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WHAT DO OUR GRADUATED DSA STUDENTS HAVE TO SAY?

Chua Zikos Vasileios (1914)
Football Captain
Tanjong Katong Secondary School
85 Rank Points

One of the biggest challenges I faced during my time in NY was when I tore my ACL towards the end of my J1 year in 2019. The end of year exams were about a month away and I was very stressed out. I felt the injury had taken a far more significant toll on me mentally rather than physically. Balancing the intense daily rehabilitation sessions and the preparation for the exams was extremely tough and I had to manage my time a lot better - something that I struggled to do in the first few weeks following the surgery. However, I was helped massively by my individual subject tutors who put in the added effort to meet up with me and help me catch up with my work. My friends too played a pivotal role. They helped me stay focused on completing assignments and revision throughout the exam period.

When COVID-19 came about and Circuit Breaker (CB) kicked in, I was pretty devastated, especially because the ‘A’ Divisions games had to be cancelled in our final year of JC. At the start of the period, I had to adjust to everything being done online. I really struggled as it was very easy to be distracted at home and I procrastinated a lot. But as the weeks passed, I managed to work out a routine, with time devoted to both studying and relaxing, and at the end, it was a really fruitful experience. The constant video calls with friends really helped to ease the boredom felt throughout the CB period. Although not ideal, I was able to learn a lot about myself during Home-Based Learning and how perhaps going to school instead of having online learning was more suited for me.

The J1 leadership camp is a very memorable event as all the student leaders got together to participate in multiple team and character building activities over a few days. Being grouped with leaders from many different CCAs and having to interact with them over those few days was very enriching and helped develop my sense of teamwork and leadership qualities greatly. Though our group was nowhere near the top of the rankings at the end of the camp, I left the camp very fulfilled, having learnt a lot about myself and moved a lot closer to reaching the 200-friend mark!