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Celebrating
diversity in excellence among its students, NUS School of
Computing (SoC) is proud to note that nine of its students
have emerged winners of this year’s NUS Student Achievement
Awards. Organised by the University’s Office of Student
Affairs, the Awards is a yearly event in recognition of
individual students or student groups for their outstanding
contributions in activities outside the academic
curriculum.
SoC third-year
undergraduate Jayaraj s/o Dirilokaraj won the Individual
Award in Community Service. The other eight – Cheong Kah
Meng, Chuah Chong Yunn, Chris Henry, Hong Gancheng, Tan
Hui Ling Charlotte, Tan Weilong Nash, Wu Di and Zhuo
Xian Kan – bagged Group Awards in various areas, from
community service to choir and dance, and right through
to entrepreneurship and even
cheerleading.
Jayaraj is a second-time winner,
having clinched the trophy in the same category for the
first time in 2005. While the award may be a repeat for
him, its significance has certainly not paled. Jayaraj
commented: “In addition to the rewards of completing the
projects that I undertook, I’m glad that an individual
can be recognised by the Varsity not just once, but for
each and every of his or her efforts across the
years.”
During the period of review for the 2007
Awards, Jayaraj served as Saadhana
(A-Level Tuition
Project) Coordinator of the NUS Tamil Language Society
(TLS). |
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Jayaraj s/o Dirilokaraj (left) accepting
his Award from
NUS Deputy President and
Provost, Professor Tan Eng Chye |
He was also Assistant Producer for Sangae
Muzhangu 2007, a biennial cultural event organised by TLS that
attracted an audience of some 1,700 at the University Cultural
Centre.
For the final-year Bachelor of Computing
(Technology Focus) undergraduate, the Award should form a
meaningful milestone in his university career. Yet Jayaraj was
careful to emphasise the equally great if not greater joy to
be derived from the projects: “Working as part of the Saadhana
team has provided me with an avenue to help the
under-privileged by bringing ‘A’ level tuition to them at a
very low cost. Working as part of the Sangae Muzhangu team has
given me an avenue to help promote the Tamil language and
Indian cultural traits.”
Also being acknowledged for
her sustained contribution was Charlotte Tan. She won a Group
Award for her involvement in the NUS Choir. An enthusiastic
performer on stage, the third-year Computer Science major
appeared to be quiet and unassuming off-stage when asked about
her win: “I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had
won the Award. I understand that the criteria for winning the
Award are very strict, and feel very privileged and honoured
to have won.” Yet no one could miss Charlotte’s enthusiasm for
the Choir: “During my first year in NUS, I joined the NUS
Choir because of my love of singing. I wanted to meet
like-minded people and also to develop my singing abilities.”
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Charlotte Tan (front row second from right)
with the NUS Choir at one of its
performances |
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From what Charlotte described, the wish
was more than fulfilled: “This year, we performed in quite a
number of events, one of which was ‘PLAY! A Video Game
Symphony’, where together with the Singapore Festival
Orchestra, we performed songs from various video games such as
Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Super Mario Brothers, Sonic
the Hedgehog and many others. We also performed in ‘Voices of
Harmony’ in collaboration with the Singapore Chinese
Orchestra. More recently, in June, we took part in an
international competition, ‘The Third Voyage of Songs’, where
we won golds in both the categories in which we
participated.”
Fellow Group Award winner Wu Di was
equally enthusiastic when asked about pursuing his passion.
For the third-year Bachelor of Computing (Business Focus)
undergraduate, that means entrepreneurship. “Winning the award
is definitely proof that the unconventional things I'm doing
have made an impact. This is a milestone for both my company
Exoro Pte Ltd and myself,” he said.
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NUS Deputy President and Provost, Professor Tan
Eng Chye (left) with Wu Di (centre), Cheong Kah Meng
(second from right) and two other members of the Exoro
team |
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Wu Di won a Group Award in the enterprise
category, along with fellow SoC undergraduate Cheong Kah Meng,
and three team mates from the Faculty of Engineering with whom
he has set up Exoro, a student startup. To others who may
harbour similar dreams of entrepreneurship, he has this to
share: “After failing thousands of times, I finally discovered
that I'm strongly passionate about entrepreneurship,
computing, education and entertainment. Exoro is where my
interests converge, and I'm fully committed in growing it from
a student startup into a multinational company listed on stock
exchange.”
As to how he intends to achieve the goal,
Wu Di had this to say: “I always spend 1% of my time in
dreams, and the remaining 99% realising them.” More about Wu
Di and Exoro may be found at http://www.exorogame.com/
The
Awards given out this year covered the period of 7 August 2006
to 5 August 2007. Other winners from the School and the
categories that they have won in are:
Nash Tan Weilong,
Group Award for NUS Dance Blast!
Chuah Chong Yunn, Group
Award for Kent Ridge Hall Steppers Cheerleading Team
Chris
Heny, Group Award for Kent Ridge Hall Steppers Cheerleading
Team
Zhuo Xian Kan, Group Award for NUS Students’ Union
Volunteer Action Committeee (NVAC)
Hong Gancheng, Group
Award for Eusoff Voluntary Corps (Elderly Service
Team).
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