A J Deen and Kho Zi Qing
A J Deen:
OMG!!! I failed, I Quit, I Quit, Aaaah!! I Give up.. I Give up..
A 23 year old young Indian adult has failed in his 3rd Final year examination, Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. He was hoping at least to pass through his examination papers. Ajay came from a low-income family where has to work and earn to pay his own school fees during his course of studies. His father was jobless and he couldn’t support Ajay’s school fees. He managed to pull through to his final year with much hardship in his family. Being the eldest in the family he has 3 other younger siblings who require financial assistance in their school fees.
During his final year term, he has to complete a Final Year Project. His final year project team consists of 3 persons who became good friends. They convinced Ajay to do the Final year project as he knows the subject well. They assured him that they will feed him with notes and tutorial guides when he misses the regular classes however, they did not support him with any notes.
To Ajay’s surprise, he attained a Distinction in his project work and it was selected as one of the top 10 highlighted projects among 138 projects submitted. It was also selected as the best project of the year and was published in the Straits Times Newspaper for their Innovation. On the other hand, he failed his other 5 subjects thereby having to repeat the final year course again. His project team friends passed all their subjects and left him without saying thank you and goodbye. Ajay felt betrayed, cheated, and hated himself for what has happened to him.
Ajay decided to leave Polytechnic without repeating or completing his Diploma to enter the Army. He felt his whole world in education had collapsed and his friends were unfair to him. Within a couple of months, Ajay was recruited into the Army as per his request. He completed his BMT well and was posted to NCO Instructors course. He forgets about his poly life and he did well in his course with recognition. He was appointed as a Section Commander in an active Infantry Commanding Unit in Tuas. He was one of the 21 appointed Sargeants who was posted to the active Unit.
In a short span of time in National Service, he built a good relationship with his superiors and subordinates. He was posted to Staff One department (Manpower Office in the Army Unit) under the Senior chief clerk and followed by the head of the unit Major (Commanding Officer). His chief Clerk and his CO managed to convince Ajay to pursue and complete his Diploma. They made a special arrangement for Ajay to get disrupted within a year of his enlistment. He was so lucky to have his officers by his side to advise and guide him on the right track.
Ajay got disrupted from his enlistment and also accepted by his Polytechnic to complete his Diploma. Ajay was back to Poly to start his education after a good period of one year. Now he faces everything new again like his classmates, lecturers, and his syllabus. He managed to save some funds from his Army days for his school fees. He worked doubly hard to make sure he can pass all the subjects. This time his classmates made an impact on him by guiding and providing him with all the help he needs in the subjects. He realised that not all friends are selfish and there are real friends who can be by his side when he needs help.
Yeh!! I Passed, I Passed, I Passed my Diploma.
Ajay was very excited and happy when he received his results claiming he has passed all his examinations. He was very grateful to his classmates and his Army officers. At last, Ajay completed his Diploma in an exceptional way. After graduating he gets back to his Army camp hoping to meet with his superiors and subordinates. Ajay was happy and proud to complete his Diploma. He was positive and energetic to perform his best in his national service. Even though he has about one and a half years more to go to complete his national service, he was proud to be in the unit with his superiors and subordinates who were there for him.
Ajay was soon appointed to be a mobilise NCO where he reports directly to his Captain and Major (CO). All his mobilisation activation duties went well as he was always on toe to do well. Ajay’s Army unit was given a task to organise Post National Day Dinner for the VIPs who has donated for the NDP. Soon he was appointed to be a part in the organising committee to assist his Senior Chief Clerk and his CO for Post NDP Dinner. Ajay was proud and honoured to send the Post NDP Cards personally to all the VVIP guests for the Dinner.
Ajay realised on how friends plays an important role in his life. He slowly learns how to analyse on his friend’s characters, behaviours, and attitudes. With his Army training, Ajay became confident and matured, responsible, loyal, honest, kind, generous, and started to think and help others. One day almost Ajay’s end of his national service days he was requested and introduced to assist in a nearby community club by his Senior NCO for their program. Without any hesitation, Ajay went on to assist the community club. Ajay began to feel the warmth by his Community club members and later he joined them to help out in their programs.
YEAH!!! Ajay got ROD from his National Service. He completed his service with pride. He made all his superiors attached to him until they couldn’t say goodbye to him. He became their favourite comrades. Well, Ajay had a good lesson in his journey of life where the next big challenge is to find a job. Ajay starts to write and send his resumes hoping he can get a job. Time passed fast. No replies from any source. After 6 months Ajay starts to receive phone calls to attend interviews. He prepares himself to attend the interviews with hopes to get that job.
Must Get it.. Must Get it.. Must Get it.
Kho Zi Qing:
Like most teenagers in Singapore, at a young age of 17, Ziqing had to make one of the most important decisions of her life - JC or Polytechnic? If polytechnic, what course should she pursue? What does she want to do and achieve in future?
Apart from academic knowledge, she hoped to acquire some life skills as well. Hence, she read through a couple of academic brochures and decided on Diploma in Accountancy. Life in polytechnic was a balance of coursework, camps, and overseas study trips. She met many new friends and lecturers that have gone the extra mile to guide her along the way.
Time flew by quickly while you were having fun, it was time to choose a company for her internship programme. Fortunately, she was offered an opportunity to secure a spot at one of the Big 4 accounting firms.
Through her work internship, Ziqing gained valuable on-the-job experience and was even offered a job opportunity upon her polytechnic graduation! She accepted the offer and further her studies at the same time. Balancing part-time study with full-time work was definitely not the easiest but she was thankful for the opportunity, viewing it as a stepping stone for the future. As an auditor, she worked on multiple engagements throughout her time there. She remembered the days where she had to work for long hours, she even caught the sunrise in the office! The years with the firm was truly an eye-opening experience for her, she enjoyed the rapport built with her team members and fostered great friendships.
A few years later, Ziqing felt that it’s a big world out there and she should go out and explore. So she did, she wanted to be a cabin crew.
She prepared and submitted her resume and went for an interview one Saturday morning. “Thank you for your time, you may leave now”, sadly, she did not manage to get through the interview.
She was not disheartened and tried again. This time, she got through all the interview rounds! Extremely thrilled when she received the confirmation letter. Although her parents were not supportive of her decision, they agreed to let her go ahead anyway.
It’s never too late to start a new adventure.
It was nerve-wracking on the first day of work when Ziqing stepped into the training centre. She was introduced to dozen of new faces and was overwhelmed by loads of information. During the training period, she had to learn and absorb details from as simple as the jargon used to the detailed layout of the aircraft. The trainings were a challenging yet exciting journey for her.
It was during then there was a spike in COVID-19 cases in Singapore and Singaporeans were advised to defer all travel abroad. Many countries had entry restrictions in place to protect against imported COVID-19 cases. The airline cut a huge percentage of its capacity and the airplanes were mostly grounded. This was a huge hit to the industry.
While most of the trainees had expected to be let go, it was still hard to digest the news. The day arrived, all of them were anxious when they were gathered at the conference hall. The plan was announced, she had to bid farewell to her batchmates…
Soon after, the circuit breaker was announced and most workplaces were closed for a month to curb the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has affected the economy and disrupted the livelihoods of many. There were various supports given to help Singaporeans tide over the economic impact of the COVID-19 situation.
Like many, Ziqing received help from the recovery grant. Since she had extra time to spare, instead of being only on the receiving end, she decided to give back to the community in other means. She volunteered at her community centre and other organisation. She loved the smile on people’s faces and enjoyed what she was doing.
Now that she has started a new career, she continues to contribute and help whenever she can.
Every cloud has a silver lining, do more of what makes you happy.
