“Set your purpose and priorities, focus on what’s important to you, and ignore what other people think.”
Siti Syahana Elysha didn’t get into the secondary school she wanted to go to, but instead of moping, she set her mind on doing better. In Secondary 3, when choosing her subject combination, her friends advised her to drop Nutrition and Food Science because she didn’t do great in the subject. “But I like baking and cooking and decided to persevere. I managed to bump up my grades by a lot and did all my assignments on time,” she says.
This insistence on pursuing what she likes has made Siti a more independent learner and left her with zero regrets. Working towards her goal, she even managed to teach her family how to eat more healthily.
“Seek your teachers’ help to work through conflicts with your classmate and not just avoid the other party completely.”
Chloe Lim recalls a disagreement with a classmate of hers when she was in Secondary 1. The classmate had made an inappropriate comment and a teacher stepped in to speak to them separately. “My teacher asked me to keep my distance. She let us interact a little during group projects and such.”
Looking back on the incident, Chloe says that the classmate probably said what he did because he was 13 and didn’t know better. “We’re in the same class now, and we don’t hate each other. And I learnt that it’s important to not avoid someone completely because of a disagreement,” she adds.
“Remember that if you’re feeling stressed scared, in pain, or exhausted, it’s because you’re alive and changing, growing.”
Ryker Sim didn’t think he would like secondary school. But besides becoming wiser, realising that humans are flawed and growth takes effort and time, he has grown in ways he hadn’t expected either.
Participating in the Values in Action (VIA) programme changed his perceptions. While he and his groupmates wanted to do something related to animals for their VIA project, the partnership with Cat Welfare Society opened his eyes to world and humanitarian issues too. “I realised the world isn’t just rainbows and candy, and that made me want to do something that can positively impact the world.”
.jpg)
