National Youth Achievement Award (Gold) Singapore 2013
03 Jan 2014
Five students and graduates from the School of Chemical & Life Sciences received the National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) Gold Award in 2013:
The NYAA is one of the premier youth development programmes in Singapore. It encourages youths between age 14 and 25 to develop personal character and skills, and discover a new meaning in serving the community.
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"The NYAA journey has indeed been a challenging one for me. However, the memories and experiences throughout the journey are the extremely rewarding and fulfilling for me. To me, NYAA is more than just achieving the award, it is a life-long learning journey and there should never be an ending point to it.
The “Service” and “Residential Project” components of NYAA are the most impactful to me.
My experiences with the Singapore Polytechnic’s Welfare Service provided me a platform to be involved in many community service and charity events as well as widening my social network skills. I have learnt to be more proactive and outspoken - a vast difference compared to my previous introvert self. Through my various encounters with less privileged families who are struggling to survive, I’ve realized the importance of “influencing others to serve” and how small individual contributions can add up to significant aid, care and love for these less privileged families and the society.
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The experience that provided me with a whole new outlook on life was my involvement in the Youth Expedition Project (YEP) Held at Huairou, Beijing China. It has taught me teamwork, effective communication and leadership skills. The tests and unforeseen circumstances that we had encountered forced us to get out of our comfort zone and to react fast to the issues in the most effective manner. I felt a sense of achievement when my teammates and I persisted through those 4 weeks in that unfamiliar environment and emerged victorious. The most significant takeaway point that I have learnt from this trip is to appreciate the education system in Singapore; somewhere out there in this world, there are indeed people who are less fortunate than us and may not have the educational resources like we do.
Lastly, the biggest change in me through the NYAA journey is that I am able to realize the blissful part of my life and I have learnt to cherish these blessings."
Chen Hua
Diploma in Chemical Engineering
Current Year 3 Student