.
“Everything happens for a reason.” Hence, I never regret taking that JC path. For without it, I wouldn’t get to know these pretty ladies and will never know a group of people who likes Jay Chou as much as I do (hence JCFC hahaha).
NIC: Happy Graduation to this bitch hahaha. We went SR, left SR and came NP (and the same school some more), and now we graduated together. FINALLY. The road has been tough for both of us, perhaps even tougher for her, yet I am proud to see how far we’ve both come.
A stalk of sunflower from Nic – and still got a small note some more. 😀
Featuring the bouquet the girls had gotten for me.
Apart from JCFC, another ‘best takeaway’ and my favourite minah, Ratna, dropped by as well – for her best friend Nic.
Of course, I did not forget to take photos with the clique that I’ve went through thick and thin with over the years in CMC. Turtle Shadow defined my CMC life and provided me with a lot of wonderful memories – like rushing for projects and the day out at Sentosa (and many many more). They see me through this chapter of my life, tolerating all my PMS. NP always market itself as “Always that Something Xtra”, I guess Turtle Shadow is that something xtra-ordinary.
And also, really thankful to Xueni and Adam for dropping by and giving me a small bouquet and a stalk of sunflower respectively. Xueni was from the same secondary school (Huayi Sec) as Jon and Reb and I knew her when I volunteered to help their council with their camp in 2015 (damn how fast time flies).
Susien 老師 – one of the best teachers and mentors I’ve ever encountered.
