NY opens its doors once again!

A year has passed since the last NYJC Open House. Many of the current NYJCians that made this happen were at last year's event, albeit as visitors. Now with the former visitors becoming the show casers themselves, how does the shoe feel on the other foot? Journalists Neo Ping May and Yeo Kheng Meng find out last Friday (12.10.2007). This article also features an exclusive interview with the overall event coordinator - Mr Wan Hong Tian.

The annual Open House is a major College event, and no efforts were spared in roping in the different CCAs and students to get their juniors to come and see for themselves what NY has to offer as a potential next stop for them after their 'O' levels.

With most CCAs actively selling themselves, we were hard pressed to find the most eye-catching ones. Biz Club, for instance, displayed a board game they personally developed. Resembling Monopoly in the local context, the game was the result of a joint collaboration with SMU Business School graduates. In order to attract students to their booth to play, there were gifts and prizes for participants and winners prepared either by Biz Club members themselves or provided by the College. Jessica, Vice-President of NY Biz Club, responded that the aim was to "get students to join NY first", then perhaps also join Biz Club. They hoped to achieve this by showing that "NY has a vibrant and colourful culture."

Similarly, Jasmine, President of CCS, hopes that "students would be attracted to NY and therefore CCS." Apart from freebies given away in thoughtfully packaged self-decorated paper bags, props from bai yun gang and SYF 2007, like the rose and cake, were prominently displayed at the CCA booth. Souvenirs from JC drama camps, such as the decorated glass bottle from TJC, were also on display.

As usual, the innovative i.Nnovations crew gave a different experience to our visitors. They screened the films of this year's Film Fest, "Recurrence" and "Heartstrings", in LT4. Doing so, it broadened the options available to our potential J1s of the CCAs available here. NYJC is the only JC that hosts a filmmaking CCA. The calmer atmosphere in LY4 served as a brief respite from the bustle of the atrium outside.

Are you skilled enough to lower a pencil into the bottle? These students certainly are.

Fastest fingers first!! How about messaging some bombastic science jargon in the shortest time?

Apart from these, mini-games like the "one-minute challenges" kept things interesting. There was also a slew of performances that ranged from modern dance to wushu, from choir to guzheng. The English Drama Club even gave out free T-shirts at their booth, keeping the atrium alive with activities. There was even a frozen yoghurt stall-which attracted not just the visitors, but also our own students joining the queue.

Then there was the performance by the Pugilistics Society. The highly choreographed items comprising the twin lion dance and three solo displays were conducted with skilled precision.

Twin lions greet the crowd

Even the normally quiet library wasn't spared, either. Tutors were at hand, ready to advise visiting pupils on their post-secondary options, and secondary school students could be seen browsing through the stacks and chatting.

It all ended on a high note, with NYJCians gamely joining in to perform their favourite NY mass dances.

The goal of this Open House was to attract as many as many students as possible visit, in the hope that some would be convinced to join us next year. Considering the number of students who came, and despite the fact that there were competing Open Houses held concurrently at other JCs, in the eyes of many NYJCians, ours was quite a success.

Two visiting Mayflower Secondary students said they "were impressed", and that NY "could be one of their choices." A student From Ang Mo Kio Secondary was also wowed by the amount of preparation put in and the NY spirit that permeated the occasion.

Well, we hope to welcome you to the NY family come next year!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH Mr Wan Hong Tian, the overall coordinator for the event.

Are you happy with the response at this year's open House?

The Open House event lasted from 2 to 5 pm, it started raining at 3.30 pm and did not really stop. Considering the weather conditions and the fact that this is the O-level exam period, we are very happy with the response this year. More than 850 students came.

What improvements were there this year's OH compared to previous years?

Every OH is different. And every OH has the same objective of introducing our college to the secondary school students. We make every effort to showcase our college's facilities and give the sec students all necessary info about academic subjects and CCA at JC level. Most importantly, we want to showcase to the sec students that NY is a "happening" place. I think we have been doing very well in this regard with our all our Open House events.

For this year something different was be the fact that we harnessed quite a bit of IT technology to facilitate the individual events. For example, our Lucky Draw event was electronically done; visitors could also feed back their impressions of NY via SMS, and could also submit their photo impressions of NY via blue tooth technology.

Was there any contingency plan? (e.g. from rain etc)

All of the activities were carried out indoors except for the few sports groups which needed open space. One of the most important contributions to the success of the Open House was the shuttle service that ferried students from two MRT stations, Serangoon and Bishan. We saw the shuttle buses bringing in busloads of sec sch students in spite of the rain.

Was it worth putting so much effort into organizing the Open House event, considering most students base their choices on cut-off points and most school students don't know about NY?

First of all, we put in much effort into the Open House because we want to let most (if not all) students know about NY. That is why we sent email to all schools and publicity materials to many schools as well.

Secondly, it is important that we let people (parents and students) know about our holistic teaching philosophy here at NY. That is why we not only showcased the fun element through CCA groups, in-line skating, Lucky Draw etc, we also showcased our programmes and academic results through static displays, the information booth and our volunteer staff advisors.

Entry into each college is by merit based on their L1R5 results. Colleges DO NOT set their own entry cut-off points. Hence it is important that we showcase as much of our programmes as possible in the hope that as many students as possible put NY as one of their choices (if not the first).

So that's what went on behind the scenes at Open House 2007.

By Neo Ping May and Yeo Kheng Meng