“I know how much the outside community needs our help but never knew it was this bad till we stepped there. Now that it has started, it will not stop.”

These were the words of a jubilant Ang Chuan Hui, after she returned from the Overseas Community Project in Yunnan Province in April 2006.  Chuan Hui was then a junior year student from the Diploma in Accounting and Finance.

The expedition to Yunnan Province involved 22 students and 3 staff who headed to Lancang Hope School and Cuiyun Hope School. The team brought with them computers for the Learning Resource Room in the schools, gave computer lessons, taught some recreational games – both indoor and outdoor, and also carried out repair and painting works.

Ask Chuan Hui on the interesting things that she experienced during the expedition, and she will have endless things to say. Like the painting of the outdoor courts which had to be done at night with only moonlight and torchlight, given the hot and dry high-altitude weather in the day. Or the notable lavatory conditions which could be unbearable to some, but an everyday affair to the residents.

Chuan Hui’s training in accounting and finance has certainly served her well, as she was appointed the Treasurer with the responsibilities of managing the budgets, tracking and settling the funds, and preparing the financial reports for the expedition.

And the learning did not just end with the trip.  Due to the high profile of the expedition, Chuan Hui had the opportunity to make a presentation of the trip to the Board of Governors of Temasek Polytechnic, and the management of CapitaLand Limited in the Old Parliament House.  She was subsequently interviewed on the television programme Good Morning Singapore on Mediacorp Channel 8, and even on Radio Singapore International (Mandarin) over 95.8 FM on why she volunteered in this project.

That was only the beginning.  Chuan Hui went on to participate in her next Overseas Community Project in Don Khong, Laos in April 2007. This time she facilitated participants instead, embarking on projects at two local schools including helping to pilot the Student Enterprise project.  Student Enterprise was a new project where funds for TP bursary were raised by selling products bought from Laos locally.  She also recounted interesting encounters like laying bricks and plastering walls.

A few months later, Chuan Hui was one of six youths chosen to represent Singapore in the prestigious HSBC/NYAA (National Youth Achievement Awards) Earthwatch Study Trip 2007 in Northern Queensland, Australia.  She worked with PhD students, scientists and teachers from Australia and America.  Under the guidance of the PhD students and Principal Investigator Dr. Steve Williams, she conducted various sampling on birds, leaf litters, fruits, dung beetles, reptiles, insects and ants together with the rest of the participants in the study trip.  The objective was to track how each of those stated would be affected by climate change.

A leader is not born but bred.”  This is true of Chuan Hui, who is currently both the General Treasurer of Ngee Ann Secondary Alumni Association and the President of Temasek Polytechnic (TP) Adventure Club.  She was also the Vice President of TP Experiential Learning Facilitators (ELF) in 2006/2007 and the General Secretary of Ngee Ann Secondary Alumni Association from 2005 to 2007.

The list of awards held by Chuan Hui is even more stellar.  In 2007, she won the CCA Merit Award (Leadership) for her involvement in both the TP Adventure Club and TP ELF.  She was also awarded the Ngee Ann Tertiary Scholarship and was in the Director’s Honours List in 2006.  In 2005, she won the Outstanding Community Service Award in Ngee Ann Secondary School and the National Youth Achievement Award (Silver).  The list goes on and on…

Outgoing, adventurous, bubbly, jovial.  This is certainly not the last time we will hear of Chuan Hui’s illustrious CCA record.  We are indeed very proud of her achievements in community outreach.